<div>Palmares -- a historically based, Capoeira, action, musical. In 1675 a power struggle between King Ganga Zumba and his legendary General Zumbi escalates as they fight to save Brazil’s mightiest freemen colony from Portuguese slavers.
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<div>15 years ago, Mestre Amen, Nayla Santo and the Brasil Brasil Cultural Center set out to introduce the legendary history of Zumbi and the Republic of Free Africans of Palmares, to our community. As we dug deeper into our research and the legends, we felt that this was a story that needed to be told and gathered a team to begin this journey. Since then, we have performed this piece several times to rave reviews, which has encouraged us to expand and fine-tune the script so it would be perfect to share it with the world at large.
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<div>We are so proud to say that we are ready to present this masterpiece in a way it has never before been seen. A full 90-minute performance with a cast that has been developing their characters and scenes so tightly over the past year. Every member involved in the play has given their time and energy to this without any compensation.
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<div>We are honored to have been selected to perform at the 2023 Hollywood Fringe Festival as part of their curated diversity scholarship, which is given only to 15 out of 300+ productions.
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<div>This is a huge opportunity for all of us. The reality of finally being able to share this story as part of the Hollywood Fringe Festival at the Broadwater Theater is beyond exciting.
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<div>As you can imagine, with a cast and crew of over 20 people that reside all over the US, the costs are quickly rising and we want to make sure everyone earns fair compensation for all their time, travels and dedication.
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<div>Additionally, there are other costs such as marketing, travel, costumes, set, lighting, rehearsal space, transportation, etc.
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<div>We are asking for support to help us tell this story the right way. This is a piece of history that has never been told this way we are very hopeful that once we present this work, we can take it to even bigger stages.
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<div>Please help us financially but also by spreading awareness, sharing this and getting us exposure.
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Palmares (The Play) for Hollywood Fringe Festival

<div>With a heavy heart, we share that on April 21, 2022, our precious Father, Ralph Stanley Cooper Sr. passed away unexpectedly of what appears to be sudden heart failure. There are no words to describe the pain and heartbreak we are feeling at this time. We just lost our Mother 7 months ago and continue to grieve for her, and now we have both parents to suffer for. The numbness we feel is overwhelming, and we are trying to figure out how to deal with their passing. Our Dad had the kindest, most extensive, sweetest heart and was loved by all who knew him and came in contact with him. No matter how people acted, he looked for kindness in people and literally "would give the shirt off his back” to help anyone! Our Dad retired from the City of Oakland Fire Department.  Being a Father and a Firefighter was his passion in life, and he was the best at both! He also was an Army Vietnam Veteran and served his country with dignity and respect. As you can see, his focus in life was always to give back to the community and our nation. He was a one-of-a-kind person who will never be forgotten for all his heroic services throughout his lifetime. Our Dad was a funny and intelligent person. He had a surprising ability to come up with just the goofiest jokes on a dime and deliver them like they were nothing. Jokes would make you laugh, and some will leave you shaking your head because they didn’t make sense or weren't funny. Sometimes, you would have thought he was a stand-up comedian in another lifetime. His character was genuine, and he touched the doctors and nurses who cared for him in the hospital during his last visit there. He continued to be himself and be comical with them as well. They shared this during his visits, and after his passing, and we were glad to hear he was in good spirits when he left this earth despite the pain and suffering. Above everything else, our Dad loved his family very much and was 'always' supportive of their needs. It’s impossible to overstate how loving, caring, and fun he was with his family.  Many have reached out to us asking to help. We need to lay our father to rest, and any monetary assistance is appreciated beyond measure. We will ensure that any donation will go to our Dad’s memorial services and any outstanding matters that he left behind unfinished. Please especially keep us, and his family, in your prayers as we need all the support we can to find the strength to get through this.
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<div>Peace and Blessings Tiffany and Stanley Cooper
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Ralph Stanley Cooper Sr

My dog, Benji, was rescued off of a shelter's death row by Angels Bark Dog Rescue and was placed in our home to foster. It was then we fell in love with him and decided to adopt him. Benji protects us and loves us and is a huge part of our family. Unfortunately, after a little over a year of having him, we were informed by the vet that Benji has developed the early stages of Lymphoma, life-threatening cancer. Our family was devastated by the news and it took a huge toll on us. The vet then further detailed the various treatments of chemotherapy that will be required, which are extremely expensive. If we raise the goal provided my family and I will be able to cover the costs of Benji's treatments to make sure our buddy stays healthy, especially during a time where he is loved and needed most. This money is needed urgently as he starts chemo next week (2/23/21) which is the first day of 26 weeks. This money is also needed to ensure that Benji stays safe and well to prevent the fast-spreading cancer that Lymphoma is. Benji and I would be extremely grateful if you could donate any amount of money during a time where my mother has been out of work for a year, making money excruciatingly tight. <br />If you are not able to donate it would be greatly appreciated if you were to spread Benji's story.<br /><img src="https://d2g8igdw686xgo.cloudfront.net/54736090_1613800575693643_r.jpeg" alt="54736090_1613800575693643_r.jpeg" width="100%" media_type="3" />

Help Benji Get the Treatment He Needs

WITHOUT ADDITIONAL SECOND WAVE FUNDING THE NAVAJO &amp; HOPI FAMILIES COVID-19 RELIEF FUND MUST STOP PROVIDING FOOD BOXES TO FAMILIES IN A MATTER OF WEEKS <br /><br />As of today (November 23, 2020), there are 15,039 positive cases of COVID-19 and 631 total confirmed deaths on the Navajo Reservation. This marks a spike of over 2,200 cases in 12 days on Navajo.  Numbers are also on the rise on the Hopi Reservation, and both tribal governments have placed their communities in lockdown again. Our relief effort is the primary relief effort providing assistance on both reservations.  We have already deployed roughly $6 million in direct relief in both communities, which has us nearing depletion of existing GoFundMe donations.  We need a second wave of donations to help us meet the second wave--tsunami, really--of COVID that is inundating our communities.  <br /><br />To date, the Relief Fund has raised over $6 million, and has spent almost all of that on bringing vital resources to Navajo and Hopi communities to help shield them from COVID. The team and a legion of hundreds of Navajo and Hopi volunteers all over the two nations has provided food and water to over 46,000 households (each roughly averaging 4 persons per household, and amounting to over 186,000 people served—which is more than the combined population of the Navajo and Hopi Reservations) in 335 distributions in over 530 Navajo communities and Hopi Villages. <br /><br />The Relief Fund currently seeks to raise enough funding to carry Navajo and Hopi families through this second wave, through the cold and flu season, and to the end of the COVID pandemic in these communities. We estimate needing $6.5 million in order to meet that goal, so we have now adjusted our GoFundMe campaign goal to $13 million total. <br /><br />By donating, you will help the most heavily impacted community in the USA.  For $100, you will help a family of four by providing them with 2 weeks’ worth of food and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).  For as little as $10, you can help feed a family of 4 for an entire day.  Donate today to the Navajo &amp; Hopi Families COVID-19 Relief Fund. <br /><br />The Navajo Nation and Hopi Reservation are extreme food deserts with only 14 grocery stores on the two reservations to serve some 180,000 people who live in a territory larger than West Virginia, or larger than the combined area of Vermont, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts.  These communities have high numbers of elderly, diabetic, asthmatic, and cancer-afflicted (i.e., high risk) individuals.  One-third of the people living on these two reservations do not have running water, and another third don't have electricity.  These communities could be devastated by COVID-19.  <br /><br />Our relief effort prioritizes those at highest risk of complications if they contract COVID, and the most vulnerable:  the elderly, immunocompromised, mobility impaired, and families with children but inadequate income (roughly half of the people living on the two reservations are unemployed; 45.5 percent of Navajo families with children live in poverty, and 14.9 percent live in extreme poverty).  <br /><br />We provide our beneficiaries with food, water, PPE, health supplies, cleaning supplies and other essential items (like toiletries) they need to weather this pandemic.  The need is so great.  Please give if you can.  <br /><br />Each week since April 12 we have consistently brought $150,000 to $200,000 worth of food, water, PPE, and cleaning supplies to 15 to 20 Navajo and Hopi communities (each Kinship Care Package we hand out consists of 2 weeks’ worth of these materials). We have deployed over $4,060,196 in direct purchases of food and over $565,500 in PPE in Navajo and Hopi communities. We are currently in the process of deploying another $800,000 in PPE Kit supplies and 17 tons of coal for an elders heating program and will continue distributing the PPE Kits through the end of February.<br /><br />We sanitize all items before we distribute them, and we have a rigorous health and safety training for all of our staff and volunteers.  We are mostly all volunteers with 33 team leaders that each lead a team of 5-8 volunteers in the Utah, New Mexico, and Arizona portions of the Navajo Nation and on Hopi (located in Arizona).   Our 6 staff members are compensated through use of grant funding.  We do not use any of our individual donations through GoFundMe or made through our fiscal sponsor to compensate staff.  <br /><br />We bring our direct relief items by truck to Navajo and Hopi where our teams sanitize them and assemble Kinship Care Packages (include 2 weeks of food, water, PPE, health items, and cleaning supplies) or PPE Kits (include a container of 75-count Clorox wipes, 50-count 3-ply masks, and 8 oz. of gel hand sanitizer).  We distribute our food through contactless drive-thru or home deliveries.  We also provide immediate assistance to COVID-positive families in isolation or COVID-exposed families in quarantine by providing food and Isolation Kits (the Isolation Kits are extensive and include things like vitamins, tissue paper, cough drops, sleeping bags, etc.).<br /><br />We are also helping to stop the spread of COVID-19 on these reservations by engaging some 300 volunteers to sew masks for medical workers and first responders on Navajo and Hopi. We use donated funds to help purchase the fabric for these masks.  Through the masterful coordination of our Super Volunteer and now Logistics Coordinator, Theresa Hatathlie-Delmar, we have facilitated the transfer of some 73,441 masks, surgical gowns, bunny suits, and bootie covers to Navajo and Hopi community members and first responders.  <br /><br />We also receive and distribute in-kind donations.  For example, 48,000 cans of water from Jason Momoa and Mananalu, and 8 tons of canned water from Can’d Aid.  Through the Airbridge program held in collaboration with Air Serv International (in their first domestic relief operation) we were able to fly over 48,000 pounds of PPE and other relief items to remote Navajo and Hopi communities in July and August.<br /><br />We also use your donations to run a public education campaign urging folks to stay home, socially distance, and take precautions to prevent the spread of COVID-19.  These materials are on posters displayed in places of business all over the Navajo Nation and regularly run in 1-page ads in the Navajo Times.  Our Hopi material is under development and is poised for circulation in early December.<br /><br />We are a grassroots indigenous women-led group; we are not a government.  Given the amazing support for this effort, and the need to combat future pandemics and climate change threats to our communities, we formed a nonprofit under Utah state law (Yee Ha'olnii Doo d/b/a Navajo &amp; Hopi Families COVID-19 Relief Fund) and are in the process of applying for 501(c)(3) status.  Yee Ha'onii Doo expends our funds and operates under the supervision of a 501(c)(3) fiscal sponsor (Nonprofit Legal Services of Utah d/b/a Nonprofit Fiscal Services).  All funds raised prior to September 25th were deposited with Rural Utah Project (our original fiscal sponsor).  The funds from this campaign will be used to make direct purchases, or reimbursement of purchases by volunteers, of bulk food and medical items, and other purchases made on behalf of our beneficiaries, such as water, food from supermarkets, PPE, and other items necessary to keep our beneficiaries socially distanced, and our public education campaign.  <strong>This campaign is not associated with the Navajo Nation government (or the official Navajo Nation government’s fundraising campaign on GoFundMe) or the Hopi Tribe.  Instead, this fundraiser is an initiative of Yee Ha'oolniidoo, a grassroots, indigenous-led, nonprofit organization.   As of two weeks ago, the Navajo Nation had not expended any of its private donations raised through GoFundMe.<br /></strong>

Navajo & Hopi Families COVID-19 Relief Fund

<div>The Navajo Nation COVID-19 Response Donation Fund was established to help the Navajo Nation respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. This is the Navajo Nation’s only official COVID-19 fundraising and donation effort.
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<div>The Navajo Nation is no longer accepting donations via this platform. Please visit the <a href="https://securepayment.link/navajonsn/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">secure online portal</a> (securepayment.link/navajonsn) to make a monetary donation. For inquiries related to in-kind (non-monetary) contributions, please contact the Navajo Nation Health Command Center Hotline:  (928)  871  7014
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<div>For official information related to COVID-19 on the Navajo Nation, please see: <a href="https://www.ndoh.navajo-nsn.gov/COVID-19" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><a href="https://www.ndoh.navajo-nsn.gov/COVID-19" target="_blank" class="" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">https://www.ndoh.navajo-nsn.gov/COVID-19</a></a> 
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<div>The Official Navajo Nation government website is: <a href="https://www.navajo-nsn.gov" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><a href="https://www.navajo-nsn.gov" target="_blank" class="" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">https://www.navajo-nsn.gov</a></a> 
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Official Navajo Nation COVID-19 Relief Fund

Many folks know Angie from her work as a technician with Kaiser’s clinical pharmacy department, or from her role as the Southwest Regional Coordinator for the Magic Judge Community. Personally, I know her through that role, having worked with her for years mentoring judges, planning conferences, and running tournaments. Those of you who have worked with her in judging know that she is one of the most caring and hard-working folks in the community and tends to surround herself with the same. <br /><br /><br />Angie doesn’t often have time to ask for help while she’s busy caring for everyone else. However, she is finally letting us return the favor! During her battle with cancer so far, she has balanced caring for not only her two beautiful children, Ben (7)  and Emma (4), but also her work/extended judge family, all while recovering from surgery and chemotherapy treatments. She has a great support network, but all of this has left her exhausted. And of course due to the healthcare system in the United States, her healthcare bills have become exhausting as well. <br /><br /><br />How can you help? We are starting with a goal of $6,000 to take care of some upcoming testing and consultation. The type and primary site of the cancer have been impossible to pin down with the tests conducted so far.  There is an older type of test that is used to identify the type and site of the cancer, but it is not considered a primary diagnostic and therefore won’t be covered under insurance. <br /><br /><br />Paying for this and a secondary consult, possibly with City of Hope or UCLA, are key goals of this fundraiser. The test should cost around $3,000, so the rest is to go toward childcare and other healthcare expenses, and maybe a few ordered-in meals to give Angie one less thing to worry about. <br /><br /><br /><strong>Summary of treatment to date:</strong><br /><br /><br />The first sign that something was wrong was mild but persistent stomach discomfort. This turned out to be a malignant buildup of fluid in the abdomen that was being caused by cancerous masses on her ovaries and abdomen. <br /><br /><br />The surgeons at Kaiser successfully removed those masses, but the cancer has spread to other parts of her body and caused her to retain fluid that requires regular removal. Chemo has slowed the fluid buildup considerably, but has caused serious neuropathy and other detrimental side effects.<br /><br /><br />The primary should be somewhere, probably very small, however pathology done on the removed tissue from previous surgeries has found no malignancy, which unfortunately ruled out the possibility that it had been accidentally removed during one of those procedures. <br /><br /><br />There are some routine steps that are being undertaken, such as reordering the cancer marker test and scheduling another PET scan, but the options that give her the best chance at getting new information are the secondary consultation and additional testing.<br /><br /><br />Cancer is a scary battle, and it’s easy to feel helpless when your friend is going through such a hard fight. This is how we can best assist Angie today, (Aside from any visiting you want to do and scotch or Japanese whiskey you want to send her way &lt;3 ) so please join us in helping her mitigate these costs. <br /><br /><br />If you want to contribute directly, here are a couple options for you!<br /><br /><br />Paypal Family &amp; Friends: [email redacted]<br /><br />Venmo: @Angela-Chandler-11

David Ferreria