Youthaiti(www.youthaiti.org) supports the work of Haitianyouth in repairing their country, focusing on projects of ecological sanitationto break the cycle of contamination that leads to many illnesses among Haitianchildren.
Friends ofthe Orphans works in Haitiand throughout Latin America to help the manythousands of children abandoned or orphaned by upheaval or HIV/AIDS. They havebeen active in Haitisince 1987, and assist more than 30,000 children a year.
Both groupshave been leading efforts to improve the living conditions of Haitian childrenfor years, but this is a time when additional help is crucially needed. Pleasestop by Lakefront Brewery (1872 N. Commerce St.) to help locally owned businessesmake a positive difference in Haiti.
Hero of the Week
Lucy Benka
There are many localorganizations that create positive changes in our community without receivingany national attention. The exact opposite is true of Meta House, which isnationally recognized but locally unheralded for its work in helping womenstruggling with drug and alcohol addiction to reclaim their lives and rebuildtheir families.
That’s where Lucy Benkacomes in. Originally from Nottingham, England, Benkais a full-time yoga instructor who volunteers her public relations knowledgefor Meta House. Benka helps to raise the national profile of Meta House andeducate members of the public who may be unaware of this valuable resource forwomen dealing with substance abuse issues. Located at 2625 N. Weil St., Meta House also helpsrecovering women cope with the mental and physical effects of addiction in arespectful, nonjudgmental environment.
For her volunteer workin promoting the mission of Meta House, the Shepherdmakes Benka our “Hero of the Week” and urges readers who wish to get involvedto contact Wendy Cozzens at 414-977-5807 or visit www.metahouse.org.
Jerk of the Week
U.S. Senate Candidate Terrence Wall
TerrenceWall, a Madison real estate developer who’strying to unseat Sen. Russ Feingold this fall, may not be a household name in Milwaukee just yet. Butthe Republican candidate introduced himself to ultra-right-wing voters at arecent anti-tax tea party rally in Racine.
Saywhat?
Wallshouldn’t complain about high taxesthe multimillionaire developer didn’t pay incometaxes in Wisconsinfor nine of the last 10 years.
Accordingto an analysis by Wispolitics.com, Wall is worth between $58 million and $100million, largely due to real estate investments, and earned more than $2.6million in 2008-2009. Wall has claimed that he hasn’t paid taxes thanks toinvestment tax credits and depreciation of real estatedeductions unavailableto most taxpayers. Not surprisingly, the candidate’s platform includes more taxcuts and tax credits for businesses and entrepreneurs. Even Charlie Sykes toldWall that his tax dodging was “a problem” and that “you live in a completelydifferent fiscal environment than most of the working people of Wisconsin.”
Wedon’t think Wall has anything to complain about.
