URGENT NEEDS... NEED your HELP!

Calling ALL Dream of a Better World friends, team members and donors!  We have some urgent needs and projects to support CALIFORNIA WILDFIRE VICTIMS.  


For our friends from around the world who may not have heard the news, tens of thousands of Californians have tragically lost homes, pets, cars, belongings and, in some cases, loved ones!  There are so many IMMEDIATE NEEDS that we are collecting donations for just about everything you can imagine for putting their lives back together.  We primarily need monetary donations that we can use to help fill in the gap and get people back on their feet.

The most immediate needs:

1) TEMPORARY HOUSING for displaced families staying in shelters.  If you have a room, a house, or any location that will house people on a temporary basis, please contact us! Also, one of our friends, Tracy Ferm, is helping a sweet couple move into a refurbished plumbing store, but it needs furniture, household items and minor repairs to make it livable. Please help if you can!

2) BASIC NEEDS - We are collecting new and very gently used items to help meet basic household needs to sustain and begin to rebuild for families who lost everything.  Examples include:  furniture, tools, housewares, toiletries, blankets, canned food, sleeping bags, blow up beds, gift certificates for Walmart, Costco, Bed Bath & Beyond, VISA cards, etc.  These items will be transported up to Chico where most of these families are currently being housed.

Thank you all for sharing your stories with us. This will clearly be a marathon, so let’s start

right here! This is a photo of Teresa & Michael, a super sweet, lovely couple in their early sixties. Michael is the manager of a machine shop and Teresa has been a special needs teacher her entire career and
her school is now ashes. 

   

This is a photo of them escaping the fire. Their car is the one in the back.

Teresa and Michael lost EVERYTHING in the fire last week... their home, cars, cat and personal treasures. They also have 17 friends that have lost their homes. PLEASE help us reach out to as many as possible.

You can make a NON-PROFIT DONATION through this Blog site.

CLICK HERE or on the DONATE BUTTON labelled "California Wildfire Victims." 

We PROMISE that 100% of your DONATION, less PayPal fees, will make it's way into the hands of needy kids & families.

 

Its Our Turn Now BLOG is part of the 501(c)3 non-profit 
Dream of a Better World.  

Join Us in Supporting Northern California Camp Fire Victims

By now we've all heard the sad news.  It's time to jump in and help.  Within the next 24 hours, we will post more information.  But for those of you who have contacted us, YES, we want to help!

PHOTO: nypost.com

For those of you who want to make a donation now, PLEASE go to the right and CLICK the donate button for California Wildfires.

Also, if anyone has a home or room available for someone in need, please let us know by emailing us at: newbutton@gmail.com.

Thank you all for being such an important, caring, generous part of our Dream of a Better World family!

Thank You to WalMart and The Today Show!

Thank You to WalMart and The Today Show!

During the recent Northern California wildfires, a hero emerged. Her name is Payton Walton and she is a nurse at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital in Northern California. On the night of the fires, Payton watched in awe as her fellow workers and other first responders evacuated their families from their homes and came directly to work at the hospital to help others in need. Dozens of Payton’s friends and co-workers lost their homes while they worked that night. And Payton couldn’t sleep at night worrying about her friends.

So, Payton created “Family Match” to match families who suffered loss with 8-10 families around Marin County and the Bay Area who are willing to adopt these families and help them get back on their feet by finding temporary housing, donating food and clothing and doing fundraisers for them. Dream of a Better World met Payton through this program and we were able to raise thousands of dollars for over a dozen families who have lost homes in the fire.

The Family Match program has helped over 1200 families and caught the eye of many national TV shows, including The Today Show. During Payton’s interview, The today Show, in conjunction with WalMart, gave Payton a financial gift to give to the charity of her choice. And guess what?! Payton chose Dream of a Better World because of all your donations and all the work we did to help families impacted by the fire.

Soon we will receive a check for $5,000.00 and with Payton, we will pass it out to more families in Northern California. Thank you, Payton, WalMart and The Today Show!

With appreciation,

Hannah Button and the Northern California Dream Team!

URGENT NEEDS... Who's Hungry?

Aloha Friends!

We have just received URGENT news that the Mauloa Food Panty is dangerously low on FOOD and HYGIENE items!  Hawaii's growing epidemic of homeless and food insecure families is often hidden away because of our tourist based economy.  Even though Hawaii seems like paradise, on any given day there are at least 6,000 homeless and 33% of them are children. 

The City and County of Oahu estimates that 32% of the North Shore families are food insecure during the year!

Over 70,000 are living in poverty.

Last year, we managed to fill the pantry twice, but at the moment it's nearly empty! They NEED our HELP! 

Here is a list of particularly favored items at the Mauloa Food Pantry:

• DRIED SOUP in packages, like CUP OF NOODLES
• Snack, Granola or Energy-type Bars
• Instant Oatmeal in individual containers (Express Cups)
• Spam Classic (Preferred in single packs)
• Tuna in single packs or easy pull tops.
• Peanut Butter in individual single use packs 
• Saltine Crackers in small packs
• Small tubes of Shampoo
• Small individual packs of soap
• Tampax Tampons 
• Disposable Toothbrush with tooth paste - Individually wrapped
• Disposable Razor with Cream - Individually wrapped
• Small Cotton Washcloths

If you're shopping on AMAZON and would like to add a few of these items to your order: CLICK HERE!   Or, you can ship these items directly to our headquarters.

ANY canned, boxed or packaged and unopened items will be appreciated!  However, it will be especially helpful if the items are individually wrapped or in small or individual sizes.

Or, if you would rather DONATE MONEY, we can buy the items... CLICK this image, or the DONATE BUTTON on the upper right labelled: HELP THE HUNGRY!




Any amount helps! Check out the AMAZON LIST:

PLEASE SHIP TO or DROP OFF:

Dream of a Better World

68-505 Crozier Dr

Waialua, HI  96791  

Thank you for all your support in 2017! We made a difference!

Dear friends, family and all our supporters around the world,

This was an amazing year for Dream of a Better World, and we would not have been able to do ANY of this meaningful work without all of you working by our side!

You have helped donate funds, but also you have helped us collect food, plant gardens, fill backpacks for kids in need, deliver supplies to a women’s homeless shelter, and volunteered to work at Boots on the Bridge, a memorial for fallen soldiers. You have sent letters and passed out flyers, and delivered pillows, blankets and supplies to families who have lost their homes in the California wildfire. You have shopped for cars, bought school uniforms, and bought school supplies and household needs for families who have lost their homes or jobs during Hurricane Harvey. You made Christmas possible for 19 wounded and sick soldiers and their families at Fisher House near Tripler Hospital. You bought an iPad and helped ease the financial burden for the family of a sick child.  You helped with a marine biology program for disadvantaged school kids and filled a food pantry, twice!

THANK YOU ALL from Dream of a Better World! We are a team and you all are a huge part of it!

With love and respect,

Hannah, Jack and Carly Button and the California and Hawaii Dream Team

Some Sad News….

Hi Everyone,

We are saddened to have to let you all know that Shyne Aquino has passed away. For the past year, he has been our mom’s hospice patient and we, along with lots of you, have gotten to know

him through our blogs and his sweet stories. Shyne loved trains, particularly the Polar Express, music videos, shrimp chips and his sweet, caring dad, Vernon. Thank you all who jumped in and helped us raise the funds to buy

Shyne a brand new iPad, which he loved. Shyne will be missed. For being only 12 years old, he sure touched many lives.