Author: anitharobinson

Episode 73: Kindness Is Being A Koala Crusader

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Nine-year old Malani Harris loves everything about Koala’s, including their scat!

Malani does A LOT to help koala’s such as planting trees, donating birthday money, creating an Instagram account dedicated to koalas, and much more!

She and her family travel around Australia looking for koalas, always maintaining a respectable distance.

Such a fun episode about a young girl and her love for Koalas!

To learn more about Malani and her crusade to help Koalas, check out these links:

Koala Family Adventures:

Instagram- https://www.instagram.com/koala_family_adventures?igsh=MmNsMDFocGJ2Njc3&utm_source=qr

Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/share/XeyHVmbYx35Lm6rh/?mibextid=LQQJ4d

Queensland Koala Crusaders: Newsletters with Malani‘s Koala adventures-

Sept 2023  https://www.koalacrusaders.org.au/koala_family_adventures1

March 2024 https://www.koalacrusaders.org.au/koala_family_adventures2

April 2024 https://www.koalacrusaders.org.au/koala_family_adventures3

May 2024 https://www.koalacrusaders.org.au/koala_family_adventures4

As a thank you to Malani for sharing her story, Anitha donated to Dutch Thunder Wildlife Shelter, a licensed wildlife shelter providing 24 hour emergency wildlife rescue.

Malani and her family spent time at the shelter helping out. It’s always nice supporting an organization personally known to the guest.

To learn more about Dutch Thunder Wildlife Shelter, check out their social media pages:

Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/DutchThunderWildlifeShelter?mibextid=LQQJ4d

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dutch_thunder_wildlife_shelter/

To listen to the full episode click here:

Episode 72: Kindness Is Loving Sirga the Lioness

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Valentin Gruener achieved his childhood goal to live in Africa and work with wildlife, and not just any wildlife. Val has spent the past twelve years raising, caring and loving Sirga, a lioness who came into his life when she was around ten days old.

Val talks about sharing his life with a wild lion, including some heart-warming stories. He also talks about the reasons for the devastating decline in the wild lion population, his conservation initiative—the Modisa Wildlife Project, and so much more.

A very special and important conversation about a man, a lioness and how together they are raising awareness to protect wildlife.

To learn more about Val, Sirga and the Modisa Wildlife Project, check out the following links:

https://www.instagram.com/valgruener/

https://www.instagram.com/sirgathelioness/

https://www.instagram.com/modisawildlifeproject/

You can support Val and Sirga and all they are doing here:

www.patreon.com/sirga

As a thank you to Val for sharing his story, Anitha donated to the Kalahari Research and Conservation (KRC). Kalahari is a unique and fragile ecosystem with a rich diversity of plants and animals. This organization works to understand and conserve Kalahari’s distinctive landscape in the face of increasing challenges.

To learn about KRC please click on the following link: https://www.krcbots.org/

To listen to the episode, click here:

Episode 71: Kindness Is Loving A Pig Named Esther

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Derek Walter’s life took a dramatic turn when his then partner, Steve Jenkins brought home a tiny little pig named Esther. Derek talks to Anitha about how this small being created huge and wonderful changes in his life.

Derek quickly fell in love with Esther, became one of her two dads, moved from a suburb to the country so Esther could have all the space a pig needed, welcomed even more farm animals, and eventually co-founded Happily Ever Esther Farm Sanctuary (HEEFS)

This is an incredible conversation about love, family, community, grief, and an unbelievable legacy.

To learn more about Derek and HEEFS, please check out these links:

Happily Ever Esther Farm Sanctuary 

http://www.happilyeveresther.ca 

Happily Ever Esther Farm Sanctuary Facebook page

https://www.facebook.com/happilyeveresther?mibextid=LQQJ4d

Derek’s personal website

www.derekwalter.ca

Derek’s personal Facebook page

https://www.facebook.com/EsthersDadDerek?mibextid=LQQJ4d

Esther the Wonder Pig Website

www.estherthewonderpig.com

As a thank you to Derek for sharing his story, Anitha donated to HEEFS. Having volunteered at HEEFS and seeing firsthand the beautiful and healing place it is for both the residents and the folks who spend time there, Anitha was thrilled to support this organization.

To listen to this heartwarming episode, click on the link below.

Episode 70:Kindness Is The Original Surfers

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Kaila and Waian, the incredible sisters who created The Original Surfers, join Anitha to talk about their initiative to reach out to teens and raise awareness to protect oceans and the marine animals who live there.

These amazing young women also share what it’s like working with a sibling and much more!

To learn more about The Original Surfers, please click on the following links: https://www.theoriginalsurfers.com/

As a thank you to Kaila and Waian for sharing their story, Anitha donated to the Dolphin Project, a non-profit charitable organization, dedicated to the welfare and protection of dolphins worldwide. It was founded by Richard O’Barry on Earth Day, April 22, 1970. The goal of this organization is to educate the public about captivity and, where feasible, retire and/or release captive dolphins.

To learn more about Dolphin Project, please check out their website:

Homepage

To listen to this episode- please click on the ‘play’ button above. Thank you!!

Episode 69: Kindness Is Justin’s Frog Projects

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Thirteen-year-old Justin Sather joins Anitha to talk about his love for one of Earth’s smallest beings—frogs.

Justin shares how a children’s book and a childhood blanket inspired Justin to clean up his community’s wetland, and how that project has grown to cleaning up rivers and oceans, protecting acres of rainforest and collaborating with other young people from all over the world.

A truly incredible episode about how one person can create a movement to bring about great change.

Mossy Frog
Strawberry Dart Frog

To learn more about Justin, check out these links:

WEBSITES:

www.JustinsFrogProject.com

Parallel Projects www.TheParallelProjects.com

And his newest website going live on Earth day: www.recreate.world

SOCIAL MEDIA:

@justinsfrogproject – instagram

Justin Sather – facebook

To support Justin’s projects, please click on the following links:

MILLION LETTERS CAMPAIGN:

Join the Million Letters Campaign

DONATIONS:

Justin’s main Go Fund Me Campaign: Go Fund Me Kid Hero Campaign

(Funds collected through this campaign are sent directly to projects Justin is working on to protect the rainforest and waterways. Projects such as, Parallel Projects and Team Trees)  

Or you can donate  Directly to Reserva Rainforest in Colombia- Justin

Links to the books that started Justin on his journey to help frogs:

What Do You Do with an Idea?

What Do You Do with a Chance?

As a thank you to Justin for sharing his story, Anitha donated to the Reserva Rainforest Project.

Listen to the episode here:

Episode 68: Kindness Is Creating For Children

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Anitha is joined by M.O. Yuksel and Omar Abed, two creators who write books for children.

M.O. Yuksel
Omar Abed

In addition to talking about their amazing books, M.O. and Omar share their thoughts about the role of a children’s author when actual children in the world are being harmed.

It’s an honest conversation about an important issue.

Here are the covers of the beautiful picture books written by M.O. Yuksel and Omar Abed

To connect and learn more about these incredible authors, please click on the links below.

For M.O.

 Instagram http://www.Instagram.com/moyuksel.author

For Omar

 OmarAbed.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/omarabedwrites

There are many groups posting about what’s happening in Palestine, but one both M.O. and Omar are a part of is KidLitSoul. To find out what this group is sharing, check out their Instagram account: https://www.instagram.com/kidlitsoul/

As a thank you to M.O. and Omar, for sharing their stories, Anitha donated to MECA For Peace. MECA, which stands for The Middle East Children’s Alliance is a non-profit organization working for the rights and the well-being of children in the Middle East. To learn more about this group and the work they are doing, please check out their website: https://www.mecaforpeace.org/

Meca Home

Episode 67: Kindness Is Rainbow Mosho

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Anitha chats with Rainbow Mosho, an incredible 15 ½ year old artist on the autism spectrum.

Rainbow uses her art and her voice to raise awareness about issues such as autism, endangered animals and vitiligo.

Her art has been exhibited in Dubai, Beijing, Belgium, NYC, LA, Miami, Tennessee.

Her thoughts: “Autism Acceptance is an opportunity to share about the marvels and challenges faced by incredible beings like me. We are staying put. We belong. We break barriers. Join us by reminding others about it.”

To learn more about Rainbow and see some of her beautiful artwork, check out her social media sites:

RainbowMosho | Instagram, Facebook, TikTok |

As a thank you to Rainbow for sharing her story, Anitha donated to Eco Evie, another young person who shared their story on the podcast. Evie has a cool clothing line called Eco Evie which is made from recycled water bottles.

To learn more about Eco Evie, check out episode 61 as well as the following links:

https://www.instagram.com/ecoevie

https://ecoevie.com

Episode 66: Kindness Is Helping The Homeless Community

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Many of us see and walk past folks who live in parks, street alcoves and under bridges, but rarely do we stop. Anitha’s guest, Lorraine Lam, not only stopped, she wanted to help. Lorraine chats with Anitha about the homeless crisis and her involvement in finding a solution.

Here are some action points for listeners who want to get involved in trying to solve the housing crisis.

·      Follow social media accounts of people and organizations that are directly engaged in this work

·      Look for local groups in your city that are engaged in direct outreach and systems advocacy and look for ways to dive in!

·      Host a conversation with your friends about things you have learned and questions you may have 

·      Look for your local councillor, MP, MPPs voting history on issues related to housing and homelessness, and contact them with your concerns. Develop this relationship; have ongoing dialogue

To learn more about Lorraine and/or support her endeavors to help the homeless community, check out her website: https://lorrainelam.me/about

As a thank you to Lorraine for being a guest on the podcast, Anitha donated to All Saints Toronto. This organization supports folks by providing a space of belonging and hope. They offer services such as counselling, advocacy, and nursing care. To learn more about All Saints, click here: https://allsaintstoronto.com/

Episode 65: Kindness Is Founding Farm Sanctuary

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Anitha was over-the-moon star struck to chat with the incomparable Gene Baur. Gene is the founder of the Farm Sanctuary, an animal advocate, author and so much more. He has been on shows such as The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and Larry King Live, and now The Kindness Is Everything podcast!

Photo credit to Farm Sanctuary

Gene talks about his incredible journey from doing commercials for companies like McDonalds and KFC, to advocating for the shutdown of factory farms. Animals are forced to endure tortuous conditions at factory farms and these places supply companies like McDonalds and KFC.

Gene talks about his optimism for animal welfare and how he’s been able to help bring in legislation to end such cruel practices as gestational crates.

He also shares the amazing rescue story of Hilda the sheep. She was Farm Sanctuary’s first rescue.

Hilda & Gene (photo credit Farm Sanctuary)
Gene & Hilda (photo credit Farm Sanctuary)

As a thank you to Gene for sharing his story, Anitha donated to Farm Sanctuary. This sanctuary provides shelter to more than 400 rescued cows, pigs, turkeys and other farm animals. They help animals used and abused by the animal agriculture through rescue, education and advocacy.

Photo credits- Farm Sanctuary

Anitha is looking forward to personally visiting the sanctuary this summer.

To learn more about Farm Sanctuary, please check out their website or follow them on IG.

Homepage

https://www.instagram.com/farmsanctuary

Episode 64: Kindness Is That WylieVegan

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With issues such as climate change, food insecurity and animal welfare all related to/caused by the animal agricultural industry, Anitha is thrilled to continue her discussion around veganism.

Anitha is joined by Kelly Chianciola and her two lovely daughters, Dani and Lana.

All three talk about how their decision to become vegan has impacted their lives. They also tackle questions like—Why don’t parents/caregivers want children to know how the animal they are eating lived and died? Why so much secrecy?

Please check out this episode for an open and interesting discussion about animal agriculture.

As a thank you to the Chianciola family for being guests on the show, Anitha donated to Unity Farm Sanctuary. This vegan sanctuary, located in Sherborn, Massachusetts, provides lifetime care for animals in need.

To learn more about Unity Farm, please check out their website: https://www.unityfarmsanctuary.org/

To learn more about Kelly, Dani and Lana, check out their Instagram account. It’s full of fun and cool information, such as recipes that kids love to make and eat and facts about animal welfare. https://www.instagram.com/thatwylievegan/