Feel Good Friday - Shot@Life

August is National Immunization Awareness Month, a nationwide observance dedicated to the vaccines that protect people at every stage of life, and there's no better week to spotlight Shot@Life.

Founded in 2012 and headquartered in Washington, D.C., Shot@Life is a United Nations Foundation campaign working to ensure everyone in the world has access to lifesaving vaccines and all children have a shot at life. Despite decades of medical progress, one in five children worldwide still lacks access to routine immunizations, and pneumonia alone kills more than 800,000 kids every year, a death toll that's almost entirely preventable with a vaccine that costs just a few dollars.

Shot@Life tackles this gap through education, advocacy, and partnership. Its flagship program trains everyday Americans to become Shot@Life Champions, volunteer advocates who meet with their members of Congress to push for continued U.S. investment in global immunization programs. Champions come from every state and every walk of life, and this February nearly 100 of them gathered in Washington for the campaign's first-ever National Advocacy Summit, held jointly with its sister campaign, United to Beat Malaria, for a day of meetings on Capitol Hill. Shot@Life also partners directly with UNICEF, the World Health Organization, and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, channeling private funding and public pressure toward the on-the-ground work of vaccinating children in the hardest-to-reach communities.

Since launching in 2012, Shot@Life has had a big impact. They’ve helped secure more than $5.7 billion in U.S. government funding for global vaccine programs and supported the delivery of over 120 million vaccines to children through private partners and donors, all while training more than 4,000 Americans to become vaccine equity advocates.

If you believe that people should have access to vaccines, there are several ways to support Shot@Life and their push for #VaccinesForAll. Become a Shot@Life Champion! It’s a meaningful way to get hands-on with advocacy if you're curious about meeting with your own representatives. You can also amplify their message on social media. Follow Shot@Life on Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn.

Happy National Immunization Awareness Month! 

Feel Good Friday - Partnership with Native Americans

Today is National Navajo Code Talkers Day, honoring the nearly 400 Navajo Marines whose unbreakable WWII code helped win the war in the Pacific, making this a great day to spotlight Partnership With Native Americans, an organization that serves Navajo Nation communities year-round.

Founded in 1990 and headquartered in Addison, Texas, the mission of Partnership With Native Americans (PWNA) is "serving immediate needs and supporting long-term solutions” so they can achieve their vision of “strong, self-sufficient Native American communities." PWNA is Native-led and Native-serving, with a Native-majority board and Native CEO, and it works with hundreds of reservation-based Program Partners across nine priority states in the Southwest and Northern Plains.

One of PWNA's most active efforts is the Navajo Relief Fund (NRF), which addresses food insecurity across the Navajo Nation, the largest reservation in the country at 27,000 square miles but served by only 13 grocery stores. Through NRF's Food Pantry Service, PWNA supplies staple foods to dozens of food bank partners, while Elder Nutrition Centers receive emergency food boxes that help Elders get through winter months when travel becomes difficult and heating costs climb. Recently, 60 Elders in the Navajo Mountain Chapter received emergency boxes filled with shelf-stable food, water, and cleaning supplies. "It's good that you are helping us," one Elder shared, noting how much the support eases the cost of groceries that require a 30- to 90-mile drive to reach.

Beyond the Navajo Relief Fund, PWNA runs the American Indian Education Fund, providing school supplies, scholarships, and literacy support to Native students, along with emergency services like home weatherization and wheelchair ramps for Elders, and disaster relief when Tribal communities are displaced. Since they began, PWNA has helped provide consistent aid to as many as 200,000 Native Americans every year.

If you'd like to support PWNA, there are many ways to do so. You can make a monetary donation, sign up to volunteer, shop for merch, and amplify their message on social media. Follow PWNA on Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn, and help your network become NativeAware.

Happy National Navajo Code Talkers Day!

Feel Good Friday - Assistance Dogs International

We’re coming to the end of International Assistance Dog Week, which honors the dogs, trainers and puppy raisers who make daily independence possible for people with disabilities. What a perfect day to highlight an organization that’s worked in this space for 40 years, Assistance Dogs International.

Founded in 1986 and headquartered in Maumee, Ohio, Assistance Dogs International (ADI) started as a coalition of just seven small programs working toward a vision of “creating a world without barriers through exceptional human-dog partnerships and a supporting global network.”

ADI doesn't train or place dogs itself. Instead, it accredits more than 160 member organizations across five continents, all training guide dogs, hearing dogs and service dogs for people with a wide range of disabilities.

Members must be reassessed every five years to prove their training, breeding and placement practices stay ethical and consistent from start to finish. That rigor is what lets an ADI-accredited dog fly internationally with the right documentation, or lets a U.S. veteran's assistance dog qualify for VA benefits. ADI also publishes the Paws for Access report, which surveyed more than 1,200 handlers across 24 countries and documented ongoing access discrimination in transit, restaurants and medical settings. This year's #BetterTogether campaign has already secured commitments from major travel brands, including Qantas, easyJet and Eurostar, to welcome ADI-accredited teams on board free of charge.

ADI has had a big impact worldwide. In 2024 alone, its accredited programs placed 4,498 new assistance dogs and now support more than 28,000 active assistance dog teams, backed by over 54,000 volunteers! Demand still outpaces supply, though, with nearly 11,000 puppies and dogs currently in training and a waitlist of almost 9,000 people hoping to be matched with one.

Backing ADI's global network is easy, even if you don't have room in your home for a dog in training. You can make a donation, search for an accredited program near you if puppy raising or volunteering interests you, and amplify their message on social media. Follow ADI on Bluesky, Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn and share the stories of the assistance dog teams changing lives every day.

Happy International Assistance Dog Week!