Best Week Ever! Beyonce Is Giving Us ‘Lemonade’ Scholarships | Barack Obama Comes Home

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Barack.Obama.Is.Back. Now if that wasn’t enough to make your week a little better. Hell, it’s Barry, a lot better than nothing else will.

Nope I’m lying. Cause hold up! King Bey is giving us some more ‘Lemonade’ news.

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Beyonce announced Formation college scholarships–in honor of the one-year anniversary of ‘Lemonade’ album release–to young women “who are unafraid to think outside the box and are bold, creative, conscious and confident.”

The Formation scholars are incoming, current or graduate students in the 2017/2018 academic year. They will major in creative arts, music, literature or African-American studies.

These future Nikki Giovanni’s and Lauryn Hills will be roaming the halls of either Berklee College of Music, Howard University, Parsons School of Design or Spelman College–schools that are participants in the Formation scholarship. Check out the schools’ websites for deadline.

Awww, Beyonce. No one loves us like you do.

Now, back to Barack. This is not a drill folks. No drive-by coffee run in Midtown Manhattan. Or a lunch date with Bono. This is Barack’s official comeback to his hometown of Chi-Town.

The official jump off was on Monday when he held a town hall meeting with youth leaders at the University of Chicago  Where he reflected on his presidency.

He had me at:

Check out the full Q&A below.

Barack followed that up with a more formal speech at a Chicago club on Wednesday.

Barack is officially back, guys. And it’ll cost ya $400 G’ s to get him.

44 ain’t cheap, y’all.

The #WhyIStayed Social Activist Creates Escape Aid-‘Bolt Bag’ for Domestic Abuse Survivors

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You may not recognize the name. It’s Bev Gooden, btw. But you damn sure remember her setting Twitter ablaze when her hashtag #WhyIStayed went viral in 2014, which nabbed TIME’s Top 10 Hashtags That Started a Conversation.

The Cleveland native is doing more than talking about her experience as a domestic violence survivor. She launched nonprofit org–The Ella Mae Foundation–to advocate for victims of domestic abuse (in honor of late grandmother, who the foundation is named after.)

Starting with ‘The Bolt Bag’ project. It’s exactly what you think it is. A bag full of essentials when you need to…you guessed it…BOLT from someone dangerous.

The Bolt Bag contains toiletries, first aid kits, brush, comb and even more essentials.

IMG_20170426_192401Good hearted folk, like us Blinkers, can donate needed items for the Bolt Bags by reaching out to Bev.

“The time when you leave domestic violence is so, so dangerous, Gooden told NowWhat Her. “And I just wanted to do something tangible, to remove that obstacle.”

“My marriage was abusive and I got out of that marriage.” She adds.

According to the CDC, 1 in 4 women and 1 in 7 men have been victims of severe physical violence by an intimate partner in their lifetime.

Being in those shoes, Gooden designed Bolt Bag to emphasize anonymity and safety.

“You don’t have to give me your name, or address, or social or phone number. That was the whole idea of the project is anonymity.” the Hampton University grad explains.

NowWhat Her reports hundreds of Bolt Bags have gone out around the world to help all those in need of an escape from a toxic relationship.

To learn more about the Bolt Bag Project click here.

Bev is our #WCW for not only surviving an impossible situation, but giving others the tools to do the same.

Won’t He Do It! Shaquille O’Neal Covers Funeral Expenses for Teen Who Accidentally Shot Himself

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Shaq played a savior of sorts this Easter holiday.

Lord knows the family of Malachi Hemphill needed one.

After learning their 13-year-old son accidently shot himself while handling a loaded gun during a livestream Instagram video.

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WXIA reported that his friends watching the video had warned Malachi to put the safety on the gun, and it went off as he proceeded to do so.

“I heard a big boom,” his mother Shaniqua Stephens told the outlet. “I just knew that it was something that was wrong.”

Malachi was found by his mother and sister.

The Atlanta-based teen died Wednesday at Grady Memorial Hospital.

Thursday evening Shaquille O’Neal visited the family to give his condolences and offer to pay for the funeral.

“We just broke down and started crying because Malachi didn’t have any insurance,” Shantirea Bankston, Malachi’s godmother, said.

“We weren’t prepared to bury him this young. We didn’t have insurance for him. So to have that from Shaquille O’Neal it was a blessing and very touching, and we appreciate everything he do for the community.”

 Shaquille O’Neal released a statement saying he was willing to help to ease some of the family’s unimaginable pain.
“No mother should have to go through this,” he said. “I can only imagine the pain that she and all of Malachi’s family must be feeling.”
Hopefully, no other mother will have too. We’ll be praying for you, fam.

 

 

NBA Star Kyrie Irving Gives Second Chance to Sick NJ Boy | Chance the Rapper Inspires Investment in Chi-Town

Kyrie Irving has more than his NBA teammates backs. The Cleveland Cavalier also takes care of those reppin’ his junior high school alma mater—The Patrick School.

Upon learning 12-year-old Spencer Joyner was missing school due to a rare brain disorder—where spinal fluid leaks into his skull and cause excruciating headaches–Irving paid for his entire $11,000 tuition bill and medical bills.

The New Jersey native has been back in school for a month and still thriving from the boost Irving gave him.

“I would thank him for all the things that he’s done, paying for my tuition, paying for my medical bills,” Spencer said.

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Irving isn’t the only superstar to open his wallet and hope to make a difference. As you all know Chance the Rapper has been laying down a lotsa stacks to improve Chi-town public schools. This weekend he let his friends in on the act.

Like Seattle Seahawks player Michael Bennett, who vowed to donate his endorsements to the effort.

I was inspired by Chance The Rapper to ‘think bigger’ when he pledged one million dollars to Chicago kids and their school system. So, I’ll be joining him by investing in the future of our youth.

Chance even influenced the Chicago Bulls head office to write a $1 million check to the cause. Chance was even there to watch the check being presented to the schools.

The Chicago Tribune reports 12 Chi-Town schools will receive an extra $10,000 as a result.

At the announcement, Chance said “It is my job, just as who I am, to bring light and attention to public school funding, broken formulas and especially how it affects my hometown … where there’s 90 percent minority students.”

Chance the Rapper Chicago’s Mayor.

Feel Good Friday | Beyonce Grants Sick Fan’s Wish | Colin Kaepernick Donates to Meals on Wheels

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TGIF, Blinkers!

The weekend starts riiiggghhhtt…wait for it…now. But before we whip out that Olivia Pope-style wine glass, let’s take a look back at all the good news stories this week.

Starting with POTUS Orange’s Trumpcare. As of three hours ago the bill is DOA. Leaving Obamacare in place. And 24 million people all take a collective sigh of relief.#LongLiveObama

 

If you were feeling salty at Colin Kaepernick for suspending his take a knee challenge, this may get you back on his team. On the heels of POTUS Orange proposing cutting Meals on Wheels funding (heartless mofo) C.K. came through by donating $50,000. If this doesn’t have teamwork written all on it…can we get this dude back in shoulder pads please?

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Beyonce is showering one deserving fan with her Black Girl Magic. Houston teen Ebony Banks battling a rare form of cancer. To cheer her up friends from her high school, Alief Hastings started an online campaign to arrange a convo with Queen Bey. After numerous Instagram, Twitter and Facebook postings with hashtag #EBOBMEETSBEYONCE (Ebob is Ebony’s nickname) Beyonce Facetimed Ebony on Wednesday afternoon.

Telling Ebony, currently in MD Anderson Cancer Center, she loves her.

Dreams do come true.

Have a great weekend, Blinkers!!

Big Serving of Goodness! Woman Feeds 30,000 Using Coupons

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I’ve cut a coupon or two during my pig tail days (in my mama’s house you didn’t have a choice) but never enough to land on a game show.

Or boast about feeding 30,000 strangers as a result of clipping skills. Lauren Puryear can.

The New Jersey native set an epic  birthday wish: to feed 30,000 people for her big 3-0 in September. She aalready surpassed it.

Don’t worry she’s not superhuman. But does have a superpower: an  obsession with extreme couponing.

“After I couponed for 50 jars of Ragu sauce and 100 boxes of Barilla pasta all for free, I knew I was going to make a difference in the world,” she told Scary Mommy.

Lauren’s “small scale” compassion via couponing project kicked into high gear when delivering 5,000 meals to people in New Jersey, Washington D.C. and Baltimore. Giving the Northern VA dweller the idea to go even bigger. Hence, the B-day goal.

Lauren launched the org For Love of Others, which pools volunteers in the East to provide homeless with food and necessities, like uncooked meals for family dinner and kids’ bagged lunch.

Setting a great example for her six-year-old son, who volunteers with her.

“He’s really grown into such a little humanitarian,” she said. “I hope he’ll continue to help others throughout his life however he sees fit. He also also learned how to coupon, which he loves.”

Lauren already has sights set on helping even more people with new Push Past Poverty initiative–after discovering the people she feeds are at or below the poverty line–that educates people on rising above poverty.

As Puryear’s humanitarian work expands, so do her goals. “I will keep on feeding until [my 30th birthday] and see what number I can get up to,” she said. “Maybe 300,000!”

 

King of Hearts! LeBron James Launches Shoe for Disabled Athletes

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Even LaVar Ball would agree this is the real legacy LeBron James should be leaving for his sons and daughter–helping those that need it the most.

And King James did just that with today’s launch of Nike 10 Soldier FlyEase sneaker–designed to cater to special needs kids of all ages–in Cleveland.

How?

The kicks were the brainchild of 12-year-old Matthew Walzer, who penned a letter to Nike CEO in 2012 describing how difficult it is tying his shoes because of his cerebral palsy. Nike revamped the shoe to include a zipper all the way around to get in and out easily.

Kids from the Cleveland Clinic Hospital for Rehabilitation were given their very own FlyEases’ by LeBron today at the Cavs practice facility. LeBron emphasized the impact the kicks would have on independence and performance.

“It’s about us empowering every kid and everybody to understand that we are all athletes,” James said. “Sport, in general, should never be taken away from any kid.”