This year's local charity is Chai Hopes. This is a dedicated group of knitters and crocheters who make blankets for the children at the Levine Children's Hospital. No matter how young or old a child is when they enter the hospital, they are given a handmade blanket that is unique. The goal is to help them feel more relaxed during a stressful time, and let them know how special they are. Please help us support this awesome cause. Below is an example of the over 1,000 blankets this group has donated. For more information contact Micki at micki.knop@yahoo.com.
If you need more Serenity goodness and haven't had your fill of Browncoats then checkout CSTS Raliegh, with the NC Browncoats.
ConCarolinas
The Charlotte Browncoats will be hosting a fan table at ConCarolinas this year. Come out and see us at:
Hilton Hotel University Place
8629 JM Keynes Drive
Charlotte, NC 28262
The con will go on from Friday, May 29th - Sunday, May 31st.
You can stop by our booth to buy tickets or just to introduce yourself. We will also be taking donations and raffling off tickets.
Volunteers
We will need plenty of volunteers this year to keep all of our activities running throughout the evening. If you would like to offer your time or services, even for an hour or so, please contact us here.
Prizes
We welcome any and all donations of prizes for our weighted prize drawing. Please email us here and let us know so we can get you up on our prizes page.
Nothing But Red
Because it’s no longer enough to be a decent person. It’s no longer enough to shake our heads and make concerned grimaces at the news. True enlightened activism is the only thing that can save humanity from itself. I’ve always had a bent towards apocalyptic fiction, and I’m beginning to understand why. I look and I see the earth in flames. Her face was nothing but red.
All I ask is this: Do something. Try something. Speaking out, showing up, writing a letter, a check, a strongly worded e-mail. Pick a cause – there are few unworthy ones. And nudge yourself past the brink of tacit support to action. Once a month, once a year, or just once. If you can’t think of what to do, there is this handy link. Even just learning enough about a subject so you can speak against an opponent eloquently makes you an unusual personage. Start with that. Any one of you would have cried out, would have intervened, had you been in that crowd in Bashiqa. Well thanks to digital technology, you’re all in it now.
~ Joss Whedon (read the entire blog entry here)
In April 2007, seventeen-year-old Dua Khalil was pulled into a crowd of young men—some of them family members. They proceeded to stone and beat her to death, a supposed “honour” killing for being in the company of a man of a different faith.The police stood by and did nothing, and several members of the crowd filmed the incident with camera phones. You can find the video on both CNN’s website and YouTube (We have not linked to the video. A simple search will find it for you).
One month later, popular writer and filmmaker, Joss Whedon, posted his complete despair and outrage on a fan-run news blog, Whedonesque.com. Among his words was a call to action. Nothing But Red is how some of us responded.
The purpose of Nothing But Red is to bring attention to the issue of violence against women worldwide, as well as the continuing need for equality, through art — both written and visual — and by raising money for a charity that strives to help women of all faiths, ethnicities, and socioeconomic backgrounds, with the support of dedicated volunteers who share a desire to promote equality.
The complete Nothing But Red collection can be purchased as a full-color e-Book for $5.95. Or as a black-and-white paperback for $15.95. All net proceeds go to Equality Now.