Heart of America Foundation
The Heart of America Foundation is a national non-profit located in Washington, DC, co-founded by Bill Halamandaris and Angela Halamandaris.
Mission
Founded in 1997, The Heart of America Foundation's mission is to provide disadvantaged children with the tools they need to read, succeed and make a difference in life. The Heart of America Foundation's programs uniquely combine volunteer service and literacy. The organization is volunteer-led and peer-driven, operating with a small staff and hundreds of volunteers. Supporters have included: Wally Amos, Jane Goodall, and Tim Love.
National Impact
The Heart of America Foundation has impacted over one million people. Through the organization, more than 500,000 students have been introduced to community service and 130 national youth Ambassadors have been recruited to share motivational presentations AbOUT the value of community service. As of 2009, community and corporate volunteers with the Heart of America have served more than one million hours of service in their communities.
Initiatives
The Heart of America “Heroes of the Heart” Awards is a recognition program that highlights “heroes”—young and old—throughout the United States for their community building work. In 2000, a National Heroes of the Heart Award was presented to actor and activist Christopher Reeve.
The Heart of America coordinated “The Day of Hope” in 2000, an event that marked the first anniversary of the Columbine High School massacre in Denver, Colorado. There, Heart of America youth Ambassadors reached 10,000 students through assembly presentations focused on community and service.
A day after the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York in 2001, the organization responded by creating a fund and national awareness campaign to aid affected families in the greater New York region. By the end of 2002, the fund had provided health insurance for over thirty families.
After Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf coast of the United States in 2005, the Heart of America focused on young victims of the storm, and organized an effort to collect new backpacks, school supplies and books for those in need. In the six weeks following the storm, the Heart of America gathered and personally delivered more than 40,000 books and over 40 tons of backpacks, school supplies and toiletries to displaced children in Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi, engaging some 16,000 students in the process.
This endeavor led to a broader effort in 2006 that engaged over 250,000 students in restoring Gulf coast school libraries, classrooms and home libraries destroyed by the storms by providing books for children in need. The Heart of America then solidified its focus on efforts related to literacy needs, not just in disaster plagued cities, but around the country in other areas experiencing hardship.
A Focus on Literacy
The Heart of America links community service with literacy. The organization provides literacy support and development for children, primarily in under-resourced elementary schools, where more than half of the children are from low-income families. Heart of America staff and volunteers have jointly replenished, redecorated and revitalized 32 public elementary school libraries across the United States in areas of high poverty through the Heart of America “READesign SM” library makeover program. Over a dozen more READesigns are scheduled before the end of 2009. The organization's work has provided children living in poverty with over 1.52 million books, a value in excess of $7.8 million.
Library Makeovers
The Heart of America Foundation's READesign library makeover program aims to transform school libraries by redecorating, revitalizing technology, and replenishing book shelves. READesign engages volunteers, local youth, corporate team members and other members of the community in service through library beautification and improvement activities, book distributions and one-on-one reading activities with children. Each READesign library makeover includes new technology, vibrant paint, artwork by a nationally recognized artist, new furniture, 1,000-2,000 new, high-quality library books, and between 5 and 7 books per child to add to their personal home libraries.
Library makeover partners have included Target Corporation , Capital One and the NFL. By the end of 2009, The Heart of America Foundation will have completed 41 READesign library makeovers. READesign projects occur around the country, including cities like Washington, DC, St. Paul, Atlanta, and Phoenix.
Sweet Charity
A signature event of the Heart of America Foundation is the annual Sweet Charity "Des Alpes Chocolate Fashion Show" benefit, which is co-hosted by Albert Uster Imports and held each year in Washington, DC. In 2009, more than 40 participating chefs applied Albert Uster chocolate to design fanciful chocolate fashions. The fashions were then displayed in a chocolate fashion show.
Bill and Angela Halamandaris
Bill Halamandaris
Bill Halamandaris is the son of an immigrant coal-miner. For 15 years, he headed a Congressional Committee to find and prosecute waste and fraud. In 1985, disheartened by the corruption he'd uncovered, he began to search for what he considered the "heart of America"--people who represent the best in society, the best instincts of man, and the best part of ourselves. That effort grew into The Heart of America Foundation. Bill serves as Chairman and full-time volunteer for the organization.
Angela Halamandaris
Before co-founding the Heart of America Foundation, Angela Halamandaris helped develop Give Kids The World Village, a 75-acre resort for terminally-ill children in Orlando, Florida. Angela has served as a volunteer with organizations such as the National Capital Area Foundation of the March of Dimes, WETA-TV, the Caring Institute, the Frederick Douglass Museum, and the Hall of Fame for Caring Americans. She is President of the Heart of America Foundation.
Official Web Site
The Heart of America Foundation
Video
- Sweet Charity Video Interview on MSNBC
- The District Dish Video Interview about Sweet Charity with Guest Angie Halamandaris
