Give Us Names Update

Last year, during our Passion to Action Summer, we profiled three organizations working to make change in the world. We consider these teams artists, seeking out Good–manifesting their passion in action.

Give Us Names, a non-profit organization out of Atlanta, GA, has been working to tell the stories of the millions of internally displaced Colombians–displaced as a result of aerial fumigation, but what’s even more unsettling is that some of your American tax dollars are paying for these chemicals.

Give Us Names premiered their film, Leaving La Floresta, at The Plaza Theater in Atlanta last month. The film profiles one family’s displacement as a direct result of aerial fumigation. CNN was in attendance, whose report on the Colombian crisis aired today, giving the team an international platform to share their mission. Watch the CNN report here.

I spoke with Give Us Names team member, Caleb Collier, who is very enthusiastic about the international press received by their mission. Collier urges people to take action by contacting their representative. You can also purchase T-shirts, DVDs of Leaving La Floresta, and sign up for one-time or monthly giving. ”The goal is to raise six or seven thousand dollars to get this family [profiled in the film] out of the slum and back onto the farm,” says Collier. This money goes to restoring this family and others like it, and if that’s not art, I don’t know what is.

Their east cost film tour launched last month after the premiere and includes cities like Chapel Hill, NC; Nashville, TN; Philadelphia, PA; and Washington D.C. Check here if there’s a screening in your area.

Watch the trailer for Leaving La Floresta. Read the feature on redthoughtmedia.com.