Two best friends, ages 6 and 7, raise $200,000 to fight rare disease

There are only about 100 people in the U.S. like 7-year-old Jonah Pournazarian.

He suffers from a rare genetic and incurable disease called Glycogen Storage Disease Type 1B. Up until the 80s, most kids with his condition didn’t survive past the age of two.

But his best buddy, Dylan Siegel, wanted his friend to get better, so he wrote a book hoping to raise one million dollars to find a cure.

It took him an hour to write and illustrate the pages of “Chocolate Bar,” an expression the boys use to describe something great, fantastic, or awesome.

He then nagged his parents to find a publisher. David and Debra Siegel, who live in Los Angeles, Calif., turned to a local printer for help.

“We had 200 copies to sell at a school fair,” said Debra Siegel. “We were hoping that we could sell all the books we had printed.  We didn’t want to get stuck with these books.”

In a couple of hours, the boys sold every copy and had collected $6,000.

“Lo and behold, we had to do a second printing,” said David Siegel, who then set up a Facebook page, and eventually a website. “People started to hear about this beautiful little book and wanted to help, be a part of Dylan’s Magic.”

In six months, sales of “Chocolate Bar,” as well as real chocolate bars donated by a local Whole Foods supermarket, have raised $200,000 along with awareness of a disease most know little about.

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Massachusetts band raises $100,000 For Marathon explosion victims

Punk band Dropkick Murphys formed in Massachusetts in the ’90s, long celebrating their love for the city of Boston with live albums nodding to Fenway Park and singles with names like “I’m Shipping Up to Boston” and “The State of Massachusetts.” So when two explosions at this week’s Boston Marathon injured dozens of victims, the band members mobilized, doing their part to help their beloved city.

Dropkick Murphys, made up of Ken Casey, Matt Kelly, Al Barr, James Lynch, Tim Brennan, Josh Wallace, and Jeff DaRosa, began marketing a “For Boston” t-shirt on their band’s website, pledging all proceeds from the shirt sales to victims of the bombings, writing, “100 percent of all proceeds from this shirt will go directly to the victims and families of the Boston bombings.” The band was able to reach $65,000 in the first 15 hours of sales, approaching the $100,000 mark soon after.

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Fundraising manager Lauren Vincent with four out of the seventy Gromit sculptures which have been painted by celebrity artists, left to right, Paul Smith, Cath Kidston, Richard Williams and Simon Tofield, before they are placed around Bristol for public view as part of a charity initiative arts trail. After being displayed the sculptures will be auctioned off to raise funds for the Bristol Children’s Hospital charity.

Photograph: Matt Cardy/Getty Images

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South African man makes 3.7-mile sea crossing using balloons

AFP: A 37-year-old South African man successfully made the journey from the apartheid-era prison Robben Island to Cape Town on Saturday using only helium filled giant party balloons.

The journey took Matt Silver-Vallance around an hour using 160 balloons. The stunt raised $1 million to help build a children’s hospital named after 94-year-old Nelson Mandela who was imprisoned at Robben Island.

Photo: South Africa’s Matt Silver-Vallance floats above the sea. (Mark Wessels/Reuters)

R800,000 raised for Mitchells Plain schools

52 Dutch runners representing the Run4Schools Foundation ran the 2013 Two Oceans Marathon in support of the organisation’s after-care sports programmes in Mitchells Plain. Together they have raised ±R800.000 (68.000 euro).

“We are very excited to have done this together so that the children of Mitchells Plain can spend their after-school hours in a safe, supervised environment,” says founder and athlete Leslie Pangemanan. It is his 9th Two Oceans in support of the foundation he established in 2004.

Run4Schools has raised millions since then. Four schools are currently under the organisation’s wings. “When I was 19, I was sent to Cape Town by the Dutch sports authority NOC/NSF, with the task to start a sports project in Mitchells Plain,” Pangemanan recalls, who is now 41 and working as a sports therapist in Amsterdam.

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Teen with Down syndrome scales Mount Everest

Elisha “Eli” Reimer has entered the record books. Last week the 15-year-old became the first teen with Down syndrome to climb more than 17,000 feet and reach the first base camp on Mount Everest in Nepal. The 10-day climb helped the teen raise more than $85,000 for the Elisha Foundation, which was created by his parents and named after him to help families care for people with special needs.

“It was humbling, it was inspiring, just an amazing moment,” father Justin Reimer, who accompanied his son, told HLN this weekend. “He was actually leading us on the trail and we were the ones feeling our own sense of disability.” Eli’s health, like that of all Everest climbers, was monitored every step of the journey.

As documented on the Foundation’s Instagram page, Eli and his father set out for China and Nepal on March 1. They reached base camp on March 14, where Eli was photographed in front holding a flag promoting his trek. (They did not ascend to the second base camp, which is at an elevation of 21,300 feet.) He returned to the U.S. on March 22, the day after World Down Syndrome Day.

Justin told HLN that the climb was intended as a fundraiser but perhaps more importantly as a testament to the abilities of people like his son. “Eli’s life and the lives of those with disability have infinite worth and they can attempt great things,” he said.

Eli was not the first person with Down syndrome to climb Everest, although he was the first teen. Justin told Time magazine that a 35-year-old man from the U.K. was the first person with Down syndrome to make the journey.

The Elisha Foundation has made its original $85,000 fund-raising goal and is now aiming for $100,000.

In related news, an 80-year-old Japanese man named Yuichiro Miura hopes to become the oldest person to ever climb to the top of Mount Everest. He has already completed the journey two times, most recently in 2008, the same year the current record-holder, then-76-year-old Min Bahadur Sherchan, reached the summit. Miura’s journey would make him the first octogenarian to make the climb.

A homeless man in Las Vegas who had been living on the streets and had not seen his six children for nearly 25 years has been reunited with his daughter thanks to modern technology and the kindness of strangers.

Jimmy Francis was outside a Firehouse Subs shop earlier this month when he was spotted by a local realtor Jim Snyder, as he was going in to pick up his dinner. When Snyder saw Francis struggling in the cold weather he, with the help of Firehouse employees, bought the man a sandwich and gave him some cash.

After Snyder got home his thoughts stayed with Francis, left out in the cold.

“He was shaking so uncontrollably and was so cold it just broke my heart and I thought there’s something I’ve got to do here,” Snyder, 49, told ABCNews.com. “By the time I got to where my home is I knew I had to turn around and get him.”

Snyder, who says he had never before done anything like that, brought Francis to the home he shares with his wife, Maria, and gave him coffee, a warm shower, washed his clothes and packed a suitcase full of his own old clothes for Francis.

Over coffee and a warm meal, Snyder, himself a father of five children and step-children, learned that Francis had not seen his six children in over two decades after a divorce. He was particularly torn, Snyder says, over not seeing his only daughter, Natalie.

“He told me he had colon cancer in 2010 and wasn’t expected to live and because of that experience, the one thing constantly on his mind is he wants to be reunited with his children,” Snyder said.

The Snyders took down the names and birth dates of Francis’s children and used social media to search for them.

The couple found Natalie Francis, now living in Northern California and herself a grandmother, on Facebook and sent her a message. Less than one hour later, they had a response.

“The message just said, ‘Oh my God. This is my dad. Is he okay?’” Snyder recalled.

Just days later the couple brought Francis, living temporarily with an acquaintance, back to their home for a Skype call with his daughter.

“A whole lot of emotions,” is how Snyder recalled the virtual reunion. “That was the first time they’d seen each other in 24 years, literally. It was very, very special.”

Natalie Francis, it turns out, has been unemployed since November. Not able to find a job in her hometown, she is job searching in Las Vegas in hopes she can move there to live with and take care of her dad.

First, however, the two will be reunited in-person this Friday, thanks again to the kindness of strangers.

The Synders set up a fundraising site online for Francis and the publicity the story has received led to a woman donating airfare and travel expenses for Natalie Francis to fly to Las Vegas for a five-day visit with her father.

“In my wildest, wildest unbelievable imagination dreams, I never thought anything like this would ever happen,” said Snyder, who said he speaks with or visits Francis daily.

“When I did this I was just trying to help what I saw was a little old man freezing his tail off and just hungry,” he said. “I don’t know what compelled me but I just felt something pulling on my heart. Once I decided I didn’t hesitate and here we are.”

Nedbank Cup first round generates R448,000 for charity

The avalanche of goals scored during the first round of the Nedbank resulted into R448,000 worth of funds for charity as part of the Nedbank Cup Goals for Goals 2013 campaign.

In total, 56 goals were scored during the electrifying first round of the Nedbank Cup and for every goal scored during the tournament; Nedbank is donating R8,000 towards the establishment of a multi-purpose sports court. To this end, the bank has challenged the players to reach its target of R1 million worth of goals and at this rate, the set target looks feasible.

One of the biggest contributors to the goals galore during the first round of the 2013 tournament was a Maluti FET College, after scoring four goals and pulling one of the Nedbank Cup’s memorable upsets.

“It’s absolutely amazing to have kicked-off this campaign on a higher note. All the teams and players that took part in the first round have certainly come to the party in a remarkable way and we congratulate them on their efforts. We further encourage those who will be taking part in the last 16 round to continue the trend and score more goals, thus contribute to efforts aimed at assisting those who are underprivileged in our country,” said Maseda Ratshikuni, Head: Cause Marketing at Nedbank.

A week ago, Nedbank officially kick started the Sports Development component of Goals for Goals 2013 campaign through a donation of soccer kits to Milnerton and Delft Primary Schools as well as Pinelands High School in Cape Town. The donation was part of the national soccer kits hand over programme aimed at benefiting at least 10 schools per province. In total, 100 schools across South Africa will benefit as part of the Nedbank Sport Development Programme launched in 2010, in partnership with The Sports Trust.

Nedbank’s long standing partnership with The Sports Trust spans almost 20 years. Over this period, Nedbank has contributed nearly R15 million through the Nedbank Sport Affinity Programme. As clients use their Sport Affinity banking and investment accounts, more money is donate to The Sports Trust to develop sport in South Africa, at no cost to the client.

Last year, Nedbank donated soccer kits to more than 64 schools across the country and also donated R200,000 to the MC Weiler School in Alexandra to assist in building a sports field as part of the Nedbank Cup Goals4Goals campaign. In less than three years, Nedbank has reached approximately 240 schools as part of the Nedbank Soccer Development Programme.

“One of our objectives is to be a bank for all South Africans and football has proven to be a great platform to connect with the communities we serve. The bank will continue to make a positive contribution towards empowering communities as well as current and rising football stars with the skills and resources they need to make things happen,” said Maseda.

Since its inception, the Nedbank Cup has contributed to the development of young talent, given deserving players from the NFD and SAFA ranks the opportunity to make their mark by testing their skills against teams from the PSL. Within five years, the Nedbank Cup has become a premier cup competition filled with many memorable moments for the fans, teams and players. Nedbank believes that when combined with Goals4Goals and Nedbank Ke Yona Team search, the Cup will enable even more South Africans to realise their dreams.

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Freezin’ for a Reason: Cherokee Marshals Take ‘Polar Plunge’, Raise More Than $3,000 for Special Olympics

Several gasps and a lot of shivering by Cherokee Nation marshals and Sequoyah High School staff were evident February 23 as both groups dove into a frigid Illinois River.

The groups took part in the statewide “Polar Plunge” fundraising event to raise money to send athletes to the Special Olympics. Cherokee Nation marshals and a few Sequoyah faculty and students, together raised more than $3,000 for the cause.

“We were not excited about jumping into cold water, but we were excited about what this means to the Special Olympian we are supporting from our area, which is really important to us,” said Cherokee Nation Marshal Service Executive Director Shannon Buhl, according to a Cherokee Nation press release. “In helping this cause, we actually get to see who benefits from our suffering of jumping into freezing water. “

The Cherokee Nation Marshal Service had the largest group participate in the Tahlequah fundraiser with 20 participants. The Tahlequah event raised a total copy0,000 for athletes to buy uniforms and help with travel and lodging.

Sequoyah had four faculty and two students from the school’s H.O.P.E. (Honoring Our Peoples’ Existence) Club participate for the first year.

“We really wanted to promote awareness for supporting Special Olympics throughout the school,” said club sponsor Tonya Soap, in the release. “We have a student at Sequoyah that competes at the Special Olympics of Oklahoma, and so we have some personal interest in supporting him and other athletes in the state. The Polar Plunge was a fun way for our students to show their support.”

The Tahlequah Polar Plunge was just one of 11 held statewide with an overall goal of raising $300,000. Also participating were Tahlequah Public Schools, Northeastern State University, Tahlequah’s Special Olympics team and more. Donations can still be made to SOOK online at Sook.org.

Boy, 7, Raises More Than $30,000 for Sick Friend

Never underestimate first-graders.

Jonah Pournazarian, 7, is best friends with Dylan Siegel, 6. Jonah has been diagnosed with glycogen storage disease type 1B , a rare liver disorder that doesn’t have a cure. Dylan decided to raise money for research to help his friend. Late last fall, he hatched a plan and approached his parents.

“We said, ‘Let’s do a lemonade stand, the typical thing,’” David Siegel, Dylan’s dad, told ABCNews.com. “He looked at us and said, ‘I want to write a book.’”

After just two months on the market, sales of the handwritten and illustrated book and chocolate bars have raised $30,000 and counting, David Siegel said.

Now Dylan’s goal is $1 million, his father said.

The 16-page book “Chocolate Bar,” uses the term to mean “cool.” “Disneyland is so chocolate bar,” the book starts out. The ending? “I like to help my friends. That is the biggest chocolate bar.”

Jonah’s parents, who live in Los Angeles, set up a fund for their son six years ago that has raised $400,000, but now, “Chocolate Bar” looks set to exceed that sum, his father, Rabin Pournazarian, told ABCNews.com.

Whole Foods has donated hundreds of chocolate bars.  A local Barnes & Noble bookstore hosted a book signing that drew 200 people, Dylan’s father said. People from states including Tennessee and Missouri have donated money to the cause via Facebook and a website. The boys appeared on CBS television show “The Doctors” last week, pinching each others’ cheeks as they told their story.

Jonah’s genetic condition afflicts one in a million children, his father said. Most days all he eats is cornstarch mixed with chicken soup with vegetables that his mother makes and feeds him through a tube, his father said.

His feeding schedule is sensitive — the couple keeps an alarm in the bedroom set for 3:30 a.m., his father said. At school, Jonah’s parents have had to ask parents of other children to keep their child home if they get sick or to at least notify Jonah’s parents so they can keep him home.

“What could be a common cold … will land Jonah in the hospital for five to six days,” his father said. “It happened last month.”

Jonah was diagnosed with his illness when he was a baby and suffered from night sweats and low blood sugar, his father said. The existing fund has been “very grassroots” and mostly friends and family have contributed to it, Rabin Pournazarian said.

Jonah, who has a fraternal twin brother Eli who does not suffer from the condition, “gets the importance of finding a cure as much as a 7-year-old can,” his father said. “He doesn’t want his (feeding) tube forever.”

The money from the fund and book and chocolate sales have been sent to the University of Florida School of Medicine in Gainsville where research is taking place under Dr. David Weinstein, who is working with 200 families, he said.

It’s the first time the rare disease has gotten national attention, Pournazarian said.

Jonah and his family couldn’t be happier.

“We never dreamed that this was going to happen,” David Siegel said. “It’s just  struck a nerve and now we don’t want to stop until we’ve hit our mission.”

A charity founded to save tropical rainforest the size of Wales has achieved its goal.

The charity has raised £2m in three years to protect over two million hectares of forest, mainly in Africa.

“Size of Wales” was founded by Welsh environmentalists annoyed that their country was often used in the media as a comparator to gauge the scale of rainforest destruction.

Copycat campaigns are now being discussed in Denmark and Ireland.

The project’s organisers say ultimately they’d like to see the people of Europe raise funds to protect an area of rainforest the size of Europe.

Many Welsh people appreciated the positive spin placed on typical media phrases like: “A rainforest the size of Wales has been destroyed” or “a rainforest twice the size of Wales has gone”. Scotland and England never seemed to merit such attention.

The public chipped in more than £1m and that has been match-funded by a Cardiff-base charitable trust, the Waterloo Foundation.

“Size of Wales” organiser Hannah Scrase, based in Llanidloes, has released the news on St David’s Day. “I’m absolutely delighted,” she told BBC News. “It’s been quite a hard three years but we have got there.

“What we’d really like to see is an area the size of Europe that’s being protected by people in Europe as people in Europe have done quite a lot to contribute to deforestation over the century.”

The funding will focus on 20 projects securing community land rights; protected areas; and community forest conservation. There will also be limited re-afforestation.

“Size of Wales” will continue operating to keep the land secure and also educate people in Wales about their impact on tropical forests.

“Tropical forest deforestation amounts to as much carbon emissions as the world’s transport - people don’t realize that,” said Ms Scrase. “We have to reduce if we want to keep it to keep climate change to something reasonable.”

So far there has been no expression of interest from England or Scotland in following the international lead set in a tiny town in rural mid-Wales by a charity that does not have a phone line and makes all its calls on Skype.

Brothers of Phi Alpha Tau at Emerson College campaign to pay for FTM top surgery

Traditionally, college Greeks are an archetypally masculine institution—about as butch as the Boy Scouts. Pledging a fraternity and being inducted as a brother is often an arduous process, one that is meant to separate the men from the boys. But where does the LGBTQ community fit into this macho niche?

Much like the world of professional sports, the world of campus Greek life is not often heralded as the epitome of acceptance. Locker room antics are an insidious fact of the frat house. No doubt about it.

Of course, there are always exceptions to the rule, which is what makes this story out of Emerson College particularly heartwarming: brothers in Emerson’s Alpha Chapter of Phi Alpha Tau have come together to raise funds for a new brother’s FTM top surgery (full disclosure: I’m a member of the PAT fraternity and currently a junior at Emerson).

Earlier this year, Visual & Media Arts sophomore Donnie Collins pledged as a prospective brother to Phi Alpha Tau, the nation’s oldest professional communicative arts fraternity. An Alexandria, Virginia native, Collins didn’t come out as transgender until age 17 while attending a boarding school in Windsor, Conn. Of his time in an all-girls dorm, he says in a recent interview, “They were really nice, but it was all horrible.”

Thus far, Collins has been taking his gender transition one step at a time. Barred from using his mother’s insurance to cover any physical transitions, he has singlehandedly covered the bulk of his hormone therapy since December 2011.

“I’d go to the endocrinologist and pay hundreds of dollars out of pocket, because, of course, I didn’t have insurance of my own,” he explains.

Collins now has a college health insurance policy through Emerson, a policy, like so many others, that is trans-exclusionary. It is common practice for insurance companies to deem female-to-male breast augmentation—or top surgery—as a cosmetic plastic surgery rather than a necessity. So Collins has been raising money for the procedure for months, but it seemed that one door after another would close in his face. His petition for a trans-inclusive policy was recently denied by the college’s insurance plan, and his personal Chipin fund will cease when the crowd-funding site shuts down next month.

In a time when his options were running out, Collins’s brothers in Phi Alpha Tau have rallied together to cover some of the surgery’s cost. Find their indiegogo fund here: Brothers of A Boston Fraternity - FTM: Top Surgery. The brothers’ fund has already surpassed the $2,000 they initially hoped to donate, but now they’re looking to cover even more of the procedure’s $8,100 cost.

Collins has been completely overwhelmed by the wave of support, admitting to have cried out of gratitude when he heard what his brothers were doing. But the thought that this is a fraternity raising money for him never even crossed his mind.

“I was just like, ‘Oh that’s such a Tau thing to do,’ and I didn’t even think it was that weird,” he says. “But then I started sending [the indiegogo link] out to people, and they were like, ‘Oh my god, that’s amazing! See, Greek Life isn’t bad; it’s amazing.’”

The brothers’ site says that they hope less to raise money with their efforts and more to spread acceptance, brotherhood, and love. “We are here… to tell a story.The story of transformation, the story of self-discovery, and the story of brotherhood.”

It seems that Donnie Collins and his brothers’ story is certainly one worth telling. Please consider donating to their cause.

Homeless man is given $100,000 by well-wishers after he returned diamond engagement ring to bride after it fell into his cup

A homeless man in Kansas City, Missouri is facing a windfall of more than $100,000 for his kindness after he returned a diamond engagement ring to its rightful owner, which she had accidentally dropped into his donation cup.

Billy Ray Harris, who is homeless and often sleeps under a bridge, was shocked to find that a diamond ring had been dropped in his collection cup while begging last Friday.

‘The ring was so big I knew if it was real it had to be expensive,’ he told KCTV. Rather than pawn it, Harris had a hunch that the owner would return for it and so he stored it in a safe place.

The ring belonged to Sarah Darling, who was devastated the next day when she realized she had lost it.

‘It was horrible. It was such a feeling of loss,’ said Darling. ‘It meant so much to me beyond just the financial value.’

Darling rarely takes the ring off, but that day had put it in her purse for safe keeping after she had developed a slight rash on her finger.

She went back to look for Harris on the Saturday, but couldn’t find him. She tried again the next day and fortunately he was in the same spot.

‘I asked him … “I don’t know if you remember me, but I think I gave you something that’s very precious to me,” and he says, “Was it a ring? Yeah, I have it, I kept it for you,’” said Darling.

She described finding the ring again as a miracle.

To show their appreciation, Darling and her husband set up an online fundraising page on giveforward.com for Harris. 

So far more than 3,800 donations have been made, totaling over $100,000. The money will be given to Harris at the end of a 90-day campaign.

‘In life what goes around comes around… Billy - your sweet actions, despite being in dire straits yourself, prove that there is humility in the world… you are one shining example. Lots of love from across the pond,’ wrote Chris and Mel, from Brentwood, England, who gave $20.

‘Several years ago, my mother’s ring was stolen from my house. To this day, I recall the empty feeling in the pit of my stomach. Hopefully, your honest example will encourage others to pay it forward. Kudos to you, Billy Ray!’ wrote Tero Sturges who gave $10.

 ‘Mr. Harris, Thank you for being a model of honesty for others. You are obviously a decent man. I am sorry that you have had to live under a bridge,’ wrote Robert in Miami, who gave $20.

The response has been described as ‘unreal’ by Darling’s husband Bill Krejci, who posted an update the site on Saturday.

Krejci said he had met with Harris to tell him about the flood of donations and to get to know him better. They went together to make some repairs to Harris’ bike.

‘We talked about a lot of things related to my family’s ring and the many donations. We talked about one day in the future the ring may one day be passed down to my daughter,’ Krejci wrote on the website. ‘We talked about how insanely positive all this has been.’

Harris told Krejci that he has found a place to stay where he is ‘safe and sound.’

Harris has spoken out about the attention he has received since returning the ring.

‘I like it, but I don’t think I deserve it,’ he told KCTV. ‘What I actually feel like is, “what has the world come to when a person who returns something that doesn’t belong to him and all this happens?’” he said.

Darling has said she is just grateful that Harris was so honest as many others might have kept the ring or sold it.

‘I actually feel like I’m especially lucky to have this ring now. I loved it before. I loved it so much, but I love it so much more now. I feel like it has such great karma,’ she told CNN.

UN soccer event scores $360,000 for youth in Brazil and Cape Verde

 The recent United Nations all-star charity soccer match in Porto Alegre, Brazil raised $360,000 for youth-oriented projects in Brazil and Cape Verde, the world organization’s development agency has announced.

“We are delighted by the support for the people of Brazil and Cape Verde,” Rebeca Grynspan, Associate Administrator for the UN Development Programme said in a press release issued on Friday. “We are proud that UNDP’s 10th Match Against Poverty provides the opportunity for the public to participate in the fight against poverty and exclusion,” she added.

More than 50,000 fans filled the Gremio Arena Stadium on 17 December 2012 to watch the game, which featured some of the world’s top players, including legends Ronaldo and Zinédine Zidane.

Ronaldo’s team, which was made up entirely of Brazilian players, beat Mr. Zidane’s 3-2.

Proceeds from ticket sales, broadcast rights and sponsorships from the match will be evenly split between two projects aimed at re-integrating marginalized youth, according to UNDP.

In Brazil, proceeds will fund the “Rede Esporte para Mudança Social (REMS)” a project that promotes poverty reduction and social inclusion through sports.

In Cape Verde, an island nation off the coast of West Africa, UNDP will work with Afro Reggae, a Brazilian non-governmental organization, to improve education amongst marginalized youth.

The match follows nine successful contests, held in Basel, Madrid, Dusseldorf, Marseille, Málaga, Fez, Lisboa, Athens and Hamburg. Proceeds from previous matches have benefited projects in more than 29 developing countries, including recovery efforts in the wake of the 2010 Haiti earthquake and last year’s devastating floods in Pakistan.

“Every time we get together for this match we can help and make a difference,” said Mr. Zidane, who is also a UNDP Goodwill Ambassador.

“We are very happy with the results of this edition, and we look forward to hearing about the results from the projects in Brazil and Cape Verde that will benefit,” echoed UNDP Ambassador and teammate Ronaldo.

The annual match - which was televised globally - is supported by both football’s governing body, the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), and the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA).

mothernaturenetwork:

Animal rescue comic book seeks funding help

The world of comics has long championed superheroes who fight for justice on behalf of people — but is it time for animals to have their own caped crusaders? In the eyes of activist Matt Miner, who runs the pit bull site BSLnews.org and owns an animal rescue operation in Rockaways, N.Y., the answer is a resounding yes. 

Miner has teamed up with veteran comic book artist Joel Gomez to create a series called “Liberator.” The project, which already has the support of a major publisher, is currently seeking funding via Kickstarter to cover the costs associated with illustrating the initial four-part run. 

“The idea for the book formed with the realization that the same people who might support and enjoy stories about someone like Batman, who puts on a mask in the night and helps people, might also support and enjoy stories about an underground animal liberation activist, who puts on a mask in the night and helps animals,” writes Miner. 

Launched last week, the effort has quickly racked up more than $13,000 towards its final $18,000 goal. If all goes well, Miner hopes to take the profits from his piece of the project to help fund his independent pit bull rescue work.

“After becoming vegan and reading more about the issues and the different types of activists who take up the cause to help animals, I learned of the animal liberation underground movement,” Miner told me via email. “What really resonated with me is that these activists don’t actually hurt anyone but they put on masks and save animals in the middle of the night — as a lifelong comic book reader this sounded to me like Batman, but for animals! Since then I really thought it’d make a great premise for a comic book.”

You can check out a five-page preview of “Liberator” over on Bleeding Cool here. To participate in making this comic book series a reality, hit the Kickstarter campaign here. A video from Matt explaining more about his rescue efforts and the project itself is here.