Sarah Carter and Kestrin Pantera's Blog
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Kestrin's Top 3 Causes: "We are ones we are waiting for"
- Posted on 10.13.08
You know how the world has been getting a little crazy lately? You know how it feels to be completely helpless as our country and the world at large fluctuate from crisis to crisis, with no end in sight? There's only person who can fix things:
You.
In this era of funding cuts and deregulation, it is our responsibility to educate and organize our own communities to enact positive change. I'm thrilled to join Causecast because it's a community devoted to making the world a better place, one cause at a time.
My "Top 3" Causes are:
1. Childhood Education
2. Consumer Education
3. Music Education
1) My first "cause" work was as a volunteer for the HEART after-school program in rural Visalia, CA. I was caught drinking a beer my freshman year at Wake Forest University and was "punished" with 6 hours of community service. After the initial 6 hours, I went on to help raise $2.5 million for HEART and help save my hometown's crumbling education system. Now HEART has a budget of $7.5 million and is a national exemplary program-- and crime in Visalia has gone down by 20%. Imagine if there were a successful After-School Program in every American city...
www.afterschoolalliance.org
www.proyouthheart.org
2) In Los Angeles, I started working with Sarah Carter and the Breast Cancer Fund. I learned about the toxins found in most American cosmetics, and their direct link to breast cancer. I learned that America has the highest rate of breast cancer in the world-- 1 in 8 women will develop the disease, the majority of whom have no genetic predisposition or family history of it.
This inspired Sarah and me to create the show "Operation Ugly Beauty", which focuses on exploring different people's attachments to beauty products, and why we "need" certain things to feel beautiful-- even if they're bad for our health. Our mission is to educate consumers on what ingredients go into our cosmetics and what to avoid, so that we can protect ourselves. Though we cannot draw any direct correlations between toxic make-up and cancer, we can take action to address the preventable causes of cancer by reducing our exposure to known carcinogens. Visit www.operationuglybeauty.com to learn what chemical ingredients to avoid when you're at the make-up counter, and what healthy alternatives are available. Imagine if you could trust that every product you put on your body was toxin-free...
www.breastcancerfund.org
www.safecosmetics.org
3) When not raising money or awareness for education/after-school programs and working on "Operation Ugly Beauty", I like to rock. I've played cello and sung with Beck, The Fray, Weezer, Cary Brothers (Grammy Award winning "Garden State" soundtrack), Rob Dickinson (The Catherine Wheel), Adam Freeland (Coachella, 2008), Twiggy (Nine Inch Nails), Brandi Carlile, and have been billed alongside Jackson Browne and Colin Hay (Men At Work), among many other brilliant artists.
Everyone I work with believes that music is something that inspires, teaches, and changes lives for the better-- especially young children. Music education keeps kids off the streets while promoting positive mental, emotional, and physical growth. I regularly volunteer at inner city schools to teach children about stringed instruments. When kids have the resources and instruction required to learn a musical instrument, it improves academic performance and reduces their likelihood of joining a gang. Plus, it's fun, right? Imagine if children's symphony orchestras performed in the park every month...
www.silverlakeconservatory.com
The world seems to make more sense again when we are educated, organized, and taking action. To find the best way to help change the current state of the world, take the time to learn about the different organizations available in your community, on CauseCast, and the web at large. And, of course, Vote on Tuesday, November 4th!
-Kestrin
www.kestrin.com.
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