【推荐1】Beauty From Their Ashes is a group of mothers and daughters who have dealt with the impact that trauma (挫折) brings. With this experience, their goal is to help others by coming to each person from a place of compassion and empathy (共情).

“We have walked this walk,” said Synethia Bland, Marketing Director. “We have already learned how to manage the challenges that a trauma-impacted mother faces each day. Our goal is to communicate that you’re never on this journey alone.”

Everyone goes through adversity. This group hopes to communicate to mothers and daughters that they can rise from these trials to reach places of beauty. Bland says that by providing guidance, hope, and love, women can hold their faith because empathy and compassion are restored in their lives.

“Broken women help other hurting women in realizing their dream and potential,” said Liliana, a certified life coach. Liliana is praised for being a defender of the truth. “The best teachers come from life,” she said.

Liliana ran through her social media, and she saw others in pain: homeless, abused, facing chronic illness. No one gave an encouraging word. No one paid attention, like illness and poverty were a choice. Liliana was overcome with such heart-broken stories. When Liliana found her faith, she said her journey became more difficult. Turning away women in need was not something she was willing to do, so she poured all her resources into this organization.

“You know that in your secret closet, you still have ashes. Just because the world can’t see them doesn’t mean they don’t exist. Some of us just choose not to sit on our hands.”

By showing women how they can rise like a phoenix, the ashes don’t need to be the end of their stories. It can be the beginning of something new.

【推荐3】This year, high school students in Chicago are feeling upset for the loss of graduation ceremonies (毕业典礼) and everyday joys because of COVID-l9. The best way to deal with your sadness and feel useful to your community is to volunteer online. Here are three ways you can offer help.

Online Volunteers

Becoming an online volunteer for the Red Cross can allow teenagers to make a contribution in the hard time. This can involve actions like sharing the Red Cross content across social media or organizing an online donation. Points of Light, an online volunteer service organization, can offer you a lot of jobs including writing letters to health care workers, or organizing food donations for needy families in your area.

Online Teachers

Children from poor families have suffered great educational losses during COVID-19. Teensgive.com allows students many chances to teach children under 12 online. Schoolonwheels.com allows students aged 16-18 to provide teaching services to children above 12 through the Internet. Those aged 12-15 can also volunteer for Subjectlover.com, but must be accompanied (陪同) by a parent. Learntobe.com is a place for connecting college helpers and children in need online.

Online Translators

If you can speak two languages, there are plenty of ways in which you can help just right from your computer. Some communities need some COVID-19-related papers translated from English to French. You could offer your help. You could also consider joining the army of TED Talk translators who work on subtitling (添加字幕) the videos. A number of chances can also be reached through Translators Without Borders.

During this hard time, you can start where you are, use what you have and do what you can to make a difference.

【推荐2】The US Ambassador to the UK officially launched a ship named Mayflower on Wednesday, 400 years to the day after a wooden ship with that name sailed from an English port and changed the history of two continents.

Unlike the merchant ship that carried a group of European settlers to a new life across the Atlantic Ocean in 1620, the new Mayflower named by U S Ambassador Robert Wood Johnson has no crew or passengers. It will cross the sea powered by sun and wind, and controlled by artificial intelligence (AI).

Johnson said the high-tech ship, developed jointly by British-based research organization ProMare and US tech giant IBM, showed that “the pioneering spirit of the Mayflower really lives on”. “We’re heading out with the same spirit of adventure and determination and hope for the future as the original colonists (殖民者),” said Johnson.

Like the Mayflower in 1620, the new ship will travel from Plymouth, England, to Plymouth, Massachusetts. The ship’s launch in Plymouth is one of several Mayflower commemorations. They involve British, Americans and Dutch institutions — many of the 17th-century colonists had left England for Holland before the voyage — and the Wampanoag people, who had lived for thousands of years in what is now New England. In 1620, the Wampanoag helped the exhausted Mayflower settlers survive their first winter. But soon colonial expansion and new diseases were having a big impact on North America’s Native Indians. Wampanoag stories have been marginalized (使边缘化) on past Mayflower anniversaries (周年纪念), but they are playing a big part in events and exhibitions this time around. “The story of the Mayflower is one that really can’t be told without telling also the story of the Wampanoag,” said Paula Peters, a Wampanoag writer.

The Mayflower Autonomous Ship is intended to explore parts of oceans too difficult or dangerous for people to reach. Andy Stanford-Clark, Chief Technology Officer for IBM in the UK and Ireland, said the ship’s launch “is a very exciting stage of the journey toward crewless shipping” that could pave the way for AI-driven commercial ships and research ships.

The 50-foot ship will go through six months of sea trials and make short trips before setting out on its trans-Atlantic trip to measure ocean health: assessing the impact of climate change, measuring micro-plastic pollution and studying populations of whales and dolphins.