AIDS in Africa: A Convenient Amnesia
A.F.R.I.C.A, which stands for Africa's Future Rid of the Impacts and Causes of AIDS, is a group of recently graduated seniors from Sage Hill School in Newport Coast. Our group initially got together after we became informed and concerned about the genocide in Darfur. With other Sage Hill students we raised awareness, sent emails and called our Congress people urging them to vote for a bill to take action in Darfur. Soon, however, we became aware of the many obstacles standing in our way of helping due to the political situation. We still wanted to help though, just in a different and nonpolitical way.

How to Stretch Your Dollar
Cost-Cutting Strategies
Ask for donations, borrow, get the best value…sometimes it’s easier to say than do! Here are a few resources that will help your project or organization keep costs to a minimum:

Craigslist is a great website bustling with free classifieds for almost everything.
Even though Craigslist is not available everywhere and some communities are more active than others; however, the community is growing and more regions are added every few months. Go to www.craigslist.org/ and click on your city or state.

Email everyone in your address box: Ask for donations for your project or organization. Describe your project or organization and request in-kind or monetary donations. Requesting financial help is most effective if your YAH team has a website with secure area where users can make a credit card donation or takes them to a form they can print and mail in with a check. The most important thing is to ask everyone.

How to Request Donations From Businesses : Sample Donation Letter

• Tips on Fundraising
• Corporate Sponsorship
• Event Fundraising
• Inventive Fundraising
• Financial Sustainability
• Leveraging Your Funds
• Getting Community Support
• Local Media Contact List
• Press Release Tips
• Writing A Press Release
• Press Release Template
• Press Release Sample
• Marketing Your Team
• Sustainable Media and PR
• Sustainable Partnerships
• Managing Your Team – Being a Leader
• Managing Your Team part 2 – Sustainable Partnerships
• First Impression
• Public Speaking 101
• Help From Your Competition

Donate your old bike today!!!
help us make someone special in your community very happy. Don’t miss this opportunity to positively impact your community.

Saturday January 20th of 2007
Sunday January 21st of 2007

Y.A.H and The C.H.I.L.D organization are holding a bicycle drive for disadvantaged students in minority communities, and are asking individual members of the community to donate their old bicycles. Donated bicycles will be given to local police departments, who refurbish and donate them to minority students who cannot afford to buy bicycle. By doing so, C.H.I.L.D hopes to close the gap among communities and help to develop a better relationship among local police departments and the communities they serve.

Laguna Niguel, Calif., November 4, 2006 – Eight boys from Laguna Niguel between the ages of 10 and 13 had just launched their Youth Ambassadors of Hope Team called Super Achievement Team of America (SATA) last month. Now they are raising money for a six year-old boy from Afghanistan who has suffered burns to his face, chest, and arms due to a home fire approximately one year ago. The kids organized a Hamburger Cook-Out fundraiser last Saturday in Laguna Niguel Regional Park that raised over one thousand dollars to be donated to fund a medical trip for the burn victim to seek medical attention at the Grossman Burn Center in Sharman Oaks, California.

SATA was formed by eight boys who wanted to give other kids the opportunity to be active in community service and discover their passion along the way. They organize events that range from Beach Clean-ups to volunteering at an animal shelter. Their hope is to expose other kids to a variety of community service opportunities and help kids discover their passion in hopes of a continued commitment toward different causes. They recently successfully raised funds for a burn victim in Afghanistan.

EC in the OC was started by a young girl with epilepsy who realized there was little support for teens with this disease. A group of her friends decided to form EC in the OC in hopes of giving teens with epilepsy a regularly scheduled opportunity to interact with other teens with similar concerns and issues and to also work on social skills while still having fun. There are no other organizations in Orange County for teens with epilepsy. Most teens with chronic epilepsy miss out on many social opportunities with typical teens where they would naturally learn appropriate social communication. At this age, teens start to slip into a future of social isolation.

The Youth AIDS Conference leadership team is very passionate about spreading awareness regarding the deadly HIV/AIDS virus and has worked with organizations such as the Africa Project and the City of Irvine’s Youth Action Team to accomplish that goal. Their upcoming conference hopes to encourage students to get involved with work aimed at stopping the spread and effects of HIV/AIDS both locally and around the world. The main function of the project is to educate high school students on the medical and social ramifications of the AIDS virus. High school students in our community do not receive sufficient AIDS education.