The Little Things

“A little consideration, a little thought for others makes all the difference.”

- Eeyore (Winnie the Pooh)

Good Happens.

Peace Grl Out!

Make One Person Happy

“Let us be grateful to the people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.”
― Marcel Proust

Good Happens.

Peace Grl Out!

Live Peace with Team Kids

The mission of Team Kids is to inspire and empower young people to become resilient and responsible citizens with a passion for community service. Young people crave the opportunity to participate and to feel they truly matter in their school and community. Ultimately, the Team Kids’ mission is to inspire today’s youth to become compassionate leaders and philanthropists of tomorrow. Team Kids helps kids, and adults, realize the power and capacity young people have to improve conditions and the lives of others in their community. Since 2001, over 21,000 Team Kids participants in Orange County public schools have contributed over $200,000 in value to local youth-serving charities. A pre-post evaluation conducted by WestEd, a leading educational research firm, has demonstrated this program’s effectiveness for promoting positive identity, community engagement, and prevention of high-risk behaviors, such as alcohol/drug use, early pregnancy, and violent behavior.

To learn more about Team Kids or to donate, visit their website . Volunteers are always welcome. Email Jtapp@teamkids.org or call 949•861•4887 to volunteer!

Good Happens.

Peace Grl Out!

8 Ways to Promote Literacy and Protect the Environment

In honor of National Literacy Month, help to spread world literacy and protect the environment. The following list will give you some ideas on what to do with used books laying around the house. Also remember to be mindful about where you purchase your books to find cheaper and environmentally conscious options.

1. Donate used books to a local library or daycare center.

2. Give a sick child the chance to escape to other worlds by donating children’s books to a children’s hospital, such as Children’s Hospital of Orange County (CHOC).

3. Better World Books collects and sells books to raise funds for literacy non-profits such as the National Center for Family Literacy and Room to Read. Buy books, sell textbooks, or donate to help out!

4. Help lift our troop’s spirits by donating to Books for Soldiers or Operation Paperback.

5. Empower children in need by donating to Books for Africa or the African Library Project.

6. Donate to the Children and Families Commission of Orange County’s Early Literacy Program

7. Exchange books on Paperbackswap by earning credits for every book that you send another paperbackswap member. Membership is free! There are many more online book swapping services such as Book Crossing, BookMooch, and BooksFreeSwap.

8. Purchase used books instead of new books, to support local book stores or online used book retailers as an eco-friendly alternative. College students, this is a must for buying and selling back textbooks.

Literacy and imagination are invaluable tools to instill hope in securing a peaceful and sustainable future. Spread stories, love ,and happy reading!

Good Happens.

Peace Grl Out!

Live Peace with Anaheim White House Restaurant

Bruno Serato’s Anaheim White House Restaurant has been helping to feed “motel” kids by serving 300 dinners everyday since 2005. To date he has served 413,400 free dinners and founded the non-profit, Caterina’s Club, in honor of his mother to continue his important work. Bruno was named “Citizen of the Year” by the Cypress College Foundation presented by the City of Anaheim. He was inspired to make good happen when he visited a Boys and Girls Club with his mother and noticed a child eating a bag of potato chips for dinner. His mother suggested that he feed these children in need and he has expanded the project ever since. Serato says “I can’t stop helping these kids.”

The children are transported in vans from their motel home or local Boys and Girls clubs to the restaurant each night for a tasty meal. Bruno consistently holds fundraisers at his restaurant to benefit Caterina’s Club as well as the Boys and Girls club.

To learn more about Caterina’s Club or donate, visit their website. Volunteers to help serve meals are welcome every night at the restaurant. Email info@anaheimwhitehouse.com  or call the restaurant to volunteer!

Good Happens.

Peace Grl Out!

Live Peace with Human Options

Each week we highlight great organizations making good happen! They truly demonstrate how much each of us can do to help our communities and those in need. Live Peace by finding and supporting a cause that you believe in through the work of organizations like Human Options.

Human Options is a women’s shelter  in Irvine, CA with a mission to help battered women, their families, and their communities end the cycle of domestic violence. It offers a variety of resources such as an emergency shelter and transitional living programs with included counseling, legal advocacy, case management, and job readiness training. They also run a 24 hour emergency, bilingual hotline. Women and their children have access to a Children and Families Counseling Center, K-12 community education, and violence prevention training programs. It also runs a community education program in which their educators present to various schools, organizations, and agencies about issues surrounding domestic violence.

Human Option’s long term assistance and prevention approach has helped thousands of women and children to lead more healthy and violence free lives since they started their work in 1981. Support Human Options by donating fresh produce and spices every Saturday of July, during the Irvine Farmer’s Market, at the Center. Also refer to Human Option’s wish list for donated items or volunteer to help out. Volunteers must be 18  or 16 to work with children’s programs and go through a training workshop.

For more details on the organization’s work, visit their website!

Good Happens.

Peace Grl Out!

Living Peace Series Speaking Event with Queen Noor

What a whirlwind couple of weeks it’s been here at Center for Living Peace! We were so lucky to have Her Majesty come and spend time with us– we had so much fun! The weeks just flew by. We hope you’ve enjoyed seeing photos from the VIP fundraiser and the Living Peace Projects service day. We wanted to share some photos with you from the speaking event on May 2nd, 2012.

Here is a behind-the-scenes photo from the green room at UCI! UCI’s Chancellor Michael Drake, Her Majesty Queen Noor, CLP’s Kelly Thornton Smith and UCI’s 2011-2012 XIV Dalai Lama Scholar Armaan Ahmed Rowther gathered together before the speaking event for a few quick photos.

Isn’t the Queen stunning?! And check out her bracelet! It’s from our very own Live Peace store!

The speaking event was moderated by Armaan Ahmed Rowther. He is the current Dalai Lama scholar at UCI.The Queen spoke about how she feels education is fundamental to the process of interfaith, and how she believes reaching out to one another is an incredibly grand gesture of peace, that is sometimes over looked. She explained that instead of branding people of other faiths with the idea of “other,” we need to make them a part of us. So inspiring!

Before leaving the stage, Her Majesty gave Kelly a hug…

Such a great image. What an amazing event it was! If you missed the speaking event, you can watch it in it’s entirety here. An edited, and better quality version of the video will also be on our site in the next few days!

 

A giant, special shout out to our lovely photographers: Alex Abercrombie, Ashely Strong Photography and Jason Niedle. We also wanted to thank UCI, all the students, staff and faculty that came out to the speaking event, helped set eveerything up to make the event possible, Apples & Oranges for filming the speaking event and Orange County Films for streaming the event for us! We are so grateful to have such an amazing team of individuals helping us make peace real!

 

Good Happens.

Peace Grl Out.

Living Peace Projects: Leap of Faith Day of Service

On Saturday, April 28th, Center for Living Peace hosted its fifth Living Peace Projects day! This time, we partnered with Leap of Faith at UCI, a student-led movement promoting interfaith engagement and community service based on a project from the 2011-2012 UCI Dalai Lama Scholar, Armaan Ahmed Rowther.

The day started off with CLP’s very own, Lauren Quijano, who was the Day of Service student chair welcoming the crowd.

Then UCI’s Vice Chancellor, Thomas Parham thanking the students for their commitment and passion to serve those in need.

Then Armaan said a quick hello and introduced the Queen!

Her Majesty took questions from the audience…

Then the students split up and took buses to Share Our Selves:

And the Islamic Center of Irvine for Uplift Charity…

Some students stayed at CLP to make sandwiches to be donated to the homeless through Vineyard Church in Anaheim.

As well as OC Catholic Worker, Isaiah House (no photography was allowed at this site due to the privacy of the individuals who live there).

All in all– it was a fantastic day!

You can also watch a video from the Living Peace Projects with Leap of Faith at UCI! Thank you to all who participated and made this event a huge success!

Good Happens.

Peace Grl Out.

Living Peace Series Presents: Her Majesty Queen Noor

This past Wednesday, April 25th, we were proud to host a fundraising event with Her Majesty Queen Noor of Jordan to raise money for the King Hussein Foundation.

We were so lucky to have this amazing cellist, Philip Sheegog, a 16-year old prodigy play for us.

Her Majesty Queen Noor with Honarary Chair, Christy Walton…

We were so incredibly honored to have Dr. and Mrs. Deepak Chopra attend the event!

Her Majesty with the Dalai Lama Scholar, Armaan Rowther, (who will be moderating the speaking event on May 2nd!) with CLP’s Kelly and UCI’s Vice Chancellor Thomas Parham…

Her Majesty with CLP’s awesome board of directors!

Peace warriors…

The Center for Living Peace staff had a blast at the event too…

Thank you so much to the incredible, hard work of: Upon Request, Ashley Strong Photography, Starrshine Productions, Nikki Thornton, Tethos, Coast Magazine, Pascal, Neiman Marcus Fashion Island, Lindblad, XO Jet, Magic Johnson Foundation, Jessica Grant handbags, Evita on Broadway, Magic Bird on Broadway, Aureole Restaurant, The Chatwal Hotel, Lululemon Athletica, Om My Soul & Kelly Lam, Ritual Cleanse & Marra Okola, Christie Frazier, Shelby Coffman and The Hood Kitchen Space, The Mars Group, Sup ATX paddleboards & WIng Lam Still Mind & Body, Virgin Unite, Christian Dior South Coast Plaza, B. Toffee, AK Johnston, Jim Nye, Paul Fenner Floral Design, Details paper design, Montage Laguna Beach, Miner Family Winery, Morrison Hair, Philip Sheegog and Christy Walton.We couldn’t have pulled off this event with out your support!

More posts to come about the Living Peace Projects and the speaking event!

Good Happens.

Peace Grl Out.

Disneynature Makes Good Happen with Jane Goodall Institute

In honor of Earth Day, Disneynature will be releasing a new movie called CHIMPANZEE next week. For every person who sees this movie during the film’s opening week of April 20-26, Disneynature will make a donation to the Jane Goodall Institute through the Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund, which helps protect chimpanzees and their habitats.

The funds raised in this program will go toward the Jane Goodall Institute’s Tchimpounga Chimpanzee Rehabilitation Center in the Tchimpounga Nature Reserve in the Republic of Congo. Learn more about this program and see a preview of the movie here!

We hope you enjoy the movie and contributing to the well-being of chimpanzees!

Good Happens.

Peace Grl Out!