The Josh Carden House Under Construction

A phenomenon that’s been termed the “Josh Effect” has been sweeping through students and communities in the Birmingham, AL area.  On December 6th, 2010 Josh Carden lost his grandfather in a tragic accident as he was crossing the road to meet Josh at the bus.  His grandfather died while being air lifited to the hospital.

Josh is a student at Thompson High School in Alabaster, Alabama.  The entire school loves Josh because of his positive, infectious spirit which is overwhelming even despite his disabilities.  Josh is confined to a wheelchair because of cerebral palsy and has suffered many painful operations.

Following the accident, students challenged each other to raise $1,000 to help the family with expenses, but surpassed their goal and raised nearly $13,000 in just four days.  The Josh Effect is “The Golden Rule in Action” which has rippled throughout the community and region.

Due to family circumstances, Josh’s grandmother and grandfather were his caregivers.  They’ve done the best they can with very limited income and lots of love.  They made attempts to improve the house, but were unable to complete them due to financial constraints.  The home they live in currently is in serious decay and has no facilities to meet even his basic needs.

Inspired by what high school students could do, a group sought to improve Josh’s living conditions. A team of local volunteers vowed to build Josh a new handicap accessible home.

A local builder, Jack Donovan of Donavan Builders, who himself was in a wheelchair, volunteered to coordinate the construction efforts.  Who would better understand the needs of someone that’s in a wheelchair than someone that’s in a wheelchair?  He has been building handicap accessible and handicap capable homes for the past five years since losing his ability to walk in a surgical accident.

The Josh Effect has received a few significant labor and material donations (foundation concrete, lumber, roofing, windows) many who had committed have recently been unable to assist as they once hoped.  Our aim is to build this house through donated labor and materials wherever possible, but it’s become apparent that in order to meet our timeframes there are certain portions of the house that will have to be paid for through cash donations.

The Josh Effect team is now a part of Surgance.  The Surgance motto of “Uncommon Partners – Common Ground – Changing Lives” describes the project in every way.  The Josh Effect will be an ongoing nationwide program under Surgance with assistance from SpeakAmerica’s “Let Your Life Speak” foundation and many others.

“These kids chose one of their own and decided to radically transform his life.  What’s happened here in a small Alabama town can happen anywhere when kids are given a chance.  We believe that this is just the beginning.  Tomorrow it may be another school with a kid that needs a rare and very expensive surgery,” said Brooks.

Follow the project’s progress here on the website or at http://facebook.com/joshproject.

To donate time or resources to the project, please click here.

For more information, please contact Program Director Jeff Brooks. Email: jeff.brooks@surgance.com. Mobile: 205-913-4449

There is a growing need to instruct “Generation Text” to better communicate orally. While state standards require the testing and development of oral communications, research on the need for greater oral communication skill development among youth in the United States of America has been published recently in a number of scholarly journals. Analysts document the lack of oral communication skill development in schools and call for the development of programs to address this need to better prepare our youth for the workplace. In today’s globally connected and media driven world, the ability of our nation’s youth to communicate skillfully and with confidence is tantamount to their success.

In the inner city and among disadvantaged populations, the need is further intensified. A core challenge is to prepare these youth lacking access to resources to participate successfully in higher education and the workplace. Strong interpersonal communication skills are a prerequisite in both environments, as is the self confidence to carry out difficult tasks in unfamiliar circumstances. Surgance is doing something about this by launching a new program in conjunction with the Boston-based  Young Broadcasters of America (YBA), led by Program Director Jimmy Young. YBA’s training program participants produce a number of internet broadcasts, including a monthly sports magazine TV show that airs on the New England Sports Network (NESN) to over five million subscribers. While the students learn and create, they gain verbal, technical, and leadership skills as well as self confidence.

“I highly endorse Jimmy Young’s Young Broadcasters of America training program because, through its participation, students within the Sharon Public Schools experienced first hand the importance of proper training in oral communication, organizing thoughts and converting thorough written research into effective on air delivery. Students who participated in the six week program came away with not only much better skills in these important areas, but also the vital self confidence of how to go about mastering public speaking, whether it is as sophisticated as doing a news or sports broadcast, conducting an interview, or the everyday skill of speaking before the class in a typical oral presentation.”

Bob Sondheim, High School Athletic Director

YBA’s trademark curriculum, I.P.I.E (Inflection, Pronunciation, Intonation, Enunciation), serves as the backbone for the program curriculum to improve communications. I.P.I.E is always present while students are trained in a variety of broadcasting staples, including speaking on camera, voiceovers, interviewing, hosting a talk show, public address announcing, and broadcast writing. One of the biggest keys to their success is that the young men and women enjoy the broadcasting experience so much, they don’t realize just how much they are learning! Over 90% of them return for following courses, improving as communicators each step of the way.

The courses have been shown to improve student oral communication, project management, and digital production skills and self confidence. Typically they last 10 weeks. The course participants will graduate with the ability to look someone in the eye, to ask them intelligent questions, to present themselves with confidence and to apply their skills in high pressure situations.  Such skills form the foundation for further educational and employment successes.

“Kids come out of the workshop better able to meet the challenges of integrating visual and verbal communications. I recommend the workshop not only for students interested in broadcasting careers, but anyone simply wanting to become a more effective communicator.”

Ed McDonough, High School Teacher

Now, through the generosity of others and the collaborative partnership, Surgance will provide underprivileged youth with the same courses currently offered for a fee through YBA at no cost to the participants. The new nonprofit offering will be the Surgance “Building Confident Communicators” program, powered by Young Broadcasters of America.

Through this new program, young men and women from underserved populations will develop their oral communication skills using the fun, interactive, and educational experience in digital media production. The result will be dramatic improvement in poise, confidence, self-esteem, and the proper use of the English language for youth that are not able to afford this type of training on their own.

The initial geographical focus of the program is the metro area of Boston, Massachusetts. The target populations are underserved inner city children, minorities, low income and ESL youth as well as the disabled, ages 12-18 and interested in digital media and/or in need of oral skill development. Through community based partnerships, Surgance has relationships with Title I schools and other organizations that serve these populations, such as the Boys and Girls Clubs, the YMCA and others providing access to students that will benefit from the program and workshops.

“My son was shy and reserved before the workshop, and now he is confident and talkative. His oral communication grade improved to an A+.”

Mother of a recent graduate

By taking part in a $2 internet raffle, you will have a chance to have WWE superstar Mick Foley host a Smackdown viewing party at your home for up to 20 people with the proceeds supporting the work of Surgance! Who knows? Maybe Mr. Socko will even make an appearance! Click here for more information.

Grand Prize:

Proceeds will also benefit RAINN; the nation’s largest anti-sexual violence organization. RAINN operates the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE and the National Sexual Assault Online Hotline at www.rainn.org – a free and confidential service. Surgance is proud to be a partner of RAINN and together we thank Mick Foley and those that bid on the grand prize for their support.

Click here to bid and good luck!

The lucky winner joined Bethanie at the 2011 WTA Texas Tennis Open on August 20 and 21, 2011 for two days of practice and tournament play.

The winner’s two days included an on court workout with Bethanie and her coach plus lunch and dinner with her as well! They will also got two tournament credentials that will allow access to all courts and practice locations, interaction with other WTA players and coaches and a real inside look into what it takes to be on the WTA Tennis Tour from fitness and coaching to practice and competing.

A winning bidder will be enjoying a double date with Kiptyn Locke and girlfriend Tenley Molzahn, stars of “The Bachelor” and “The Bachelorette.” 

Proceeds from the auction are supporting Surgance and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation — a donor-supported nonprofit that works to help cure, control and improve the quality of life for those with cystic fibrosis.

The lucky winner and a guest will be spending the day with Kiptyn and Tenley at a San Diego beach, laying out, surfing, and just having fun hanging out before enjoying dinner with them in San Diego.

Tenley Molzahn was the runner-up to Vienna on Jake’s season of The Bachelor, while Kiptyn Locke was the surfer hottie runner-up on Jillian’s Bachelorette season. The adorable twosome, who began dating on the inaugural season of Bachelor Pad last summer, nearly wound up winning the $250,000 prize money. Although David and Natalie won the ‘Pad, Kiptyn and Tenley nabbed an even better prize: A hot romance that has yet to cool.

Los Lonely Boys is a Chicano rock power trio from San Angelo, Texas. They play a style of music they call “Texican Rock n’ Roll,” combining elements of rock and roll, Texas blues, brown eyed soul, country, and Tejano.

The group’s first single, “Heaven“, reached No. 1 on the Adult Contemporary chart, and No. 16 on the Billboard Hot 100, also crossing over even to the Hot Country Songs chart, where it peaked at No. 46. “Heaven” was featured in Guitar Hero: On Tour. In 2005 the song won a Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal.

The winning bidder received two tickets to the concert PLUS got to go back stage to meet her and join her for her sound check prior to the show!

The proceeds from this item benefitted the good work of Surgance all over the country. Surgance partner charityBUZZ handled the auction and it was a success.

Surgance loves iCarly and thanks Miranda bunches!

For more information regarding Miranda Cosgrove, visit her homepage at http://www.mirandacosgroveofficial.com/us/home.

Surgance has partnered with charitybuzz, the leading auction site to benefit charities to create a branded celebrity auction series that features some of the biggest bands and brands on the planet designed to help keep music alive within Title I schools across America.

charitybuzz harnesses the power of broadcast, print, online and social media to build buzz around our exclusive celebrity auctions. The proceeds will support Surgance programming designed to make a difference in Title I music programs coast to coast and border to border.

Title I schools are those with a greater percentage of students who are at risk of failure and are living at or near poverty level. The U.S. Department of Education provides supplemental funding to local school districts to assist in meeting the educational needs of these students. Typically, these funds aim to bridge this educational gap through additional instruction in reading and mathematics. But what about other programs such as music and the arts?  Surgance and our partners believe that music programs are incredibly important to the development of youth. We aim to make sure they survive and thrive!

And to add another twist, our core values are Humility, Integrity and Collaboration. So in the spirit of collaboration we are also inviting our celebrities and experience designers to choose for us (if they wish) another charity whom they wish to help with proceeds from these auctions and Surgance will collaborate with that charitable partner to make a difference with them as well!

To date, Surgance charitybuzz experiences have included themed music camps, Broadway musicals, some of country music’s biggest song writers, rock bands, celebrity stylists and photographers as well as sports celebrities.

New auctions to benefit these school music programs through Surgance open routinely. Currently, we are highlighting an opportunity to  Come to Nashville and Write a Song with Two of the Most Successful Songwriters in Country Music!

Let the bidding begin! It’s all for a great cause.