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The Happy Hippie Foundation

The Happy Hippie Foundation is a nonprofit organization founded by Miley Cyrus in 2014. The Happy Hippie Foundation fights for the rights and welfare of homeless youth, the LGBTQ community, women's rights and other social justice issues that Miley Cyrus feels close to. The organization's goal is to help the youth of today change the world and to be kind to one another. According to the website the Happy Hippie Foundation's areas of focus include "prevention, crisis response to meet basic immediate needs, support services to build long-term well-being, and public education to engage young people globally in systemic change through fundraising and awareness campaigns." All of the Happy Hippie Foundation's operational costs are funded privately. In 2014 Miley Cyrus was honoured by Variety’s Power of Women event as a “Lifetime Impact Honoree” for her work with the Happy Hippie Foundation. The organization works closely with My Friends Place, an organization that helps homeless youth in the Los Angeles area. Miley Cyrus’s work with My Friends Place is what inspired her to start the Happy Hippie Foundation. Miley used the Backyard Sessions in 2015 to raise awareness of the foundation. The Happy Hippie Foundation used the #InstaPride campaign in 2015 to raise awareness of the gender spectrum on social medias like Instagram. All the members of the #InstaPride campaign presented Miley's performance at the 2015 VMA's. In November of 2016 The Happy Hippie Foundation started a new campaign called Hopeful Hippies which was created to encourage people to help around their cities and local communities to help make the world a more peaceful place. In November of 2016 The Happy Hippie Foundation teamed up with The Dollywood Foundation in order to raise awareness and funds for the Tennessee Wildfires.

Miley's Thoughts on The Happy Hippie Foundation

At the 2014 Video Music Award’s Miley Cyrus had a young homeless man named Jesse Helt accept her award in order to get the word out about homeless youth during his speech he stated, “There are 1.6 million runaways and homeless youth in the United States who are starving, lost and scared for their lives right now.” The speech ended with Jesse telling the viewers to visit Miley Cyrus’s facebook page in order to get involved and they were able to raise $200,000 in 24 hours for My Friend’s Place. When asked about how Miley identifies gender wise she tells Out Magazine, "I didn’t want to be a boy, I kind of wanted to be nothing. I don’t relate to what people would say defines a girl or a boy, and I think that’s what I had to understand: Being a girl isn’t what I hate, it’s the box that I get put into.” In 2016 Variety Magazine stated that the two foundations, while working together, "has donated 40,000 meals, 20,000 snacks, and 40,000 pairs of underwear and socks to homeless kids over the past two years." When asked about her thoughts on the Happy Hippie Foundation, Cyrus states, "“That’s what I wanted to do. That’s what made me happy. And that’s what Happy Hippie is about: doing what you do, being happy, and not hurting anyone. It gave me meaning in everything.” On October 18th of 2016 Lifetime's Youtube channel posted a video of Miley Cyrus explaining the Happy Hippie Foundation and all they have done so far that she is proud of while also revealing December 2014 is when she got the idea to start her own foundation when a young transgender woman named Leelah Alcorn took her own life after struggling with gender identity. In the video Miley states, "I never felt it was right that someone would lose their life over not being able to be free. It really hurt me to know that she didn't have anyone that she could talk to and I wish she would have had the Happy Hippie Foundation to reach out to." On the website for the organization they have many resources available to help the youth of today like suicide prevention hotlines to homeless shelters, the site states, "The Happy Hippie Foundation provides homeless youth, LGBTQ youth and other vulnerable populations with consistent support services, education and employment opportunities. Our programs reach at-risk and disproportionately affected populations such as youth aging out of foster care, people living with HIV/AIDS, youth in conflict zones and people affected by crisis situations."

This is the logo of the Happy Hippie Foundation

The Backyard Sessions

The Backyard Sessions are videos Miley Cyrus posted online of her singing some of her favorite songs in her very own backyard. The original Backyard Sessions began in September of 2012 when Miley Cyrus posted a video of her singing James Shelton's song 'Lilac Wine'. MTV explains the setting of the Backyard sessions by stating "She's also shown sitting down with her band in a serene garden space as she sings huskily into a standing mic." The second ever Backyard Session was posted in October of 2012 as Miley performed the Melanie Safka song 'Look What They've Done To My Song Ma'. The third and final video posted of the original backyard sessions featured Miley singing 'Jolene', originally performed and written by her godmother, Dolly Parton. In 2015 Miley released a new batch of videos in order to help promote her foundation, The Happy Hippie Foundation called the Happy Hippie Backyard Sessions. The Happy Hippie Backyard Sessions launched on May 6th 2015 and ended on May 19th 2015. These videos were to help promote and publicize the launch of the Happy Hippie Foundation in order to get more attention for the organization who's mission statement is "To rally young people to fight injustice facing homeless youth, LGBTQ youth and other vulnerable populations"

May 6th

The first Backyard Session posted on May 6th featured Miley’s role model and friend Joan Jett of The Runaways performed the original Joan Jett song Different. Also posted on May 6th was the second Backyard Session in which Miley performed the Dido classic hit ‘No Freedom’.

May 9th

On May 9th the next batch of videos were posted, the first featured the song 'Androgynous' written by Paul Westerberg. In the video the song was performed by Miley Cyrus, Joan Jett, and Laura Jane Grace who according to Rolling Stone Magazine came out as a transgender woman in 2012. Also released on May 9th was a second video with Laura Jane Grace in which she performed 'True Trans Soul Rebel' with Miley Cyrus in which Miley let Grace take the lead as she only performed background vocals for the song.

May 12th

On May 12th Miley posted the next Backyard Sessions video which featured her performing with Melanie Safka singing ‘Peace Will Come (According to Plan)'. The next session posted was of Melanie singing ‘Yaw Baby (Break My Heart)’ As Miley sat in the background, watching.The last video posted on May 12th was of ‘Look What They’ve Done To My Song Ma’ performed by Miley & Melanie, originally performed by Melanie.

"VGuido/sandbox"
Song

May 15th

On May 15th the most anticipated Backyard Session was released which featured The Crowded House hit ‘Don’t Dream It’s Over’ performed by Miley and Ariana Grande. ET said ‘their voices seem made for each other’ about the performance.

May 18th

On May 18th, on Miley's facebook page, she posted a video of her singing a song called 'Pablow The Blowfish' about her recently deceased blowfish. Although the video begins with the Happy Hippie logo, it is not featured on her Youtube page like the rest of the Backyard Sessions however it was a track on her 2015 album Miley Cyrus & Her Dead Petz.

May 19th

On May 19th the final Backyard Session videos were released, the first of Miley performing The Turtles hit 'Happy Together'. The second released that day also featured just Miley as she performed the Paul Simon classic hit '50 Ways to Leave Your Lover'.

#InstaPride & The Happy Hippie Squad

The #InstaPride campaign launched in June of 2015 on the social media platform, Instagram. The #InstaPride campaign was used to showcase the ‘Happy Hippie Squad’ and how they identify across the gender spectrum. The ‘Happy Hippie Squad’ features members of the LGBTQ. The most recognizable of the group are Youtube stars Gigi Loren Lazzarato, better known as Gigi Gorgeous, a Youtube beauty guru who identifies as transgender and Brendan Jordan, a Youtube vlogger who identifies as both male and female. The campaign featured each member of the squad recalling moments of their life and journeys. When asked about the hope for the future of the Transgender movement, Gigi Gorgeous stated, "I’m hopeful that more transgender stories will come out and people will see that what is different IS beautiful and it’s nothing they should be scared or apprehensive about.". The other members of the Happy Hippie Squad include Tyler Ford who identifies as agender, Leo Sheng, Aj Lehman, Myles Brady and Alexander Schmider who identify as transgender men and Precious Davis, Greta Gustava Martela, Nina Chubal, and Mariana Marroquin who identify as transgender women. Miley Cyrus shot the photos of the campaign herself. The set was covered in the color yellow, the reason, as Miley told Time Magazine, is, “The color is happy and not sexualized: There is no pink or blue.” Miley's interview with Time Magazine continued as she explained her reasoning for the campaign, stating, "The portraits and the people in them are meant to serve as positive examples for young people who might be struggling to figure themselves out, as well as reference points for those who might not personally know anyone who doesn’t feel at home in their own body"

2015 VMA's

In 2015 Miley Cyrus hosted the MTV Video Music Awards better known as the VMA’s. Miley Cyrus made the night her own as she invited all the members of the Happy Hippie Squad. Jeremy Scott, a well known fashion designer of the brand Moschino and friend of Miley’s redesigned the MTV VMA Moonman, the second time the statue was redesigned. The Happy Hippie Squad introduced Miley’s performance, giving each member of the squad a chance to shine in front of the large star-filled audience. Miley then performed the song "Dooo It" from her album Miley Cyrus & Her Dead Petz which featured 30 drag queens from Rupaul’s Drag Race such as Laganja Estranja, Shangela and Alyssa Edwards, further promoting the gender spectrum and promoting acceptance of all walks of life. In an interview with People Magazine, Shangela was asked about working with Miley and stated, "She embraced us so much. And not just that – anybody can say ‘I love you guys’ and watch the show – but Miley knows. She knows our lingo, she knows the moves, she knows our music and she had almost 20 costume changes during her VMA hosting debut. And that’s drag."

amfAR Inspiration Award

On June 6th of 2015, the annual amfAR (American Foundation for AIDS Research) inspiration gala was held and Miley Cyrus won the inspiration award due to all the positive work she had done with the Happy Hippie Foundation. Miley Cyrus's acceptance speech went viral as she spoke out about the injustices facing the LGBTQ community as well as homeless youth in America. Cyrus also went on about how she was not sure if she truly deserved the award as at one point during the speech she stated

"It seems just way too easy, and it seems that there is no way that I have done nearly enough to be standing here on the receiving end of this honor, but I'm thinking about tonight as not celebrating what me and Happy Hippie have already done but celebrating what we're going to do, what we plan on doing in the future. Tonight is not a finish line for us, but it's a starting point."

Hopeful Hippies Campaign

On November 10th of 2016 Miley Cyrus released the Happy Hippie Foundations latest campaign called Hopeful Hippies. Miley Cyrus was seemingly devastated after finding out the results of the 2016 election in which Donald Trump won the U.S presidency against Hillary Clinton. Miley posted a video to her Instagram page in which she cried and explained she is done with tears and can only hope for the best, thus starting the Hopeful Hippie Campaign. Miley felt as though there is so much hate in the world and the way of changing that is by helping out in any way you can, going back to a quote found on the Happy Hippie Foundation website by John Lennon, “A dream you dream alone is only a dream. A dream you dream together is a reality.” The Hopeful Hippie campaign is designed to help anyone in America easily help out with their community. On the Happy Hippie Foundation website, the Hopeful Hippie Campaign features links to different issues close to Cyrus that anyone can get involved with such as Education with DonorsChoose, LGBTQ Rights with lgbtcenters.org, Women's Rights with Planned Parenthood, Social Justice with serve.gov, Homeless Youth with truecolorsfund.org, Mental Health with crisistextline.org, Environment with volunteer.gov and Animal Welfare with Humanesociety.org. In the Instagram video Cyrus states, "I'm asking you to get involved in your own community and make a commitment to the issues you care about, whether it's donating, volunteering or showing your support! I’m starting off by pledging to education, and I’m excited Happy Hippie will now be supporting classroom projects and schools with DonorsChoose!" DonorsChoose is a non-for-profit organization that helps connect classrooms and schools in need of resources with people who are willing to help, the website explaining "Here teachers could post classroom project requests, and donors could choose the ones they wanted to support. His colleagues posted the first 11 requests. Then it spread. Today, we're open to every public school in America."

Tennessee Wildfires

On November 30th of 2016 The Happy Hippie Foundation partnered with the Dollywood Foundation in an attempt to help out the victims affected by the Tennessee Wildfires around the Great Smoky Mountains in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. The Dollywood Foundation is owned by Dolly Parton, Miley Cyrus's god-mother and country music icon. In a video posted by Dolly on her foundation's website she states, "Now as we look to the future, there are a lot of families who will need our help rebuilding and restoring their lives and the beautiful land we all call home." On the Happy Hippie Foundation website they explain the severity of the situation in Tennessee by stating, "Wildfires in Eastern Tennessee have killed 11 people, hospitalized 75 people and damaged 700 homes and businesses in the towns of Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge. More than 14,000 people had been forced to leave Gatlinburg, and about 500 from Pigeon Forge. About 2,000 people had been taken to emergency shelters."

NOTES

For more information about The Happy Hippie Foundation and their work visit the website here.