05.04.08
Posted in Community Action at 9:35 pm by Administrator
Los Angeles, CA - May 5, 2008 – Mother’s Day Radio (MDR), a community organization dedicated to elevating the images of women in popular music, will hold the 2nd annual “Mother’s Day Radio 2008, A Day of Rest and Uplift”, this Saturday May 10, 2008 in the Crenshaw district. This celebration will honor the strength and wisdom of women through Hip Hop music and spoken words.
Mother’s Day Radio experienced its first major victory on the weekend of Mother’s Day 2007, after weeks of petitioning local radio stations resulted in two Los Angeles radio stations and one Erie, Pennsylvania station—KJLH 102.3 fm,V100.3 fm and WERG 90.5 fm–playing a full day of positive, respectful and uplifting music in honor of women everywhere.
Shaunelle Curry, executive director of MDR, says, “I have a vision for our young girls and young boys that no longer limits their potential for relating to one another to that of sexual degradation, oppression and violence. In this vision, womanhood is honored and revered.” She adds, “We have planted the seed. We now call upon all to support this work’s growth by taking an active role in Mother’s Day Radio’s 2nd Annual Day of Rest and Uplift. This is a national day to rest from violence, sexual denigration, and misogynistic acts in our community and in our music. This is a day to uplift one another through song.”
This year, Mother’s Day Radio has organized an MDR Task Force in at least 7 other cities across the U.S. including Washington, D.C., Chicago, New York, and Atlanta. These groups have spent the past month targeting local radio stations and media outlets in their communities for a day of honoring women through music. They have also mobilized their communities to gather for a Day of Rest and Uplift on May 10, 2008, the Saturday of Mother’s Day weekend.
In Los Angeles, the celebration will take place Saturday, May 10, 2008, at the Harambe Farmer’s Market, 5730 Crenshaw Blvd., (Crenshaw and Slauson) from 12 noon to 4pm.
For more information, please contact L.A. Task Forcer Leader, Mecca Islam at 323-977-3749 or mecca_islam@yahoo.com.
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03.03.08
Posted in Community at 9:06 pm by Administrator
Please join us for…
ONE MILLION (PLUS!) STRONG
A musical event in support of the OBAMA campaign
Help Take Back the Mic (http://takebackthemic.com), in partnership with
Mother’s Day Radio (http://www.mothersdayradio.com), and be a part of
the ONE MILLION (PLUS!) people invested in the Obama campaign!
Tuesday, March 4th
Tangier
2138 Hillhurst Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90027
323-660-1033
21+
Part I - doors open at 5pm for a free primary watching party hosted by
Obamawood; hear inspiring words from Derrick Ashong, aka DNA, favored
YouTube Obama supporter!
Part II - Other special guest speeches and music from Soulfège begin
at
7:30pm sharp, $10 cover
RSVP and pledge support online here:
http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/4rfgg#rsvp
Come ready to pledge your support and become a part of this ONE
MILLION (PLUS!) STRONG historic campaign.
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11.20.07
Posted in Community at 4:26 am by Administrator
“With Freedom of Expression Comes a Brighter Future”
(Los Angeles, CA) With international headlines laden with war, famine, and issues of corruption, never before has the need for upholding our basic human rights been so critical. On December 10, 2007, International Human Rights Day, critically acclaimed artists will unite to celebrate the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the “Freedom of Expression” at Tangier Restaurant in Los Angeles from 8pm to 10pm. All proceeds will benefit Los Angeles-based charity, Mother’s Day Radio.
“We are thrilled to have the opportunity to unite these brilliant, Los Angeles-based artists to raise awareness of critical human rights,” explains event Executive Producer Ashleigh Prince. “Mother’s Day Radio has tirelessly worked to bring Freedom of Expression into reality through promoting respectful music. Our goal is to unite our communities to realize the opportunity we have to affect change for our generation and the next through making human rights known and applied.”
On December 10th, the 59th Anniversary of the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights four socially progressive and active bands will unite for the dual cause of shedding light on Human Rights and supporting a worthy community organization. To celebrate the Declaration, specifically Article 19: Freedom of Expression, critically acclaimed Afropolitan fusion band Soulfège, Great American Rock band Aaron Nicholson and the Weathermakers, Jamaican Rap Songstress Nadirah X and Nationally-known Independent Singer/Songwriter
Owen Plant will come together for a benefit concert at Tangier Restaurant located at 2138 Hillhurst Ave Los Angeles, CA 90027.
All proceeds from the concert will benefit Mother’s Day Radio (MDR), a community driven initiative focused on promoting respectful music and media representations for women internationally. Mother’s Day Radio organizes and implements leadership programs and respectful media programs to help the next generation of women develop with strength and integrity. This initiative furthers the vision of Eleanor Roosevelt who spearheaded and championed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights through to its signing in 1948. More info on Mother’s Day Radio can be found at www.mothersdayradio.com.
Concert Founding Partners include Soul Genesis (www.soulgen.com), Open Secret Communications (www.opensecretcommunications.com), Take Back the Mic (www.takebackthemic.com), Mother’s Day Radio (www.mothersdayradio.com), and Christie Communications (www.christiecomm.com).
Concert details:
Monday, December 10, 2007, 8 p.m. til 10 p.m.
A Benefit Concert in Celebration of International Human Rights Day Featuring:
Soulfège (www.soulfege.com)
Aaron Nicholson and the Weathermakers (www.myspace.com/aaronnicholson)
Nadirah X (www.nadirahx.com)
Owen Plant (www.owenplant.com)
Tangier Restaurant
2138 Hillhurst Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90027.
Tickets: $20 in advance/$25 at the door
Advance tickets may be purchased online:
www.brownpapertickets.com:80/event/24180
RSVP and tickets sales call: 310-295-1047
All proceeds benefit Mother’s Day Radio (www.mothersdayradio.com)
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10.02.07
Posted in Youth Advisory Council at 9:24 pm by Administrator
Mother’s Day Radio (MDR) launched on Mother’s Day weekend of this year with a call to the radio stations for 24 hours of rest from lyrics that degrade women and 24 hours of music that respectfully represents women. On May 12, 2007, three radio stations, including Los Angeles, California’s KJLH 102.3 fm, V100.3 fm, and Erie, Pennsylvania’s WERG 90.5 fm, participated in a Day of Rest and Uplift. Dozens of other radio stations across the country were bombarded with letters, phone calls and emails from MDR community members taking a stand for justice in media practices.
A powerful contributor to this phenomenal work is MDR’s multi-city Youth Coalition. Through MDR’s service learning opportunities, youth have participated in petition, call-in and email campaigns to impact media reform.
Mother’s Day Radio has added a Youth Advisory Council to give teenagers a more powerful voice in directing the social action component of this work. The Youth Advisory Council is the voice of the youth who are concerned about the impact that misogyny and sexism in Hip-Hop has on their identity and on their developmental well-being. These youth have been taking direct action to make marked change in mainstream media.
MDR Director, Shaunelle Curry, had an opportunity to interview 17 year old Youth Advisory Council member, Ayanna Thompson-Robinson of the Teen Outreach Program. The Teen Outreach Program (TOP) is one of MDR’s active youth coalition organizations. Ayanna shared her insight on the impact of mainstream media on her peers and her enthusiasm to bring about media reform.
Ayanna on what inspires her
Dancing inspires me. Dancing is something that is like a healer; it helps me when I have problems, it inspires me to do more for myself so I can keep doing it.
Ayanna on TOP
TOP is the Teen Outreach Program located in the near South side of St. Louis, Missouri. We talk about things that teens go through. It is a get-away so we are not in the streets doing something bad. I’ve gained a lot of close friends through the program–people I can depend on, and who I know will help me when I need some help. I’ve learned a lot of lessons. It makes me aware of what I need to do and what I don’t need to do while I’m growing up and getting ready to leave for college.
Ayanna on music
I like neo-soul, but I listen to rap and R&B and some of the latest stuff. I like Alicia keys, India Arie, Chris Brown, Bow Wow, punk rock, Maroon 5, and a lot of stuff like that.
Ayanna on the impact of music on her peer group
I think music influences us a lot because of the way some of us act and the way we talk. You can tell what kind of music you listen to by the way you speak. That’s your slang, the way you speak to your friends. If a dude talks to a girl, he might say, “Ay-bay-bay” instead of saying, “Hello, how are you doing?” He’s not coming correct. It mainly brainwashes you. You want to be like the artists instead of being yourself. That’s what the media portrays. If you’re not like somebody who’s famous and lives a life of glamour, then you’re not an “It girl” or you’re not what’s poppin.
Half the people think they should be an “It girl” or like popular because it makes you seem like you have money. It’s important to them—if I dress like this or wear this name brand because this person in the video, on tv or in a magazine or famous wears it, then it makes me look like I have money. If you don’t look like you have money, then other people are more likely to put you down.
Ayanna on some of the challenges teens face
There’s two groups in my age group with different challenges. If you think you have money to do this and this and this, you have to try to maintain that look to make it look like you’re keeping up with what’s going on with the fashion and the new songs. Some may end up stealing to get certain clothes or take money from Mom to look like they have money in their pockets.
The kids who are maturing in a way that you can’t just keep up with what is on t.v., you learn from parents you have to work for money. They are grinding to get the money on their own, to try to earn it. The challenge is to stay alive and live in the way you want to live and not get mixed up into any nonsense.
In my opinion, Rap is what we look to as a way of life. Hip-Hop is the stuff our parents listened to. Rap and gangsta music is the reason why we want all the money, wanting to dress the way we dress, or speak the way we speak. The reason the crime is so big. Since 50 Cent got shot and he shot at somebody, maybe I should do this and later I’ll get money from doing this. Dudes say, “I’m a thug.” The way they talk about themselves, you can tell they live the things they see on t.v., the things they see 50 Cent or somebody doing. Because 50 has money, people think that if ‘I do what he is doing, then I’ll have money’ or will look like I have money.
Ayanna on music impacting female identity and decisions
Young ladies feel that they should wear little small clothing and they have to wear high heels and this name brand and that name brand just to make boys like them or want to spend money on them. They feel like they have to look the part of what people look like on the video to make them feel like they can get what they need.
Girls at my school feel they have to give their bodies away instead of saving it, because they feel that’s the thing to do. In the videos and movies, girls are doing a certain thing. They think, “If I do it like she’s doing it, then I’ll end up with the same results that she has—having money and a rich boyfriend.”
Girls stop thinking after awhile. They’re trying to be like celebrities, doing what the girls on the videos do, but the results end up bad. They end up pregnant or with AIDS or they lose their life because they’re with a boy who is a thug.
One of my friend’s friends was shot in the face last Tuesday just standing on her porch. A 15 year old girl got stabbed by a 13 year old because of firecrackers. It’s the mentality of “this is mine and you can’t have it,” or I need to kill somebody because I want to be in this group. Or for a girl, I need to have sex with certain boys to be in a specific group. She needs to get the attention that she wants, to get what she needs—to get some money.
Ayanna on Music Lyrics
They (the entertainment industry) aim for children to listen to music, but the music is brainwashing. I was just talking to my friend about this yesterday. Our parents talk about our music; in our parent’s day if they talked about sex in music, it was in a code. You had to try to figure it out. Now, it is more straight to the point. It is saying, “Do what I tell you to do.” The lyrics on certain songs are demanding. It went from code, to instructing you what to do, to now I’m demanding you to do it, I’m making you do it.
Ayanna on decisions she must make as a dancer
Since I am a dancer, I listen to the words of the music because of the choreography of the music. But to me it doesn’t faze me; it goes through one ear and out of the other because of my mother’s teachings and TOP. If you think while you listen to the words, it’s not demanding if you’re taught you shouldn’t do what other people are doing. Be the leader for yourself.
If the person choreographs a dance that is too sexual, I pull myself away from it, or my dance instructor or my mom will. When I choreograph dances I don’t make it so sexual. You can make your moves more feminine and not so sexual. If it’s Ciara, that’s more dancing, but if it’s Lil Kim, it’s more gyrating, like you want to sell yourself. Dudes think it’s cute, but it’s not cute.
In my research for my craft, if I know the artist is known for degrading women, I won’t take the gig. I’ll probably walk. For me, that’s not dancing, that’s selling your body.
In the videos they’re taming down a little bit because there are a lot of younger artists coming out now like Ciara, Chris Brown, Omarion–they dance. There’s choreography. Little Mama, a new artist out now, has more dance choreography than gyrating.
The music industry needs to change. The older people like 50 cent and Ludacris need to be challenged. The younger people are not bringing as sexual, “straight to the point,” lyrics.
Ayanna on the need for media reform
The radio stations should not allow songs with certain words, or if a song is too sexual, it can’t be played on the radio. It’s like a free for all right now. I think it should be more strict. That will help the rappers and singers dim down their lyrics with the cursing and derogatory lyrics toward women and men.
It’s the radio in a way, but it’s also the whole rappers and stuff, their music, the lyrics that they put on the internet for people to download. It should be, ‘if you’re not at a certain age, you can’t purchase this song,’ instead of it being so easy for teens to buy the regular version.
Ayanna on rappers saying they are not role models
Not to be harsh or anything, but I think that’s stupid because they really are role models. Whether it is for good or for bad, whether they want to be or don’t want to be, when they are in the spotlight and people look up to them, they are role models.
Ayanna on her role with Mother’s Day Radio
With TOP I was a leader with suggestions for getting people to be a part of MDR outside of TOP. We typed up letters for radio stations and the record companies, to give them our opinion of why they should be a part of Mother’s Day Radio. I had people sign the petition and go to the computer and sign the petition also.
Ayanna on what inspires her about MDR and motivates her to take social action in media reform
Seeing how the radio affects the people I hang out with motivates me. I think it should stop. I think, if I see the effects, I should do something about it. I think it will make our community be a much better place. I think it will help crime dim down. I think one of the reasons crime is so high is because people see it being rapped about and they see it in movies and media; they think it’s the way they should live.
Ayanna on what she looks forward to in Mother’s Day Radio this year
I look forward to doing some of my ideas for it, such as Teen summit, getting more teens involved in it. I look forward to seeing the results if we can get the radio stations in St. Louis to cooperate with us this time. I look forward to getting the radio stations to see that the music is not always “female friendly” as they were quoted as saying.
TOP can throw a Teen summit here in St. Louis to get teens involved. A lot of people were interested, but they didn’t know how much it affects them. Going to schools to talk with other teens will impact the teens more because they’re hearing it from us. We can do some of the same lessons that our facilitators did with us.
One of my favorite lessons was when we got lyrics to some songs like “Laffy Taffy” and “Candy Shop” and Beyonce’s “Check up on it” and we put our names in it in certain spots. It kind of hurts when you sing it and hear your own name in it. With my name being put into it, it really hurt. You don’t normally think about it. But if a dude is singing it, what if his mother’s name was put in it, or his little sister’s name is put into it. It’s like, I’m bouncing to it, but he’s saying that I’m nothing.
The beats are really good; it’s just the lyrics that make the songs really horrible.
Ayanna on what she looks forward to in being an MDR Youth Advisory Council Member
I look forward to getting to meet the other teens involved with Mother’s Day Radio. I’m looking forward to saying that I was a part of something that is changing the world. People should really be a part of this movement because it’s something that the world needs.
Ayanna on “keeping it real” with her identity
I am a dancer. I am a leader. I am a sister. I am the future. I am a blessing. I am a gift. I am a role model. I am a key to life. I am inspiration to my people. I am the daughter of my mother.
I am not a hoar. I am not a female dog. I am not common. I am not average. I am not easy. I am not something you can buy on a shelf. I am not what you want me to be; I am who I CHOOSE to be.
To become involved in Mother’s Day Radio social action initiatives, or to engage your youth organization in MDR service learning opportunities, please email service@mothersdayradio.com.
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05.11.07
Posted in Launch at 2:26 pm by Administrator
If you are in the Los Angeles, California area, come take part in our Mother’s Day Radio launch activities in May 2007.
- Circle of Healing: Reclaiming Womanhood on Saturday, May 5, 2007 9am-3pm. Lotus on the Nile Wellness Center, 4307 S. Crenshaw Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90008. Cost: Love offering.
- Day of Rest and Uplift launch on Saturday, May 12, 2007 8am-9:30am. Kenneth Hahn Park, 4100 South La Cienega Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90056. Brown Area. Cost: $4 park entrance fee.
- Screening of Hip-Hop Beyond Beats and Rhymes and performance by Youth Movement Records on Friday, May 18, 2007, 7pm-10pm. Art Share Los Angeles, 801 E 4th Place, Los Angeles, CA 90013 (If mapquesting, use 326 S Hewitt). Cost: Free. Arrive early to guarantee seating.
Thank you to our community partners:
Art Share LA, Beautiful Struggle on KPFK radio (90.7fm), Brave New Foundation, California Black Women’s Health Project, DJ Beverly Bond, MDR Coalition, MDR Women’s Circle, Moms In Charge, Mother’s In Action Respect Me Coalition, Lotus on the Nile Wellness Center, Some of Us Are Brave Radio (KPFK), Soul Genesis, Spirit Awakening Foundation, and Youth Movement Records.
Thank you to our participating radio stations:
KJLH 102.3fm www.kjlhradio.com
V100 (100.3fm) www.V100music.com
WERG 90.5fm www.WERGfm.com
Thank you to the MDR Community that has actively engaged in community action. We have planted the seed. Now let’s nurture it to full bloom.
To get involved in MDR Community action, email info@mothersdayradio.com or call 1-888-261-4580.
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Posted in Launch at 12:48 pm by Administrator
The Mother’s Day Radio initiative to create a space in mainstream media that respectfully represents women is launching its first annual National Day of Uplift on Saturday, May 12, 2007. This is the Saturday of Mother’s Day weekend.
We have called for the participation of radio stations and broadcast companies to grant us 24 hours of rest from music with misogynistic and sexually degrading lyrical content. We have called for 24 hours of music that respectfully represents women.
Participating radio stations include Los Angeles, California’s KJLH 102.3fm www.kjlhradio.com, V100.3 fm www.V100music.com, and Erie, Pennsylvania’s WERG 90.5 fm www.WERGfm.com.
Now we are calling on the participation of the community. On Saturday, May 12, 2007, the nation will be asked to participate in a Day of Rest and Uplift in the following ways:
- Wear all white on Saturday, May 12th in honor of and to pay homage to the women, young and old, of our communities.
- Rest from physical, sexual, and verbal violence against women.
- Uplift women with empowering, loving, forgiving, gracious and compassionate language and interactions (this is for both men and women).
- TURN OFF radio stations that play music with degrading, misogynistic lyrical content.
- TURN ON radio stations that support women with music that respectfully represents women. Our participating radio stations have online streaming music at their respective websites.
- Purchase and play music that honors, uplifts and elevates women.
We are calling for ONE VOICE in honoring women on Mother’s Day weekend 2007.
Please join our efforts!
www.mothersdayradio.com
www.mothersdayradio.com/blog4
www.myspace.com/mothersdayradio
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04.25.07
Posted in Community Action at 4:51 pm by Administrator
MDR Community,
We are learning every day the power of our Unified Voice. Roberts Broadcasting is “banning programming and music lyrics that it deems violent, sexist and racist” from its Hip-Hop radio station. Russell Simmons is now recommending eliminating certain words from radio play and deeming them “extreme curse words.”
Al Sharpton’s National Action Network, the NAACP, and community organizations like Mothers In Action are stepping up with campaigns to address the misogyny, degradation and violence in the current mainstream rap market.
As a community, we are understanding and exercising the power of our One Voice. This work requires the whole community–not just those public figures we deem leaders–to stand in unity and SPEAK!
This is our last Wednesday in April. Again today, we will be emailing, calling and faxing the radio stations and broadcast companies. We are not asking them to bleep out a few explicit words. We are calling for 24 hours of rest from songs whose lyrical content is misogynistic, degrading and disrespectful in nature. We are calling for 24 hours of music programming that respectfully represents women. We are calling for a day to honor and elevate ourselves on the public airwaves.
Please visit the Community Action section of the MDR blog (www.mothersdayradio.com/blog4) for instructions, a list of stations and contact information, and for the MDR official cover letter to be included in your emails. Let us set a record today in call ins, emails and faxes.
We are the One Voice, the collective momentum, that can create a shift in the recording and broadcast industries. Our work has just begun.
A friend recently sent me this quote and I share it with you. “Courage is not the absence of fear, but the decision that something else is more important.” –Ambrose Redmoon
Let us make the decision to be courageous and ensure that our ONE VOICE is heard!
~Shaunelle Curry, Executive Director of Mother’s Day Radio
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04.18.07
Posted in Community Action at 4:19 pm by Administrator
Greetings MDR Community,
We thank you for your consistent effort in emailing the radio stations and broadcast companies during our Wednesday Days of Action and Agitation. Because of your efforts, we have begun conversations with radio station execs and have received written responses to your efforts. Let’s continue to DRIVE IT HOME!
We have two Wednesdays left in April and we are closer to our goal. Today and April 25th, we will add phone calls and faxes to our agitation strategy. Please check out the list of stations published in the Community Action category of our blog (www.mothersdayradio.com/blog4/). You will notice that we have added new stations, per your request, and have included the available telephone and fax numbers to many of the stations and broadcast companies. Remember to include the MDR Official Cover letter in your emails, also found in the Community Action category of our blog.
Please phone, fax, and email these companies with your request for their participation in one Day of Rest and Uplift on Saturday, May 12, 2007 of Mother’s Day weekend.
Mother’s Day Radio is calling for 24 hours of rest from music with misogynistic, sexually degrading, lyrical content. We request 24 hours of music that respectfully represents women. We are calling into accountability the recording industry, the broadcast industry, the listening community and consumers. We are not putting our efforts into blaming, but into holding the industry and ourselves accountable to creating needed, systemic change.
Remember, Mother’s Day Radio is a CALL TO ACTION by the community to make clear how we want women to be represented in Hip-Hop culture and to implement a strategic plan for attaining it. This is an action of cooperation with artists, providing them with an opportunity for the creative self-expression of love, worth and value in their particular medium.
Thank you, again, MDR Community. In order to maintain clear records of your outreach, please ”CC” info@mothersdayradio.com in your email agitations, as many of you have already been doing. We will be sure to follow up with those stations.
Thank You!
~Team MDR
www.mothersdayradio.com
www.mothersdayradio.com/blog4/
www.petitiononline.com/60806/petition.html
www.myspace.com/mothersdayradio
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04.04.07
Posted in Community Action at 3:55 pm by Administrator
Greetings MDR Community,
Thank You once again for participating in our collective Day of Action & Agitation. Every Wednesday in April we will be emailing radio stations to request their participation in a Day of Rest and Uplift for women via the radio. You also have an opportunity to express your concerns and constructive insight in these emails. Instructions and a list of radio stations and contacts are posted in the “Community Action” Category of our MDR blog.
You are welcome to send in emails any day of the week. However, our collective days of impact will be on April 4th, April 11th, April 18th, and April 25th. So, be sure to partipate on those days as well.
Thank you for your participation. As “we uplift a woman, we uplift a nation!”
~Team MDR
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03.30.07
Posted in Community Action at 6:08 pm by Administrator
Thank you to All who participated in our MDR Community Day of Action & Agitation. We are still getting requests from community members who want to participate! More stations have been added, so please check our blog periodically and send emails to those new stations.
Our next collective Day of Agitation will be on Wednesday, April 4, 2007. Please continue to send in the city, radio station number and call letters, along with any contact information you have, for stations you would like to have participate in the Day of Rest and Uplift. We will add those stations to our blog list. If you are unable to locate contact information, please be sure to send in the call letters of the station; this makes it simpler for us to locate contact information, particularly for stations that broadcast in multiple cities.
Thank you, once again, for your continued support of the Mother’s Day Radio call to action. Continue to spread the word. We have had so many people come to us in gratitude for this initiative. Your petition signature, your email to the stations, and your word to a friend, are positively impacting people you may never have an opportunity to meet. Thank You.
~Team MDR
“With communities coming together, we can affect change.”
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