Tag Archives: Global Mom Relay

Apr24

Happy Birthday Shot@Life! #BirthdayBash

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Happy Birthday Shot@Life! #BirthdayBash

Shot@Life’s #BirthdayBash starts today- a 3 day Social Media celebration of Shot@Life’s 1st year!  To celebrate along with us check out the Shot@Life Storify page, the Shot@Life Facebook page , and follow the celebration on Twitter @shotatlife #BirthdayBash!  This week as the world celebrates Global Immunization Week, the Global Vaccine Summit begins today in Abu Dhabi under the patronage of Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayes, the Crown prince of Abu Dhabi, and in partnership with the United nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon and Bill gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda gates Foundation.  The Summit will endorse the critical role that vaccines and immunization play in saving lives, and protecting children for a life time.  In conjunction, the United Nations Foundation Shot@Life campaign celebrates its 1st birthday!  Shot@Life is a call to action for Americans towards a global cause, it educates and empowers Americans to advocate for and to donate towards vaccines. Immunization is one of the most cost-effective ways to save the lives of children in developing countries.  Shot@Life aims to decrease vaccine-preventable childhood deaths around the world, and to give every child a shot at a healthy life. I was thrilled to become a Shot@Life Champion this past year and to join this important initiative. Together we can save the lives of 1.5 million children a year, and see the erradication of deadly diseases such as Measles (WHO statistics show measles deaths dropped 71 % in the past decade)  and Polio (we are 99% there!) within our lifetimes.

A few ways that YOU can help to give all children a shot at a healthy life:

1. Global mom relay: http://www.unfoundation.org/globalmomrelay/ Every day from now until May 3rd there will be a new blog post in the Global Mom Relay, and each time you share it over email, FB, or Twitter, Shot@Life gets $5 from the Gates Foundation and Johnson & Johnson. It’s that easy!

2. Sign up for the free Charity Miles app on your mobile device. You select from a number of charities they doante to, and each mile you run, walk, or bike, gets sponsored and your charity gets a little money. Win/Win right?! For example, UN Foundation sponsors my dog walks/runs for Shot@Life, and every 4 miles = 1 polio vaccine!

3. Sign up to support vaccines for kids in developing nations! www.shotatlife.org

4. Follow Shot@Life on Facebook  or Twitter 

5. Donate to my Shot@Life TeamIMMUNITY donation page and help me reach my goal of providing 45 kids immunization against vaccine preventable diseases for life. Just $20 will provide a life worth of vaccines for one child.

6. WATCH The Global Vaccine Summit ONLINE in LIVE-TIME as it begins today in Abu Dhabi under the patronage of Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayes, the Crown prince of Abu Dhabi, and in partnership with the United nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon and Bill gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda gates Foundation.  The Summit will endorse the critical role that vaccines and immunization play in saving lives, and protecting children for a life time.

Apr16

It Needs To Begin With The Mothers; Join The Global Mom Relay

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It Needs To Begin With The Mothers; Join The Global Mom Relay

Jennifer Lopez is seen in a Global Mom Relay video message on the Toshiba Vision Screen in Times Square, New York, April 11, 2013. (INSIDER IMAGES/Stuart Ramson for UN Foundation) — in New York, NY.

I am a Boston girl, and aching today for the city I grew up in. I watched the Boston Marathon run through my town of Brookline each year, and my heart is breaking for those lives lost, and those injured by the terrible act of terrorism yesterday, for the city now in mourning, the runners in a daze, and all of us as global citizens who live in a world where this could possibly happen. I am hesitant to post this today as I mourn, but at the same time feel the need to come together for change in the world.  I feel strongly that that needs to begin with women working together to raise children not to hate,and  not to fear those different from themselves. Rather we need to teach love, tolerance, compassion and understanding. As women who may become mothers to the men of the world it needs to begin with us.   Motherhood bonds you to all other mothers. As mothers we share so much that supersedes geography, culture or language. We share the love of our children and the desire for them to grow up in a peaceful world, all of us navigating through the best we can. So I do feel strongly about still telling you about The Global Mom digital relay going on, because  The Global Mom Relay is a race we all can win.

The Relay was initiated on March 8th on International Women’s Day and will be running through May 8th, inspiring, and connecting us along the way.  This past week in Times Square the Global Mom Relay launched its video PSA featuring Jennifer Lopez on the Toshiba big screen! Times Square is one of the world’s most visited tourist attractions and it is estimated that up to 300,00o people may pass through  on any given day.    It is appropriate then that the Global mom Relay video should play in what is known as the “Crossroads of The World”, and it will run every ten minutes through May 8th. It will be exciting to see the social media impact as the message to join the virtual relay plays throughout each day for the next month.

Through daily posts by moms, experts, celebrities and advocates, the Global Mom Relay is mobilizing the conversation, awareness, and actions of participants to change the state of the startling statistics on women and children’s health in this world. Nearly 7 million children under the age of 5 will die from preventable diseases each year, and every two minutes a woman will die from complications due to pregnancy, unless we  act together to change things.

Each time a Global Mom Relay piece is shared on Facebook, Twitter, or by Email, or a donation of $5 or more is made by clicking on the share graphic on the post, a $5 donation (up to $62,500 per week or $125,000 every two weeks) will be donated by Johnson & Johnson and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to the Mobile Alliance for Maternal Health(MAMA) through April 18th. From April 19th through May 2nd the donations will be going to Shot@Life. (Additional Partners Girl Up and the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves benefited from the first month of the relay)

Co-chairs for the Global mom Relay Arianna Huffington, Jennifer Lopez, Lynda Lopez, Elizabeth Gore, and Sharon D’Agostino, are connecting moms everywhere through this virtual relay, and the power of social media in support of the United Nation’s Every Woman Every Child Movement. The Every Woman Every Child Movement was launched by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon to save the lives of women and children in line with the Millenium Development goals to be reached by 2015.

The energy in the room overlooking the square in the Renaissance New York Times Square Hotel on the day of the launch was palpable as we counted down in New Years Eve fashion. 10, 9, 8….. and the button was pushed to light up the towering Toshiba screen visible through the panoramic windows with the premier of the Global Mom Relay video.  I was thrilled to be there for the launch event, to meet up with friends from the United nations Foundation,  Shot@Life, and some of the amazing partners and contributors taking part in the Global Mom Relay.   Jennifer Burden, founder of World Moms Blog , had two posts that ran in the Global Mom Relay just days after on April 13th on the Huffington Post and BabyCenter  pages.   The posts generated over 900 shares around the world from Asia, to Africa to Europe with type of collective energy that puts change in motion. Today writer Jennifer James, of Mom Bloggers For Social Good and Global Team of 200 has a post on Jill Sheffield, and the inspiration for her life’s work in Kenya. Each time a post is read we learn more about each other, and each time a post is shared we help others,we need to work together as mothers to make this world a better place for our children.

With Olivia Culpo, Miss Universe 2012 from Rhode Island

 

Pictured L to R, Elizabeth Atalay, Documama, Holly Pavlika, Momentum Nation, Nana Meriwether, Miss USA 2012, Lynda Lopez, Lopez Family Foundation, Elizabeth Gore, UN Foundation, Jennifer Burden, World Moms Blog, Olivia Culpo, Miss Universe 2012, Sharon D’Agostino, Johnson & Johnson, Chrysula Winegar, Million Moms Challenge, Yoshi Uchiyama, Toshiba America Inc, and Jill Nystul, One Good Thing by Jillee, at the launch of the Global Mom Relay video messages on the Toshiba Vision Screen in Times Square, New York, April 11, 2013. (INSIDER IMAGES/Stuart Ramson for UN Foundation) — in New York, NY.

For more information, visit www.unfoundation.org/globalmomrelay.

Watch the video below that plays in Times Square and prepare to be INSPIRED! If you are in New York, be sure to check it out in person!

Mar8

International Women’s Day

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International Women’s Day

Empower Women, Empower The World

Today is International Women’s Day  and to honor this day I wanted to share some of my photographs of women that I have taken from around the world.  Today the United Nations Foundation , Johnson & Johnson, The Huffington Post, BabyCenter, and The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation are connecting women globally to help support women’s initiatives by kicking off the Global Mom Relay.

“From now until May 8, moms are powering an online conversation about motherhood to unlock donations. Every time you share a relay post on Facebook, Twitter, or email or donate $5 or more as part of the relay, a $5 donation (up to $8,000 per day) will be donated by Johnson & Johnson and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to one of four initiatives that are helping women and children lead healthy and happy lives – Girl Up, the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, Mobile Alliance for Maternal Action (MAMA), and the Shot@Life campaign. The Global Mom Relay is in support of Every Woman Every Child, a movement launched by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to save the lives of 16 million women and children by 2015.”– United Nations Foundation

Photo By Elizabeth Atalay 

 It always amazed me in my travels how we were able to communicate even though often we did not share a common verbal language. Somehow stories were still told and questions still asked.  The first question women everywhere always asked me was if I had children or a husband. They were often fascinated that at that time in my life, my early twenties, which was considered an old maid in many of the places I visited, that I did not yet.  Often they were truly concerned for me on this matter, which I found touching. The women I met were strangers who frequently ended up housing me, hosting me for a visit, or feeding me, and I am eternally grateful for their global sisterhood.

Photo By Elizabeth Atalay

Much has changed in the decades since my extensive travels, and in many places the quality of life for women around the world has improved.  Women are generally marrying and having children later in life allowing them to stay in school longer, and have better economic opportunities in general. Increasing numbers of girls are receiving education, and increased access to vaccines has prevented millions of deaths from preventable diseases.   There is still so far to go, the problems of violence and  inequality for women remain.  Countries around the world need to realize that they have the opportunity to tap into a large source of economic growth in the women, whoever figures that out has the potential to double their National output.

Photo By Elizabeth Atalay

Things have changed  for me as well since those wanderlust days of travel, I am now a wife and a Mother, which I think those women would be glad to know.  Motherhood is a universal language and women can learn so much from each other.  I look forward to the wisdom from around the world in the Global Mom Relay!

 

Photo by Elizabeth Atalay

I wrote this post as part of The Global Team of 200, a highly specialized group of members of Mom Bloggers for Social Good that concentrates on issues involving women and girls, children, world hunger and maternal health.

Our Motto: Individually we are all powerful. Together we can change the world. We believe in the power of collective action to help others and believe in ourselves to make this world a better place for our children and the world’s children.