A Holiday Message From Shhhh! Digital Media

The holiday season regardless of what any of us believe, is definitely a good time to share these words and a message about the charities that I like to promote through my work here at Shhhh! Digital Media.


I don't make money from this web site though at some point in the future I do hope that it becomes a nest egg that hatches with good fortune for my efforts. Really one of the most important things that I'm trying to do here is to contribute through art that reflects the nature of these charities in terms of motivation and the spirit of the goodness of helping others.


Sometimes the arts are regarded as being mostly about vanity, a theme very much present in my book The Butterfly Dragon I: Heroes Of Our Own.


The little girl Ai Yuanlin Ying experiences the bedtime story that her Grandmother told her. When she falls asleep, she lives the story in her dreams, where the creatures of a great lush field are in grave peril at the hands of animal poachers.


When the butterflies offer to help the creatures of the field to stop this threat, the other creatures all laugh at the butterflies, because the other animals all believe that the butterflies are of no substance other than sheer vanity.


So the butterflies convince the creatures to work together, each of them contributing something from themselves to make a solution that is made up of the best of each of them and ultimately much grander than any one of them individually.


So the arts can be a source to contribute to goals that are much more grand and noble than art for the sake of itself, despite the fact that art is absolutely wonderful. It is even more so when it shapes the world through the act of giving.


So if I was ever to ask anyone for anything for what I do here at Shhhh! Digital Media, I would never ask for anything for myself aside from recognition and proper accreditation. I would however ask that if you get something good from this web site and Shhhh! Digital Media, then please give to any one or some of the charities I've listed below, as they have been chosen because they represent aspects and in some cases plot elements of my books and stories. I'd like to see the events in the imaginary world of stories become truth in a beneficial sense.


If you do donate to these charities and you are allowed to indicate a sponsor, please tell the charity you are donating on behalf of Shhhh! Digital Media. These links will take you directly to the charity's website.


I do NOT accept monetary donations for charity here and never would. I'd much rather see that money get directly to the charities. I'm only facilitating that fact.


The Charities listed here are charities whose efforts Shhhh! Digital Media and myself support through fundraising essentially by spreading the word and doing my part to donate when and where I can.


Sick Kids Foundation
Doctor Frederick Banting, one of the discoverers of insulin served his internship at SickKids Hospital. He eventually went on to become an attending physician there. William Thornton Mustard developed the Mustard surgical procedure used to help correct heart problems in blue baby syndrome in 1963 while in 1989, a team of researchers at the hospital discovered the gene responsible for cystic fibrosis. Examples of how charitable funding can make a big difference for human life at its very beginnings. (Courtesy of Wikipedia)

The Princess Margaret Foundation
The Princess Margaret Foundation has been fighting Cancer since 1952, when it was created by an Act of Legislature in Ontario, Canada. The Princess Margaret Cancer Centre is one of the five largest cancer centres in the world.


The Cancer Research Institute
Cancer Research organizations that combine the expertise of many different research firms and Universities to find innovative treatments and cures for Cancer.


United Nations Foundation
The UN has the mission and reach to solve global problems at a time when collective action is needed more than ever.

United Way Worldwide
An organization whose contribution of expertise, human and financial resources and volunteer efforts provide humanitarian solutions to real-world problems around the world.


World Veterans Federation
The World Veterans Federation is a humanitarian organization, a charity and a peace activist movement. The WVF maintains its consultative status with the United Nations since 1951 and was conferred the title of “Peace Messenger” in 1987.

I'd like to point out that it was the incredible Gary Sinese Foundation that brought the issue of Veteran's rights to my attention. I've always had little respect for those who'd forget the great contribution made by those who've risked life and limb to defend those values that so many of us espouse. Perhaps the true measure of one's principles are by that for which they'd risk their life.

"None can speak more eloquently for peace than those who have fought in war."

Ralph Bunche, Nobel Peace Prize 1950


The Reeve Foundation provides programs for research, uniting Scientists and Specialists from many different fields to find treatments for spinal cord injury translating them into therapies and support programs.


For over 60 years, Heart & Stroke has been dedicated to fighting heart disease and stroke. Our work has saved thousands of lives and improved the lives of millions of others.


The ALS Society Of BC
ALS (also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease) is a progressive neuromuscular disease in which nerve cells die and leave voluntary muscles paralyzed. The ALS society provides a variety of programs to combat this disease and help those with it to survive.


Muscular Dystrophy Canada
Muscular Dystrophy Canada’s mission is to enhance the lives of those affected by neuromuscular disorders by continually working to provide ongoing support and resources while relentlessly searching for a cure through well-funded research.


Humane Society International
The Humane Society protects the health, lives and rights of animals the world over, ensuring that they too have a voice in this world. We are interdependent upon the complex web of life this entire planet over for our mutual survival. This is a world wide charity.


The Global Foodbanking Network
Ensuring that people the world over have enough food day to day in order to survive and lead healthy lives. This is a world wide charity.


Seti@Home
Perhaps the defining moment of our entire existence will be when we truly discover that we are not alone as a technological species, regardless of our local beliefs and traditions here on our own Mother Earth rather than in spite of those beliefs. It seems to me that it would be a far greater injustice not to search than it would be to sit alone in silence. Besides, "if we're alone, wouldn't that be a big waste of space?"


The Edgar Allan Poe Museum
Because Barris told me to put it here. If I didn't, he said he'd walk. Geez. Stardom really gets to some people's heads. Maybe I could kill him and bury his heart beneath the floor boards! Or I could encase him in behind a brick and mortar wall, for shaming my family name of Amantillado! In all truth, there's a good chance that thanks to the works of Edgar Allan Poe, Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain), William Shakespeare, Jane Austen, Jonathan Swift, Mary Wollenstein Shelley, Robert Louis Stevenson, Herbert George Wells, Jules Verne, Dr. Seuss, Stephen King, Clive Barker and Pierre Burton (for The Secret World Of Og and his ground breaking interview of Bruce Lee) that all of us are literate. Literacy is important. Really it is. Literally. It allows us to approach our employer at the end of the week (with a big club) and ask: where my money?! Math important too.


Wikipedia
The model for what may become the Encyclopedia Galactica, a complete reference and record of history, events and knowledge of humanity and its journey beyond. It is the encyclopedia of all that we know, what we surmise that we've known and will learn in the future. Yes, Wikipedia is a charitable organization of great importance. If you enjoy what I am doing here then please take the time to donate to Wikipedia. Surprisingly only 1% of Wikipedia's users donate yet the site serves pages to millions every day.


Humble Bundle
A video gaming storefront benefiting a vast variety of different Charities in the United States and United Kingdom (hopefully soon to be expanded to include other areas of the world?). By software their software bundles and choose which Charity your money benefits and how much of your money benefits that Charity

Multiple Sclerosis is a degenerative disease currently affecting an estimated 2.3 million world wide. By donating you are contributing to effective research in finding a cure and tipping the scales of MS research to change lives forever.


Other Ways To Help Using Your Computer

Donate your idle computer time to science! Join the World Community Grid by clicking on one of the links below and follow the instructions for how to participate:


Want to contribute to the real life Tynan And Associates, the research company from The Butterfly Dragon I: Heroes Of Our Own just like Alicia Westin aka Night Style? 

Join the Official Tynan And Associates World Community Grid Team conducting real medical and scientific research by using your computer idle time by clicking the link below and following the instructions on how you can participate:

Join Tynan And Associates World Community Grid Team


I'd like to personally wish everyone Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas🎄🎁, Happy Hanukkah🕎 and Happy Winter Solstice! May the new year bring you more light and good fortune.

Brian Joseph Johns
https://www.shhhhdigital.com

200 Sherbourne Street #701
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
M5A 3Z5

Email:
brian.joseph.johns@shhhhdigital.com