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The dream of little girls to put on a tutu and glitter—and dance just like other little girls their age. Despite their dreams, these girls were not able to dance like their friends, sisters, cousins and even their mothers. They had physical and medical challenges that prevented them from joining classes in their community. Joann Ferrara, a pediatric physical therapist, was inspired to make the dancing dreams of children come true when one day a little girl with cerebral palsy in a tiara and tutu said simply, “I wish I could be a dancer but nobody wants me.”Dancing Dreams has grown from five girls to current 130 girls and boys. Classes are adapted so each child can participate to the best of his or her own unique ability. Our annual performance, complete with elaborate sets and numerous costume changes, is a highlight for our dancers and their families.

Change for Children partners with communities in Latin America and Africa who are struggling against poverty and injustice to improve access to basic needs, healthcare and education. Our development projects, their cost and priority, are determined by our Southern partners according to the current needs of their communities. Change for Children is about social change. Our commitment is to Self Determination, Equality, Local Ownership, Responsibility, Solidarity, and the Future. With your help Change for Children supports initiatives in areas of: Basic Human Needs, Health & Nutrition, HIV/AIDS Prevention & Treatment, Education, Sustainable Agriculture, Indigenous Peoples' Cultural & Environmental Preservation, Child Protection, Human Rights, Democracy & Good Governance Promotion, Capacity Development & Income Generation for Women. In Canada, our Global Education program engages the public in a process of awareness raising, analysis and action on issues of global justice.

While our primary day to day responsibilities are focused on providing services to children and families who are, for any number of reasons, experiencing some form of crisis in their lives that is adversely affecting care giving capacity or child well being, we also recognize the value of preventive services as a means of reducing risk of harm. We believe that communities that pay particular attention to supporting its child population are also helping to build strong families. Additionally, Family and Children's Services of Frontenac, Lennox and Addington provides a variety of services to our community. Included in these are a program to provide children in need with back to school supplies, a Christmas Tree of Hope, food and gifts for the holiday celebrations, winter coats and outerwear, funds for extracurricular activities and summer camps, post-seconadry bursaries for our youth in care and emergency funds as needed.

Our Programs: PRSCH comprehensive, well-designed programs recognize the wide-ranging impact of substance abuse on a person’s physical and mental health, family, friends and employment. Our programs address the challenges the men may be experiencing. Our programs: · individual and group/family counselling; · relapse prevention; · conflict and anger management; · budget planning, career planning, employment skills; · health, nutrition and wellness; · journalling for gratitude, personal growth and reflection; · meditation; · discharge planning. Our programs are essential to recovering clients who are returning as productive members to our community. Our programs are action oriented to focus on the person’s present thoughts and feelings and constructively teach alternative ways to successfully manage high-risk situations whether emotionally or environmentally influenced. The delivery of our programs change according to the needs of the men, their goals and choices.

Our Mandate: Elephant Artist Relief Society (EAR) is a registered charity that provides practical resources to Calgary visual artists in order to help sustain their well-being and livelihood, contributing to a vibrant cultural community. EAR envisions a healthy arts community ensuring a continued and rich cultural landscape for us all. As a unique service organization for the visual arts sector, EAR builds creative capacity and fills a role not duplicated by any other agency. Our History: Elephant Artist Relief came into being when artists came together to help a fellow artist with a health crisis. Since then, EAR became aware of how vulnerable the visual art community is, and EAR’s mandate has expanded from merely responding to emergency needs of artists (a role of response) to one of of protection and prevention, ensuring that artists remain able and productive.

Family Services of the North Shore is an accredited, not-for-profit, community-based organization. For sixty years, we have provided education, support, and counselling to heal and connect the North Shore community.The Agency serves the City of North Vancouver, District of North Vancouver, the District of West Vancouver, as well as the Village of Lions Bay, and Bowen Island. We also lead the provincial work in the prevention of eating disorders.Our annual budget is now close to 3.7 million of which one third or 1.3 million is fundraised. We actively work with our donors, funders, community partners and corporate donors to ensure the sustainability of effective and cost-efficient programs. Our vision is a connected community where people care for one another. We annually serve close to 7400 individuals and families through a broad range of social services to children, youth, adults, couples, and families from a diverse array of cultural and economic backgrounds.

Wildlife Rehabilitation CCWR is working towards a Wildlife Custodian Authorization, to be issued by the Ministry of Natural Resources. We are applying for the funding needed to build our intake clinic and animal enclosures in the hope of taking in injured and orphaned fawns and raccoons starting in spring 2010. Public Education Some harm to wildlife can be prevented through public education. CCWR will develop an extensive campaign to inform the public on the role people can play in minimizing the impact humans have on wildlife. Advocacy CCWR believes that we need to respect nature and that all life should have value and meaning. When human industry interferes with the balance of nature, we need to take a responsible approach. CCWR will work with city officials and developers, speaking on behalf of wildlife when its well-being is threatened by land development. Sanctuary Our sanctuary animals continue to receive excellent care for the rest of their lives.

Rainbow Literacy Society (RLS) is a non-profit organization that provides free family literacy programs. These programs include Books for Babies, Time for Rhymes, Building Blocks Family Literacy Program, Homegrown: Stories for Life, Pillowslip Stories and Building Adolescent Skills in School. RLS also delivers the Write Break Adult Literacy one-on-on volunteer tutor program. RLS was formed in 1993 by a group of Vulcan County volunteers who wanted to develop preventative programs, based on the belief that language, literacy and communication skills are critical factors in the lives of every citizen in our community. Staff and volunteers from RLS developed the Building Blocks Family Literacy Program in 1997. Staff are trained to work in-home with families on literacy skills. This model is now used by various programs in Western Canada. In 2004 Rainbow Literacy Society was recognized by Literacy Alberta and received the Award of Excellence for an organization.

AMISTAD CANADA currently works with four Mexican non-profits: With CASA, a centre for family and reproductive health, we have three projects: - We fund a Clinical Coordinator in CASA's School of Professional Midwifery and provide equipment for the School and Maternity Hospital. - Donations for the annual San Miguel Walk support projects in CASA’s Domestic Violence Prevention Program. - We fund the establishment of libraries in pre- and primary-schools in rural communities and thereby enhance early childhood education With FEED THE HUNGRY we provide nutritional health education services to the families of children participating in FTH’s school meals programs. With LA BIBLIOTECA DE SAN MIGUEL DE ALLENDE, we have a Canadian Education Project, which provides scholarships, free classes and books for young Mexican students. With JOVENES ADELANTE we provide scholarships, computers and other services to qualified San Miguel de Allende students for their university career.

VAST workshops and clinics are offered to communities that rarely see veterinary or animal husbandry services. We train local animal health workers in food animal care, disease prevention and treatment, and biosecurity. The goal is to recognise key diseases in livestock before they become fatal, as well as give locals the opportunity to have their animals health checked. A secondary goal is to deliver needed veterinary medicines and supplies to communities. Our next visit is to Haiti. Haiti is the poorest country in the Western hemisphere, with some of the highest infant mortality, illiteracy and infectious disease rates found globally. Since the earthquake in 2010, a cholera epidemic has also impacted the population, compromising their ability to rebuild. As more than 80% of the population survives on less than $2 US/day, farmers are unable to pay for proper animal care. Unfortunately for most rural Haitians, their family's wealth and security are tied up in the few animals they own.

Our mission is to enhance doctor/patient communication, specifically in end-of-life conversations; strengthen patient-centered healthcare; and to reduce health and healthcare disparities with a focus on chronically and terminally ill homeless individuals. In 2015, HCRI, Inc. began a new journey – to create a hospice house for the terminally ill homeless in Sacramento, CA – Joshua’s House – in memory of a young man, Joshua Lee (1980-2014), who had a vision of preventing those homeless men and women who were seriously and terminally ill from dying alone, scared and in pain on the streets or along the rivers of our community. We are using a community-based approach with an Advisory Board comprised of representatives from local hospitals; hospice programs; California State University, Sacramento; University of California, Davis, School of Medicine and School of Nursing; organizations that focus on housing for the homeless; medical clinics; as well as the homeless community.

Anime For Humanity is a 501©(3) charity non-profit dedicated to using Anime and Cosplay as a medium to challenge the stigma surrounding mental health. We attend conventions all over the nation to meet people face to face, start conversations that spark change, and hand out resources to anyone looking for support and community. We believe that Anime and Cosplay give us an opportunity to move people from silence to honesty, from isolation to community, from pain to hope and healing. Our vision is to use anime as a tool to create a world where mental illness is understood, effectively treated, and ultimately prevented. There are many who suffer from mental health issues silently. They might not be ready to reach out, know where to look for help, or find the courage to step into therapy. Our mission is to reach them and provide them with hope and the mental health resources they need. Taking time to understand their mental illness and celebrate what brings us together in conventions can be one of the most direct ways we can reduce social isolation and challenge the stigma surrounding mental health.