A laid-off pro football marketer and a recent college grad who literally hit the streets looking for work are our most recent 30 Second Pitches.

Kyra was on assignment this Thursday so Melissa Long pitched in on the pitches.

Check out Louis White's pitch. He's hoping to score a job from his appearance on the pitch after the football league he was working for folded. If you have a job for him you may e-mail him at:
mrlouiswhite@gmail.com

College grad Dustin Scholz is so eager to get his first job, he put on a sandwich board and hit the streets to advertise his resume.

If you have a job for him you may e-mail him at:
scholzdj29@yahoo.com

Here's his pitch:

In the CNN NewsRoom we're passionate about helping our troops and their families.

We're featuring two ways you can help out.

If you want to brighten the holidays of military families who have a loved one deployed overseas or who is about to be deployed, you can reach out to Operation Homefront.

To find out more click here.

And if you want to mail holiday cards or packages to troops stationed in Iraq or Afghanistan, click here to link to a website with guidelines and how-to's.

While the President, ecnomists and business leaders are figuring out what to do to create jobs, we're doing our own "job summit" every Thursday in the CNN NewsRoom.

Today we featured three laid-off job seekers and we'll have their pitches posted here soon.

Jean Senat is expecting his first child in a few weeks and has been looking for work since Februrary.

He is an experienced investment accountant and if you have a job for him e-mail him at:
jsenat@gmail.com

We're also featuring Jay Joseph, a man experienced in marketing and security.

He's currently in Philadelphia and if you have a job for him e-mail him at:
doublejrocks@aol.com

And our third pitch for the day is Atlanta resident Barry Jabbar Sykes.

The father of four is experienced as a hardware technician for an international communications company.

If you have a job for him you may e-mail him at:
rynajho@yahoo.com

In the meantime if you want to be part of the pitch e-mail your resume and some details about your situation to: 30secondpitch@cnn.com

It's a story that combines two things we're passionate about in the CNN NewsRoom-celebrating the spirit of the season and helping our troops.

Today we're highlighting Trees for Troops, a national effort to make sure military families who want one get a Christmas tree.

The charity's goal is to deliver 15,000 trees this year to military families in the United States and serving overseas.

If you want to find out more or help the cause you can click here to link to the charity's website.

We did a special post-Thanksgiving edition of the pitch this week.

We're featuring laid-off radio dj Lee Ann Taylor.

If you have a job you may e-mail her at: leeannparadj@aol.com

We're also featuring laid-off environmental health and safety engineer George Rinke.

The father of five boys needs your help finding a job.
His e-mail is: george.rinke@att.net

If you have been laid off or downsized and want to be part of the pitch e-mail something about your situation and your resume to: 30secondpitch@cnn.com

Note from Kyra: Some of my most memorable segments for CNN have been covering the war in Iraq.

One experience I have never forgotten was my visit to Baghdad's school for the blind in 2008.

The kids touched my heart .

When I reached out to the Perkins School for the blind-made famous for educating Helen Keller–they didn't hesitate to donate equipment to teach these kids.

I hope you are as thrilled as I am with the follow up from my colleague Mohammed Jamjoom.

AL-NOOR SCHOOL FOR THE BLIND

By Mohammed Jamjoom

CNN's Mohammed Tawfeeq contributed to this

Kids in school rarely smile so much, or sing so loudly. But at Baghdad's Al-Noor School for the Blind, there was reason to celebrate, as much-needed Braille learning materials from the U.S. had finally arrived.

It was the second batch of supplies donated from the Perkins School for the Blind since CNN's Kyra Phillips first visited and profiled the Al-Noor School last year. Because getting this aid from the US to Iraq isn't easy, Perkins partnered with International Relief & Development for the special delivery.

Ernest Leonardo, Chief of Party for International Relief & Development in Baghdad explained how gratifying it is to witness the school kids receive these supplies.

“When you see service, or in this case equipment delivered to children who are looking to understand how the world is and their thirst for knowledge, and they're sitting at these tables and looking at this equipment and wondering, what comes next, how do we see the world? And that's just fascinating for us – it's a good project,” said Leonardo.

Al-Noor is the only institute of its kind in Baghdad – it serves 71 students. On this day, a festive atmosphere surrounded the school when the delivery truck arrived.

Everybody we spoke with, students and teachers alike, were extremely thrilled at the prospect of getting new Perkins Braillers and Braille paper, among other supplies. But, by far, they were most excited by the delivery of the school's first Braille printer; which will allow them to do in minutes what once took days.

Students use brailers at Baghdad's school for the blind.

Once the boxes had made it inside and the Braille Printer had been unpacked, some of the students put on a concert in the school’s main corridor. They sang songs of national pride to express their joy and thanks.

For 11-year-old Safa, the significance of these donated supplies is clear. To her, the chance at a better education meant the chance at a better future.

“I want to become a teacher so I can help my people and my country,” said Safa. “And I want to teach the students that come after me – to teach them the way I was taught.”

The hope now is that this desperately needed program will continue.

“There are other kinds of contributions that are coming in Iraq,” said Leonardo. “We can talk about that later, but this is one that really gets to your heart. You can see the smiles on the kids – nothing better than that”

This week we featured laid-off pharmacist Patrick Carpenter. He lives in the Boston area and is looking for work.

We'll have his pitch posted here soon.

In the meantime if you have a job for him you may e-mail him at hirepatrickcarpenter@gmail.com

We also featured recent college grad Alison Mainka.

She's an economics major who wants to use her creativty and communication skils.

If you have a job for her you can e-mail her at:
alison.mainka@gmail.com

Her pitch will be posted here soon.

And if you've been laid off or downsized and want to be part of the pitch please send us your information and resume to:
30secondpitch@cnn.com

The blatant cuteness factor on this story is high. What's not to love about baby elephants?

But the ugly truth about the African elephant's serious struggle to survive
also tugged at the collective heart of the CNN NewsRoom staff.

Check out David McKenzie's moving story on efforts to help orphaned elephants.

If you want to help the pint-sized pachyderms you can link to the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust right here.

If you want to find out more ways to respond to the news you see here on CNN and ways that you can make a difference go to CNN.com/impact.

He's a renaissance man who knows a lot about medieval times.

In this week's 30 Second Pitch we're featuring Mike Stewart.

The married honor's graduate has written books, taught medieval history, managed a financial trust and worked on the board of a non-profit.

He also just happens to be blind.

If you have a job that can utilize his skills as a researcher, analyst, educator or manager e-mail him at:
stewart69@gmail.com

We're also featuring Lisa McGarr.

She most recently worked as a consultant for plastic surgery patients but was laid off.

Apparently in a sagging economy face lifts are the first thing to go on someone's 'to do' list.

If you have a job that can take advantage of her sales and marketing skills e-mail her at:
lisacamlac@yahoo.com

If you've lost your job and want to be part of the pitch please e-mail your resume and information about your situation to:
30secondpitch@cnn.com

We'll be bringing you pitches every Thursday in the CNN NewsRoom.

On Veterans Day we featured injured soldier Brian Brennan.
He's started a foundation to help injured troops. To find out more about his group click here.
If you're a regular visitor to the Team Kyra blog, you probably know she's a big supporter of TAPS - a group that helps families of fallen U.S. troops.

Well, a little while back, Kyra heard about a song called "Soldier On"; the people behind it are donating half the song's proceeds to TAPS.

You can find more info on "Soldier On" right here.