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Business

A small salsa company is giving away $250K to nonprofits that are helping to change the world

A small salsa company is giving away $250K to nonprofits that are helping to change the world
via Fresh Cravings

Upworthy is proud to have Fresh Cravings as a partner in its goal to share the best of humanity.


Tim Rose lost his son Korey to bone cancer at the age of 18. "He was one of those kids that you look at and just go 'that kid really doesn't have a care at all,'" Tim says. "He was never moody. He was always there to make a joke."

To continue spreading his son's joy, Tom created Camp Korey. It's a camp for children and families living with serious medical conditions that aims to inspire joy, adventure, and resilience.



Salsabrate The Good: Episode 14, Camp Koreywww.youtube.com


Emma Benoit attempted suicide at the age of 16 and although she survived, was left paralyzed. "I had no self-esteem, no identity," she says. "I didn't know who I was. I didn't know who I wanted to be. I see that with a lot of youth and I know that they're lost right now."

Today, she is courageously helping others struggling with similar emotional challenges by sharing her story in a documentary called "My Ascension."


Salsabrate The Good: Episode 7, My Ascensionwww.youtube.com


Stefani Germanotta endured tremendous trauma as a teenager and had to go through the experience completely alone. "I was raped repeatedly when I was 19 years old, and I also developed PTSD as a result of being raped and also not processing that trauma. I did not have anyone help me, I did not have a therapist, I did not have a psychiatrist, I did not have a doctor help me through it," she said according to Teen Vogue.

After becoming an international superstar as Lady Gaga, Germanotta has used her fame to promote youth mental health by creating the Born This Way Foundation.


Salsabrate The Good: Episode 12, Born This Way Foundationwww.youtube.com

These three people who've endured hardships and used them to empower others also have another thing in common. They're recipients of a $5,000 donation through Fresh Cravings' Salsabrate The Good giveback campaign.

Fresh Cravings, a family-owned brand known for produce-aisle chilled salsas and dips, has committed to donating a total of $250,000 among 50 nonprofit organizations, supporting an array of causes. Every week, Fresh Cravings is donating to a new nonprofit and sharing its story.

So far, the brand has highlighted 20 nonprofits nationwide, spanning from California to New York with wide-ranging philanthropic missions, from food insecurity to literacy, suicide prevention to environmentalism, and more. The company places a special priority on youth social entrepreneurs.

"As a small family-owned business, kindness, and community are at our core. This is why we reallocated a large portion of our marketing budget, $250,000, and put it toward a more meaningful platform. Ultimately, we want to celebrate the best of who we are as humans," Jay Whitney, FoodStory Brands chief marketing officer, said in a press release.

Fresh Cravings is looking to Salsabrate 30 more nonprofits and if you know one that deserves consideration, nominate them at the campaign's website.

Being a conscious consumer means not only supporting companies whose products you enjoy but those who give back to the communities that have made them successful. Purchasing Fresh Cravings salsa means you're giving your family a healthy way to snack while also supporting those who help make our communities great.

Learn more about how Fresh Cravings supports heroes in communities across the country on its website.

Identity

Celebrate International Women's Day with these stunning photos of female leaders changing the world

The portraits, taken by acclaimed photographer Nigel Barker, are part of CARE's "She Leads the World" campaign.

Images provided by CARE

Kadiatu (left), Zainab (right)

True

Women are breaking down barriers every day. They are transforming the world into a more equitable place with every scientific discovery, athletic feat, social justice reform, artistic endeavor, leadership role, and community outreach project.

And while these breakthroughs are happening all the time, International Womenā€™s Day (Mar 8) is when we can all take time to acknowledge the collective progress, and celebrate how ā€œShe Leads the World.ā€

This year, CARE, a leading global humanitarian organization dedicated to empowering women and girls, is celebrating International Womenā€™s Day through the power of portraiture. CARE partnered with high-profile photographer Nigel Barker, best known for his work on ā€œAmericaā€™s Next Top Model,ā€ to capture breathtaking images of seven remarkable women who have prevailed over countless obstacles to become leaders within their communities.

ā€œMabinty, Isatu, Adama, and Kadiatu represent so many women around the world overcoming incredible obstacles to lead their communities,ā€ said Michelle Nunn, President and CEO of CARE USA.

Barkerā€™s bold portraits, as part of CAREā€™s ā€œShe Leads The Worldā€ campaign, not only elevate each womanā€™s story, but also shine a spotlight on how CARE programs helped them get to where they are today.

About the women:

Mabinty

international womens day, care.org

Mabinty is a businesswoman and a member of a CARE savings circle along with a group of other women. She buys and sells groundnuts, rice, and fuel. She and her husband have created such a successful enterprise that Mabinty volunteers her time as a teacher in the local school. She was the first woman to teach there, prompting a second woman to do so. Her fellow teachers and students look up to Mabinty as the leader and educator she is.

Kadiatu

international womens day, care.org

Kadiatu supports herself through a small business selling food. She also volunteers at a health clinic in the neighboring village where she is a nursing student. She tests for malaria, works with infants, and joins her fellow staff in dancing and singing with the women who visit the clinic. She aspires to become a full-time nurse so she can treat and cure people. Today, she leads by example and with ambition.

Isatu

international womens day, care.org

When Isatu was three months pregnant, her husband left her, seeking his fortune in the gold mines. Now Isatu makes her own way, buying and selling food to support her four children. It is a struggle, but Isatu is determined to be a part of her community and a provider for her kids. A single mother of four is nothing if not a leader.

Zainab

international womens day, care.org

Zainab is the Nurse in Charge at the Maternal Child Health Outpost in her community. She is the only nurse in the surrounding area, and so she is responsible for the pre-natal health of the communityā€™s mothers-to-be and for the safe delivery of their babies. In a country with one of the worldā€™s worst maternal death rates, Zainab has not lost a single mother. The community rallies around Zainab and the work she does. She describes the women who visit the clinic as sisters. That feeling is clearly mutual.

Adama

international womens day, care.org

Adama is something few women are - a kehkeh driver. A kehkeh is a three-wheeled motorcycle taxi, known elsewhere as a tuktuk. Working in the Kissy neighborhood of Freetown, Adama is the primary breadwinner for her family, including her son. She keeps her riders safe in other ways, too, by selling condoms. With HIV threatening to increase its spread, this is a vital service to the community.

Ya Yaebo

international womens day, care.org

ā€œYaā€ is a term of respect for older, accomplished women. Ya Yaebo has earned that title as head of her local farmers group. But there is much more than that. She started as a Village Savings and Loan Association member and began putting money into her business. There is the groundnut farm, her team buys and sells rice, and own their own oil processing machine. They even supply seeds to the Ministry of Agriculture. She has used her success to the benefit of people in need in her community and is a vocal advocate for educating girls, not having gone beyond grade seven herself.

On Monday, March 4, CARE will host an exhibition of photography in New York City featuring these portraits, kicking off the multi-day ā€œShe Leads the World Campaign.

Learn more, view the portraits, and join CAREā€™s International Women's Day "She Leads the World" celebration at CARE.org/sheleads.


Health

Over or under? Surprisingly, there actually is a 'correct' way to hang a toilet paper roll.

Let's settle this silly-but-surprisingly-heated debate once and for all.

Elya/Wikimedia Commons

Should you hang the toilet paper roll over or under?



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Humans have debated things large and small over the millennia, from the democracy to breastfeeding in public to how often people ought to wash their sheets.

But perhaps the most silly-yet-surprisingly-heated household debate is the one in which we argue over which way to hang the toilet paper roll.

The "over or under" question has plagued marriages and casual acquaintances alike for over 100 years, with both sides convinced they have the soundest reasoning for putting their toilet paper loose end out or loose end under. Some people feel so strongly about right vs. wrong TP hanging that they will even flip the roll over when they go to the bathroom in the homes of strangers.

Contrary to popular belief, it's not merely an inconsequential preference. There is actually a "correct" way to hang toilet paper, according to health experts as well as the man who invented the toilet paper roll in the first place.

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via Anna Trupiano / Facebook

First-grade teacher Anna Trupiano

Anna Trupiano is a first-grade teacher at a school that serves deaf, hard-of-hearing, and hearing students from birth through eighth grade.

In addition to teaching the usual subjects, Trupiano is charged with helping her students thrive in a society that doesn't do enough to cater to the needs of the hard-of-hearing.

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Brielle Asero lost her job after 2 months.

TikTokker Brielle Asero, 21, a recent college graduate, went viral on TikTok in October for her emotional reaction to the first day at a 9-to-5 job. The video, which received 3.4 million views, captured the publicā€™s attention because it was like a cultural Rorschach test.

Some who saw the video thought that Asero came off as entitled and exemplified the younger generationā€™s lack of work ethic. In contrast, others sympathized with the young woman who is just beginning to understand how hard it is to find work-life balance in modern-day America.

ā€œIā€™m so upset,ā€ she says in the video. "I get on the train at 7:30 a.m., and I don't get home until 6:15 p.m. [at the] earliest. I don't have time to do anything!" Asero said in a video.

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Family

Harvard psychologists have been studying what it takes to raise 'good' kids. Here are 6 tips.

Help unlock your child's best self with a few tried-and-true strategies.

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If you just got married, chances are lots of people think they know what your life is like.

These people are totally well-meaning! And also, mostly wrong.

Being married isn't exactly like it used to be. Which is great, as there are so many different, amazing ways to be newlyweds than ever before. But it's also occasionally frustrating, as we newlyweds are frequently forced to dispel a lot of myths about our relationships.

So let's get them out of the way in one fell swoop.

Here are the most common (but mistaken) assumptions strangers make when you're a newlywed couple, and what our lives are really like.

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Around 1 a.m. on April 24, semi-truck drivers in the Oak Park area of Michigan received a distress call from area police: An unidentified man was standing on the edge of a local bridge, apparently ready to jump onto the freeway below.

Those drivers then did something amazing. They raced to the scene to help ā€” and lined up their trucks under the bridge, providing a relatively safe landing space should the man jump.

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