Idol Gives Back

I go this email from Idol Gives Back this morning...thought I'd share. I've been an Idol fan for a couple of years now, but after they did this this year, I am hooked!! So here's what the said...
Dear LINDSAY

We'd like to take this opportunity to wish you well for the festive season and update you about some outstanding news from Africa. And we'd like to offer you a chance to share in the festive spirit by helping more young people in desperate need at home and overseas.

Back in April, Violet and Grauman were two vulnerable orphans aged 12 and 10 living in Kibera, a huge slum area in Kenya. They were being forced to scavenge because they had no adult support to provide food or clothing; they had no protection and no one was caring for them. You can watch their story again.. Now the project Kicoshep, supported by Idol Gives Back, has provided uniforms and helped make sure they are in school and they're reunited and living with their Grandmother in a much safer part of Kenya, Kisumu. Both Violet and Grauman are looking forward to a brighter future. All because of your support for Idol Gives Back.

It costs just $50 to make a real change by getting a young person into school for a whole year. And that's the best way to secure their future. Please give whatever you can spare to help more young people like Violet and Grauman. Yes, I would like to help change a life right now.

With best wishes for a fantastic New Year and heartfelt thanks for your support.

The CPEFund Team

P.S. Watch this video to remember how you helped to save and change thousands of lives. Thank you.

Melinda gets it.

I came upon a CNN Blog called Young People Who Rock...and this is the latest post...

Using her new found stardom to impact the Kingdom is the most noble thing anyone can do with something that can be so self-focused and self-centering. Melinda Doolittle gets it. She gets that she can impact the world. She was put in a place, with her rise on American Idol, that she knew she could use as a platform. She traveled to the Malaria-belt of Africa with First Lady Laura Bush supporting Malaria No More, to raise awareness of the disease. She believes, as do I, and many others, that Malaria can be eradicated, wiped off the face of the earth, completely prevented, that people dying of Malaria is a tragedy because it can be prevented -- with medicines to treat it and insecticides and nets to prevent it in the first place. People of Africa just need to be aware of it and have the oppertunity and knowledge to seek the help they need to live, because there is life after Malaria, and it can be prevented. Doolittle's goal is to see malaria eliminated in her lifetime, and I think that is possible. Melinda does rock. God bless Melinda and the many people like her. They are the ones who are going to shape our generation, they will leave the legacies for us, they are the ones we will tell our children about. They are bringing the good to this world, the way Jesus intended it. Melinda rocks. Melinda gets it.

If we all just got it, if we all just did our little part to bring the Kingdom...O what a wonderful world that would be.