The Whitebridge Foundation was created by Grace Demaio a Melbourne designer who participated in the Landmark Education Self-Expression and Leadership Program.  The purpose of the foundation is to collect and send excess clothing from major clothing manufacturers to help dress children in Vietnamese orphanages, Cambodian Refugee Camps and Tibetan refugee camps. The clothing, storage and transportation are all donated. She has obtained 15,000 garments so far and the first overseas delivery took place at the start of December.  Here is a story about it from Australia’s National Nine News.

Seneka Cohen is a midwife and mother who while participating in the Landmark Education Self Expression and Leadership Program determined to make a difference in the exceptionally high mortality rate among Australian Aboriginal mothers and babies. She created The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Birthright Quilt.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQ6Mzs7CVHg[/youtube]

The Birthright Quilt is a national, community-based initiative to address the unacceptably high infant and maternal mortality of Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander mothers and babies. According to Seneka Cohen, “Maternity care is frequently insensitive to Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander women’s needs and according to the AIHW, for every non-Indigenous mother and baby that dies, there are at least 5 Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander women* and 3 Aboriginal &Torres Strait Islander babies** that die.”

Seneka goes on to say that: “It is common for Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander women living in remote and rural Australia to be forced to travel hundreds of kilometres, often alone and months before their due date, to access maternity care by unknown caregivers in a context that is culturally inappropriate. I started The Birthright Quilt to provide an opportunity for all Australians to express their feelings about the lack of culturally appropriate maternity care available to Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander women by decorating a quilt square that will be sewn together to form a series of unique quilted art pieces.”
Instructions for contributing to the Quilt can be found on the website www.birthquilt.org and images of pieces are being continually uploaded. So far, hundreds of women are making quilt pieces and a documentary film is being produced on the making of the quilt. Both the quilt and film began being displayed publicly around Australia after its launch at the Koorie Heritage Trust Gallery on December 9th, 2007.

Seneka states that: “The purpose of the Birthright Quilt is to create awareness and raise funds in support of self-determination for Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander communities to reclaim their local birthing services. Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander women have the right to experience pregnancy and birth in a manner that supports their physical and emotional wellbeing as well as the social and cultural wellbeing of their communities.”

“This project seems to have struck a chord in the community and I have been receiving the most beautiful quilt pieces from all over the country. I am also overwhelmed by the positive responses and support I am receiving.”
The project is being supported by the Australian College of Midwives, the Koorie Heritage Trust Inc, the Maternity Coalition, the Council of Remote Area Nurses of Australia, the Congress of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Nurses, UNESCO Observatory & the Victorian Quilters Guild as well as individuals including Claire Bowditch, Lisa Kennedy, Ulrike Klein, Ric Wallis, Davini Malcolm, Jackie Schulz and many others.

For More Information you can visit the project website at www.birthquilt.org.

Denver Self Expression and Leadership Program participant Kristina Yarrington worked with her husband to create a community project to renovate a home with Habitat for Humanity.

Here is the story from the Rocky Mountain News

Kristina Yarrington, and her husband, David, sit amid construction material as work continues Monday on a soon- to-be-donated house on Mariposa Street in south central Denver.

Kristina and David Yarrington decided to give back by doing something they know how to do – fix houses.

It’s actually David’s job. Kristina is in marketing. But David is co-owner of a Value Builders office, which he bought in July. His company remodels homes for sale and then splits the profit with the owners.

In late summer, David and Kristina pondered how they could do something nice for someone else. She had taken a course with Landmark Education.

“It focused on giving back to the community, making a difference in other people’s lives,” she said Monday. “We wanted to make a difference in the life of a family and also in the community. We were looking for a community service project that fit with his business and skill set.”

They had volunteered with Habitat for Humanity before. So they approached the Denver office and offered their plan: Remodel an existing house if there was one available.

There was one in the old Gates Rubber Co. neighborhood. It was a foreclosure. It was in sad shape.

“We gutted it,” Kristina said.

Before the makeover, David and Kristina spent about two months going over the remodeling plan and schedule with Habitat, which supplied the material.

David and Kristina supplied the volunteers. She sent out a mass e-mail, hoping to get 20 to respond.

“We had over 85 volunteers – family and friends and friends of family and friends,” she said.

Plus, 16 subcontractors who work with David volunteered their skills as well.

There was a lot of tearing out and installing new – flooring, siding, cabinets, carpet.

Gayle Richardson, the new homeowner, was scheduled to get a new house in spring. But when she found out about this one, she asked if she could have it instead. She grew up nearby. Her elderly father lives in the neighborhood. And she takes care of him.

Richardson, a floral department clerk in a supermarket, is a single mom with a 16-year-old son who has lots of pals in the area. They are living in public housing for the time being.

They worked alongside volunteers as well, investing themselves in their home.

“You could put that house anywhere – in the middle of the desert – and I’d be happy with it,” Richardson told Habitat. “The fact that it’s next door to my dad is such a blessing.”

Volunteers who pitched in were glad to be able to help.

“Here I was, thinking about how to thank the volunteers,” Kristina said. “A lot of them are thanking us for giving them an opportunity to help this family.”

Richardson wants to thank all involved, too.

“I can’t wait to thank them in person,” she told Habitat.

She can take care of that Wednesday, when her home is dedicated and she gets the keys.

And it will be more convenient for her to continue a tradition – gathering with family for weekly dinner.

Landmark Forum Graduate Sean Mckeon is a teach and coach at Manual Arts high school in Los Angeles. While a participant in the Self Expression and Leadership Program, he created a community project called LAX in LA. [googlevideo]http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=911238804471689711&hl=en[/googlevideo]

Here is a story by Dan Heimpel a journalist and former lacrosse player who was so inspired by the project he became the assistant coach of the Manual arts team

Spirit of the Toilers: Building a Program in Los Angeles

by Dan Heimpel

There is now a varsity lacrosse team in South Central Los Angeles. Three years ago, Sean McKeon came to Manual Arts High School and built a program.Their school consistently ranks low in the Los Angeles Unified School District in terms of graduation rates and exit exam scores.

Manual Arts is no different than any other inner city high school, rife with problems but also full of hope.

This fall I joined the Manual Arts Toilers as an assistant coach. They won their first game, after 30-some losses, at the end of last season. I’m here to help keep that streak alive.

IN THE LONG SHADOW of the Los Angeles Coliseum's faded gold lies Manual Arts High School. A square block of fences, creaking buildings and one gloriously brown, muddy and fully-functional field compose the campus. In the confines of this clumsy infrastructure, 3,000 students yell, low-five, curse and appraise each other. Teachers hold keys to wet-floored faculty bathrooms and gates that keep teenage traffic in check.

I'm here for the second day, trying to help Sean McKeon coach a lacrosse team. White-toothed and freshly married, Sean spends his day in a shack adjacent to the track and pitch of rutted grass. There he teaches video production to class after class of students. They etch silly monikers into the two dozen new Macintosh computers he petitioned the state for.

But the day of teaching is done, there is the field and the clouds are mixing with coming night.

When I first met the team last year, they were two games from the close of their third season. Optimism wasn’t high.

“We've been riding a three-year losing streak," Sean said.

I went to a game, and saw them lose. But the next week I got an email from Sean. The Toilers had won their first game.

Today, the team looks far from a consecutive win. Only three players have shown up for practice.

But Sean and I run them through line drills and groundballs.

"I've got a devious way to mix fun with sprints," Sean says.

He tells Edwin, Rogilio and Eduardo that they have eight shots. Every shot counts as a sprint.

If they hit the gloves, two sticks and helmet hung from the time-wheedled net they can knock off a sprint. Eduardo and Edwin suffer through the exercise, only hitting the targets once and twice, respectively. Rogelio hits four times. He only owes us four sprints.

I line up with all three guys. Sean says go, and we go. I'm surprised at Eduardo's pace. Once we’ve covered 50 yards, we line up again. Rogelio, massive and fast in his helmet and pads, speeds next to me for the second sprint.

"My stomach hurts," Edwin says after our third lap, his long black hair spilling from the back of his helmet. The air is cool and humid; the life on the turf is fresh in our nostrils.

We finish the fourth sprint and Rogelio lines up.

"You only have to do four," I say.

"I'll just keep on going," he says.

We line up. Eduardo, small and uneasy with his stick, overtakes me.

Fifty yards later, Eduardo has served his six sprints. Rogelio is still there.

"Come on Eduardo," I say and all four of us run to Sean. The day is done. We pull in for a ‘Manual’ on three.

"One… two… three…" Edwin yells, "Manual," we scream into the darkening sky.

I walk off the field and into my car. As I pull past the high school and the fast food marts (the real L.A.), I pass the Coliseum. I'm thinking about Rogelio. How on a day in fall when only three players are showing up for practice, he ran three extra sprints just because it was the right thing to do.

I can't wait for the next practice.

Here is an article from The Connection Newspapers

A Lawyer, a Doctor and a Yoga Institute

Thomas Acklin and David Scher believe that things happen for a reason — which explains why it took so long for Scher to take “Wisdom,” a Landmark Education class that focuses on what Scher describes as “fun, play and making life what you want.”

“The first time I heard about the class I didn’t register, the second time I heard about the class I registered but then withdrew for various reasons and the third time, I registered for the class and the instructor said ‘you’re not withdrawing, you’re taking the class,’ and I took the class and that’s when I met Tom,” said Scher, 40, an attorney who lives in Sterling.

The two never imagined that they would soon be running a business together.
Scher, a yoga enthusiast who takes classes and teaches at Great Falls Yoga Institute, was stunned when the institute’s founder and friend, Ellen Carroll, approached him at a Memorial Day picnic last May and informed him that she had decided to sell the studio. Although Scher enjoys his job as an immigration rights attorney, he had already been mapping out plans to build his own “Center for Well Being” franchise business. Scher asked Acklin if he was interested in a joint business venture and their partnership began.

“The blend between us is nice,” said Scher. “We have great teamwork and we have our eyes on the present and the future simultaneously.”

ACKLIN GREW UP in Alexandria but lives in Rockville, Md. He worked for several years as a neurologist but eventually gave up practicing medicine in favor of teaching high school. However, Acklin said he recently found himself taking an interest in the field of holistic health care, which is why he found the opportunity to help run what is now called the Great Falls Yoga Institute Centers for Well Being, so appealing.

Acklin, 42, took his first yoga class eight months ago during a Georgetown Hospital Mind and Body Medical Center conference in New Orleans.

“They had a 6 a.m. yoga class before the conference and I did it and I went home feeling wonderful, just having done it everyday for seven days,” said Acklin.

Scher first got actively involved in yoga in 2001 after picking up an instructional tape. He eventually met Ellen Carroll in the sports club where he was teaching classes and then followed her to Great Falls Yoga Institute. Carroll and her family lost everything when their Great Falls home burned to the ground in March of this year. She decided to sell the studio in May.

“I think the center had such a generous base and Ellen really took good care of the people and I think with everything going on she couldn’t really match that daily quality of care,” said Acklin. “And really one of the essences of yoga is having the power to know what you can’t do, as well as what you can do, so I really admire her for that … she’s been very generous in the transition.”

Carroll will continue to teach occasionally at the institute as Acklin and Scher phase themselves in. Since Scher will continue to work as an attorney, Acklin will hold down the day-to-day office operations at the studio. Scher said Carroll always told him that he could combine his love of his day job with his love of yoga.

“I was always sort of struggling with I’m a lawyer, but I’m into yoga — what do I do?” said Scher. “Ellen always said your purpose is to blend the two and so I really feel that I bring my heart to my job as a lawyer and my mind to yoga, which is interesting.”

USING VARIOUS instructor connections he has made over the last six years, Scher has hired a number of experienced teachers to run different classes at the studio.

“We have 28 classes on the schedule right now,” he said. “And we have every style and every age from 5 to infinity.”

The two friends and business partners are eventually planning to expand the center to include not only yoga, but massage therapy, holistic health services and various other offerings centered around the common theme of “well being.” Although they have already started their fall class schedule, Acklin and Scher said they will constantly be adding to their offerings and also plan to do special benefit events as well. For example, as Wednesday, Sept. 11 kicks off the fall season for them, Scher said he wanted to do something in honor of the 9-11 anniversary.

“We have a full schedule of seven classes that day and because it happens to be 9-11, anyone who registers for a class package that day, we will take 15 percent of that money and donate it to an injured firefighter,” said Scher. “I think it’s a sign of a our ‘well being’ commitment.”

In addition, the institute will also hold a “Dance Into October” relief event Sept. 28, 29 and 30, which will feature one of their instructors who was an Indian dancer but took up yoga after a knee injury. A portion of proceeds from those classes will be donated to Peruvian earthquake victims.

“Ballet, Indian Trance dancing, tango — you name it, we have it,” said Acklin. “If you focus on trauma you get more trauma, but if you focus on relief, you get more relief.”

For more information on the Great Falls Yoga Institute Centers for Well Being, visit www.greatfallsyoga.com.