We’re super excited about Target’s latest collaboration, this time with FEED Projects, the humanitarian organization founded by Lauren Bush Lauren, to create the FEED USA + Target collection. The limited-time-only collection includes more than 50 products, from home goods to clothing to accessories, which will benefit Feeding America and fight hunger in the U.S. Each product displays the number of meals that will be donated to children and families through Feeding America when purchased.

You can bet we have our eye on this comfy and totally cute red fleece zip-up (above). At just $25, each fleece’s purchase provides 20 meals to Americans in need. Now that’s a shopping initiative we can get behind. Get yours, and other FEED USA + Target collection products, starting June 30 at Target stores and Target.com.

“That shocked me,” said Burns, speaking last week about global maternal mortality at the Women in the World Summit. “Pregnancy is not a disease, yet 15 percent of all pregnancies result in a life-threatening complication.” (That’s her in the center, speaking with other panel members. You can get the full recap here.)

You may be thinking, as I was as I sat in the audience, that this is only a problem in far-off villages, not here in the United States where we have hospitals and prenatal care. But it turns out the rate of maternal mortality in the U.S. has doubled in the past 20 years, and we now have a higher rate of death in childbirth than Bosnia and Kuwait.

On top of that, the number of women who have complications but don’t die—what experts call “near misses”—are on the rise. “In the U.S. right now, about 52,000 pregnant women a year, or one every 10 minutes, will have a serious problem,” says ob-gyn Priya Agrawal, executive director of Merck for Mothers, Merck’s initiative to end maternal death in childbirth. Merck for Mothers sponsored the panel. The most common complications are hemorrhage, preeclampsia and blood clots, all of which can have lifelong health consequences. For example, preeclampsia, which is high blood pressure during pregnancy, can raise your risk for heart disease later on. “Ninety percent of these cases are preventable, but there is a huge lack of awareness, even in the United States,” says Dr. Agrawal.

Organizations like Merck for Mothers and Every Mother Counts (founded by Burns in 2010) are working to improve and standardize care in the United States and beyond so that all pregnancies and births can be joyous occasions. Meanwhile, there are simple ways you can help.

Watch Christy Turlington Burns’ Documentary No Woman, No Cry
The film follows four stories from Tanzania, Bangladesh, Guatemala and the United States to show you everything you need to know about the issue. You can download it on iTunes, buy the DVD or get in touch with Every Woman Counts to arrange a screening in your area. Get all the info here.

Share Your Birth Story on the Merck for Mothers Facebook page
Did you have a complication? Like the Merck for Mothers page on Facebook to share your story, get the facts and help the organization spread awareness.

Photo by Marc Byron Brown

If you’d like to help, check out these great organizations working to restore New York, New Jersey and other places along the East Coast that are still suffering and make a donation if you can. Share your own experiences or ways to help in the comments.

• American Red Cross The Red Cross has 5,400 workers and 250 shelters spread from Virginia to Rhode Island. Donate online or text REDCROSS to 90999.
• Hurricane Sandy New Jersey Relief Fund Tireless New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and his wife Mary Pat established a relief fund of their own to restore the hardest-hit areas in New Jersey.
• United Way Hurricane Sandy Recovery Fund United Way has set up its own fund to help disaster areas with teams of volunteers and lots of supplies all along the Eastern Seaboard.
• The Mayor’s Fund for NYC Hurricane Relief You can donate directly to New York City’s recovery with an online donation or find in-person volunteer opportunities if you’re in the New York-area and want to help out.

Preparing for Hurricane Sandy

◄ Back

Next ►

Picture 1 of 7

LHJ's health editor Julie Bain believes in being well prepared! Here she tests the batteries on her headlamp before the storm. She lost power at her place in Manhattan on Monday, October 29, and the lights came back on Friday night, November 1. The headlamp was great for walking up and down pitch-black stairwells, leaving her hands free. Read Julie's other lessons for storm preparedness here.

Tanya and Tracy are on board with recycling.

Last week I met with the hilarious and down-to-earth designers Tanya McQueen and Tracy Hutson, otherwise known as The Picker Sisters. (The first season of their show, all about upcycling people’s roadside castoffs into cool designs, aired on Lifetime; they’re currently between seasons.)

Since Tanya and Tracy specialize in turning trash into treasure, they were the perfect ambassadors for Glad’s Mess to Masterpiece Art Auction, benefiting Keep America Beautiful. In honor of Earth Day, Glad asked mosaic artist Jason Mecier to create a few works of art using celebs’ trash, with the resulting animal portraits being auctioned off on eBay. Sounds weird? Well, the results are surprisingly striking. I’m a fan of this slightly angry (but hopefully not rabid) raccoon.

He’s made up of everything from plastic forks to light bulbs that came straight from the trash bags of several actors, including two of my favorites, real-life funny couple Megan Mullally (Breaking In) and Nick Offerman (Parks and Recreation).

Right now the raccoon‘s going for just $232. Think of bidding on this as a way less creepy way to own something one of your favorite actors once touched than going rifling through their trash. (And way less likely to get you arrested.) And, of course, the money you spend will help keep our communities cleaner and safer. I think Parks & Rec’s Ron Swanson would approve of that. So get to bidding—the auctions end April 26.

But there have also been a lot of questions about the accuracy of the video and goals of Invisible Children, the organization that produced it. And earlier this week, the film’s creator was brought to a mental hospital after running around the streets of San Diego naked. Reports are blaming a psychotic break caused by all the scrutiny.

In other words, it’s turned into quite a circus. So when Health Director Julie Bain heard that an old friend, Conrad Mandsager, head of ChildVoice International, was going to be in town for a meeting at the United Nations, we invited him to stop by. While he was here, he talked to us about what’s going on in Uganda now, what ChildVoice is doing to help the most vulnerable victims recover, and how you (yes, another call-to-action!) can help.

LHJ: Why do you think Kony 2012 is causing such a stir?

CM: Raising awareness is great, and Invisible Children has certainly succeeded at that. But to really understand this conflict, you’ve got to go back in Uganda’s history more than 50 years. It’s very complicated. So it’s my sense that even if we took out Kony, which seems to be what Invisible Children wants, the problems would still be there.

Part of it is also that people in Africa are incensed that a group of Westerners would come in and oversimplify this. I just read an article by a teacher in Uganda who said, “I’ve got former child soldiers in my class and they wonder, Why is America making a hero out of Kony?” And that’s what Invisible Children’s approach is: Let’s make him a celebrity so everyone in the world knows who he is. But if you’ve been traumatized by this guy, you don’t respond well to that.

LHJ: We know that your mission with ChildVoice is to help former child soldiers. How did you get started, and what are you doing now?

CM: When my son and I got involved in 2006, we went to the refugee camps to interview the children who had been abducted and turned into soldiers. Every organization was focused on hunger, disease and so on, but we had it in our minds that we were going to focus on the children. Many of them escaped or were captured by the military and were being returned to their families. But they were stigmatized because of their past. There were a few organizations that were helping to try to reconnect them with their families and give them therapy. But because of the number of kids that needed help, they often couldn’t stay past 30 days. There wasn’t anyone providing long-term care and rehabilitation, and the girls were suffering the most. They had been abducted and fought as child soldiers, but they were also made sex slaves to the commanders. Many were pregnant or had children when they escaped. These girls weren’t accepted because of their past, and their children were viewed as devils because they were fathered by rebels. Many of them were turning to prostitution to survive, and many were being raped in the refugee camps just because of their vulnerability. No one was doing anything for them, and what really struck me was that they were so traumatized they couldn’t even speak about what happened to them. I was convinced that we had to do something.

We started ChildVoice in April of 2006. We took an old school that was at the heart of a massacre two years earlier and renovated it. We opened in 2007, and since then, we’ve had about 100 girls go through our year-long program. They’re certified in two vocational trades before they leave us. Now 93 percent of them are independent, living above the poverty line, running their own small businesses or contributing to their families.

LHJ: How can others get involved and make a difference?

CM: We’ve had relative peace in Uganda since 2007. But there is nobody in Northern Uganda who’s not been affected by this in some way. Go on our homepage and take action. Come work with us. One of our projects is this jewelry made out of paper beads. In addition to the center for the girls, we employ 42 women, most of them widows, who work for us making the beads. They make a fair wage, and then profits go back to support our program.

LHJ: And they’re beautiful! I especially love the colors of this set, left. And that’s me, pictured up top, modeling the samples Mandsager left with us. Leave a comment below and we’ll send a handmade necklace to the first five people.

Can’t make it to a local International Women’s Day event? Celebrate with us from home! Next Wednesday (March 7—mark your calendar!) we’re hosting a special online screening of the extraordinary documentary Pray the Devil Back to Hell with our friends at CARE and ITVS.

Pray the Devil Back to Hell is the astonishing and inspiring story of a group of Liberian women who united to take on Liberia’s violent dictator and warlords during their country’s brutal civil war. It’s truly an amazing story that you don’t want to miss.

After the film stay online and participate in a live panel discussion with experts and special guests, including the film’s producer Abigail Disney, PBS President Paula Kerger, and CARE President and CEO Helene Gayle. We’ll be talking about the role that women have in changing our world, which—as you’ll see when you watch—is huge.

So go bookmark care.org/IWD now (you can also learn lots more) and don’t forget to join us on Wednesday!

We’re over the moon about this book, and can’t wait for you to pick it up—so we’re giving away 20 signed copies! To enter, just post a comment below.

Official Rules

For the uninitiated, I’ll give you the brief story. Lemlem was created by the gorgeous supermodel Liya Kebede in 2007. The line consists of handwoven dresses, tops, skirts, scarves and shoes for women and girls. I’m not gonna lie, it ain’t cheap. But when something is special and you can wear it over and over, then maybe $150 for a scarf isn’t so bad.

Her scarves are my favorite because they always have this beautiful color mix — some amazing pop of super bright against pure white — and they are so easy to wear. I love them around my neck on a plane to keep the chill away and then as a sarong on the beach. I even wrap them around my kids as little beach dresses.

The dresses and tunics are adorable too – and even come in kids sizes – though they do run upwards of $200+. They’re carried at one of my favorite place to shop – jcrew.com — so I’m always on the lookout to see some pop up on sale. Oh look: there are a couple right now!

Another reason to love Lemlem is that by purchasing the product, not only are you keeping alive the ancient art of hand weaving but you are giving a job to someone who may not have had one before. Check out these pictures of the weaving process. It makes it look totally worth $150 to me.

Photos from Lemlem.

You can pick up the line at Macy’s stores and on Macys.com or you can check out Rachel’s website for blog posts and to shop from either of her lines. I’m obsessed with just about every piece from Rachel Rachel Roy but if I had to put just one outfit together, I’d pick the Susan dress, the Kimi pumps in nude (Yes – that’s a studded heel!), and the Small Frame Clutch that we shot in our February closet organizing story. At only $59, I think everyone should a clutch that versatile in their wardrobe.

And if we didn’t already love Rachel enough, check out her charity products that all give 100% of net proceeds to the participating organization. Available right now is the Heart of Haiti jewelry collection (that ring is gorgeous!) and the Kindness is Always Fashionable clutch. Proceeds of the clutch go to OrphanAid in Ghana.

So, if you’re looking for something new at a great price, please check out Rachel Rachel Roy at rachelroy.com and while you’re there, read about Rachel’s amazing charity work. She’s truly an inspiration and totally crush-worthy!

Image from rachelroy.com.

Photo: Russ Harrington

Are you a cat lover who’s tired of the host of feline fashion faux paws … er, pas … that you see in the stores? Well, you’ve got a friend in country music’s Kellie Pickler, who recently teamed up with Fresh Step litter and the ASPCA for a great cause that’ll benefit both cats in need and your wardrobe.

Now through March 15, in honor of February being Cat Appreciation Month, Fresh Step litter will donate $1 (up to $100,000) to the ASPCA for every photo posted on their Facebook page of a pet owner wearing a cat-proud outfit. If your closet is currently cat-pride free, relax and don’t cough up a hairball. That’s why Pickler partnered with fashion designer and fellow cat lover Geren Ford, creating the limited-edition sweater you see Pickler wearing here. When you visit the ASPCA website to purchase the sweater ($35), 100% of the proceeds benefits the ASPCA. You can also virtually “try on” the sweater at Fresh Step’s Facebook page, post it, and make the $1 donation. It’s so easy, your cat can probably do it!

Pickler, who unfortunately had to relocate her beloved cat Pickles due to her husband’s severe allergies, is thrilled to be part of such a pro-cat program, brushing off any fear of being stamped with a “crazy cat lady stigma” as cooly as she’d brush cat hair off a couch. “I’m not ashamed of anything,” she says matter-of-factly. “I don’t really worry about what everybody else is doing and what they like. I kind of do my own thing. I love cats and I’m not going to not love cats just because somebody else doesn’t think it’s cool. I don’t think they’re cool if they don’t like cats.”

She was in a similar mindset while making her brand new CD, 100 Proof, which is out today and takes Pickler back to some more traditional country roots. “On my last album, I made a record based on what I thought radio would play and what I thought people would want to hear,” she explains. “I didn’t do that with this record. I’m not trying to get anybody to like me with this album. Nothing’s forced. I was me, I didn’t make this record for anyone but me and I think it’s okay to do things for yourself every now and then.” Her new approach has produced an album that is her strongest, most personal effort yet. In fact, by not worrying about what anyone wanted to hear, she just may have made the record everyone was waiting for after falling in love with her on American Idol in 2006.

Continue on after the jump for more dish about Pickler’s brand new CD …

Photo: Russ Harrington

Pickler cowrote six of 100 Proof’s 11 songs and even exposes some raw nerves on “Mother’s Day,” a track she cowrote with her husband, songwriter Kyle Jacobs. The song is a moving and wistful nod to her estranged mother, yet despite the tricky subject matter the writing session with Jacobs remained positive. “We wrote it right before we got engaged, actually,” Pickler reveals, admitting that mixing business with pleasure luckily comes easily for them. “We’ve written many times since we’ve been married. It’s not weird, it’s actually really a beautiful thing because we share so much of the same passions. It’s really neat: You get to know each other even more when you write together. It’s very intimate.”

The CD’s “Tough” and “The Letter (To Daddy)” also shine some light into the darker corners of Pickler’s past, but there’s plenty of fun packed in there, too. In “Where’s Tammy Wynette,” the opening track on the CD, Pickler calls upon the spirit of the queen of country music when she sings, “tell me how you fry a skillet of chicken in high heels and a skirt,” all while staying “torn between killing him and loving him.” And “Unlock That Honky Tonk” promises to have fans singing into their hairbrushes in mirrors all across the country come Saturday night. “I think that’s definitely going to be the party anthem off the record,” Pickler predicts. “I see that as the getting ready anthem for a fun night out with your girlfriends, or your guy friends or whoever.”

Heck, Cat Appreciation Month is right around the corner—maybe your cats want to party a little, too.