Remarkable People

Sea Shepherd's Mission Statement

Established in 1977, Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (SSCS) is an international non-profit, marine wildlife conservation organization. Our mission is to end the destruction of habitat and slaughter of wildlife in the world's oceans in order to conserve and protect ecosystems and species. 

Sea Shepherd uses innovative direct-action tactics to investigate, document, and take action when necessary to expose and confront illegal activities on the high seas. By safeguarding the biodiversity of our delicately-balanced ocean ecosystems, Sea Shepherd works to ensure their survival for future generations.

Dolphins

Sea Shepherd has been active in directly intervening where dolphins are threatened. In 1982, we negotiated an end to the dolphin slaughter of Iki Island, Japan. We sent crews to Taiji, Japan, in 2003 and 2004, and to the Solomon Islands.

Galapagos

In the Galapagos Islands of Ecuador, Sea Shepherd is working with the National Marine Park service on anti-poaching enforcement and conservation programs.

Seals

Sea Shepherd has been fighting sealers since 1975, and over the course of a quarter of a century we have saved hundreds of thousands of seals from slaughter using many different and creative methods. Sea Shepherd's highly-publicized efforts have helped in creating awareness, which is the first step in enacting change. 

Sharks

On multi-faceted fronts, Sea Shepherd is waging an all-out battle to save sharks from the threat of decimation. Not only does Sea Shepherd work hard to raise awareness and care for this unpopular species, we also patrol marine protected areas, expose corruption/greed, and arrest the criminals who drive the multi-billion dollar shark-killing industry.

Whales

Sea Shepherd has been on the front lines for nearly three decades protecting whales from illegal whalers. From Japan to Iceland to Norway and elsewhere around the globe, Sea Shepherd's direct action crews defend whales from slaughter. 

We know that families are stronger when they are together, and their presence helps a sick child heal faster and cope better.

While Ronald McDonald House Charities cannot make medicine taste better or take away painful treatments, we can help lessen the burden and ensure more than 4 million families a year have the stability and resources they need to keep their child healthy and happy.

For more than 35 years, our approach has been to think globally but act locally by tailoring our programs to address the most urgent needs of each community we serve.

Mission

The mission of Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC) is to create, find and support programs that directly improve the health and wellbeing of children. Guiding us in our mission are our core values:

• Focusing on the critical needs of children.
• Celebrating the diversity of the programs we offer and the staff, volunteers and donors who make them possible.
• Staying true to our heritage of 36 years of responsible stewardship.
• Operating with accountability and transparency.

Vision

We believe that when you change a child’s life, you change a family’s, which can change a community, and ultimately the world.

We strive to be part of that change and part of the solution in improving the lives of children and their families by providing programs that strengthen families during their most difficult or challenging times. We extend our reach and impact by leveraging our 36 years of experience and strong relationships with local communities and people in the field to continually establish Chapters across the globe. We continually work to improve and expand our core programs, while also developing new services to address the unique needs of the communities we serve.

We don’t do it alone. We rely on our Chapters to identify needs and carry out our mission on the ground. We rely on our strong relationships with the medical community to provide access to health care. We rely on strategic alliances with organizations that have the knowledge and infrastructure to extend our reach. We rely on you – our donors, volunteers, staff and friends.

Our Mission Statement

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is the largest animal rights organization in the world, with more than 2 million members and supporters.

PETA focuses its attention on the four areas in which the largest numbers of animals suffer the most intensely for the longest periods of time: on factory farms, in the clothing trade, in laboratories, and in the entertainment industry. We also work on a variety of other issues, including the cruel killing of beavers, birds, and other "pests" as well as cruelty to domesticated animals.

PETA works through public education, cruelty investigations, research, animal rescue, legislation, special events, celebrity involvement, and protest campaigns.

All About Peta

PETA was founded in 1980 and is dedicated to establishing and defending the rights of all animals. PETA operates under the simple principle that animals are not ours to eat, wear, experiment on, or use for entertainment. PETA educates policymakers and the public about animal abuse and promotes kind treatment of animals. PETA is an international nonprofit charitable organization based in Norfolk, Virginia, with affiliates worldwide.

PETA believes that animals have rights and deserve to have their best interests taken into consideration, regardless of whether they are useful to humans. Like you, they are capable of suffering and have an interest in leading their own lives.

The very heart of all of PETA's actions is the idea that it is the right of all beings—human and nonhuman alike—to be free from harm. Our world is plagued with many serious problems, all of which deserve our attention. Cruelty to animals is one of them. We believe that all people should try to stop animal abuse whenever and wherever they can.

Since 1980, PETA has campaigned to establish a global society in which humans consider the needs of what Henry Beston, noted American writer and naturalist of the mid-20^th century, so beautifully called "the other animal nations." We uphold the rights of individual animals to be respected. For most, that means simply leaving them alone.

PETA focuses its attention on the four areas in which the largest numbers of animals suffer the most intensely for the longest periods of time: on factory farms, in laboratories, in the clothing trade, and in the entertainment industry.

In today's world of virtually unlimited choices, animal exploitation is simply unacceptable. We can eat better, educate ourselves better, clothe ourselves better, and entertain ourselves better without torturing and killing animals.

We have the power to spare animals excruciating pain by making better choices about the food we eat, the things we buy, and the activities we support.

The "Human Whale" Aerial Art Project Calls For Action in Response to the Escalating Threats to Whale Survival 

Its time to Save the whales Again!

Aerial artist and Save the Whales Again! Campaign advisor John Quigley had a vision, an extremely large vision, to produce whale art utilizing thousands of passionate people and photographing it from the air. 

The result, the migrating human whale project where images of the world's great whales including a blue, gray, humpback, and killer whale have been created by more than 7,ooo people worldwide in Baja Mexico, Los Angeles California, Victoria Canada, Anchorage Alaska, and Bondi Beach Australia.

The purpose - to raise public awareness to the ever increasing threats facing dolphins and whales and their ocean habitat from Global Warming, Toxic Pollution, Noise Pollution, Entanglement in Nets, Collision with Ships, and Increasing Whaling by Japan, Norway, and Iceland. Joining John to help make his vision a reality are the spokespersons of the Save the Whales Again! Campaign including Hayden Panettiere, Isabel Lucas, Esai Morales, Stephen Colletti, and Jansen Panettiere. 

The Human Whale Project kicked off last May in Loreto Mexico where over 1,500 school children formed a huge blue whale with the message SOS. Next it was on to Los Angeles California where over 3,ooo school children formed a gray whale carrying the same message. Then it was an orca, or killer whale, being formed by over 500 people in Victoria Canada followed by a huge humpback whale with the message "Defend" being formed at the opening of last year's meeting of the International Whaling Commission. Last December, just prior to the Australian elections, over 1,500 people formed the image of Sydney's adopted humpback whale on its infamous Bondi Beach with the message "SAVE". 

The purpose - to raise public awareness to the ever increasing threats facing dolphins and whales and their ocean habitat from Global Warming, Toxic Pollution, Noise Pollution, Entanglement in Nets, Collision with Ships, and Increasing Whaling by Japan, Norway, and Iceland. Joining John to help make his vision a reality are the spokespersons of the Save the Whales Again! Campaign including Hayden Panettiere, Isabel Lucas, Esai Morales, Stephen Colletti, and Jansen Panettiere. 

Up next, the Save the Whales Again! team will be heading to Santiago Chile for the June meeting of the International Whaling Commission where John's next vision will come to life. Stay tuned for updates!

The Candie’s Foundation works to shape the way young people in America think about teen pregnancy and parenthood. In June 2001, Neil Cole, head of the Candie’s fashion brand, launched The Candie’s Foundation to educate America's youth about the devastating consequences of teenage pregnancy.

The foundation reaches millions of teens each year with high-profile media campaigns that encourage the delay of pregnancy and challenge America’s youth to make healthy decisions about sex. Our approach is unique: all of our ads use celebrities that teens can relate to, in a style that speaks to teens on their own terms. We go beyond raising awareness; our goal is to influence teen culture.

A key to the success of our campaigns is sharing our content with organizations around the country that are doing community-level teen pregnancy prevention programs. This way we reach teens simultaneously at the macro level – teen culture around teen pregnancy and parenting – and the micro level – individual skills and behaviors.

Our campaigns are making a difference. Teen girls who have been exposed to the foundation and its messages are more likely to view teen pregnancy and parenthood as stressful and negative, and they are more likely to be skeptical of the media’s portrayal of teen pregnancy and parenting. They also think teens should wait longer to have sex than girls who are not aware of the foundation and its messages.

Declare Yourself is a national nonpartisan, nonprofit campaign to empower and encourage every eligible 18-29 year-old in America to register and vote in local and national elections. Using the power of strategic media and retail partnerships, celebrity spokespeople, and most importantly, mobile and Internet technology, Declare Yourself's campaign blankets the landscape of popular culture, as well as universities and high schools, with a simple, clear message: REGISTER and VOTE!

Since 2004, Declare Yourself has registered almost 4 million young people via our on-line registration tool, on-location efforts and Ultimate College Bowl contest, contributing significantly to the unprecedented turnout of youth voters in the 2008 Presidential Election -- 24 million – a major increase from 2004.

Declare Yourself is expanding and intensifying its youth engagement activities in 2009. Between elections, Declare Yourself will focus on empowering young people as next-gen citizens, dedicated to national and local service, thoughtful activism, and shared civic expression. To accomplish our goals, we build partnerships with civic-minded philanthropic, marketing, and media organizations around the country. We are also affiliated with two related initiatives: RemixAmerica.org and BornAgainAmerican.org.

Here are just a few highlights from 2008:

• More than 2.2 million young people used our online registration tool or registered through our Ultimate College Bowl national contest
• More than 6 million people viewed our viral videos and public service announcements
• Our “Only You Can Silence Yourself” print, video and billboard campaign (featuring actress Jessica Alba) achieved more than 100 million impressions through publications such as People, Seventeen, Rolling Stone, Sports Illustrated and US Weekly
• More than 5 million people received text reminders to their cellphones
• A month-long registration drive with the “Ellen DeGeneres Show” yielded thousands of registrations and raised national awareness

Major publications recognized Declare Yourself’s emergence as a youth-oriented brand. The New York Times called us a “different kind of cultural phenomenon” (8/14/08). The Los Angeles Times (10/31/08) noted: “… Declare Yourself may turn out to have been one of this historic election's decisive factors. Lear emphasized the importance of the youth vote when most political professionals considered that wasted time.” Brandweek wrote: 

“Another high-profile, celebrity-centered link-up encompassing politics, marketing and civic awareness was initiated by Declare Yourself, a nonpartisan voter-registration group founded by legendary TV producer Norman Lear. Its eye-catching campaign to encourage voter involvement roped in A-list young stars like America Ferrera, Zac Efron and Jessica Alba…” (9/22/08) 

For the 2008 Election, Declare Yourself enlisted an unprecedented group of partners:

MOBILE CONTENT
Declare Yourself worked with Cricket Wireless and other mobile content partners to engage new voters through the mobile devices they use daily. We have sent more than five million targeted text messages to remind 18-29 year olds to register.

INTERNET
Declare Yourself’s campaigns leveraged the enormous reach of Yahoo!, MySpace, thinkMTV, Google, AOL and Good Search. Our 60 +viral videos, featuring stars such as Leo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire, Rosario Dawson, Wilmer Valderama, Ed Helms, and Christopher Mintz-Plasse (McLovin in “Superbad”) among many others, are fully distributed across the Internet and have generated millions of views on-line (and hundreds of thousands of resulting registrations).

TRADITIONAL MEDIA
Media company partners enlisted to drive young people to our on-line voter registration tool through PSAs and show placements included: Fox, MTV, Clear Channel, Comedy Central, Spike TV, Lifetime TV, FoxSports, Cosmo Girl, GOOD Magazine, and Seventeen Magazine.

RETAIL
Retail partnerships were in place with Starbucks, American Eagle Outfitters, the Gap, Harper Collins Book Publishers, W Hotels, Six Flags, Borders, and many others.

OUTREACH
Declare Yourself partnered with Voto Latino, the leading Hispanic voter registration organization, the NAACP, Student Public Interest Research Groups, Headcount, The Youngest Candidate, Why Tuesday?, and the Warped Tour, among many others.

ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY SUPPORT
Declare Yourself enlisted film actress Jessica Alba, ABC’s “Ugly Betty” America Ferrera and Hayden Panettiere from NBC’s “Heroes” as its chief spokespersons. Declare Yourself’s list of advisors and friends included actors Drew Barrymore, Tyra Banks, Adrian Grenier, Scarlett Johansson, Nick Cannon and Mandy Moore; sports figures Carlos Boozer, Freddy Adu, Brady Quinn and Stuart Scott, among many others.