~August Charity Spotlight~Favorite Celebrity

***Ok ladies I'm going to take a break from cute-ness***
just for a sec
. . . time to get serious for a sec . . . bear with me!
Still there?! K . . .
I've been thinking long and hard lately . . .

I work my "day job"

I blog

I craft

I enjoy life

I love it all . . .

BUT I'm not really helping or benefitting anyone else but myself.

I feel like something has been pulling on my heart.

I've always felt like I've been meant to do more, to stand up and help people in some way

Sure we donate to charities here and there, but I need to do more!

Sooo after thinking and praying, etc. I've decided to spotlight a charity each month on my blog, and allow people to donate through here, raise awareness for the charities and their causes . . .

and even give a percentage (5%) of my Etsy shop sales toward my charity of the month.

So today being the 1st of August . . . my

charity of the month

inspired by the amazing and eye opening documentary

"The Cove"

OMG!

If you haven't seen this I highly recommend it, but it's not for the faint of heart.

It's heartbreaking what they do in Taiji, Japan to the lovely dolphins!!!

I was in tears several times.

They corner and hunt dolphins to sell all around the world, and then push the unwanted ones into "The Cove" to brutally kill and sell their meat. They do this knowing that the meat is super high in mercury, and even try to sell it as nicer more expensive meats. So sad!

Watch it!!!

About The Cove:

"The Cove is a 2009 American documentary film that describes the annual killing of dolphins in a National Park at Taiji, Wakayama, in Japan from an anti–dolphin-hunting campaigner's point of view.[3][4] The film highlights the fact that the number of dolphins killed in the Taiji dolphin hunting drive is several times greater than the number of whales killed in the Antarctic, and reports that 23,000 dolphins and porpoises are killed in Japan every year in the country's whaling industry. The migrating dolphins are herded into a hidden cove where they are netted and killed by means of spears and knives over the side of small fishing boats."

(via Wikipedia)

Anyone remember hearing about Hayden Panetettierre being arrested with others in Japan for protesting against the slaughter of thousands of dolphins annually in Taiji?!

(source)

Hayden's support for "The Cove" project in Self Magazine

Hayden: “When we did the protest in The Cove, I thought I’d be scared, but when I saw what was going on, I had no fear at all. I was deeply angry. I left knowing I’m not going to let those dolphins die in vain. Their deaths will help show the world the big picture. I’ve also taken a lot of trips to D.C. and met with senators about the issue. I even met with Barack Obama, when he was campaigning. He said he grew up in Hawaii so dolphins and whales are very close to him. I knew I had two minutes to reel off what I wanted to get across. He was larger than live and so nice. Laws and politics—that’s where things change.”

Join Hayden and others by helping them stop this brutality!