MOSTE News & Events

Lanterns Lunch on 94.7 The Wave

noreply@blogger.com (MOSTE Official Blog) — Tue, 03 May 2011 04:41:00 +0000

The 11th Annual Lanterns Award Luncheon, held on March 31st, at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel, was a huge success. With over 310 people in attendance, MOSTE raised nearly half of the funds necessary to cover our entire budget for the year! Thanks to the inspiring speeches made by our honorees, Carla Christofferson and Deborah Bial, by MOSTE mentor Sandra Jimenez, and by several MOSTE scholars.

MOSTE would especially like to thank Pat Prescott, of 94.7 The Wave, for joining MOSTE as the Emcee for the Lanterns Award Luncheon. Pat also shared some kind words about MOSTE on her program. Click here to listen to a clip:

Success from East Coast College Tour sponsored by Southwest Airlines

noreply@blogger.com (MOSTE Official Blog) — Fri, 24 Dec 2010 01:48:00 +0000

Dear Lidia Martinez

My name is Carla Love. I am a current senior at Ouchi High School. I have been involved with MOSTE for 6 years. Earlier this year I was presented the opportunity to go to the east coast through More MOSTE to visit colleges. I have to thank you for providing the plane tickets for the group.

College tours play an important role in the college search. I got to a point where all the schools sounded too similar on paper. The campuses that I did visit were all beautiful. I wanted to attend all of them. When I visited Franklin & Marshall on this trip however, I knew this was the school for me. I could actually see myself there unlike the other campuses. This image was so profound that it compelled me to early decision which is binding. Earlier last week I was accepted and I will be attending next fall.

I want to thank you for supporting MOSTE. It is an amazing program, and helps girls who do not have the means to go on college tours. However, it needs the support of others to reach its optimal potential. You made it get there. You not only helped me but the other girls as well. We do not have the means to buy plane tickets for the east coast to leisurely visit colleges. What you did was extremely meaningful and will forever be in my memories.

Thank you, Carla Love

Homemade Cookies and a Social Revolution

noreply@blogger.com (MOSTE Official Blog) — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 23:23:00 +0000

With three grown sons and plenty of energy left for a new challenge, Anna McDonnell launched '5 for Fairness,' an online foundation modeled after a social network, dedicated to helping girls.

'This is philanthropy from another angle,' says McDonnell, who was never satisfied when she gave money to a good cause but had to let an executive board decide how to spend it. 'I want to put philanthropy into the hands of all the individual members of the group.'

The name, 5 for Fairness, is a mission statement squeezed into three words. 'Five because you can become a member for $5 and I want everybody to be able to participate,' McDonnell says. 'Fairness because this is about making the world fair for girls, which it truly is not.'

Putting money in the mail is just the start for anyone who signs on to this grant-making community. I know because I joined last year, when the group was new.

Members nominate programs for the group to consider. (Recent nominees have included a school in Afghanistan and a program for boys that aims to end violence against girls and women.) They join teams that represent each of the programs in the running, ask questions, take part in forum discussions, and when the 5 for Fairness till reaches $5,000 they vote for the program they most want to see get the grant.

'The only way this can work is if members are engaged,' says McDonnell, who lives in Brentwood. She learned the power of group dynamics while she was earning a master's degree in social work from USC. As a group-therapy leader working with mentally ill people adrift in the social-welfare system, McDonnell listened to them describe their hallucinations, helped them separate the delusions from the rest, and told them they did not need to be ashamed. 'All any of the people I worked with really wanted was to be loved and valued,' she says.

She also learned a lot about social justice while she was earning her degree. 'It isn't all about raising money,' McDonnell says. 'It's about expanding awareness. All the imbalances in the world won't change until men and women are valued equally.'

Shortly after the launch of 5 for Fairness it went global, thanks to the Internet's unbounded reach. For more than a year, members met online only, while their numbers doubled every few months to the current 325.

The first grant, awarded last December, went to Panzi Hospital in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where local doctors are taught how to treat girls and women who have been raped and mutilated as the social conflict there continues.

One weekend in late October the '5-fers,' as McDonnell calls members, had their first face-to-face gathering. Some 20 of them got together at her house in Sullivan Canyon for a reception honoring the second grant recipient. The winner, MOSTE (Motivating Our Students Through Experience) is a Los Angeles-based program that matches mentors with underserved girls in middle and high school, to help them get into college and grow to be community leaders. There are about 150 girls in the group.

After a pick-me-up of apple cider and homemade cookies, everyone sat near the living room fireplace. MOSTE president Alejandra Valenzuela accepted the grant money, surrounded by the four mentors and five 'mentees' at the celebration.

'This money is for our college fair,' Valenzuela said as she accepted the grant.

The fair is an annual event organized by MOSTE every autumn where mentors develop contacts with colleges and universities from around the country and 'mentees' talk to recruiters and get inspired. A number of MOSTE alums are now scholarship students at schools around the country.

'One of the things I like best is having somebody to talk to about personal problems,' said Tavera Rand, a shy eighth grader at Samuel Gompers Middle School, who has been with MOSTE for two years.

'My mentor sets a standard for me,' said Sara Roschdi, a sophomore at Environmental Science and Technology High School near downtown Los Angeles. 'She is a role model.'

'Knowing that I'm not alone in figuring myself out,' said Diana Salmeron, a senior at Rosemead High School, about how the program helps her. 'MOSTE is my main source of support.' She is applying to nine colleges and universities this year.

Salmeron helped to bring a world-class promoter of 'girl power' to the MOSTE fundraising luncheon this year. Greg Mortenson, whose book, 'Three Cups of Tea,' tells the story of how he started a school for girls in Pakistan, agreed to speak at the luncheon after Salmeron and Valenzuela, her mentor, introduced themselves to him at his book-signing event in Los Angeles last winter. He attracted such large crowds to the $85-per-ticket luncheon and the $175-per-ticket evening event, both in downtown Los Angeles in April, that MOSTE was able to hire a program director, their only full-time, paid staffer.

Mortenson and Nicholas Kristof, the New York Times columnist who has made the 'girl effect' his theme, are shining bright lights on the subject. Meanwhile, McDonnell and the members of 5 for Fairness are changing the world their way, with a bit of women's folk wisdom for a motto: ' If you want to catch a lot of rain, put out a lot of teacups.'

Full article at here

MOSTE and Goodsearch.com makes it easier to donate.

noreply@blogger.com (MOSTE Official Blog) — Sat, 25 Sep 2010 23:36:00 +0000

We have something new and exciting we'd like to share with you! It's the new MOSTE toolbar - once added to IE or Firefox, each time you shop at more than 1,300 stores (from Amazon to Zazzle!) a percentage of your purchase will automatically be donated to MOSTE at no cost to you (and you may even save money as the toolbar provides coupons and deals as well!). The toolbar also has a search box and each time you search the Internet, about a penny is donated to MOSTE.

Download the MOSTE Goodsearch Toolbar

And please pass this along to all of your friends. The two minutes it takes to add this toolbar to your browser can make a lifetime of difference!

Get the toolbar NOW!

Lanterns 2010 on ABC 7 News!

noreply@blogger.com (MOSTE Official Blog) — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 17:57:00 +0000

Southewest Partners with MOSTE

noreply@blogger.com (MOSTE Official Blog) — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 22:18:00 +0000

SOUTHWEST AIRLINES UNDERWRITES AIRLINE TICKETS FOR EAST COAST AND  NORTHERN CALIFORNIA COLLEGE TOURS SPONSORED BY L.A.-BASED MOSTE

LOS ANGELES--How can you think about going to college if you’ve never set foot on a campus? L.A.-based mentoring and college-access organization MOSTE knows that college tours are an essential part of showing underserved students that their dreams matter and they can get there from here. Southwest Airlines knows that too.

In a new partnership, MOSTE and Southwest Airlines are joining forces to bring more girls to more college campuses in Northern California and the East Coast. Each year, MOSTE opens a window on options for girls in underserved neighborhoods who dare to dream big. They visit top-notch private and public universities and colleges, meet students like them who attend those schools and have an opportunity to see their academic futures—all for free.

“Having an airline as a community partner in change makes everything possible for these girls,” said Cindy Lopez, MOSTE Executive Board member. “Limited resources meant we could only visit nearby schools. This partnership with Southwest opens up a whole new realm of possibilities for our students.”

When girls enter the MOSTE program in 7th grade, the only colleges they can name are USC and UCLA, Lopez said. College tours—trips these girls and their families could never afford—introduce students to many more options when they are applying to college, Lopez said. MOSTE currently has successful high school graduates enrolled at Pitzer College in Claremont, CA, and Mills College in Oakland, CA—schools these girls never heard about before they visited the campuses on a MOSTE college tour.

The MOSTE East Coast College Tour will take place in mid-April, the Northern California College Tour in November.

MOSTE in the Community

noreply@blogger.com (MOSTE Official Blog) — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 16:15:00 +0000

More MOSTE Chair and MOSTE board member Cindy Lopez has been honored as a "woman of distinction" by La Opinion's Mujeres Destacadas Awards 2009. Cindy was nominated by MOSTE for her creation and unflagging commitment to the high-school program that helps our students get into college. The award was presented at the Center at the Cathedral Plaza on March 26.

Cultural Diversity Day

noreply@blogger.com (MOSTE Official Blog) — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 16:13:00 +0000

This February MOSTE’s remembers it’s first Cultural Diversity Day last year that was a hit—from the discussions about self-identity and awareness to the level of critical thinking that the mentees displayed throughout the day. The event emphasized how students will need to start to thinking about their identity as they go through high school, write application essays and go to college in different cities. So what did the girls learn? Here are some of their comments:

“I learned that you can be independent and learn from others and not be ashamed to be yourself.”
“Women can be whatever they want even if others put them down. They can believe.”
“We can overpower the stereotypes.”
“You can empower yourself by being positive and thinking positive comments.”
“I learned that there are many strong women in this room today.”
“You shouldn’t be scared of what you believe.”
“Women are really awesome.”
“There are a lot of ways to empower women and fight racism.”
“We are the ones who create families and therefore society. If we have the information and use it to educate our children, this society will change.”
“We have to climb that mountain because we’re always going to have obstacles.”

Educate a Girl, Educate the World - LANTERNS

noreply@blogger.com (MOSTE Official Blog) — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 19:06:00 +0000

MOSTE is honored to host, best selling author Greg Mortenson as the keynote speaker and featured honoree for our 10th Annual Lanterns Award Luncheon. Mortenson is the co-author of the New York Times Best Seller, Three Cups of Tea and the new book Stones into Schools: Promoting Peace with Books, Not Bombs, in Afghanistan and Pakistan. He is the co-founder of the Central Asia Institute which works to educate and build schools for girls in volatile regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan. Mortenson has established, or significantly supported, the construction and management of 131 schools in rural regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan. His schools provide education to 58,000 children, with an emphasis on teaching the 44,000 girls in attendance. "If you educate a boy," says Mortenson, "you educate an individual, but if you educate a girl, you educate a community." Mortenson recently donated over 100 copies of his inspirational book to the MOSTE mentees.

Mr. Mortenson has also agreed to participate in a second event to benefit MOSTE, “An Evening with Greg Moretenson.” Taking place at LA’s hottest new venue, LA Live’s Grammy Museum, Mr. Mortenson will interact with a intimate crowd, shaking hands, signing books and sharing his stories.

MOSTE’s 10th Annual Lanterns Award Luncheon
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Millennium Biltmore Hotel, Downtown Los Angeles
11:30am-1:30pm
Tickets: $85 (Lunch included)
Sponsorships available

Link to purchase tickets ($85) at: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/93178

Contact: Jo Bender, jo.bender@moste.org or (408) 387-2495

An Evening with Greg Mortenson
Thursday, April 8, 2010
5:30pm-8:30pm
LA Live’s Grammy Museum
Tickets: $175
(Cocktail party included)

Link to purchase tickets ($175) at: https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/97723

Contact: : Jo Bender at jo.bender@moste.org or (408) 387-2495

Your support of MOSTE is tax deductible to the extent the law allows.