Stop Animal fighting

Animal Fighting

          Hello, this is IGL and this project is about animal fighting. There are many types of animal fighting, even some most people have never heard of. Sometimes animals are fought to the death and these games are considered “entertaining” to some people.

          Dog fighting: Dog fighting is when two dogs are brought together and trained to fight the opponent. The losing dog is usually left dead, but even the winning dog could die because of its harsh injuries. The owners bet each other to see which dog will win. And people come to watch two dogs tear each other’s limbs off to survive. Dog fighting is illegal in some places, but is still common in most areas like Pakistan, China, South Africa, Japan and Russia.

          Hog-Dog fighting: Hog-Dog fighting is the blood sport of when a hog is held captive by a rope and a pole. Dogs are released to torment the animal and kill it. Even the dogs could be hurt by the tusks of the hog. It is most common in the rural south of the USA. Hog-Dog fighting is still present.

          Cockfighting: Cockfighting is a game when two roosters are held together to fight and peck each to the death, like dogfighting but with roosters. After a game, the owner of the rooster throws it away like trash after the bet. Cockfighting is still present in Cuba, Peru, Southern India, Pakistan, Iraq, and Japan.

          Fox penning: Fox penning is the sport when foxes and coyotes are trapped in a fence with no escape. Dogs trained to kill these animals are released and have to try to kill these animals. Foxes are sold to fox operators. They trap them and haul them in cages. Sometimes, foxes and coyotes die on the trip there. The owners bet on their dogs to kill the foxes.

          Bear Baiting: Bear baiting is the game when a bear is trapped by a pole and a rope. Their teeth are flattened and their claws are cut. Dogs are released to kill the bear. The bear has no self-defense weapons to protect itself. The bear is killed to the death. It is allowed in South Carolina.

          As you can see, there are many more blood sports. But these are just a few examples of animal cruelty. But how could you help stop animal fighting? You could:

1.     Spread the word. Tell everyone the truth about animal fighting. You could also write a letter to the newspaper or put up flyers.

2.    Tell the people in charge. You could write a letter to the state’s government or your country’s political leader.

3.    Help the animals yourself. There are many retired animals from animal fighting. You could adopt one if you like or bring it to the animal shelter.

There are many simple options you could do. Stop animal fighting and help the animals.

-Idea+Gift=Love IGL

Stop Eating disorders!

Stop Eating Disorders

          Hello, this is IGL and our new project is eating disorders. Eating disorders are when someone abstains from food to make their body thinner. Sometimes people purge and skip meals. Most of the time people with eating disorders are young adults or teenagers.

          Eating disorders could affect a lot of people. Sometimes when someone is bullied, they are called fat and overweight. Because of that, the person purges themselves to look better. Or it could be because someone is just a “queen bee” and keeps their eating disorder as something to look better in their revealing clothing. Or maybe it’s because their friends are all skinny and inspire that person to contain an eating disorder. Either way, it’s not a good thing.

          Another BIG reason why most people have eating disorders is because of the media. Yes, the media. The media nowadays include super skinny models, movie stars, ettica. In other words size 1 ½ dresses and outfits. Still, there are some healthy and normal-weighted people in TV shows and celebrities that go against bulimia, but most people are still super thin. Our member, Kristine, one day was watching TV shows on her computer. Then, when she came across a clip from the Disney Channel TV show “So Random” (the individual show, not the one in Sonny with a Chance) she was super shocked of what she saw. It was the episode when the male model came to his girlfriend’s house. They were talking about how the male model ate only one full meal a week, which is bad. And the model said that his agent told him that if he wanted to get the jobs (being famous) he couldn't eat ANY carbs. This is so outraging! Now they were supporting eating disorders on children’s shows!

          Even if you skip breakfast so you could look like Ali Lohan, that’s still considered an eating disorder. If you have a minor eating disorder, consider visiting a therapist to get over it. But if it is a hardcore, serious eating disorder (like going without food for weeks or purging) go to a treatment facility if you can't overcome it when you try.


          NEDA is an organization that helps young girls going through eating disorders. NEDA is a non profit organization that reaches out to people with their self-esteem issues. To help, you can plan a NEDA walk to raise money and spread awareness to eating disorders. If you don't want to plan a walk, then just donate! NEDA has a program in which you can donate a car so they can auction it off. Besides, they will take care of all expenses for sending the car over.

          No matter what happened in the past, accept who you are. How you look like on the outside doesn't really matter to how you are in the inside. There are ways to discourage eating disorders .You could:

1.     If you have an eating disorder yourself, stop it. Don't let how your image looks like affect you. If it’s a minor case, try seeing a therapist or a doctor. If it’s serious, consider going to a treatment facility

2.    If you know someone who has an eating disorder, tell them to get some help.

3.    Spread the word. Write a letter to the newspaper, tell someone about it, or just encourage people to stop eating disorders.

4.    If you or someone you know with an eating disorder is afraid of getting overweight or obese, skipping meals is not the answer. Food has healthy nutrition that helps you, not goes against you. However, if you don't want to get too overweight, avoid fatty food like hamburgers, French fries, hot dogs, or fried chicken.

5. Support NEDA and maybe donate to the organization. 
    (  http://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org  )

So you see, eating disorders affect so many people in the world every day. Help stop eating disorders and make the world a healthier place.

-Idea+Gift=Love

Cancer

Cancer

          Hello, this is IGL and our topic is Cancer. Cancer is a deadly disease when abnormal cells grow uncontrollably and constantly. Cancer never is a joke; it’s horrifying and heart-breaking when you could lose someone you love or care about. There are many different types of cancer, some with a cure and some you just have to live and die with.

          Once upon a time, there was a member in IGL named Kristine. Kristine’s grandmother smoked a lot. Cigarettes were not something healthy for you. One day, her doctor told her she had a cancer disease. Thankfully, the cancer was minor and had an easy cure. But, if Kristine’s grandmother got lung cancer, she’s a goner. So after that visit to the doctor’s, Kristine’s grandmother threw away all her cigarettes.

          Many people die of cancer. Even though the population of people dying of cancer has decreased, a great amount of people die from it. Doctors work hard for these people. Remember, not everyone’s as lucky.

          Since there aren’t a lot of cures for cancer, many people panic of getting it in the future. But there is a way. To prevent cancer:

1.    Eat healthily
2.    Exercise
3.   Avoid harmful activities (ex :drugs and smoking)

People in the hospital with cancer really need help.A foundation called Stand Up To Cancer funds research labs on cancer. Donate to Stand Up to Cancer Even though only doctors could cure cancer, you could still help. You could:

1. 1.       Cheer them up at the hospital
2. 2.     Support them
3. 3.     And show you care 
4.      Donate to Stand Up to Cancer

Even though cancer is a big battle, you could still help!

-Idea+Gift=Love

Stop the Puppy Mills!

Stop the Puppy Mills!

          Hello, this is IGL and our next project is puppy mills. Puppy mills are breeding facilities that breed dogs numerously. Many pet stores and pet shops say that they get their puppies from person breeders. Usually, they get their puppies from puppy mills. But what’s so bad about puppy mills?

          EVERYTHING! L Puppy mills are basically prisons for dogs and puppies. They puppies are stuffed with others in small cages without any toys or love. They also drink contaminated water and dirty food. They have bloody feet from jumping and struggling in the cage. They have lesions on their eyes and they don’t have enough space in the cages that they crawl on their food. Puppies also live in their poop and pee. Sometimes a puppy dies and the people in charge don’t discard the body. Therefore, puppies could get contagious diseases easily.

          Once upon a time, there was a little girl that wanted a puppy. With her parents, she went to the pet store and bought a Chihuahua puppy. Two days later, they brought it to the vet and it was determined that the puppy already had a disease when it was sold. It would die in a few days (Courtesy of Animal Planet).

          So, the animal shelter has many healthy animals waiting for adoption. Adopt an animal from the animal shelter if you want a guaranteed and healthy dog/puppy. And also, a trusted breeder would be good too. But how could we stop puppy mills? You could:

1.     Notify it to other people

2.    Convince your local pet store to get healthier puppies

3.    Ask your town’s government

4.    Write a letter to the newspaper

5.    Buy puppies from healthier sources

6.    Ask your local library to make a notice

7.    Post flyers at the vet

Stop puppy mills and help the puppies!

-Idea+Gift=Love IGL

Stop bullying

Stop Bullying!

          Hello, this is IGL. Our project is a very important message to EVERYONE. This project is bullying, something nobody wants to become a victim of. Bullying includes put-downs, teasing, vandalism, gossip, rumors, cyberbullying, racism, sexual harassment, Physical abuse, threats, and exclusion. This is a negative thing that everyone can stop.

          Once upon a time, there was a middle school in the California Bay Area. That middle school was an ordinary middle school. They had the loners, the bullies (populars), the nerds, the Goths, the genetically disordered, and the jocks. We’re pretty sure there weren’t any plastics since it’s a middle school because that would just be weird.

          In that middle school, there was a girl we will just call “A”. A was bullied by many people but she had some friends. They were good friends, but she also had some bad friends. The bad friends (aka the bullies) were backstabbing bullies and she never had a clue about it. They did many horrible things to her. They used a form of bullying called cyberbulling, where they use technology to hurt someone’s feelings. They sent texts to everyone and convinced them that A was a bad person. They also posed as A and sent people rude texts. One person, named “B” was a bad friend. B was a bully, and had a lot of bully friends. One of B’s bully friends schemed a plan for B to make a recording of saying many horrible things about A. B’s friend sent that video to everyone by e-mail, and sadly, to A too. A was hurt, and she never got over it.

          Another time was when IGL witnessed this act. A was walking over to the trash can, and some girls were also having lunch there. The moment A walked over, the leader of the group of girls threw some food at A. The food was solid and hard, and A got hurt, both emotionally and physically. This is called Physical Abuse. The people also called A ugly, stupid, annoying, and disgusting. They excluded her away from their group whenever A walked over, trying to make some friends. This is Put-Downs, teasing, and exclusion. They spread rumors and gossiped of how she did badly on a test, and things like who she went to the dance with then how her date ditched her there. This is called rumors and gossip. They threatened A of telling people she liked bad things about her if she didn’t do something they wanted A to do for them. This is called threat and vandalism. That is how A lived.

          There is another time in a different school of the same area. There was a boy and a girl. The girl shall be called “C” and the boy shall be called “D”. C was always a happy go lucky girl, until D one day decided to upset her with his bullying. C wanted to play a game with D and his friends at recess. But D decided to play a cruel game. He said that girls couldn’t play sports because they were too weak and sports were only for boys and men. This hurt C very much. Whenever it was PE, C was excluded whenever she was in D’s team to play a sport. This carried on for years. This is called Sexual Harassment.  Sexual Harassment could also be related to sexual innuendos.

          It was a year later in fifth grade when D was in C’s class—again. In class, one day, an argument rose from a table. A girl was arguing with D about something, and then suddenly D shouted out about him being Australian, and said how Asians were stupid and always looked like “this” *puts his two fingers to the edges of his eyes, raised them up to form chinky eyes*. This shocked the teacher and half the class since half the students were Asian. This is called Racism.

          All these were schools that members of IGL went to. Sadly, this is the problem with the world. And one result of bullying could end up terribly wrong. It is called self harming.

          Self harming is when a person hurts themselves to relieve pain. Self harming is bad! B-A-D bad! And usually, this happens when someone is bullied too much. Self harming could be in different forms like an eating disorder. If you know someone who is self harming themselves, tell someone immediately!

          Once upon a time, in the California Bay Area, there was a high school. Once again, they have the bullies and the bullied. A teenage girl was bullied, so bullied that she decided to self harm herself. She was bullied so much, that she tried so many different ways to kill herself. One day, she was rushed to the hospital, and died in early morning. That is why bullying is BAD.

          Even though it seems that this could be difficult to accomplish, YOU could stop bullying. There are many ways to stop bullying. You could:

1. Stand up for someone. Standing up is when you confront a bully and tell them to stop bullying the victim.
2. Tell an adult. You could tell a trusted grown-up when bullying is present
3. Don’t bully anyone yourself. Bullying could cause a lot of pain.
4. Spread the idea to stop bullying yourself.

As you can see, if you do these steps, you could stop bullying!

-Idea+Gift=love IGL

Help the Gorillas!

Help the Gorillas!

          Hello, this is IGL. Another of our projects is to help the gorillas. Cristina is really hyped about this one since her animal is the gorilla. The gorillas live in Africa. They are all threatened by many reasons.

         First, they are killed by bush meat. Bush meat is when people kill and eat endangered animals. All these animals are sold in markets to eat and end up in bellies.

          Second, their homes are being chopped down. Trees are cut down and gorillas don’t have any place to stay.

          Third, there is a disease called the Ebola virus. The virus kills gorillas and their population has decreased over the days.

          And lastly, people poach the gorillas. Poaching is when people kill animals illegally and trade the animal parts in black markets and illegal trade.

          Many gorillas are dying every day, and the population has been declining over the years. They also live in small places of Africa and they all need some help. To help, you could:

1. save paper and recycle
2. Don’t poach, buy illegal parts, or buy bush meat
3. and (this probably will be a long shot) but ask the government to help find a cure for the Ebola Virus or do something about it

The gorillas need your help!

-Idea+Gift=Love

Free the Girls

Free the Girls

          Hello, this is IGL. This is our new project. This project could have some inappropriate and confusing parts for little children. Free the Girls is an organization for helping women and girl in Africa. In Mozambique, Africa, many girls and women are sold for their bodies. Sometimes, children are sold too. The families are starving and need to sell their women or daughters to gain some food or shelter. Most of the time, the family would think they would end safely. But this is false. The African women would become a prostitute or sex slave.

          Free the Girl’s founders heard about the crisis in Mozambique. They decided to start an organization to help those women and girls. They decided to gain charity for these women by having people donate their bras to Africa. These bras would provide the slaves some confidence and safe income. They really need it.

          But unfortunately, they don’t have money for the shipping to Africa. Thankfully, CNN saw the organization and decided to help them out. Now, Free the Girls are launching programs in Mexico, El Salvador, Kenya, Mozambique, and Uganda. You could:

     1.     donate a bra

     2.     donate some money

The slaves in Africa need it!

-Idea+Gift=Love IGL 

The animal shelter

The Animal Shelter

          Hello, this is IGL. This topic is about the animal shelter. The animal shelter takes in animals either lost or homeless. People adopt these animals and take them home as their pets. But sadly, many animals are put to sleep due to the lack of owners. But some animal shelters are no-kill, which means they never put to sleep any animals. But most animal shelters put to sleep many animals. IGL is here to help the animal shelters. The animal shelter neuters and spays the animals they take in. The animal shelter includes dogs, cats, rabbits, and sometimes other animals.

          Many people find these animals loveable. They all wait for a home to go to. At the end, you’ll love the animals included. They’re like ordinary pets from the pet store, but formally abandoned or strayed.

          One of our members, Cristina, adopted a dog from the animal shelter. He was a very enthusiastic and helping dog. He loved every single one of the family. Cristina helped save the life of a dog. You can too.

          Animal shelters help many people find the right pet to take home. Sometimes, they run out of supplies since they have many animals to take care of. To help them, you could:

1. donate some money
2. donate supplies
3. adopt an animal
4. volunteer to help

IGL has worked on this project for a few months, and will donate their hard-earned money. Members have also sent in some unnecessary or extra animal supplies they have. Help the animals in the animal shelter!

-Idea+Gift=Love 

Stop Poverty in India!

Stop Poverty in India!

          Hello, this is IGL. Our new topic is to stop poverty in India. Here’s a mini story to it.

          Once upon a time, one of our members, Sanjana, went to her home country India. She went to the slums of India to see the people. Sadly, children and people were all suffering. They lived in small shacks tidied together. She saw a girl and a baby drinking yellow and contaminated water out of a pipe. She also saw a boy working at the motel her age not going to school and getting the education he needed. The water system was dirty and had trash in it.

          The children beg for food and work nonstop. But you could give them some hope and happiness.

          You could help these poor people and give them some hope by:

1. You could donate some money
2. You could adopt and Indian orphan
3. Or you could go to India physically and help them with their labor!

Stop poverty in India!

-Idea+Gift=Love 

Help the stray cats!

Help the Stray Cats!

          Hello, this is IGL. We are here for our first project! This post could have been here longer before, but we had trouble with our blogger.

          So, this post is about helping the stray cats. Many stray cats are lost everywhere on this planet. They have no home and no trust to have. They're like hobos but smaller, more vulnerable, and no communicating interaction towards humans. And this post has a story that goes with.

          Once upon a time, three little kittens were abandoned by their mother. They came up on the doorstep of one of our member’s (Cristina) cousins. Cristina’s cousins found two grey kittens and one white kitten. They brought the white kitten in since the other two didn’t run inside. They fed them cat food and watered them every night outside.

          Soon, they adopted the white kitten. Her name was Ashley. The other two were Tina and Charlie. They loved each and every cat very much. One day, they decided to capture Tina and Charlie to bring to the humane society for TNR.

          TNR is a program for helping cats get neutered or spayed. People capture stray cats and bring it to the animal shelter for TNR. They neuter or spay them and clip one of their ear’s tips to indicate that they were brought for TNR. They release the cat back to where they were found since relocation is a dangerous act for wild or stray animals.

          Cristina’s cousins helped save a life, in fact, saved three lives. They adopted a stray cat, and brought two for TNR. YOU could save a life. If you find a stray cat, you could

1. Adopt the feral cat
2. Find some trusting and caring owners
3. Bring it to the humane society for either TNR or to bring it to the shelter.

Remember, every life counts.

Help the stray cats!

-Idea+Gift=Love

IGL's Introduction

IGL’s Introduction

          Hello, this is IGL. Before we post anything about our projects, this is our introduction.

          Once upon a time, there was a girl. Let’s call her Sanjana. Sanjana had two best friends: Cristina and Victori. They all lived in the bay area of California. Sanjana told Cristina about the crisis in the Indian children in the slums. Cristina and Sanjana agreed to make a lemonade stand for charity.

          Apparently, it didn’t work out. Cristina’s grandmother was babysitting Cristina’s cousin’s dog. And Sanjana loved dogs. They agreed to sell lemonade at Cristina’s Grandmother’s local park in Cupertino. Sanjana begged Cristina to bring the dog with them to the lemonade stand. So two girls with a grandmother and a dog were walking, carrying and dragging a small table and a chair. At the end of the day in the hot summer Sun, they earned…(drum roll) $3.50! It wasn’t a lot, and after that, they stopped with the lemonade stand.

          About half a year later, Sanjana reported to Cristina and Victori about the Indian children again. Of course, after the loss of enthusiasm in the first sell, Cristina and her mother were not so sure about it. But they were determined. At lunch in school, they discussed and Cristina thought of the club’s name—IGL. It was a beautiful name. It stood for Idea Gift Love. It soon changed to Idea+Gift=Love.

          They were always planning a lemonade stand, but they all forgot about it soon. Then one day, in the second semester of school, the core teacher, Mrs. Lim, decided for the class to write an autobiography. Cristina and Sanjana were in the same class and they sat next to each other. When Sanjana was writing about what she would be when she grew up, she decided to be an activist for charity. Telling Cristina the plan, their power and love for the IGL club raged up and was set afire again.

          In the library, Victori, Sanjana, and Cristina made a website on Weebly. It wasn’t exactly a hit at first, but it was good enough. They all worked hard every day on the weebly website.

They decided to make a second lemonade stand. Sanjana couldn’t go, but Victori and Cristina along with Cristina’s cousin decided to attend. Cristina had lemonade with the stand and chair and Victori brought tropical fruit juice and chocolate cupcakes. But there were things that didn’t work out well. First, it was on the same day as the Superbowl so nobody came except for some children that wanted to go to the park or some old people walking around, not knowing who the heck the Giants are. And the cupcakes looked awful! Apparently, Victori poured too much batter in each paper wrapper, so it looked like they were obese clumps of poop. But they were delicious. The day ended well with about $12.

Now, IGL has a facebook, Gmail, weebly, twitter, YouTube channel, Google+, and a Blogger. Every member of IGL worked VERY hard on this club. We will never forget the day IGL was created.

-Idea+Gift=Love IGL