To commemorate Michael's birthday on August 29th, fans from all around the world are making a donation to a charity in honour of Michael. Fans nominate their favourite charities and of these, three finalists will be chosen. Everyone then takes a vote and donate to the charity with the most votes. Click on Previous Posts on the right to see what we have done in past years.

9 September 2012

Thank you!

Here is the card that Cuore sent to Michael’s family. Thank you, MJ fans, for carrying on Michael’s legacy of love!



We hope that you will continue to support this charity long after Michael’s birthday. Personally, I love this charity the best among all the ones that we’ve done. It is so rare to find a charity where 100% of your money goes to the recipients. Morena and all the people who give their time and energy to work there are true inspirations!

For those who just came in, we hope that you will consider donating too. Remember to put “In Memory of MJ” in the remarks line, so they will know it is from Michael’s fans. (Detailed instructions below.)

Please bookmark Cuore d’Africa's website or join them on their Facebook page.

Also stay in touch with us on Facebook or Twitter.


And the winner of the T-shirt is....



Cuore has randomly picked someone to be the winner of this T-shirt from Blingtastic, but she has generously asked not to receive the T-shirt, and for the total to be donated to charity instead. She also asked to remain anonymous and would only give her name as L.O.V.E.

So thank you, L.O.V.E., whoever you are—$30 more has been donated in the name of love! :)  And that brings our final total to €557.72 ($740.08). smile


2 September 2012

Here is the student you sponsored



This is Catherine Mueni Musau. She was born on July 23, 1991 in Mbusyani, Kenya. She is the eighth child in a family of nine children. She studies at home by herself because she cannot afford to pay school fees and she has never had a sponsor. She finds occasional jobs in order to pay for the exam fees and she takes care of her old mother. Unfortunately, her brothers and sisters have gone away from home because of the difficult situation they had to face, so Catherine is alone with her old mother and she is her only help and support. Despite all these difficulties, she is one of the best students in her course.

Thanks to Michael Jackson Birthday Charity and all the fans who donated to Cuore d’Africa Onlus [Heart of Africa Charity], Catherine can attend school for this year! She attends the fourth and final year of secondary school, and she has finally realized her dream to complete her education.

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P.S.—It is just a coincidence that Cuore d’Africa chose a girl named like Michael’s mother! Pamela, Cuore’s secretary, has chosen the most needy child who had no sponsor and tonight I told her Michael’s mother’s name is also Katherine!! She is very happy about this!!!  ~ Morena/Cuore d’Africa

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Addition, Sept 3, 2012:

I copy here the message that Father Charles wrote. He is our contact in Kenya. He founded the Community of Hope, a Kenyan organization, which then turned into Heart of Children Foundation, that works with Cuore to assist their children in Machakos.

Father Charles wrote: “We visited the home of Catherine with Pamela and Fabio during their last visit to Kenya. She didn’t even have a bed to sleep on! We really appreciate the assistance given through Cuore d’Africa from all the fans of Michael Jackson. God bless you all. Many girls in Kenya get married prematurely when the situation is so difficult for them, but we thank God that Catherine has been determined to stay with her old grandmother despite all the challenges.” ~Morena/Cuore d’Africa


Thank you!



I would like to thank everybody who donated to Cuore d’Africa Onlus [Heart of Africa Charity] for this year’s Michael Jackson Birthday Charity event. We have raised €557.72 ($740.08). This money will be used to sponsor a boy or a girl in secondary school for this year. Cuore d’Africa supports 106 children in sponsorship, but some of them have not found a sponsor yet. Their school fees are a cost for this organization, in the sense that we have to postpone other projects in order to allow all the children to have an education that will lead them to live a better life.

Over the next days, we will post the Thank you card Cuore d’Africa is going to send to Michael’s family and the biography of the chosen child. Your donations have surely made a difference in a child’s life! This is the best way to celebrate Michael’s birthday, by doing what he has always taught all his life long! Thank you everybody! ~Morena/Cuore d’Africa


We would like to thank from the bottom of our heart all of you who have taken part in this event! We have found many new friends who decided to support our projects in memory of Michael Jackson and in accordance with his teachings. We accept with great pleasure your generous contributions! Your love honors the man you have celebrated on his birthday. Thank you all!  ~Pamela/Cuore d’Africa


23 August 2012

Update

Total donations received: €557.72 (US$740) from 28 donors. smile

Donations received as of August 26, 2012: €352.88 (US$452) from 18 donors.

Donations received as of August 21, 2012: €250.72 (US$315) from 10 donors.

There was also another donation sent directly to Cuore’s bank account but they have no idea who it is from. Can the donor please send your info (name and country) to the charity? Email them at info at cuoredafrica.org. Thanks!


18 August 2012

About our chosen charity and how to donate

Cuore d’Africa (Heart of Africa) is a small nonprofit organisation based in Pomezia, Italy. They support poor children in two towns in Kenya.

In the town of Machakos, they are constructing the Village of Hope, which will house two hostels, a canteen, an office and a plot of land for cultivation.


The first hostel was completed in 2011 and is now home to 26 children. The children who live here are either orphans or abused by adults in their families. At the Village of Hope Children’s Home, they given an education, clothes, school supplies and medical care. More than that, they now have a safe haven and hope for a future.


The inside of the hostel

The village also provides employment to the local community - a matron for the children, and a guard for the village. They are now in the process of building the second hostel.

Some of the children sponsored by Cuore d’Africa

Cuore d’Africa also sponsors the education of 106 children. In Kenya, all education is private (there is no free education provided by the government). Many children do not go to school simply because they cannot afford it. The children attend different schools. Some go to school daily from their villages and some stay in a boarding school. Cuore pays for their school fees and buys new stationery and clothes for them every year.

The cost of supporting a child in primary school is €300 ($US370) per year, and for a child in high school, €500 (US$620) per year. €25-40 (US$30-50) - what we normally spend in a day (or a minute!) - is enough to feed, clothe and educate a child in Kenya for a whole month.

Some of the day-school children sponsored by Cuore

At the second site, in the village of Makueni, the owner of an Italian textile factory established the Calosci Sewing School, a vocational school that teaches girls how to cut and sew. Up to fifty students take up a sewing course there for two years, which equips them with a skill to support themselves for life.

The Calosci sewing school in Makueni, Kenya

Cuore d’Africa pays the tuition fees for ten girls each year, at €340 / US$420 per child per year. When the girls complete their course, Cuore d’Africa provides them with a manual sewing machine (electricity is still scarce in Kenya) and pays the first few months’ rent to help them get them started in their enterprise, so that they can be self-sufficient for life.

The sewing school students in their class

Everyone who works at Cuore is a volunteer. Morena from the charity explains:

“We are a very small organization and everyone who can gives his own contribution for free; this is why the entire amount sponsors pay go completely to the sponsored children. When we organize charity dinners, we don't have any expenses. If people pay €25 to take part in the event, then the entire amount is sent to our bank account. This is possible because our secretary is the owner of the restaurant where we serve the dinner. All the personnel is part of the board or member of Cuore d’Africa, so everyone works for free.

Also other services are given for free—the business consultant, the photographer, the journalist, the web designer and maintainer and so on. When we organize other events, such as theatrical shows, we ask shopkeepers in our town to give us a contribution in order to pay for all the expenses, so we can use all the money coming from tickets for our projects. We are all volunteers and this is our strongest power—minimum expenses and maximum proceeds! It seems it works!”

See more pics at Cuore d’Africa’s Facebook page.

Read more about the children who live there.


Cuore d’Africa is a registered non-profit organisation. You can look them up at the Italian government’s Revenue Agency. Click on “Cerca per codice fiscale” (Search by tax code) and enter their tax ID number: 97522400585. You will find this:


Here is their financial statement from 2011 (PDF). As you can see, they are a very small charity. Their average operating cost is only €50,000 (US$62,000) per year, so whatever we can give would certainly make a difference for them. And remember, 100% of your donation goes to the children.


How to donate

You can donate from any page at Cuore d’Africa, or you can go to the page that they have set up specially for us: MJ Birthday Charity for Cuore d’Africa. (Thank you for the lovely page, Morena!) Click on a flag at top right if you need a translation.

Click on this picture on any of the pages...








and it will take you to the donation page. (Click to enlarge.)
















1. In the space for “Purpose”, type “MJ”. To the right, enter the amount you want to donate (in Euros) and click the yellow button to update.

If you don’t have a Paypal account and want to pay by credit card, go to Number 2 and select your country from the list. The rest of the instructions will change to the language used in your country.

If you have a Paypal account, go to Number 3, sign in and proceed from there.

When you are done, you will come to this confirmation page:
 














The receipt is sent to your email address.

Fans in Italy can also use the postal current account (922330555) or bank transfer (Iban: IT68N0760103200000092233055).

At the end of the donation period, the charity will send a card to Michael’s mother and children to inform them of the donation that we have sent in his memory. Michael may no longer be here, but we can carry on his work in his honour. You have until August 29, 2012 to donate.

And... a gift for you!


Anyone who donates €50 or above will be entered into a raffle to win this MJ T-shirt from Blingtastic, so start donating! :)


I see the kids in the street
With not enough to eat
Who am I to be blind
Pretending not to see their needs

They follow each other
On the wind ya know
’Cause they got nowhere to go
That’s why I want you to know

I’m starting with the man in the mirror
I’m asking him to change his ways
And no message could have been any clearer
If you wanna make the world a better place
Take a look at yourself and then make a change!



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14 August 2012

Our charity for this year

We have two nominations this year.

MJ fan Morena Cassano works at Cuore d’Africa (Heart of Africa) in Italy and nominated this charity last year. Their website was not ready for international donors then, so Morena said she would work on it and I promised I would keep it as one of the charities for this year.

We also received a suggestion from Pat Peterson for Feed My Starving Children.

We only choose one charity from each category as it is unfair to pit similar charities against each other. Since these two charities belong pretty much to the same category, we will save the second suggestion for next year, and this year we will go with Cuore d’Africa. You can read more about the charity at their website. Click on the row of flags at the top of the page if you need a translation.

Details and instructions on how to donate coming soon. We will start donating on August 15th. Hope you have set aside some money for this year. :)


10 August 2012

Nominate a Charity

Hey everyone! Ready to get going for Michael's birthday this year? We will be donating from August 15th to August 29th, 2012.

Do you have a charity that you would like to nominate? Is there a charity that you think Michael would be happy for his fans to support? Please let us know!

Criteria for charities:

• It must be a cause that Michael was passionate about. (See a list of charities that Michael supported.)
• The charity should benefit people around the world. If not the whole world, then one very poor country.
• The charity must be registered as a non-profit organisation with the government of the country where it is based.
• The charity is not too large (rich) so that our contributions will make a difference.
• They are able to accept online donations from all over the world.

The charities that Michael supported are mainly in the following categories, so please suggest charities from these areas:

• Orphanages
• Environmental causes
• Medical - hospital/research/sick children
• Education
• Humanitarian causes - feeding the hungry, natural disasters.

Please send us your suggestions by August 12, 2012. You can leave a comment below or contact us here.