Posts Tagged ‘internet’

The Salvation Army is joining with Enough is Enough (EIE), the nationally leading organization in making the internet safer for children and families, TODAY for the official national launch of Internet Safety 101. The Program is a comprehensive resource providing a website, DVD teaching series, and workbook to empower and inform adults, helping them protect kids from web-based threats such as online sexual predators, pornography, and cyber-bullying. The event is streaming LIVE at 11am on Ustream and is being broadcast from The Heritage Foundation in Washington, DC. For more information, visit The Salvation Army's website to read about our Program partnership or visit  www.internetsafety101.org. Streaming live video by Ustream

The internet has revolutionized the way we work, play and communicate, exponentially increasing accessibility to knowledge and tools of almost anything that can be imagined. In addition to its many advantages,  this nearly limitless exposure provided by the web also presents unique risks and threats to users, especially children. Online they have free and easy access to solicited and unsolicited pornography, as well as increased opportunities to engage in risky behavior.  They are also susceptible to sexual predators and cyberbullies. Whether it be on their computers, cell phones, or gaming systems, the internet leaves youth vulnerable to threats never imagined before recent years. In addition, many adults lag in technological savvy, leaving kids to fend for themselves on this electronic playground. To address this need,  The Salvation Army is partnering with Enough is Enough (EIE),  the nationally leading organization in making the internet safer for children and families, to better prepare adults to know how to fight on their kids’ behalf against this real and ever-present corruption. On Wednesday, February 17 at The Heritage Foundation in Washington, DC, we are officially launching the new Internet Safety 101 Program, which will serve to empower parents, educators, and other adults through an array of educational materials available through the website www.internetsafety101.org, a comprehensive DVD teaching series, and a workbook. The materials address serious but relevant issues such as pornography, sexual predators, online gaming, cyberbullying, social networking, and other web-based threats. The Program will be officially announced at a press event at The Heritage Foundation in Washington, DC, attended by EIE President Donna Rice Hughes, The Salvation Army’s National President of Women’s Ministries Commissioner Eva Gaither, who serves on EIE’s Board of Directors, and Major Betty Israel, The Salvation Army’s National Social Services Secretary. Indeed, EIE and The Salvation Army understand there is an urgent and increasing need to equip adults and guard children from the threats that lurk within the internet community. According to EIE:

• Almost 93% of children ages 12-17 are online, leaving a hugely significant majority of the young population vulnerable.
• There are more than 644,865 registered sex offenders in the United States, more than 100,000 of whom have been “lost in the system.”
• Grossing $13 billion annually, the internet has become the dominant source for disseminating hard-core pornography.
• Online child pornography is a $3 billion annual industry and continues to grow.

Surprised by some of this information? It may be a good idea to check your Internet Safety IQ through this short quiz. More startling statistics regarding the internet and web-based threats, along with information regarding EIE's preventative mission, can be found at their original website www.Enough.org. As a part of its mission statement to indiscriminately meet human need in the name of Christ, The Salvation Army is committed to protecting the bodies, hearts, and minds of children and fighting the evils that are pornography and sexual exploitation, which distort God’s perfect design and erode our society. The Salvation Army’s partnership with EIE in supporting the Internet Safety 101 Program and Commissioner Eva Gaither’s ongoing participation in oversight of EIE’s plans and activities help further this critical goal.

Today, the national headquarters of The Salvation Army debuted its first-ever paperless annual report.  The innovative, interactive document is completely online and features compelling, first-person stories of the work the Army does. "The digital annual report captures the work of The Salvation Army - and the stories of those we help - in a way that a paper report can't," said Major George Hood, National Community Relations and Development Secretary for The Salvation Army, in a statement about the annual report's launch. "As more and more donors move online to learn about charities, this is one more way to quickly and easily learn about how charitable contributions are being used to help those in need." Utilizing Flash technology and dynamic design, the reader is encouraged to flow seamlessly from testimonials to financial statements without the necessity of flipping through a number of printed pages. In addition to their cutting-edge  annual report, The Army also officially launched its social networking sites.  From the homepage visitors can quickly and easily visit The Army's Twitter feed or Facebook fan page.  They can also browse photos on their Flikr page and watch more stirring videos on their YouTube Channel. The roll-out of its new interactive communications arm is a sign of the times as The Army continues to look for ways to reach new audiences to tell the story of its work. "The interactive format engages and educates current and potential donors in a more meaningful way," said Stan Richards, founder and principal of The Richards Group, the company responsible for the new annual report format. "Audiences can now actually see where and how The Salvation Army is investing its time and money and hear directly from the beneficiaries." So, how will you choose to follow all of the good that The Salvation Army is doing?

Image courtesy of The Salvation Army - Canada

The Salvation Army in Canada wrote a blog post suggesting "5 Ways to Support The Salvation Army Through Social Media."

The entry shares five interesting ways that you can support the work of the Army while you Tweet, udpate your status on Facebook, or even contemplate your next viral video.

In a time where more and more of the world is creating their own, personal online web presence - and checking out that of others - this could be one of the easiest ways to do some good.

You may question how effective a Facebook status update asking others to donate to the Army may be.  Or perhaps you're wondering if mentioning the Army's increasing need for monetary, time and goods donations in your blog will even make a dent in the needs of the organization.

Worry no more...there's no such thing as small help:

• A group of Ohio prison inmates regularly sends $5 individually to support the Army.
• A gradeschool classroom in the midwest held a class yard sale to raise money to send to the Army.  The children could see a massive fire burning from their classroom and simply wanted to help.
• A California man sends $5 every month and insists that no thank you letter be sent back to him "because it would cost money."
• And one  Missouri man has been sending $5 every month for nearly 20 years.

There's no such thing as "a little help."  Everything that you do to spread the mission and support the cause of the Army goes a long way to ensuring that the Army can continue Doing The Most Good for years to come. So go ahead: put your multimedia multitasking to good work.  Every "little bit" helps!