The Power of One

As demonstrated most recently by the outpouring of support for the survivors of hurricane Katrina, Americans have shown their immense compassion and generosity time and again. As Karen W. Wood says in her September 1 article titled "It’s in the Details: Principled giving to help Katrina’s victims," every individual in this country can help with what she calls "effective compassion." Read Karen W. Wood's whole article to learn more about the power of individual compassion and charity.

We also like what John David Powell had to say on Therealitycheck.org:

[America] is a nation of communities, large and small, of every ethnicity and religion, stepping up and reaching out to strangers, friends, and families. It is the overarching story of the greatness of the American heart. It is the story that needs to be told again and again. It is what makes us the envy of the world.

Helping Katrina Survivors

In light of the horrific human suffering from hurricane Katrina, taking care of each other and our neighbors has become more important than ever. We have added the Salvation Army, earmarked to survivors of Katrina, to our list of charities that we hope to donate $1 million from the proceeds of Project American Heart gear. Like the four other charities that we chose, all of which have a personal meaning to me, we've added the Salvation Army because it too has touched my family and my life. In addition to adding the Salvation Army to our list, we have also made a personal donation of $5,000.

Years ago when my family first came to America, the Salvation Army was indeed our salvation. It's where we went to get furniture, house wares, and clothing. It was years before we even had a set of dishes that matched. Back then, there was a huge Salvation Army in Central Square in Cambridge and I would walk with my mom to the store, always looking to my left and right and praying that none of the kids from school saw us walking in or out of the Salvation Army. Kids can be cruel and it was tough enough being made fun of because we were "foreigners." That was a long time ago, and I have surely compensated for the lack of dishes, but the memory is vivid and it still brings a lump to my throat thinking about how hard my mother and father tried to make our life here in America a good one. With the help of many, they indeed succeeded.

In addition to adding Salvation Army to our list of charities, we have also created a new design simply titled: Project American Heart. Many of you were kind enough to offer feedback on our designs and one suggestion that we received often was that you liked the idea of Project American Heart but you preferred not to be designated either a blue state or a red state. So we have listened and added the new design to our products. The meaning remains the same, "What unites is 1,000 times more powerful than what divides us,” so please visit our websites and pick your favorite item to display your American Heart with pride.

What's right about America?

Just ask Herman Cain. He says:

The opportunity to achieve individual success no matter where you start in life or your background is another positive factor that makes America a unique nation . . . The fact is, anyone can achieve individual success in America if they have a dream and the desire to make it come true.

Cain's essay entitled What's Right About America! captures a sentiment we agree with whole-heartedly.

Share the love and pride of our country

Even at moments when political disagreements run hot, it is important to consider that democrats and republicans share real love and pride for our country. I love the compassion in this new, unifying endeavor.

Time to take a stand

Somewhere along the line, we Americans have lost sight of how to carry on the national debate (which is about everything) in a well-meaning manner. We've lost the ability to carry on the debate with a sense of sanity and reason. Our country was founded on differences. Our founding fathers, however, knew the importance of disagreeing without being disagreeable and worked hard to provide us a system within which we can disagree with each other and maintain a voice of reason. Somewhere along the line, though, the voice of reason has been lost in hysterical screaming and name calling and finger pointing. The words liberal and conservative no longer mean you have legitimate opinions on one side or another of an issue, the words mean (depending on which side of a debate you fall on) that you're an idiot or a crackpot. We in America have reduced ourselves to saying - and believing - that if you don't agree with my opinion, you are a bad American.It is long past the time when we Americans should stand up and say there are no bad Americans, just Americans who have different opinions on some issues of national importance. Obviously, our politicians won't stand up and say it. In fact, the politicians are the leaders of finger pointing and name-calling.

-LD

Who is Emily?

Greetings, this is Gayle from Project American Heart and I want to tell you about Emily Haggman, the founder of Project American Heart.

Emily's tale is a true American success story. She emigrated from Portugal with her family when she was five years old and became a U.S. citizen only four years ago. Since Dictator Antonio Salazar ruled Portugal at the time, it took her father Jose Fagundo 26 years to get the visas he needed to leave Portugal and bring his family to America. Once settled in Cambridge, MA, Jose and Emily's mother Miquelina helped two children through college, owned their own home and instilled a sense of hard work and patriotism in their family.

My parents left everything to come to America because my father said there was no other place in the world where his children would have the same freedoms and opportunites. We struggled in those early years but the United States is everything my father dreamed it would be.

-- Emily Haggman

Now Emily is a successful business woman and is giving back to the country that has been so good to her. If you know Emily personally, you also know that she practices kindness, compassion and generosity everyday. It's who she is, and she inspires all of us with Project American Heart.

What is Project American Heart?

Here’s a web exercise for you: search for the word American in conjunction with the words pride, unity or patriotism and see what happens. You’ll find a lot of negativity, finger-pointing, cynicism, and bi-partisan rants. You’ll read about how the Democrats are responsible for this and the Republicans are responsible for that. You’ll sense a lot of cynicism, a lot of anger and a lot of whining.

It all stops here. With the recent tragedy in London, it's a painful reminder of these frightening times and our need to stand together.

Project American Heart is our humble attempt to unify, strengthen and heal our nation. We don’t deny America has its problems. We don’t deny that we sometimes disagree on politics. We don’t deny that great things come of opposition (do you think our founding fathers agreed on everything?). What we reject is fueling a divisive mentality that destroys us from within.

That’s why we’ve created this blog. We know there are people out there like us. People who believe that American pride and unity is alive and well. We want to hear from you. We want to hear your stories of unity. We want to know how you’ve been kind, how you’ve been compassionate, how you’ve been charitable – big or small – and in your own personal way.

One way we are being kind, compassionate and charitable is by setting a goal to donate $1 million from the proceeds of our Project American Heart gear to be distributed among four wonderful charities that support disabled veterans, children and education, the prevention of cruelty to animals, and women's heart disease.

We have already donated $1,000 to Disabled American Veterans, Charitable Service Trust and Scholarships America, American Humane Association, and the American Heart Association.

If you want to participate, check out our Project American Heart apparel and fun stuff, and hats and magnets. If you want to help us build American unity, we invite you to post your ideas on how we can work together to make our great nation greater, and start your good deeds today. We'll keep posting our ideas and good deeds too.