For love of Mothers. MADRE: Mothers's Day Emergency Fund.

Dear Friend, When I go to sleep at night, I’m grateful that my two boys are well fed, warm and safe from the dangers of war. They go to school each day. When they’re sick, I take them to the doctor. And then I think of all the mothers I know in other countries, just as dedicated to their kids as I am, but not able to protect them. In ways large and small, you and I have worked together to make their burdens lighter. Your Mother's Day gift to MADRE shows that you stand with them. I think of the mother in a tent in Haiti who holds the whistle we gave her, as she watches her daughter sleep and listens for attackers. She knows that the other moms will come when she sounds the alarm, now that her whistle gives her the power to call for help. Or the mom in Kenya who risks all to secret her daughter to one of our shelter schools to protect her from being forced into marriage. Or the soon-to-be mother in Palestine who waits nervously for the midwife. Military roadblocks kept her from receiving prenatal care at the hospital. But the midwife—equipped with a birthing kit from MADRE—will safely deliver her new baby. This is what we do—not just on Mother’s Day, but every day. We stand up for mothers, fierce defenders of their loved ones. Will you stand with them? We’ve launched our Mother’s Day Emergency Fund. All year long, unexpected crises befall women in our sister organizations—disasters that can’t be anticipated. Yet, we know we must always be ready when a mother calls for help. MADRE’s Mother’s Day Emergency Fund makes sure we can respond. Just this week, I took an urgent call from our partner in Iraq. She told me about an activist facing death threats. We’re helping her find a means of escape for herself and her children. Then, I spoke to our partner in Nicaragua. We made plans to replant the crops that her family depends on, after their bean harvest was swept away by recent floods. We’ve committed to raise $15,000 for the Fund by May 31, to meet these needs and to answer other urgent calls for help. Will you help us? Join me in supporting these mothers now. Make a gift in honor of a mom, stepmom, aunt who’s like a mom, or maybe just for any mom, now. With gratitude, Yifat Susskind Executive Director P.S. Any donation , of any size, helps us reach our goal of giving mothers the strength and resources to protect their kids. Please stand with us .

The Mothers of MADRE “Here in the camp, we’re exposed to so many threats. My daughter’s safety means everything to me, so I work hard to protect her. Thank you for helping me.” – Martine, a mother in Haiti “I wish I had education. But as a girl, I was given in marriage. But I managed to take my girls to school. So I have done something important in my life.” – Kinangare, a mother in Kenya Your support of MADRE helps mothers worldwide. This Mother’s Day, let’s honor them together. Be a MADRE Lifeline Make a big difference by giving a little every month.  Click here to review our Charity Navigator four star rating.

Educational Entrepreneurship - THE FUTURE: Offer Free Online Classes. Then......

Harvard and MIT launch edX to offer free online classes

By James O'Toole @CNNMoneyTech May 2, 2012: 3:48 PM ET

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Always wanted to take a Harvard class? Soon you'll be able to do so from the comfort of your own home.

Harvard and MIT announced a partnership Wednesday to offer free online courses to students around the world. The initiative, known as edX, will be run by a non-profit organization controlled by the two schools. Each has committed $30 million to the effort.

The first official courses will be announced this summer and are set to begin in the fall.

EdX students won't receive university credit for the classes, which will span a variety of disciplines. There's no admissions process, but there are exams and other assessments, with certificates available "for a modest fee" to students who demonstrate mastery of the material.

The project builds on an online education program that MIT announced last year. A prototype course on circuits and electronics began in March and attracted more than 120,000 students, though only about 10,000 stayed with the course through the mid-term exam, an MIT spokeswoman said.

The first official set of edX courses will be announced this summer, and will begin in the fall.

The Harvard-MIT project faces some competition in the push to make high-quality educational courses available online.

Last month, Princeton, Stanford, Michigan and the University of Pennsylvania announced that they would offer free Web-based courses through a for-profit company called Coursera that was founded by two Stanford computer science professors. One of those professors, Andrew Ng, taught a free online course in machine learning this past fall with an enrollment of more than 100,000 students.

There's also Udacity, co-founded by a former Stanford professor, andKhan Academy, which boasts 3,100 free educational videos across a variety of subjects.

MIT and Harvard said that they hope to eventually partner with other universities to expand the offerings on the edX platform.

"Harvard and MIT will use these new technologies and the research they will make possible to lead the direction of online learning in a way that benefits our students, our peers, and people across the nation and the globe," Harvard president Drew Faust said. 

http://money.cnn.com/2012/05/02/technology/harvard-mit-online/index.htm