News
OSF Recipient of EMTA 2011 Charity Benefit
The Orphaned Starfish Foundation was selected to be a beneficiary of the Emerging Markets Traders Association’s (EMTA) 2011 Charity Benefit for the fourth year in a row. The benefit was held on December 1, 2011 at the New York Marriott Marquis in New York City. This event was made possible by the generous support and contributions of many leading financial institutions. We extend our sincere gratitude to EMTA and all of its sponsors for their vital and continued support of our programs.
OSF Celebrates its 10th Anniversary
The Orphaned Starfish Foundation held its 2011 Annual Gala, celebrating its 10th anniversary, on October 18, 2011 at Cipriani, Wall Street, in New York City. The Gala, our largest fundraising event, honored Robert & Cindy Citrone for their extraordinary dedication to helping disadvantaged children and at-risk youth, as well as seven children from five countries for their achievements in the Orphaned Starfish Programs who left their villages and their countries for the first time for this special occasion.
The event raised over $500,000 that will benefit OSF’s twenty projects worldwide.
Over 430 guests attended, including Plaxico Burress (Wide Receiver, NY Jets), Harry Carson (Hall of Fame Linebacker, NY Giants), Amos Zereoue, (Retired, Pittsburgh Steelers and NE Patriots), Brian Kelly (Retired, NY Giants), Adam Brody (Actor), Christian Campbell (Actor), America Olivo (Actress), Pras Michel (Musician and Activist, The Fugees), Alex McCord and Simon Van Kempen (Real Housewives of NY), Danielle Doty (Miss Teen USA 2011), Leila Lopes (Miss Universe 2011), Darryl “DMC” McDaniels (Musician, Run DMC), Sessilee Lopez (Model), and Mary Alice Stephenson (Stylist). The Mistress of Ceremonies was Kristine Johnson (Co-Anchor, WCBS-TV), and the evening entertainment featured singer/songwriter Gustavo Galindo and Grammy nominated artist, Cucu Diamantes.
“This has been a very exciting year for the Orphaned Starfish Foundation. I’m humbled by the amount of support we are receiving,” said Andrew Stein, Chairman of the Orphaned Starfish Foundation. “It will move the Foundation to a whole new level, and enable us to improve the lives of even more children.”
Click Here to View Photo Gallery, Courtesy of Daniel J. Marino
OSF’s Andy Stein Featured in The Jewish News
The Jewish Week, an independent weekly newspaper serving the Jewish community of the metropolitan New York City area, featured an article about Andrew Stein, the Founder and Executive Chairman of The Orphaned Starfish Foundation. The article discusses the story of how OSF was created.
OSF Website Wins Two W3 Awards!
OSF has won two Silver awards in this year’s international W3 Awards competition. The site was selected from more than 3,000 worldwide entries and recognized in the categories of Photography and Nonprofit. The W3 Awards honor creative excellence on the web, and recognize the creative and marketing professionals behind award-winning sites, marketing programs, and video work created for the web. The competition is sanctioned and judged by the International Academy of the Visual Arts (IAVA), an invitation-only body consisting of top-tier professionals from a “Who’s Who” of acclaimed media, interactive, advertising, and marketing firms. Congratulations to the entire team at UX Test Kitchen and to their Bob Cooley for his outstanding photography!
Support OSF on Crowdrise.org
Join our grassroots efforts to raise money to support our computer center at ISEC in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Click here to visit our project page on crowdrise.org and contribute. Invite your family, friends, co-workers, and everyone else you know to join the team. Every little bit makes a difference!
Johnson and Johnson Partners with OSF
OSF was proud to honor Mr. Ruben Dario Taborda, Vice President of Johnson and Johnson at our Sixth Annual Gala. Mr. Taborda and the Hispanic Employee Resource Group have spearheaded the creation of a partnership between OSF and J&J . The relationship started with the expansion of J&J’s One Blanket, One Child program to include OSF programs. J&J’s Brazilian operations have begun the process of donating computers to OSF programs in Brazil and Mexico with a plan to expand this initiative to other countries in the OSF network. Mr. Taborda is also overseeing discussions with the J&J network to include local support of employee volunteers at OSF programs.
This partnership is exemplary and serves as a model for successful collaboration between non-profit organizations and major corporations. This project brings together the strength and expertise of each entity creating an opportunity to make a real difference in the lives of vulnerable children.
OSF Holds Successful Gala on Oct. 14th, 2010!
OSF celebrated its Sixth Annual Auction and Dinner Gala on Thursday, October 14th, 2010 at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in New York City. The event raised over $240,000 that will benefit OSF’s twenty projects. The foundation honored Mr. Ruben D. Taborda of Johnson and Johnson in recognition of his support, leadership, and extraordinary dedication to helping disadvantaged children and at-risk youth. Eight children who participate in the foundation’s programs in Mexico, The Dominican Republic, Panma, Costa Rica, Brazil and Chile were also honored and informed contributors first hand of the tremendous impact and importance of these programs. Sponsors of the gala included Johnson and Johnson, Continental Airlines, Deutsche Bank, Four of a kind Productions, Quest Software, Adestinn, the Emerging Globe Group, Inland Pacific Companies and many others. Noted individuals from the world of entertainment and sports, representatives of major corporations and media outlets, and community leaders were on-hand to join in the celebration.
Watch the Gala’s NY1 coverage or video.
SBS Supports The Orphaned Starfish Foundation
Miami, FL – (May 3, 2010) – Spanish Broadcasting System Inc (“SBS”) (Nasdaq: SBSA) announced today the launch of a new PSA campaign to support the Orphaned Starfish Foundation and its mission to create lasting change in the lives of orphans throughout Latin America by helping them develop vocational skills.
Launching on Monday, May 3rd, the television and radio campaign consists of 30 second spots on SBS radio outlets in Miami, Puerto Rico, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago, and all of its Mega TV stations. The spots highlight the Foundation’s important work, while encouraging viewers and listeners to support the Foundation.
“We’re proud to promote the Orphaned Starfish Foundation on our television and radio properties because we believe in helping provide children in Latin America with better opportunities for the future,” said Jackie Nosti Cambo, Vice President, General Manager, for SBS Miami Radio Stations and Forensic Operations Manager for SBS. “This will be the first in a series of ongoing efforts where we will work with a number of organizations to help children around the world and we look forward to rolling out new campaigns like this in the future.”
“We are fortunate to partner with SBS and are deeply grateful for their support, as well as their leadership and extraordinary dedication to helping disadvantaged children and at-risk youth throughout Latin America,” said Andrew Stein, Founder and Executive Chairman of The Orphaned Starfish Foundation. “We are thrilled about this opportunity. This will allow us to continue to expand our ability to touch the lives of so many children who desperately need our help and support. Our mission to educate and provide lifelong skills to help them end the cycle of poverty, will now be significantly enhanced.”
The television campaign for the Orphaned Starfish Foundation titled, “Hogar Estrella”, was created by Emmy Award winner Maria Isabel Montoya to promote overall children’s welfare around the world.
“The first step to launching such a great organization was to find a name in Spanish that has the same significance as it does in English. Although many children of the organization are orphans, we found the word ‘orphan’ to have a very strong meaning that didn’t exactly portray the organization the way we wanted. The word ‘orphan’ in Spanish signifies a child without parents and a home, and this is not the case of the Orphaned Starfish Foundation. Here, all children have a place they can call home and are educated and loved; therefore, we found the best name for the organization to be ‘Hogar Estrella,’” said Maria Isabel Montoya.
The voice of the radio campaign was recorded by radio personality Nestor Paz from WRMA-romance 106.7 FM, who arrived in Miami in 2003 to continue growing in his career. His works includes the voice over for programs such as “PUNK’D,” “Carmen Electra and Dave,” “The Social History of…,” and “The Big Urban Mith Show.” He was also the voice of different projects for Sony Entertainment Television.
Johnny Ventura CD Sales to Benefit OSF
Johnny Ventura, the renowned Merengue singer from the Dominican Republic, has released an extraordinary new Christmas album “Volvio la Navidad” to commemorate the holidays.
Mr. Ventura has always shown a commitment to his people, and has pledged a percentage of sales from this new production to The Orphaned Starfish Foundation under DIRECTV Más‘ program Proyecto Esperanza.
DIRECTV Más has selected OSF to be a beneficiary of their corporate citizenship program, Proyecto Esperanza. The campaign was launched in June of 2009 at a news conference at our program in the Ofranato Niños De Cristo in La Romana in the Dominican Republic, with Johnny Ventura serving as ambassador.
Please join Johnny Ventura in wishing the children a holiday season filled with music and cheer by going to www.101Latino.com and purchasing a CD. Your contribution will directly benefit the children in OSF’s programs throughout Latin America.
2009 Gala and Auction Featured in Press
Our successful and touching 2009 Gala has been featured in several news and media pieces, including a spread in Ok! Magazine. The piece includes pictures of our board members, supporters, celebrities, and several of the children benefiting from our programs. Please feel free to download our press release about the Gala. Thank you again to everyone for your continued support.
OSF Launches New Website and Logo
Oct. 10, 2009
The Orphaned Starfish Foundation has recently undergone a complete rebranding and website redesign. These services were generously donated by UX Test Kitchen, a nonprofit interactive agency providing free website and media development to other nonprofits.
Gelila Assefa Puck Skill Training Center Becomes OSF’s First Partner in Africa
Oct. 6, 2009
The Gelila Assefa Puck Skill Training Center is the newest addition to the celebrated Ethiopian Children’s Fund (ECF) Village in rural Aleltu, Ethiopia.
A computer skills training lab will be the first phase of this new vocational complex. The Orphaned Starfish Foundation will be partners in an effort to provide hardware, software and materials for the new lab. ECF plans to offer other vocational skills as the Center expands.
Gelila Assefa Puck is an award-winning international philanthropist and fashion designer who was born and schooled in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. She is now based in Southern California where she lives with her husband, chef Wolfgang Puck, and their two young children.
Gelila Assefa Puck was recently the subject of a CNN International feature story celebrating her continuing support for women’s health causes and the advancement of orphaned children in Africa, including her fundraising efforts for the pioneering ECF, which today serves more than 400 orphaned and disadvantaged children.
ECF was founded and is still led by humanitarian and international supermodel Anna Getaneh.
Caribbean Property Group Offers Internships to OSF
Oct. 5, 2009
Caribbean Property Group (CPG) is offering internships to three candidates from OSF’s programs in Hogar de la Ciudadela and Hogar San Vicente at the Royal Decameron Hotel in Playa Blanca, Panama. The students will reside on-site at the hotel and will rotate through rooms, F&B, and guest services/entertainment.
CPG invited a group of fifteen students from the hogares mentioned above, to spend a day at the resort. Nezrin (Nina) Saker, our in-country coordinator, helped select and organize the group of students based on academic progress and other considerations. OSF and CPG hope to make this an annual activity with Ciudadela and Hogar San Vicente.
DirectTV Partners with OSF
Sept. 24, 2009
DIRECTV Más has selected OSF to be a beneficiary of their corporate citizenship program, Proyecto Esperanza. The campaign was launched in June of 2009 at a news conference at our program in the Ofranato Niños De Cristo in La Romana in the Dominican Republic with Latin superstars Charytin and Johnny Ventura serving as ambassadors. The year-long campaign includes public service announcements, as well as many fundraising opportunities.