Spring 2016 is going to be the most exciting season the J. Luce Foundation has experienced since its inception. There are so many ways that you can get involved and help better humanity!
It began in 1998 with Orphans International Worldwide, and was joined in 2008 by the J. Luce Foundation. The Stewardship Report began publication in 2010. Last fall, a chapter of Lions Clubs International, the New York Global Leadership Lions Club, joined (Facebook).
The Foundation and its partners support projects uplifting of humanity around the world - often promoting arts, education and orphan care.
The Manjushree Home for Tibetan Orphans in Tawang, India -- under the auspices of H.H. the Dalai Lama -- has been supported by Dr. Kazuko Hillyer Tatsumura, for decades. Dr. Kazuko, founder of the Gaia Holistic Foundation and board member of Orphans International Worldwide (OIWW), has been known as the most prominent non-Tibetan supporter of this project. This fascinating story may be read in HuffPo.
This spring, at a dinner in a Chelsea loft in NYC, the J. Luce Foundation will launch in cooperation with the Gaia Holistic Foundation, The Manjushree Fund for Tibetan Orphans. The event is scheduled for Wednesday, April 27 and tickets may be purchased here.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama has been a long-time friend of
Dr. Kazuko Hillyer Tatsumura, who is today an enormous supporter.
Dr. Kazuko Hillyer Tatsumura told us:
I really hope you will join us for our Gala Dinner on Wednesday, April 27 when we establish the Manjushree Fund under auspices of Gaia Holistic Foundation and the J. Luce Foundation!
With the help of many devoted friends from the U.S. and Japan, we completed the magnificent Academic Building there last year with a total expenditure of $669,049 in the remote village in Himalaya --Tawang -- located at the borders of Bhutan, Myanmar, and old India.
Tawang is the only original Tibetan village now in existence. It contains very important Tibetan Cultural Heritage, including the Monastery of Dalai Lama 5th that used to be the second largest monastery in old Tibet, the birth place of Dalai Lama 6th, as well as an important Stupa being built by H.H. Dalai Lama's Oracle, Khandoma.
The scenery there is just breathtakingly magnificent, with waterfalls, mountains, and rivers. The children are all so wonderful and compassionate.
The J. Luce Leadership Experience - Hellas is scheduled for May 14-22, coordinated by Global Adviser and Corporate Sponsor Georgia Nomikos, C.E.O. of The Orpheus Luxury Collection. The trip is to expose young global leaders to the wisdom of ancient Hellas while allowing the students to witness the realities of modern Greece in refugee camps, orphanages, and civic institutions.
The extensive ten-day itinerary for this leadership experience is online and you may read about the trip in The Huffington Post. In addition, there is an exciting video about the experience on YouTube. This subsidized trip costs $2,950 per person based on double occupancy plus airfare.
Georgia Nomikos tells us:
This May our young global leaders will embark on a journey to the land of Socrates... to the sacred Hellas... the land that gave birth to philosophy, to science, to medicine, to theater, to music and arts, to leadership and democracy all based on the highest of human virtues.
They will experience the 'Spirit of Hellenism' - and discover the foundation of the Humanistic Ideals of Leadership.
With these Hellenic Ideals our young leaders will therefore lead with great passion, inspiration and wisdom to make a positive change and a better world for all.
The J. Luce Foundation not only provides challenge grants, but also "spotlights" individuals and organizations that it supports. Each year, the J. Luce Foundation promotes and attends important events of its supported organizations.
This spring, the Foundation will have tables at two events for the Osborne Association which deals with prison reform and inmate education in New York State, and
Legacy High School, a superb special needs institution serving the NYC Tri-State.
The author attending last year's Osborne Association
Lighting The Way Breakfast at the New York Hilton.
The Osborne Association has been around for over a century - and the J. Luce Foundation has been supporting it since the Foundation's inception. Jim Luce has written numerous articles about this prison reform organization in The Huffington Post. Foundation board members have toured Rikers Island and the penitentiary at Sing Sing up the Hudson River in Ossining.
On Thursday, April 21, the Foundation will host a table at the Osborne Association's Lighting the Way Breakfast in the New York Hilton Midtown. If you would like to attend, please contact info@lucefoundation.org.
Stacee Mandeville, the C.E.O. of Red Leaf Coaching and Global Adviser to the Foundation, says:
It is truly exciting that our foundation is slowly but surely exposing more in our leadership circle to various vetted charities in the NYC. Because there are so many, it is helpful to have them screened - and wonderful to have a group of friends to attend with.
Luce Scholar Jeff Guan and Vishu Grover, director of Legacy High School.
On the evening of Thursday, May 5, our Foundation is supporting the South China Seas Trunk Sale to 'Benefit Children in Asia & Beyond.' Held twice a year in the home of Ambassador Sichan and Martha Siv across from the United Nations in New York. A great place to shop for distinctive treasures including handmade products supporting women and communities - consciously sourced from their own personal network: accessories and clothing, purses and jewelry, silks, scarves, shawls, Cambodian silver, toys and decorative items. Plus - autographed books -- Golden Bones and Golden State -- by Ambassador Sichan Siv. Facebook. Invite.
On Wednesday June 1, the Foundation will host a table at the Legacy High School Annual Dinner at Battery Gardens near Battery Park in lower Manhattan. LHS is a premier special needs institution in New York from which Foundation Board member Mathew Luce graduated. Tickets are $100 each and scholarships are available. Please RSVP to info@lucefoundation.org.
One of the last events of spring season 2016 will be the annual Roosevelt Island Cherry Blossom Festival to be held on Saturday, April 30. Sponsored in part by our foundation, I will serve again as master of ceremony - in full kimono (I studied once in Tokyo). See my past story in HuffPo.
Recent events of the Foundation have been equally amazing and will be repeated next spring. These include the Marietta College Leadership Conference in Ohio and the International Day of Happiness at the United Nations - across the East River from Roosevelt Island.
Marietta College has one of the oldest leadership programs of an undergraduate institution in the U.S., its McDonough Leadership Program. The Foundation attended the conference with Luce Scholars and Global Advisers. Five J. Luce Foundation Fellows presented a panel on social responsibility. Story.
The International Happiness Day at the United Nations was an enormous success, intermixing presentations by U.N. Ambassadors and experts, with thrilling cultural performances, and a panel with Jim Luce and other Lions Club members. Prominent Lions were in attendance (HuffPo).
Dr. Judy Kuriansky produced the event, in her role as advisor to Ambassador Toriello of the Mission of São Tomé and Príncipe to the United Nations. Also a Global Advisor to the Foundation, adjunct professor of Psychology at Columbia University Teachers College, and a prominent member of the mental health NGO community at the United Nations, Dr. Judy says:
The Lions' panel was perfect on the topic of "Happiness Through Service," when Jim Luce talked touchingly about his personal journey from wealthy Wall Street mogul to philanthropist adopting an Indonesian orphan and devoting his life to other needy children, followed by Lion District Governor Guillermo Perez and inspiring youth representing Lion and Leo clubs.
The J. Luce Foundation (Facebook), focused on supporting young global leadership, publishes The Stewardship Report on Connecting Goodness (Facebook). It's sister organization, Orphans International Worldwide (Facebook), works to raise global citizens in the developing world, while the New York Global Leaders Lions Club (Facebook), strives to support the efforts of both organizations.
This summer, beginning in San Francisco Thursday, May 26 hosted by Board member Seal Bin Han, Orphans International will host its Annual Summer Orphan Tour. Stops will include the United Nations, and possibly Dublin and Zurich. These events fund projects from India and Sri Lanka to Nepal and Indonesia.
Please note that our New York Global Leaders Lions Club (NYGLLC) continues to meet every Monday night with 35 members and you are welcome to join us. For further information, contact info@lucefoundation.org.
Contributions to the Foundation may be made online at http://tinyurl.com/k7qa4wj. Contributions to OIWW at http://tinyurl.com/qyx6hlf. Checks payable to either may be sent to 540 Main Street #418, New York, N.Y. 10044. Entrance/activity fees may purchased the same way; kindly memo which event the payment is for.