#hope – Anitha Rao-Robinson

Episode 69: Kindness Is Justin’s Frog Projects

Published on April 16, 2024 by anitharobinsonLeave a comment

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.

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 67: Kindness Is Rainbow Mosho

Published on March 28, 2024 by anitharobinsonLeave a comment

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

Published on March 16, 2024 by anitharobinsonLeave a comment

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

Published on March 8, 2024 by anitharobinsonLeave a comment

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!

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)

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.

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

Published on March 5, 2024 by anitharobinsonLeave a comment

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/

Episode 63: Kindness is The Yummy Vegan

Published on February 26, 2024 by anitharobinsonLeave a comment

Devorah Bowen joins Anitha to talk about journey from becoming a vegan to her incredible social media account, The Yummy Vegan.

They also delve into topics such as, where do vegans get their protein, why are there vegan-haters, the diabolical yet ingenious marketing of the dairy industry and of course delicious, healthy, full of protein and easy to make plant-based meals.

To check out some delicious and easy to make plant-based recipes, check out:

Devorah’s Instagram account: https://www.instagram.com/theyummyvegan/

Devorah’s website: https://theyummyvegan.com/about

And for those of you who love comforting soups and stews, you’ll definitely want to check out her column—Best of Vegan The Art of Soups & Stews

As a thank you to Devorah for coming on to the podcast, Anitha donated to Operation Liberation. This charity is dedicated to rescuing, rehabilitating and finding permanent homes for non-human animals and providing humanitarian relief and assistance to people in low income, at risk- or disaster-stricken regions.

To learn more about Operation Liberation, please check out their website: Operation Liberation

Devorah adopted her two pups, Gidget and Shianne from Operation Liberation

Episode 62: Kindness Is Rabia Reads

Published on January 6, 2024 by anitharobinsonLeave a comment

For the first episode of 2024, Anitha chats with educator and education and equity consultant, Rabia Khokhar.

Spurred by her desire to showcase diverse stories, Rabia created Rabia Reads, her Instagram account where she recommends picture books with diverse main characters.

Anitha and Rabia chat all about books, including her current favourite book. Hair Oil Magic by Anu Chouhan

If you’d like to learn more about what Rabia’s reading check out her Instagram page:

https://www.instagram.com/rabia_reads/

Authors/publishers interested in submitting a book to Rabia for a review can contact her through her Instagram account or by email: rabia91k@gmail.com

As a thank you to Rabia for sharing her story, Anitha donated to North Toronto Cat Rescue, the only No-kill, No-cage shelter in the GTA. This volunteer run, registered charity is committed to rescuing, rehabilitating, and re-homing ailing and abused stray cats and kittens.

To learn more about this rescue, check out their webpage: https://www.northtorontocatrescue.com/

Episode 61: Kindness is Eco Evie

Published on December 30, 2023 by anitharobinsonLeave a comment

Thirteen-year-old Evie Mutsch, joins Anitha to talk about her very cool clothing line called Eco Evie.

Made from recycled water bottles, Evie’s clothes have stopped over 30,000 water bottles from going into landfills.

In addition to creating beautiful clothes, Evie donates a portion of all sales to charities supporting animals, the environment and people.

To learn more about Eco Evie, check out the following links:

https://www.instagram.com/ecoevie/

https://ecoevie.com/

As a thank you to Evie for sharing her story, Anitha donated to Save Animals Facing Extinction.

This not-for-profit organization works to protect endangered wildlife by ensuring strong laws are in place and severe penalties are levied against criminals who deal in wildlife trafficking. To learn more about them please check out their website:

Homepage

Episode 60: Kindness is Pawsitive Change

Published on December 12, 2023December 18, 2023 by anitharobinsonLeave a comment

After a break that included a not so fun surgery and a very fun trip to Sumatra, Anitha is thrilled to be back podcasting. Here she chats with Zach Skow, the founder of Marley’s Mutts and the Pawsitive Change Program.

Marley- the inspiration behind the name Marley’s Mutts

Zach openly talks about his health struggles and how volunteering at a dog shelter literally saved his life. As a way of giving back to the dogs who helped him when he needed it, Zach created Marley’s Mutts, a rescue dedicated to saving the lives of animals in over-crowded shelters.

Zach also talks about the incredible partnership between Marley’s Mutts and California’s state prisons to create the Pawsitive Change Program. This program, pairs incarcerated individuals with at-risk shelter dogs (at-risk of being euthanized). For 14 weeks, dogs and humans work together building trust and skills that happily result in the dogs being adopted into loving homes and the incarcerated humans acquiring marketable skills, that will increase their chances of success when they are released from the prison system.

To learn more about Zach and Marley’s Mutts and the Pawsitive Change program please check out these sites:

https://www.marleysmutts.org/

https://www.instagram.com/marleysmutts/

https://www.instagram.com/pawsitivechangeprogram/

As a thank you to Zach for sharing his story, Anitha donated to Marley’s Mutts.

Press play to listen to this episode.

Episode 59: Kindness Is Cogs Dogs

Published on July 11, 2023 by anitharobinsonLeave a comment

Some people have a huge heart. Susie Cogswell is one of those incredible humans who not only has a huge heart, but willingly allows it to be broken over and over again.

Susie joins Anitha to talk about her journey in animal rescue and what it’s like to adopt, foster and love senior dogs.

The incredible senior dogs Susie adopted

Sadly, senior dogs can find themselves in shelters for a variety of reasons. Unfortunately, these dogs are often overlooked when it comes to being adopted. Through no fault of their own, these dogs, who were once part of a family, now must face their final days, months, years alone in a shelter.

The Fabulous Fosters

Layla & Susie- wearing matching outfits from COGS DOGS

Thankfully, there are people like Susie who want to love these dogs for the rest of their days, no matter how long or short that is.

To learn more about Susie and the dogs she’s shared her life with, check out her website. At Cogs Dogs – https://www.cogsdogs.com

As a thank you to Susie for sharing her story, Anitha donated to Harbor of Hope Dog Rescue, a non-profit dog rescue comprised entirely of dedicated and compassionate foster homes ready to provide a safe haven to dogs in need.

Please click on the link to learn more about this organization. https://www.harborofhopedogrescue.org/