oxfam

1 for All, the national nonpartisan program designed to build understanding and support for First Amendment freedoms, has declared Oxfam America as the winner of its YouTube video contest. The video features seven female Oxfam staff who lay out the pillars of the First Amendment in their native languages, speaking out on behalf of all the women around the world who do not enjoy such freedoms. Oxfam supporters State Radio, whose charitable organization Calling All Crows regularly advocates on behalf of (and fundraises for) Oxfam’s women’s rights around the world, donated the use of their song “Keepsake” as the background track for the video. "Keepsake" was originally included on State Radio's 2006 "Peace Between Nations" EP, with an acoustic version of the track live from the Brattle Theatre included on the iTunes deluxe version of the band's latest full-length release Let It Go. 

The winning video will be made available to media and Friends of 1 for All across the country, to feature on their websites or to broadcast, as part of 1 for All’s national First Amendment campaign. It will also be featured in the Newseum’s First Amendment gallery, and be a part of a their fall outreach efforts to schools.

State Radio are making a point to stop their shows on their current winter tour to encourage fans to get their cellphones out to text the word OXFAM to 25383 to make a one-time $10 donation to Oxfam’s Haiti Response Fund. State Radio frontman and Calling All Crows co-founder Chad Stokes also created the above video message to further encourage fan involvement. 

Find out more about Oxfam's Haiti Response Fund HERE. 

Team Calling All Crows (left to right): Victoria Weiss, Ben Schwartz, Matt Wilhelm, Leah Fine, Josh Gutter, Nica Latto, Jeb Gutelius, Sybil Gallagher, Chad Stokes
 

State Radio frontman and former Dispatch member Chad Stokes took to the stage with “Some Good Friends” this past weekend at Arts at the Armory in Somerville, MA for the second annual Calling All Crows benefit shows. These shows wove together music with a message, celebrating the accomplishments of Calling All Crows’ first year in action, including 600 fans volunteering over 3,000 hours at local service projects across the country and a year long effort from State Radio and their fans to raise $100,000 for Oxfam America’s Darfur Stoves project. The Calling All Crows team (pictured above) presented the check on Saturday night, December 12, to Bob Ferguson of Oxfam America.

“Oxfam America's partnership with State Radio and Calling All Crows on our Darfur Stoves project has been meaningful from day one,” Ferguson remarked. “Like Oxfam, the band and their organization are all about creating partners and activists to help make our globe a better place. Their work on this project will impact 5000 families in Darfur for the better, and proves the motto of Oxfam America's concert outreach program that ‘music can change the world.’”

The donation will provide 5,000 fuel-efficient stoves that will decrease the number of trips Sudanese women need to make away from their refugee camps to collect firewood and, in turn, decrease their risk of becoming victims of rape and assault.