- Partnerships For Change® organized and sponsored a service mission for seven individuals including the initiation of the Students For Change Project by Kathy Shade and student, Garrett Hooper. Money, supplies and clothing were distributed to schools, orphanages. The additional funds allowed for the further development of the Women’s Empowerment Center in Sendivakkam, India. En route to India, Andrew Michael, PFC Board of Directors member, and Kathy and Garrett Hooper of Students for Change met in Dubai, United Arab Emirates with the leading recycling and environmental organization to discuss opportunities for collaboration.
- Animal rescue became another PFC project in the first quarter of 2007. Following visits to Animal Aid, a hospital and support center for injured animals in Udaipur, PFC Board of Directors, Diane Federico, and Jacqueline Miller contributed financial aid to further the efforts already begun. Diane and Jacqueline identified and rescued an injured street dog in Udaipur requiring complicated and unavailable surgery in India. Jacqueline and Diane successfully carried the injured dog to the United States from India. Happily, the dog was completely healed and continues to thrive in his new US home.
- Lama Tenzin Choegyal, PFC Board of Advisors member and founder of the Children’s Education and Development Institute (CED) was grateful for the support of PFC and the Medium of the Oracle of Tibet, Kuten La, to continue the rescuing of the Himalayan children. The C.E.D Institute is an educational home for the rescued Tibetan children. Lama Tenzin was inducted into the prestigious Humanitarian Hall of Fame for his fearless rescue of children stranded in the most remote areas of the Himalayas. Other inductees include His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Mother Teresa.
- Since 2005 PFC has sponsored fundraising and support events for the C.E.D. Institute, which provided financial sponsors for the children and their education. PFC expanded their support to both coasts of the United States identifying new key benefactors in San Francisco, California, Miami, Florida, Washington, D.C. and also in New York, NY. PFC’s Andrew Michael, Jacqueline Miller, Richard Diefenbach, Dr. Mary Thomas Weiss and Lama Tenzin met with Kuten La, the Deputy Minister of the Tibetan Government in Exile and the Medium of the Oracle of Tibet in Goa, India and traveled with him to the site of the proposed monastery in Mundgod, India.
- For his first public trip to the U.S. in March, the Medium of the Oracle of Tibet, Kuten La, invited Partnerships For Change to host him and his spiritual entourage, which included the chant master, spiritual attendant, personal secretary and the Rinpoche leading the Mundgod Monastery project. The purpose of his trip was to raise awareness of the Tibetan struggle to preserve its culture and to seek financial support for the completion of the new monastery in Mundgod, India. The monastery serves a Tibetan refugee population of over 15,000 in southern India. PFC raised the funds to sponsor Kuten La’s trip as well as the subsequent 16+city summer tour, including the organization of public venues, concert and media. The trip highlighted Kuten La and the Tibetan perspective on global warming and its impact. Kuten La was able to meet and greet with over 20,000 people. The kickoff tour began with a reception in San Francisco at the grand rotunda City Hall. In conjunction with the San Francisco Department of the Environment and Library, Jared Blumenfeld, Director of the Department of the Environment hosted an evening of stimulating discussions with the Medium of the Oracle of Tibet and Deputy Minister of the Tibetan Government in Exile. The tour included Portland, OR, Berkeley, CA, Sausalito, CA, Los Angeles, CA, Aspen, CO, Boulder, CO, Denver, CO, Minneapolis, MN, Chicago, IL, Louisville, KY, Baltimore, MD, Washington, D.C., New York, NY, Miami, FL, and Mt. Shasta, CA and ended in San Francisco, CA in August. PFC was successful in raising awareness and the necessary funds to complete the building of the monastery to be opened by His Holiness the Dalai Lama in January 2008. PFC’s longstanding relations with the media netted successful media placements resulting in coverage in the Chicago Tribune, CBS Evening News, Miami Herald, Miami’s CBS and NBC affiliates, radio broadcast from the Voice of America and various Buddhist publications. The producer of An Inconvenient Truth, Lawrence Bender, personally showed and reviewed his film with Kuten La in Los Angeles. The Honorable Diane Feinstein, US Senator, and her husband Richard Blum hosted PFC and Kuten La at their home in Aspen, CO, creating a beautiful luncheon and reception in his honor. PFC organized a rare and sacred ceremony led by Kuten La on the beautiful Aspen Mountain top. Landmark meetings were held with Kuten La and the Office of the Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Congressman Kucinich, and other dignitaries. Concluding Kuten La’s multi city tour, a special concert and Tibetan chant performance was organized for Washington, D.C. dignitaries as well as the public at the beautiful National Cathedral. A tribute in the form of a special welcoming proclamation was paid by each of the mayors whom Kuten La had visited during his 16+city tour.
- A project later to be called “Technology in Service to Humanity” was launched to improve the health and well being of people in Sendivakkam, India. A strategy was employed to create a product with low frequency magnetic waves, which could be included in toys to protect children from the effects of a harmful environment. The underserved communities including those involved in the Women’s Empowerment Center would produce the toys. A business plan draft and structure were developed to raise capital for the venture. PFC participated in an Energy Medicine Conference in Washington, D.C. and invited the creators of several devices to explore miniaturizing them to be part of the “Technology in Service to Humanity Project”.
- PFC’s Jacqueline Miller and Andrew Michael spoke at the United Nations Headquarters in New York at a Sustainability Summit regarding Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).
- PFC catalyzed and sponsored the film called, I Met A Man Who Had No Feet…The story of the Jaipur Foot.
- PFC sponsored a documentary on the crisis of the sexual molestation of boys called Boyhood Shadows – I Swore I’d Never Tell. The premier for the film occurred in November. PFC has continued to publicize the film to expand its distribution throughout the United States and abroad at film festivals and other outlets.
- PFC sponsored a film documentary on Women and Power, which was later titled Miss Representation which was highly received at the 2011 Sundance Festival. Sold out screenings created a buzz about the message of empowering women. The film is co-executive produced by Regina Kulik Scully and Jennifer Seibel Newsom, first lady of San Francisco.
- PFC’s Jacqueline Miller was invited to be an associate producer on a film executive produced by Sir Richard Branson. The film entitled, Global Warming 101 Expedition, Baffin Island ’07: “Bear Witness” exploring the impact of global warming on the indigenous people around the world. The feature-length film was premiered in December 2009 in Copenhagen at the COP15 Environmental Summit. The Toronto Film Festival included the film in its 2010 festival.