Multiculturalism « RIESTER Blog

Young Haitian girls need your help–update on the orphanage.

Written on January 22nd, 2010 | Posted by Jim Breitinger

Young girl at Hope. Photo predates the earthquake.

The situation in Haiti is dire. Our friends Tim and Toby Banks are struggling to deal with the chaos around them. They need to care for two of their own children who live in Haiti with them and the twenty girls whose home is the orphanage. Details on how you can help are at the end of this post. The RIESTER Foundation is matching whatever you can give.

The orphanage, which is both school and home to the Banks and the twenty orphan girls who live there is unsafe and unusable. The Hope Center for Orphaned Girls exists to provide a stable home and an education to young Haitians without parents. It is not an orphanage that places children with adoptive families. The number of orphans in Haiti, over 200,000 before the earthquake, has led to a variety of types of orphanages to serve these children. Hope raises Haitian girls to live productive lives in Haiti. One of Haiti’s many problems is high illiteracy and lack of education. Hope is working to change that.

Because the situation is so bad and there is not currently a home or even a safe place for the girls at Hope, the Banks decided the best thing to do was to seek temporary asylum and bring the orphans to their home in Ohio until the building could be secured and the situation in Haiti stabilizes.

On Wednesday, U.S. Embassy personnel granted humanitarian visas and the group of 23 was about to begin their journey out of Port-au-Prince. Before they could leave, the paperwork was subsequently revoked. The visas granted were a new type of visa created by the Department of Homeland Security specifically to speed the process of migration for Haitian orphans being placed in American families. The orphans at Hope live in the custody of Americans who are temporarily expatriates–there is no intention to permanently relocate the orphans to the U.S. They fall into a grey area where no current visa clearly covers them.

For over two days, Toby, her two children and the twenty girls camped out inside the U.S. Embassy. Tim Banks is planning to stay behind to begin the rebuilding process. Last night officials at the embassy encouraged Toby to stay with her group inside the embassy. Current laws and rules do not allow her to take the children out of the country, however, because of the extraordinary circumstances Toby and Tim are hopeful that something will change.

This afternoon Toby and the children left the embassy and went back to Hope’s compound. They are still trying to find a way to leave the country for a temporary safe haven.

Regardless of what comes next Tim and Toby Banks need funds for the orphanage especially because of the extreme situation they are facing as a result of the earthquake.

The need in Haiti is huge. There are many good people and organizations working as hard and fast as they can for the millions of people affected by the earthquake. Because of our connection to the Banks we are doing what we can to help them. Please join us.

Your contribution will make a difference for twenty little girls aged 2-13 who need our help.

All money raised by the RIESTER Foundation until March 1, 2010 will be directed to Hope and the RIESTER Foundation is matching donations dollar for dollar up to $2,500.

Please click on donate below to make a donation from the RIESTER Foundation PayPal page:

Or send a check to:

RIESTER Foundation
802 North 3rd Avenue
Phoenix, AZ 85003

Please write “Haiti” in the memo line of the check.

Thank you.

We will continue to add updates regarding our efforts to raise money for the Hope Center. Use this link to see all updates from RIESTER, including previous posts, regarding Haiti: http://www.riester.com/blog/category/haiti/

Photos can't begin to capture the extent of the ruins. Members of Fairfax County Urban Search and Rescue scale the former Montana Hotel during rescue operations in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Jan. 14, 2010. The all volunteer service partnered with U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and multi-national relief agencies to support relief efforts in the aftermath of the 7.0 magnitude earthquake. Photo by member of U.S. Navy.

Tags: disaster relief, earthquake, Haiti, Jim Breitinger, Tim Banks, Toby Banks, Toby Munson Banks
Posted in Activism, Education, Haiti, Multiculturalism, RIESTER Foundation | No Comments »

The Rotary Club: Brand Activists for community service.

Written on January 6th, 2010 | Posted by Mike Korologos

From spearheading a worldwide effort to eradicate polio to sponsoring a pancake breakfast to raise funds for a kids’ playground at a local park, Rotary Club members are at the forefront of public service.

They put into action their mantra of “service above self.”

In the truest sense, Rotarians (1.5 million members in 33,790 clubs worldwide) are volunteer activists — doers and believers — for numerous causes, be it buying wheelchairs for underprivileged children, combating hunger, improving health and sanitation, providing education and job training or teaming with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation ($335 million donated) to provide polio vaccines to tykes in the ghettos of less-developed countries.

A classic example of Rotary-style activism was aptly expressed in an article by Dr. Scott Leckman that appeared in the Salt Lake City daily newspaper, the Deseret News, on Oct. 23, 2009.

A physician and member of the Salt Lake Rotary Club, Dr. Leckman wrote of an experience he had earlier in the year after immunizing kids for polio in Firozabad, a ghetto of some 400,000 inhabitants 40 miles from Agra, India, home to the storied Taj Mahal. He was one of a group of 16 from Utah who paid their own way to India to partake in a Rotary International humanitarian effort.

"Namaste."

Dr. Leckman wrote: “Indians have a wonderful greeting, ‘Namaste.’ When spoken to another person, it is commonly accompanied by a slight bow and made with hands pressed together, palms touching and fingers pointed upward. It means ‘I bow to the divinity inherent within you’.”

He recalled this exchange following a day of giving babes-in-arms polio vaccine drops in the squalor of Firozabad where mud-brick shanties front on alleys lined with troughs full of sewage:

“As I walked through Firozabad to catch the bus, an Indian gentleman rode his bike past me, then stopped to talk.

“Why are you here?,” he asked.

“I am here with a group of Rotarians to give children polio vaccines.”

“What do you get out of it?”

Dr. Leckman responded: “A world free of polio.”

“He (the stranger) thought for a moment and said ‘namaste,’ then rode off,” the doctor recalled.

In that brief exchange, Dr. Leckman epitomized Brand Activism in its basic form. He had a good product, he strongly believed in that product and he conveyed its value succinctly to his audience — who obviously was sold on it.

That is similar to the studied approach RIESTER takes in advocating Brand Activism about products and services it successfully touts to targeted audiences on behalf of its clients. RIESTER (with 100 employees in offices in Phoenix, Los Angeles and Salt Lake City) develops advertising, public relations, web, social media and public policy messages that resonate. Just like Dr. Leckman’s.

Rotarian and RIESTERite Mike Korologos administering polio vaccines in India in 2008. This is Brand Activism.

Tags: Agra, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Brand Activism, Deseret News, Dr. Scott Leckman, Firozabad, Gates Foundation, India, Mike Korologos, polo, RIESTER, Rotary, Rotary Club #24 of Salt Lake City, Rotary Club of Salt Lake City, Rotary International
Posted in Activism, Health, Multiculturalism | No Comments »

Robert Farthing, RIESTER’s Brand Activist for the Thunderbird School of Global Management, reports from Geneva.

Written on November 17th, 2009 | Posted by Robert Farthing

The Palace of Nations, Geneva, Switzerland.

There have been many moments throughout my career in production when I have found myself standing on location in an unusual place. I would look around and appreciate all the elements that came together that brought me to that moment in time when something remarkable was happening. Tonight I am reflecting on a day filled with remarkable moments.

I have the humble pleasure of being on assignment in Geneva, Switzerland this week. I am following 40 Executive MBA students from Thunderbird School of Global Management. My job is to track these students through the experiences of their day as they meet with influential diplomats, economists and esteemed professors. These are men and women who meet every other week on the Thunderbird campus in Glendale, Arizona over 18 months and this is their first trip abroad for an immersion experience in international business. The group is a microcosm of the globe with students from places like Pakistan, Brazil, Mongolia, South Africa, the United States and many other countries.

My task initially has been to be invisible and to capture in still photos, pure moments of their experience here, whether it be engaged in a thought provoking debate with a cohort on child labor issues, or gazing out picturesque windows of the conference room deep in thought, pondering what it means to be a global citizen today.

Today we went to the U.N. and toured the great chambers, where issues of the world have been debated for decades. I could not help but feel the power of the historic and relevant decisions that have been made here as we moved through hallways of marble in this storied building that was originally built for the League of Nations.

To be on the floor of the U.N. under the great golden symbol of peace and unity and standing with these students from all over the world was an intense experience. I am captivated by the students as people and to be able to watch them through a long zoom lens as they debate with passion and compassion on important global matters is an honor. It’s exciting to witness the spark of enthusiasm through their eyes as they experience a personal epiphany. Here we were where leadership characteristics like this matter. It is the human quality of compassion, care and concern blending with practical knowledge and the desire to drive the world to a better place. These are the qualities of leadership that I see being transferred to the men and women in this class from Thunderbird and it was humbling and remarkable to be there.

Although there were many remarkable moments today it seems fitting to end my first entry for this travel blog with this one particular moment. Today I was a RIESTERite standing in the halls of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. I felt humbled to be here on many levels and in a fleeting moment I felt the honor of what we get to do at the agency sometimes, and that is, to play a small role for a client which in turn empowers them to play a small role in the lives of people who may very well go on to change the world in a remarkable way.

Robert Farthing
Geneva, Switzerland

Tags: Arizona, Brazil, EMBA, Geneva, Glendale, MBA, Mongolia, Pakistan, Palace of Nations, producer, RIESTER, Robert Farthing, South Africa, Switzerland, Thunderbird, Thunderbird School of Global Management, U.N., UN, United Nations
Posted in Education, Multiculturalism | No Comments »

Mirja Riester discusses the fall of the Berlin Wall on television.

Written on November 9th, 2009 | Posted by Tim Riester

My wife, business partner and RIESTER’s Executive Director Mirja Riester appeared on Fox 10 in Phoenix discussing the fall of the Berlin Wall:

Don’t miss Mirja’s post on our web site: http://tinyurl.com/MirjasBerlinPost

Tags: 1989, Berlin Wall, Fox 10, Mirja Riester, November 9, Phoenix, Tim Riester
Posted in Multiculturalism, Tim Riester | No Comments »

Germany’s 9/11 and multiculturalism.

Written on November 9th, 2009 | Posted by Mirja Riester

9 November 1989, celebrating at the Berlin Wall. For the first time in two generations people move freely between East and West Berlin. Political systems have a profound impact on culture. Photo by Sue Ream.

9/11 in the U.S. marks a dark day in American history. Europeans use a different syntax to express dates. The day comes first and then the month. 9/11 in Europe is a day to celebrate. On the ninth day of November, exactly twenty years ago, a non-violent revolution brought down the Berlin Wall.

For forty-four years Germany had been divided. The East lived under the grip of a Communist police state. The West thrived under what is best characterized as a social market economy. After the Wall fell, Germany was reunified. Yet, twenty years after the reunification, significant differences remain between the eastern and western parts of Germany. How could this be?

If you travel to Berlin today, you can see how arbitrary the division of the city was. The same was true for the 858 mile-long border that split Germany into two separate nations during the Cold War. German culture dates back over many centuries, it seems implausible that a divide that lasted less than two generations would alter a culture so much. Yet it did. It may take two more generations for the cultural divide that grew between east and west to dissipate in Germany.

The story of Germany’s division and reunification holds some unexpected lessons in multiculturalism. The effects of living under different political systems for as short as two generations impacted the respective parts of Germany more than one would have imagined.

As people from other cultures move to new places they are challenged to adapt and assimilate quickly to the dominant culture. The case of Germany is interesting because few people physically moved after 1989, yet the former East Germans found themselves needing to assimilate within a unified nation. In some regards people adapt quickly in these circumstances, but the process of acculturation is uneven and people are slow to let go of certain parts of their cultural heritage.

RIESTER’s understanding of cultural issues goes beyond any specific cultural group. We are fortunate to have the ability to truly comprehend other cultures prior to applying acculturation models for marketing purposes. Only when one clearly understands different cultures, is it possible to understand the societal dynamics that arise as people assimilate, and then identify what matters most to those people.

Today the boundary that split Germany for nearly half a century is gone. November 1989 was a turning point in history. After decades of tensions, a non-violent uprising brought an end to communist rule over East Germany. Political systems are more important than we often realize. An oppressive regime can have a profound effect on the culture of a people, no matter how old that culture may be.

Tags: 9 November 1989, Berlin Wall, culture, freedom, Mirja Riester, Multiculturalism
Posted in Activism, Multiculturalism | No Comments »

HERDEZ sponsors gathering of Latina women in Phoenix.

Written on October 2nd, 2009 | Posted by Sergio Carlos

The 24th Annual Hispanic Women’s Conference here in Phoenix is in full swing. This national event highlights the dreams, struggles and accomplishments of Latinas in America. The Hispanic Women’s Conference is the largest gathering of Latinas in the nation. The conference motivates and educates Hispanic women from across the nation addressing key topics in the areas of professional development, personal growth, wealth-building and solutions to social issues that Latinas face today. Fittingly, the theme of this year’s conference is “Latina Power: Rising to service and change.”

Hispanics are a growing and important demographic group in the United States and Latina women have been steadily and increasingly establishing themselves in all facets of American life. The Conference’s luncheon speaker, U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, the first Latina to serve on a president’s cabinet is a wonderful example of how Latinas’ hard work has allowed them to move into important positions of political, social and economic power and responsibility. But the conference does much more than just highlight accomplished Latinas. It also serves to inspire younger Latinas to follow their dreams and work toward making them a reality. A great example of someone who is doing just that is 16 year old Toni Gutierrez, a youth leader being honored in Phoenix today and who will also speak at the luncheon.

HERDEZ, Mexico’s favorite salsa, proudly applauds the accomplishments and efforts of all Latinas to improve their lives and those of their families as well as inspire others to do the same. To show its support, HERDEZ has elected to be the centerpiece sponsor for the scholarship benefit luncheon. The luncheon—which is sold out—is an assembly of a Who’s Who in the Hispanic community and serves as a showcase for Latina accomplishments.

HERDEZ is proud to support the Hispanic Women’s Conference. These women are an integral and important part of American society.

herdez product still

Tags: Arizona, Education, HERDEZ, Hispanic Women's Conference, Latina, multicultural, Phoenix, RIESTER, Sergio Carlos
Posted in Education, Multiculturalism | No Comments »

The Hispanic Women’s Corporation’s annual conference is in Phoenix next month.

Written on September 8th, 2009 | Posted by Christina Borrego

RIESTER’s version of Brand Activism includes promoting causes that are vital to the future of our nation. Two of these causes are education and multiculturalism. An alarming fact is that forty-one percent of young Latinas are not completing high school with at least a standard high school diploma. NPR did a report on this last month.

These are issues that are close to my heart. I know that without a good education it is difficult to create a successful and stable life. Whether considering one demographic group, or our nation as a whole, we must do more to improve outcomes in American education. If you are an Arizona resident, I encourage you to visit the Web site of Expect More Arizona and join the movement to demand more from the Arizona educational system. When RIESTER launched this campaign we met students who said that they knew they were academically behind students from other countries, and that they wanted to be challenged more in the classroom. Only by getting involved can we make a difference in their lives.

I am currently volunteering with the Hispanic Women’s Corporation (HWC), a group dedicated to addressing the unique cultural concerns of Latina women. An important part of HWC’s mission is to assist young Latinas in advancing their educations through scholarships and other support systems. HWC is holding their annual conference in Phoenix next month. This will be an exciting event, and it’s an honor for me to be part of a team that is making it a reality.

Tags: Arizona, Christina Borrego, Expect More Arizona, Hispanic Women's Corporation, HWC, Latina, Phoenix, RIESTER
Posted in Education, Multiculturalism | No Comments »

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