Funds in Children & Youth

Last year, the VMC SA team spent some time in Colombia at the Fundación Dones de Misericordia, which provides protection and education to children and a home to elderly people living in unsafe conditions. We came hoping we would be able to do some good, but not really knowing what to expect. When we left, most of us, as well as the children, were in tears and everybody was hugging. The children don't really get a lot of visitors and not surprisingly, it turned out that the only thing they really wanted from us was love. The foundation is a home for children and elderly people abandoned by their families. The old folks read to the children, providing the love they need and the children who read, read to the elderly, giving them the family they need.

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen, Beloslava Krasteva is one of the leading female chess players in Bulgaria. She is a Fide Master with outstanding achievements. Some of her accomplishments are: - 2 medals from European Youth Chess Championships in 2017 and 2018 - State champion for 2019 - State champion for 2020 - Third (final) norm for Woman Grandmaster Through her remarkable performance at the great chess forums, she reinforces Bulgaria's leading role in this outstanding sport. It is of great importance to her that she has the opportunity to play for Bulgaria despite the difficulties she faces. In order for her preparation to be complete, Beloslava has to play in strong and significant international tournaments. Each competition lasts about 10-12 days. During her stay, Beloslava needs to cover costs including: hotel, airplane tickets (where necessary), participation fees, training fee, food and coach expenses. The necessary funds on an annual basis are in the range 12 000 - 15 000 BGN. (6 x international competitions 1200 - 1500 BGN each) + participations on World and European Championships (from 4000 to 5000 BGN). We would highly appreciate your kind and invaluable support to help Beloslava’s participations in future international chess events.

It's not a race ... It's a journey. I am excited to take on this year’s Trailblaze Challenge. In addition to the physical challenge, I have committed myself to raising money for Make-A-Wish to help grant the wishes of children with critical illnesses. With your help, it’s possible. Wish kids are some of the bravest and sweetest kids you'll ever know. They wish to work in a pickle factory, become a superhero, go snorkeling, give their baseball team new uniforms, and push all of the buttons in a tall building's elevator. Their innocence and unexpected wisdom stays with you. Make-A-Wish grants thousands of unique wishes each year. A lot, yes. But that’s only 50% of eligible kids. I’m fundraising so more deserving kids and their families can know the happiness, relief and renewal a wish can bring. Please help me support this great cause by joining me on the trail or helping me hit my Trailblaze Challenge fundraising goal. Thank you for your support! Please make sure to note that your donation is for the Camp Luck Crew in the Fall 2019 Trailblazer Challenge.

Friends & Family Fighting for a Cure for SMA and Other Neuromuscular Diseases SMART is a grass roots organization started in 2009 by a group of friends from Buffalo, NY to raise awareness and funds for research aimed at finding a cure for SMA and related diseases. Our mission is one of HOPE for a better life, new treatments and ultimately a cure for those affected by SMA. For information on the 8th Annual SMART-Charlotte Party check out: http://smarthope.com/home/smart-charlotte-event/

Boxers will be participating in Catholic Charities' annual Futbol con Corazón to support unaccompanied minors. Unaccompanied children come from all over the world, but the largest numbers arrive from Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Mexico. Children flee their countries to escape persecution, abandonment, exploitation, serious deprivation, violence in their communities, or to reunite with a caregiver, often after losing one at home. Some are victims of human trafficking. Some are alone, separated from family or orphaned.They all long for safety, care, family, and a place to call home. These children are now facing adversarial removal proceedings opposed by experienced government attorneys, with only about 32% represented by counsel. It is highly unlikely that an unrepresented child will prevail in immigration court, even if he or she has a bona fide claim for protection. A recent study found that represented children have a 73% success rate in immigration court, as compared to only 15% of unrepresented children. To respond justly and humanely to the unprecedented spike in the number of children who made the treacherous journey north in the past few years, Catholic Charities began offering free legal immigration services to these children and youth. They are working to find ways to protect the rights of vulnerable unaccompanied children by supporting their housing, education, mental health, medical, and legal needs within nurturing and safe environments. It is fundamentally important to safeguard their well-being.

"When a child has cancer, the whole family and everyone who loves them does too." -With your help, these organizations can be one step closer to finding a cure.-

Join me in supporting The Children's Center: "When you heal children, you heal Detroit"

Join Cary Academy's week of Fund Raising to benefit Learning Together! Learning Together aims to meet the developmental, educational, and health needs of young children regardless of ability or background. ** Learn More at: LearningTogether.org ** Proceeds will go to benefit Learning Together by aiding in the creation of a Food + Supply Pantry to fight against food insecurity, as well as offsetting the cost of Therapy and School Upkeep. This Campaign is an auxiliary of Bridge Gala 2019 Fundraising Efforts with a combined goal of $30,000 for Learning Together! ** More information at: BridgeGala.com **

Leones Naranjas is a non-profit Civil Association, which was born as a sports project and which has now been transformed into a social inclusion project through sports, with education being one of our main objectives. We want our children out of the street to prevent risk behaviors (such as drug, bullying, anxiety, eating disorders, intra-family violence, gender violence, etc), and we want our childrens to be able to finish their preparation studies (elementary, secondary and high school), in order to give them the opportunity to access to university studies (degree studies). Very ambitious objective, taking into consideration the socio-economic reality that most of our players' families live today. But we will work tirelessly to achieve this goal, above any sporting goal.

Join me in supporting local Bellevue causes which help kids and the environment.

Join us as we continue to make a lasting impact for vulnerable youth in Rwanda. At our Learning Center that currently supports over 50 children, we offer counseling sessions, warm meals, clean clothes as we help street children unite with their families or next of kin. Our team of passionate staff work hard to ensure those kids feel loved and help them get off the streets. 1:1 counseling sessions with kids and their families help our team understand the kids we work with to help them better. At our Center, they also participate in Computer learning, soccer practices and tournaments, go back to public schools in Rwanda where they are provided by our team all the resources they need to succeed. Vocational trainings are offered for those who are interested. Thank you so much for your generosity to continue make an impact for generations to come.

Children in every country, every culture, at every social and economic level are at risk of violence including physical and emotional abuse, sexual harm and exploitation, and neglect or deliberate deprivation. Save the Children has made it their mission to ensure that vulnerable children are protected. And AppDynamics has now committed to this cause. Jeremy Duggan, AppD’s General Manager in EMEA, is a longtime advocate for children’s well-being. He is now leading another charge -- Climb Higher -- to allow children to climb to their highest potential. Jeremy and his son, Tommy, will take on two treks on two continents, with one cause in mind: helping children thrive across the globe. They’ll climb Huayana Picchu in May 2019 and Mt. Kilimanjaro on September 14, 2019, all the while raising funds and awareness for the work Save the Children does globally. The goal is to raise $75,000 USD by the end of September 2019. Join us by supporting this cause and sharing with your networks. Donations from Cisco employees will be doubled by Cisco’s Matching Gifts Program. Let’s make this happen! 2 treks, 2 continents, 1 cause: helping children thrive across the globe.

Changing Underprivileged Young Lives in India Through Basketball in our multi-year Hope Through Hoops program

Join CSAP in supporting Learning Together School May 9th at Marbles Kids Museum! NOTE: Once you have donated, please don't forget to sign up for tickets at... https://app.smartsheet.com/b/form/447b9320e06a4a8abab320efc214baa4 OR email gakhoury@cisco.com See you then, Gabby Khoury and Volunteer Committee

From 20 – 23 February , I will be joining a group of 15 friends and family members as Team Just Breathe in undertaking the Wild Coast Challenge, running 120km over 3 days along the rugged beauty of the Wild Coast, from The Haven to Chintsa, all to raise funds for the Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital in honour of our precious and dearly missed Connor Weber, my cousin’s little boy, who tragically drowned in December 2017. When we lost Connor, the silver lining to that painful experience was the care of the ICU staff at the Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital, the first stand-alone tertiary hospital, exclusively for children, in sub-Saharan Africa. It truly is an awe inspiring place, with the most incredible people working tirelessly every day in extremely challenging conditions to care for and save thousand’s of children, always with dedication, compassion and the utmost care and respect for the devastated families. We have committed our lives to doing what we can to help this institution that helps people, like us, in their times of greatest need.

On-call doctor for the dying children

Here are some examples of nonprofit organizations that may be of particular interest to young people

Bill Wilson Center provides services to more than 6,200 children, youth, young adults and families in Santa Clara County through our various programs. Additionally, they reach more than 30,000 clients through their Street Outreach and crisis line programs. Their programs focus on housing, education, counseling, and advocacy. The Bill Wilson Center is committed to working with the community to ensure that every youth has access to the range of services needed to grow to be healthy and self-sufficient adults. They have been providing services to runaway and homeless youth since 1973.

Our collective VMware community has helped raise $7,794 on a $20,000 goal thus far! Help me, Help BASANT's organizes and hosts mental health educational seminars at area schools and college campuses. Your contributions allows BASANT to be able to reach more students, more schools and more campuses. Making it alright for our Teen and youths to ask for help when they are feeling emotionally or mentally over whelmed. They have a lot to juggle between academic, social and peer demands. At times these pressures can be too much and in many cases untreated or unresolved mental health issues can result in enduring consequences (depression, suicide, even violence). To increase awareness and help many in need of such help, please join me in contributing to BASANT, a SF Bay area non profit (http://www.basantnow.org/) focusing on mental health awareness and resources for the Bay Area community.

SITE Centers Employee contributions for Ronald McDonald Houses in our employee communities

What do premature babies need in order to survive? 1 out of every 10 babies in Bulgaria is born prematurely, with prematurity levels in some cities well above the country average of nearly 18%. Each year 6,000 babies are born too early and unprepared for life outside the mother's womb. Due to their low weight and not fully developed organs and systems, they need specialized care to survive and develop. Unfortunately, in some settlements in Bulgaria neonatal wards are not well equipped for the needs of their youngest patients. From 2012 until now, Our Premature Children Foundation has donated life-saving equipment to more than 30 wards in the country. Although incubators are among the most popular equipment associated with such campaigns and they are undoubtedly of the utmost importance for every NICU, it turns out that there is no less need for resuscitation tables, thermowells, monitors for vital signs, pulse oximeters, infusion pumps, including, for our great astonishment, consumables such as better tubes for intubation of premature babies. Within the “Big Wonders for Little Heroes” campaign, we aim to raise funding and ensure that premature babies are receiving the best medical care and access to modern medical equipment indefinitely of where they were born. We rely on your help to make this possible. “Our Premature Children” Foundation is in constant contact with the teams of neonatal wards in the country who are taking care of premature and high-risk newborns. In our work on each campaign, we conduct a survey among the departments across the country, including among small settlements. A study of the foundation, which took place in October 2018, highlighted a number of basic types of medical equipment of which the departments are suffering a serious shortage.

Boston Children's Hospital

As part of their COVID-19 Relief campaign, Jagruthi trust is helping the needy families to help buy basic raw materials/ food/ medicines in addition helping the poor children in their learning. ++ The children attend MEG School (over 350 students) managed by the Trust ++ Aims to reach out to 500 families around Cox town area to help them in their needs. ++ 60 children in the home care center looking for virtual learning. ++ 8 girls are in Grade X now writing board exams –contribute to help with laptops to these girls to enable them for their future courses. ++ Virtual classes using Cisco WebEx for students in a home care center (All Govt. permissions required for community intervention have been secure by the organization)

Children's home, transitional living, vocational programs, medical clinic, families united and a school! Casa Bernabe Overview https://youtu.be/xH5qfG8Nqgc THE REALITY In 2015, Guatemala had the second-highest rate of child murders in the world. Of the crimes against children that get reported—including murder, rape, kidnapping—most go unpunished (88%). It is estimated that 4 out of 10 children experience sexual abuse. An estimated 2 in 5 children are malnourished. Among indigenous children, that rises to 4 in 5. UNICEF estimates that there are more than 370,000 orphans in Guatemala and at least 5,000 children live on the streets of the capital, abandoned by mothers who are too poor to keep them. Five out of 10 students who enter primary school in urban areas complete primary school, as opposed to only two out of 10 in rural areas. These are not just numbers, these are lives and this is the load that the children at Casa Bernabé are carrying with them. THE GOOD NEWS Casa Bernabé Ministries exists to provide hope for vulnerable children in Guatemala, both within the walls of its campus and also within the surrounding community. The ministry seeks to provide the framework needed for each child to step out from the past trauma of their lives by providing physical needs, medical and psychological care, and spiritual guidance. Children are ministered to in church and youth group and educated in the Christian school on campus. Lives are transformed as the ties of generational poverty and abuse are broken. By working with the Guatemalan court systems and biological families Casa Bernabé Ministries is leading the way in Guatemalan Global Orphan Care.

Make-A-Wish Campaign Fund