Narrative 4, a global non-profit launched last year by Sting and several other international artists, has begun a Crowdrise campaign. N4 works to build empathy through the exchange of stories. Already the organisation has worked with thousands of kids from schools in Chicago, Limerick and Newtown Connecticut. They will be expanding soon into Haiti, Israel, South Africa, Mexico and other countries. "What we're trying to do is expand the lungs of the world by having young people step into one another's shoes," says co-founder and author Colum McCann. "We're engaging in that essential democracy of story-telling. Stories are the one thing that cannot be taken away from us. Sting and Trudie have been a tremendous help this past year. It's fantastic to have artists of their calibre onboard. Indeed, we've harnessed a whole lot of good energy from artists all around the world, including JJ Abrams, Ishmael Beah, Salman Rushdie and Gabriel Byrne. And our Crowdrise campaign is designed to continue getting the word out. That word is empathy."
http://www.crowdrise.com/narrative4/fundraiser/colummccann