Save the Date: September 30
The 2010 In Harmony with HopeSM awards celebration will take place on the evening of September 30 at Kohl Mansion in Burlingame, California. We hope you'll join us as we honor three exceptional social entrepreneurs whose innovation and caring are creating meaningful change for those who live on the margins of our society.
This year we will pay tribute to Will Allen, founder of Growing Power in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Rosanne Haggerty, founder of New York City's Common Ground; and Rebecca Onie, who founded Project HEALTH, based in Boston, Massachusetts.
Read more about our inspiring winners of the In Harmony with HopeSM awards at elfenworks.org/awards
Art in Action
College students from around the country convened in Las Vegas the second weekend in June for the International Grand Finale of the Campus MovieFest-the world's largest student film festival. Lauren Speeth was on hand to honor the winners of The Elfenworks Foundation-sponsored Social Justice Prize in the 2010 festival.
This year's first place prize went to a team of students from Georgia Tech for their film Propagating Peace. Their story shows how ordinary folks can make a ripple, if they make the choice for change. Building a Connection (Cal State East Bay), which placed second, showcases Homeless Connect, a new, visionary program in our Bay Area. A special award for artistic excellence was given to a modern Cinderella story, A Time for Hope, created by students from UC Berkeley.
For the second year, musicians had their own contest to enter: the College Battle of the Bands. Tied for second were Silent Canvas, for the song Close Your Eyes, with its subtle underlying message for women who have been subject to abuse and Taxi Project, whose song, New, provides a message of hope and solidarity. First place was awarded to The Beat Advocate for their powerful, moving, and brilliantly executed song The Other Side.
To view all three movies and hear the songs, visit:
It's Time for Hope
Fr. Greg Boyle (2009 In Harmony with HopeSM recipient) once said "Hope has a home: it's 130 West Bruno." Sadly, hope may have lost its home. Fr. Boyle recently laid off the bulk of the administrative staff at Homeboy Industries in an effort to save the organization, the largest gang intervention program in the country. All of their core businesses are still operating while they look to secure the significant funding they need to ramp back up.
Read more at www.homeboy-industries.org/
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A Return on Humanity
Peter Young recently parlayed the $25,000 In Harmony with HopeSM award money he received in October, 2009, into $200,000 for his Peter Young Housing, Industries and Treatment (PYHIT.com) by using the money to finance a telethon. The eight-fold return on his investment is truly a remarkable return on humanity. Fr. Young was also the subject of a recent video produced by Elfenworks Productions. Titled Resurrection, the video took honors at the Awareness Film and Arts Festival Sunday on May 23, 2010, in Santa Monica, California.
Music to Our Ears
FYI, right next door to us in the for-profit creative group Elfenworks Productions, LLC, there's a new direction afoot. The Productions team is now offering a one-stop shopping solution for the music and video needs of nonprofit organizations and certain for-profit businesses that offer a return on humanity.
Currently in the pipeline: a jingle for One Million Lights. To learn more, visit our custom music page at elfenworks.com.
The Doctor Is In
Elfenworks Foundation founder Dr. Lauren Speeth was honored on May 18 with an honorary doctorate in law from San Francisco's Golden Gate University, for her commitment to promoting poverty law at the university. Dr. Speeth, who had already earned a doctorate in business administration from Golden Gate, is also currently working on her doctorate in ministry from Bakke Graduate University. In accepting her award, Dr. Speeth told this year's law graduates "To receive this great honor and to not have to worry about passing the bar-that's just outstanding!"
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