ABOUT THIS NON-PROFIT
Countless injuries and deaths occur worldwide resulting from irresponsible choices that people make. These choices can include driving while inebriated, overdosing on drugs, binge drinking or taking other undue risks that put their lives and the lives of others at risk. Some people make choices without examining the possible outcomes and consequences of their actions.
To be responsible for our lives we need to be able to endure the ups and downs of life without teetering off the edge of self control when it gets tough. We also need confidence in ourselves to cope and ask for help when necessary.
An Aid to Help Foundation is a Canadian Federal Non-Profit Corporation that was created by Samantha Michael and her aunt, Gisele Microys, MD to try to prevent at least one family from experiencing the trauma that theirs went through when Samantha was almost killed as a teenager by an impaired driver. Hearing Samantha and Gisele speak from strength in telling their family's story hopefully will be meaningful. Samantha feels that if she would have had more resources available to her as a teenager to help her and others make responsible choices, the outcome for her may have been different that fateful night.
For Samantha, this Non-Profit Corporation will always be in her own way a tribute to the late Princess of Wales who she met while in the children's rehabilitation hospital in Toronto, Canada in 1991 recovering from her motor vehicle accident. She was truly inspired by the late Diana for her philanthropic approach to caring for the community, specifically to children.
Proceeds for the: INNOVATIVE ADVANCEMENT OF EDUCATION
Money Raised as of July 8th, 2010: $1250
1. To the Psychology Foundation of Canada for their program "Kids Have Stress Too!®". This is a national registered charity dedicated to strengthening families through educational resources, training programs and community-based parent education (www.psychologyfoundation.org).
2. To Roots of Empathy a Canadian registered charity whose mission it is to build caring, peaceful, and civil societies through the development of empathy in children and adults. Its vision is to change the world - one child at a time (www.rootsofempathy.org).
3. To the National Youth and Education Trust of the National Arts Centre Foundation in Ottawa, Canada (www.nac-cna.ca).
4. To the Collaborative for Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL) of Chicago, Illinois. The best selling author Daniel Goleman, PhD helped found this non-profit organization. CASEL's mission is to "to establish social and emotional learning (SEL) as an essential part of education." SEL and stress management programs for Public Schools in Canada and the United States have been shown to positively influence child development and An Aid to Help Foundation wishes to support more research into this area through CASEL (www.casel.org).
5. To support Social and Emotional Learning programs (SEL).
NOTE: An Aid to Help Foundation had the chance to review the curriculum for one SEL program for grades 9-12 by School-Connect’s authors Kathy Beland, M.Ed. and Julea Douglass, PhD. Samantha Michael and Dr. Microys from the Board of Directors of An Aid to Help Foundation were very impressed with the 40 lesson curriculum (www.school-connect.net). An Aid to Help Foundation also had the chance to look over some information on the SEL program by Second Step for Middle School students in grades 7-8. Kathy Beland, M.Ed. from School-Connect was also the original author for this. The program is used in over 25, 000 schools in 21 different countries throughout the world (www.cfchildren.org) Lastly An Aid to Help Foundation had the chance to learn about the Mind Up Program for grades K-7 that Goldie Hawn has had created for The Hawn Foundation (www.thehawnfoundation.org).
Listen to what Daniel Goleman, PhD has to say about Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) in the video below.
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