Chant4Change is proud to donate all profits from our event to the following charities.This means that after we cover our event expenses such as travel, location, promotion, sound and stage, insurance, production management, facilities etc. the remaining funds will be equally divided among our select charities.

2.13.09 Update: We are extremely happy to announce that we have given $2,818.70 to our charities. You can see how the funds were calculated in the Chant4Change Profit and Loss statement.

Local Level

We Are Family serves seniors in the Shaw, North Capitol Street, Adams-Morgan, Petworth, and Columbia Heights neighborhoods. We bring advocacy, services, organizing, and companionship into the homes of the elderly, while helping to build friendships across boundaries like race, class, religion, age, culture, and sexual orientation.

An Article from Sojourners Magazine:

Green Hair, Gray Hair. . Sojourners Magazine, March 2006 (Vol. 35, No. 3, pp. 34-37). Features.

Most of their work by volunteers, coordinated by a single full time staffer Mark Andersen who has nearly two decades of serving seniors in these neighborhoods.

While many of those who help do the work of We Are Family are seniors themselvesm who, after all, have built this community, we need you as well. The possibilities are truly endless. Mark is able to tailor a volunteer task to whatever time or gift you might have, from helping out once a year on holidays, to calling lonely seniors once a week, to making home visits or delivering groceries on Saturday mornings once or twice a month, to pairing up individual volunteers with nearby seniors, and beyond. Click here to get involved…

National Level

Bent On Learning provides yoga classes to kids in grades pre-K through 12 in public schools and youth centers in Manhattan, Brooklyn and the South Bronx. Each class is forty minutes to an hour and a half with an average of 15 students per class. Because many New York City public schools do not have a gym, classes are often held in the classroom with the desks pushed aside. Teaching yoga in such an environment is always challenging and requires lots of patience, creativity, and a sense of humor. That being said, please know that teaching inner city children is mainly rewarding and fun and our teachers LOVE it!

International Level

The Fruit Tree Planting Foundation (FTPF) is an award-winning international nonprofit charity dedicated to planting fruitful trees and plants to alleviate world hunger, combat global warming, and improve the surrounding air, soil, and water. FTPF programs strategically donate orchards where the harvest will best serve communities for generations, at places such as public schools, city parks, low-income neighborhoods, international hunger relief sites, and animal sanctuaries. FTPF’s unique mission, which has been featured in major publications such as The New York Times, The Hindu, and on The Today Show, benefits the environment, human health, and animal welfare—all at once!

“A seed, a sapling, a Tree that will feed the body, replenish the earth, oxygenate the air we breathe for more years than the hands that plant them will live to see. The Fruit Tree Planting Foundation truly embraces the notion that love gives without expectation of reward.”
-Angela Bassett, Golden Globe-winning actress

Food for Life Vrindavan is a humanitarian association officially recognized by the Indian government. For the last ten years, Food for Life Vrindavan has worked in the poorest villages in the Vrindavan area (120 Km south of New Delhi). Read about the current projects and successes on the Food for Life Vrindavan blog.

Their work includes:

• food distribution
• basic medical assistance
• training courses for women
• drilling for drinking water and constructing water tanks
• assistance to the elderly and the disabled
• distribution of clothes
• environmental projects and education
• taking care of cows
• providing primary school education for disadvantaged children.

FFLV Achievements for April 2007 - March 2008

Education

• 2 schools with 850 children enrolled, 300 children attending evening classes.

Food distribution

• 255,500 plates of kitchri (rice, lentils & vegetables) served.
• 296,400 Sandipani Muni School lunches served.
• 35,250 meals served to the elderly and widows.
• 1,300 Sunday meals served to blind people.

588,450 Total meals distributed.

Social development

• 50,000 villagers received free medical treatment.
• 10 New micro credit groups formed, bringing total to 90.
• 20 Villages participate in legal awareness camp; women’s rights; adult  education; health programs, and vocational training.

Water projects

• 6 water wells bored and 6 hand pumps installed.

Environment

• 365 days 27 men employed for cleaning of Vrindavan and the parikrama marg.
• 60 days, 30 workers for clean Vrindavan sanitation drives.
• 2,600 trees planted with (85% survival rates).

4,500 New Year gifts, 3,200 school uniforms.

Our core group of students are from impoverished backgrounds in Nairobi, Kenya, are between 16-30 years old and live on under $2 per day. Many are personally affected by HIV/AIDS and are living/have once lived on the streets.

Their programs include:

• Providing yoga workshops and classes free of charge to diverse communities in Africa.
  
• Creating and Sustaining “Amani Circus” - “Amani” is the Kiswahili word for Peace. Amani Circus was created in 2008 in response to a two month period of electoral violence in Kenya that cost over 1000 lives and left 300,000 Kenyans homeless. The circus created is built on the themes of Chaos and Stillness and the peace that can be found between. This peace circus travels to the areas affected by violence and is a platform for youth leadership & non-violence.
  
• Constructing a center where youth can learn yoga, as well as other movement arts such as yoga, acrobatics and dance. The center will be a safe place to spend time, helping them to keep away from the glue- sniffing, stealing and begging that is so often the norm for those living on the streets. They will also learn skills that they can use to earn money by performing, and will receive the physical and mental stimulation that these children so often crave.