Bill Cosby and The Stafford Foundation Shine Spotlight on 'Doing Good'

New Public Service Announcement Launches Campaign

WASHINGTON, Jan. 20 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Stafford Foundation (TSF) today launched an exciting effort to begin a national movement to motivate people to help others in need by "Doing Good."  Comedian and educator Bill Cosby stood alongside Earl W. Stafford, TSF Chairman and CEO, to announce the launch of the "Doing Good" campaign to present a national public service announcement featuring Cosby promoting the initiative.

The Stafford Foundation gained international acclaim with The Peoples' Inaugural Project in January of 2009, bringing hundreds of disadvantaged citizens to the nation's capital for the Inauguration of President Barack Obama.

"One year ago our nation was captivated when The Stafford Foundation gave a diverse group of underserved people a once-in-a-lifetime experience.  This mission of doing good for our fellow citizens continues to grow," said Cosby. "Even during this daunting time when so many people are losing jobs, homes and hope, the American people want to help others in need."  

The Doing Good campaign is based on a simple principle: to help those in need become self-reliant so that they will in turn be inspired to help others.  The effort focuses on ways to help people with job-training, health and wellness and cultural enrichment.

"There are so many people in this country today who are struggling with just meeting the basics in life.  Many of these are people who have followed all the rules for living a successful, self-reliant life, but because of unforeseen circumstances, find themselves needing just a helping hand," said Stafford. "At the same time, we discovered through our efforts with the People's Inaugural Project that throughout America there is a pent-up demand for ways to do good.

As the second initiative of TSF's People's Project, the Doing Good campaign focuses on results that include:

• Providing homeless men and women education and training along with job placements.
• Giving children nurturing environments to grow and learn.
• Ensuring bright young people from low-income families have resources to go to college.
• Offering senior citizens the means to reach their potential as positive forces in our communities.
• Bringing health and wellness programs to low-income neighborhoods.
• Making cultural enrichment with music and the arts available to all ages in underserved communities.  

With a new interactive website launched today at www.thestaffordfoundation.org, the Doing Good campaign will help people who want to do good find a way to do so by:

• Helping people discover how their time and talent can be used to do good in their own communities.
• Showing how their contributions will be used to do good.
• Connecting groups that can work together to have more impact.
• Supporting programs that directly provide support to those in need.
• Providing an easily accessible online platform to share Doing Good stories and create a community of Doing Good.

"We will shine a spotlight on the amazing good that people are doing across the nation," said Lisa Bowen, TSF Director of Operations.  "We believe the more people know about what good is being done and have ways to get involved to have positive impact, that more and more good will be done."

The People's Inaugural Project events comprised the first initiative of The People's Project and brought more than 400 disadvantaged Americans from across the country to Washington, D.C. to celebrate the inauguration.

The Stafford Foundation, Inc. is a faith-based nonprofit organization founded in 2002 and based in Reston, VA . The Stafford Foundation collaborates with and invests in capacity-building efforts that equip the underserved through programs that provide health, education, training and faith-based mission support.  

SOURCE The Stafford Foundation