Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) today announced the creation of 14 new play spaces for children through a Morgan Stanley Foundation grant to KaBOOM! and the hands-on efforts of hundreds of its employees throughout the U.S. this year. With our partners and volunteers we will be building two physical playgrounds in Boston and Atlanta and providing creative play grants in 12 cities to provide local nonprofits an Imagination Playground or Rigamjig, which allow for year-round actvitiy in areas with limited space or inclement weather.
We’re proud to share that we have joined the Aspen Management Partnership for Health (AMP Health) and its network of partners to help strengthen community health systems in Africa by increasing access to quality healthcare. With our support, AMP Health will be able to scale its existing programs in Malawi, Kenya, and Sierra Leone by building the capacity and leadership necessary to set in place critical systems of thousands of community health workers. Pfizer’s previous grant contributions will also be matched this year by the USAID private sector matching funds program, which will allow AMP Health to extend its efforts to additional African nations, including Ghana and Zambia.
Shireen Hafeez is the founder of Deaf Kids Code, a nonprofit working to bridge the economic and social gaps among deaf children and adults. She has been an advocate and lobbyist for deaf kids because her own son is deaf – and she believes that computer science, technology, and design thinking skills can break down the barriers that have prevented deaf people in the past from getting jobs and fully participating in society.
On AIDAprima's cruise around the Canaries and Madeira, a very special guest was on board for the daily talkshow aboard: Julia Cissewski (45), who works with the Max Planck Institute in the area of evolutionary anthropology, and is the chairwoman of the charitable organization "Orang-Utans in Not e.V." (orangutans in need). She was presented with a check from AIDA for 10,000 euros by Captain Detlef Harms. AIDA was honoring the current award winner who was recognized last year for her voluntary commitment and civil courage by Europe's biggest women's magazine at a gala aboard AIDAprima.
Last week, smallholder farmers convened in a field on the outskirts of Gonaives, Haiti to harvest cotton for the first time in 30 years. Once Haiti’s fourth largest export crop, cotton growing stopped in the 1980s due to policies and politics of the time. Now outdoor lifestyle brand Timberland, in partnership with the Smallholders Farmers Alliance (SFA) and other companies, aims to bring cotton back as phase two of its ongoing work to help reforest Haiti and benefit smallholder farmers.
On January 26, Team Members around the world were congratulated after learning they had been selected as Sands Cares Heroes of the Year, as well as finalists for The Sheldon G. and Dr. Miriam Adelson Citizenship Award presented by Sands Cares. Sands Cares is the corporate giving program of Las Vegas Sands, where we make our communities better places to live through philanthropic giving, volunteerism and other in-kind support to local organizations.