Kids in the Philippines threw rocks and slurs at a 6-year-old boy when he tried to go to school. In Madagascar, an 8-year-old girl was shunned by her village and abandoned by her mother, who couldn’t overcome the stigma of her daughter’s condition. In Morocco, a 12-year-old girl hid in shame at home, so no one could see her face. All three children had a cleft condition, a birth defect that disfigures one in every 500 to 750 babies worldwide. They endured cruelty and isolation for years until a surgery by Operation Smile profoundly changed their lives.
The Amgen Foundation and Harvard University today announced plans to launch a free online science education platform uniquely designed to level the playing field for aspiring scientists. The LabXchange platform, which will launch with a focus in biology, will offer digital instruction and virtual lab experiences to high school and college students, enabling them to gain meaningful exposure to the scientific process. It will also include online networking focused on collaboration and mentoring.
TD today launched the TD Ready Challenge, an annual North American initiative that has ten $1 million (CDN) grants available to help catalyze innovative solutions for a changing world. The announcement follows the recent launch of The Ready Commitment, a multi-year program targeting CDN $1 billion (US $775 million) in total by 2030 towards community giving.