Once Upon a Giraffe...

A fanfare here, a blast of trumpets! The online database we've been working on has gone live. When you click on the Giraffes' names below, you'll be instantly transported into said database, where you'll be looking at the reasons that Giraffe was commended. The database is in beta formwe're adding more stories and photos daily but there's enough in place for you to have a go. Try out the system you can search for stories by location, by name, by the problem addressedand let me know how it works for you.

Dan Bassill founder of Cabrini Connections, a great student-mentoring program in Chicago, wants you to see the videos teens in his program have done and an interview that shows other communities how to get such programs going.

Chellie Kew reports that the Q Fund's school in Zambia is open for 414 students, many of them orphaned by the AIDS epidemic. In order to educate these kids, classrooms and offices had to be built and teachers trained and certified, and a lot of chances takenin true Giraffe mode. Find out more atwww.qfund.org.

News from Sierra Leonethe people of that nation were asked to vote for the most effective non-governmental agency in the country. Over 300 groups were in the running, and the winner isGiraffe John Bangura's Hope-Sierra Leone. The group's budget is a fraction of what's spent by other nonprofits operating there, making Hope-SL's impact even more impressive.

Gloria Flora, honored for defending US National Forests against exploitation, tells us that she's working with a grassroots effort to protect Montana's Rocky Mountain Front. She's also helping Alaska do a Climate Change Action Plan, modeled on one that she did for Montana. And in her spare hours, she's become a "missionary for biochar." To find out what that is, check in at www.s-o-solutions.org.

Irving Fradkin let us know that his Dollars for Scholars has now raised 2 and a half billion dollars for young people to go to colleges and to trade schools. Well, he's been at it quite awhile. Would you believe 50 years?

Sandy Dore says that he's now teaching grad students at Gonzaga University, a visiting professor of social justice. Dore was commended as a Giraffe for standing up to racist hate groups that were trying to recruit his high school students in Vancouver BC. He's still guiding young people away from racism, and from gangs.

Watch for more updates on Giraffes-in-action, in the next Heads Up.

The Quote

"Example is not the main thing in influencing others.

It is the only thing."

~ Albert Schweitzer

This quote has fueled the Giraffe Heroes Program since day one, when we decided to provide people with those examples. Hundreds of Giraffes later, we hope we've influenced millions.

Here's to real-life heroes, and the influence they have on all of us!

Giraffes On Youtube

There's now a Giraffe "channel" on Youtube. So far, there are three films up~

~ a seven-minute look at the Project overall

~ a wonderful piece about young people doing Giraffe projects in Wicomico MD

~ and a barn-burner of a speech by the Project President.

If you're working with kids who are doing the Giraffe curriculum, get them to film their work! We'd love to put them on our Youtube channel.

Stick Your Neck Out - In Arabic

Stick Your Neck Out, A Street-Smart Guide to Creating Change in Your Community and Beyond, is being translated into Arabic by publisher Berrett-Koehler. Summing up everything the Project knows about civic involvement, the book is also being published now in Nigeria. You don't have to go there or to an Arabic-speaking country to get a copy. It's in the Giraffe Store.

The Awww Factor

OK. It's not about citizenship or courage or compassion--it's just... adorable. Project supporter Chandra Holsten sent us this portrait of a newborn Rothschild giraffe at the Chester zoo in the UK. "Margaret" is the smallest the staff has ever seen, a preemie in fact. And she seems to have bonded with at least one of those staffers

As Always - Help Me Reach More People

If this was a pleasure for you, share that pleasure! Use the Forward button that's just below these words and bring some friends into the circle. In a week or so, I'll send another Heads Up. The Plan is to be infrequent--and welcomed. ~ A.M.