Showing posts with label Social Justice. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Social Justice. Show all posts
#GivingTuesday
Post Giving Tuesday Post
Happy Post #GivingTuesday - It has been said that giving is better than receiving. It has been my experience this statement is true. I want to let my readers know this season is about giving. #itsaboutgiving I have never felt bad in giving something to someone else in need. There has been a new "faux" holiday added to the calendar, after black Friday, after Cyber Monday, there is a new day, Giving Tuesday. In the event that some of you missed out on the excitement yesterday, I will catch you up.
Yesterday charities, families, businesses and individuals came together to transform the way people think about, talk about and participate in the giving season. Most of the charities participating allow donations for any amount and each of the over 2000 charities or organizations is responsible for their own initiative, so go to the website and check them out, I doubt it is ever too late to give.
Don't have the time to look through the list? Not a problem! I have done the research for you by using third party organizations that ensure your money is going where it is supposed to go. Of the many legitimate and trustworthy participants, below are just my recommendations from the Giving Tuesday participants:
Happy Post Giving Tuesday!!
Yesterday charities, families, businesses and individuals came together to transform the way people think about, talk about and participate in the giving season. Most of the charities participating allow donations for any amount and each of the over 2000 charities or organizations is responsible for their own initiative, so go to the website and check them out, I doubt it is ever too late to give.
Don't have the time to look through the list? Not a problem! I have done the research for you by using third party organizations that ensure your money is going where it is supposed to go. Of the many legitimate and trustworthy participants, below are just my recommendations from the Giving Tuesday participants:
- Convoy of Hope - Provides help and hope to people in need in the United States and around world through our children’s feeding initiatives, community outreaches, disaster response and partner resourcing.
- Opportunity International - Provides financial products and strategies to over four million people working their way out of poverty in the developing world. Clients in more than 20 countries can use these services to expand a business, provide for their families, create jobs for their neighbors and build a safety net for the future.
- Grassroot Soccer - Uses the power of soccer to educate, inspire, and mobilize communities to stop the spread of HIV.
- Gift of Compassion - Your gift will help provide clean drinking water, medical treatment, disaster relief, food supplies and much more for Compassion-assisted children and their families. Meet real needs and bring real joy with a Gift of Compassion, then get family and friends involved by giving gifts in their honor.
- Scarves - Your purchase of a fashionABLE scarf creates sustainable business for women in Africa. Our commitment as a non-profit is to the development of people — fashionABLE works with women who have been exploited due to the effects of poverty. So, when you purchase a scarf you are providing jobs, and then we send the profits back to holistically rehabilitate more women.
- Soccer Balls - The One World Futbol is now available online at a price comparable to that of standard soccer balls. And for every ball you buy, another ball will be donated to a non-governmental organization working with deserving children, communities, recreation programs, or soccer teams.
Happy Post Giving Tuesday!!
The Power of We
The theme for @blogactionday12 is "The Power of We" #powerofwe This year #BAD12, I am posting about soccer. Yup. Soccer.
When and where I grew up, soccer was a sport for the rich kids, consequently I didn't really get into it or play much. My junior and senior years of high school, I became indifferent about any sport. During college, there were some crazy sports fans for the local college basketball team and by shear peer acknowledgement my "sporting interest" started to grow. I realized that people with a common interest can develop a relationship faster and through that relationship I could talk more freely about my faith and Christ's role in my life, plus the basketball team rocked! Go Wildcats Basketball!
About seven years ago, I allowed myself to become a die-hard fan of #WVU College American football. Lets Go Mountaineers! A little later I discovered the long lost, to my life, sport of soccer. I became a closet watcher and follower. I studied the tactics, the players, the skills, the fans and that led to another realization. This sport like no other has a depth and width that goes beyond the sport itself, it is it's own language and provides a common interest to the entire world. What does this have to do with Blog Action Day!?
Others before me have realized the same thing about this sport, I want to highlight what people can do when they take their passion and use it to benefit the world. Organizations like Grass Roots Soccer and The SEGway Project are among many non-profits taking this concept to the next level.
The SEGway Project
The SEGway Project started by some athletes at the University of Notre Dame is taking the sport to developing areas like Nepal, Kenya, and Cambodia. An inspiring story about this project is that one of the co-founders actually gave up her position and scholarship on the team in her Senior year to make this project work. "The SEGway Project uses soccer to empower girls in the developing world, helping them to fulfill their potential both on and off the field. In our eyes, the soccer field is an extension of the classroom where a girl can learn to be competitive, gain self-confidence, and acquire the life skills needed to segway into the leader she was born to be." If you would like to help them out, send them an email.
Grassroot Soccer
Grassroot Soccer got started with funds from Survivor winner Ethan Zohn. "Grassroot Soccer uses the power of soccer to educate, inspire, and mobilize communities to stop the spread of HIV." With the development and use of a specialized curriculum, they use soccer itself to educate about HIV, a 100% preventable disease, which will hopefully one day be eradicated. Grassroot Soccer operates flagship sites in South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe. In addition, they have helped create other projects in Botswana, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, Sudan, Tanzania, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic. They are rated high in Charity Navigator and if you want to help them out, there are many things you can do: http://www.grassrootsoccer.org/what-you-can-do/
These stories and many more show what "The Power of We" can do.
About seven years ago, I allowed myself to become a die-hard fan of #WVU College American football. Lets Go Mountaineers! A little later I discovered the long lost, to my life, sport of soccer. I became a closet watcher and follower. I studied the tactics, the players, the skills, the fans and that led to another realization. This sport like no other has a depth and width that goes beyond the sport itself, it is it's own language and provides a common interest to the entire world. What does this have to do with Blog Action Day!?
Others before me have realized the same thing about this sport, I want to highlight what people can do when they take their passion and use it to benefit the world. Organizations like Grass Roots Soccer and The SEGway Project are among many non-profits taking this concept to the next level.
The SEGway Project The SEGway Project started by some athletes at the University of Notre Dame is taking the sport to developing areas like Nepal, Kenya, and Cambodia. An inspiring story about this project is that one of the co-founders actually gave up her position and scholarship on the team in her Senior year to make this project work. "The SEGway Project uses soccer to empower girls in the developing world, helping them to fulfill their potential both on and off the field. In our eyes, the soccer field is an extension of the classroom where a girl can learn to be competitive, gain self-confidence, and acquire the life skills needed to segway into the leader she was born to be." If you would like to help them out, send them an email.
Grassroot Soccer got started with funds from Survivor winner Ethan Zohn. "Grassroot Soccer uses the power of soccer to educate, inspire, and mobilize communities to stop the spread of HIV." With the development and use of a specialized curriculum, they use soccer itself to educate about HIV, a 100% preventable disease, which will hopefully one day be eradicated. Grassroot Soccer operates flagship sites in South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe. In addition, they have helped create other projects in Botswana, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, Sudan, Tanzania, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic. They are rated high in Charity Navigator and if you want to help them out, there are many things you can do: http://www.grassrootsoccer.org/what-you-can-do/
These stories and many more show what "The Power of We" can do.
Holiday Gift Guide
What do you get the person who seemingly has everything!? I used to struggle with this question every Christmas. The easy answer for me was just don't get them anything. But after wise council, it turns out that option is not a viable one. So here are two more thoughts on this: 1) Buy them something that helps someone else. This way, even if they have it, you have helped someone else who doesn't. 2) Buy someone else something they don't have in their name. This way you have at least given them the feeling that they care and are part of something bigger. Now I know you are thinking, "I love it! How do you do this sort of thing?" I have prepared this easy guide for you to help you out.
Option 2 (My Favorite Option)
Option 2 (My Favorite Option)
- Gift of Compassion - Your gift will help provide clean drinking water, medical treatment, disaster relief, food supplies and much more for Compassion-assisted children and their families. Meet real needs and bring real joy with a Gift of Compassion, then get family and friends involved by giving gifts in their honor.
- World Vision Gift Catalog - Choose a gift to donate in honor of someone special. You can choose to have a card mailed to you, send an e-card, or download a beautiful card to print. Your gift will bring urgent help and lasting hope for a child in need.
- "Hope Gift Book" - 100% of the profit for items found in this catalog go toward funding for helping children at the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.
- Neem Products - JustNeem envisions a flourishing African continent. We believe that all human beings have the right to support themselves and their families through work. Therefore, we are partnering with like-minded NGOs (non-governmental organizations) that work with villagers in Mauritania, West Africa, to discover local resources and to establish economic opportunities for the local people.
- Hammocks - Yellow Leaf aims to engineer a turnaround in which marginalized ethnic groups such as the Mlabri apply their artisan talents towards creating a micro-economy that will elevate them from their former state and maintain their cultural identity, with the added benefit of eradicating toxic farming methods within the communities they partner with.
- Scarves - Your purchase of a fashionABLE scarf creates sustainable business for women in Africa. Our commitment as a non-profit is to the development of people — fashionABLE works with women who have been exploited due to the effects of poverty. So, when you purchase a scarf you are providing jobs, and then we send the profits back to holistically rehabilitate more women.
- Soccer Balls - The One World Futbol is now available online at a price comparable to that of standard soccer balls. And for every ball you buy, another ball will be donated to a non-governmental organization working with deserving children, communities, recreation programs, or soccer teams.
- Artisan Crafts - Chaka MarketBridge is a fair trade market for high-quality and unique gifts, home décor, and coffee that are handmade by undiscovered producers in the developing world.
- T-Shirts - Tees at Risk distributes a portion of every t-shirt sale to a charity (often chosen by the young designer of that t-shirt), and every t-shirt design is accompanied by a description by its designer of the brief background and motivation of his or her design. Every shirt has a QR code, so anyone with a data-connected, QR-enabled device can easily find out the "story" behind your cool shirt.
Build A Kitchen in Lima, Peru
Here is the situation: There's an orphanage large enough for 32 at-risk kids (that was once open), but has recently been closed by the city because their kitchen and dining room were inadequate for the orphanage. In order to open the orphanage back up and bring kids back into the orphanage, there needs to be an adequate kitchen and dining room built. Completing this small and absolutely attainable project will change the lives of these kids and bring hope to their entire community.
I know many of you get asked to give a ton right around this time of year, but I wanted to bring this need in front of you to see if you wanted to share with Clover in helping change these special kids' lives. You can use the links below to research about everything I have mentioned here.
Chilca Kitchen Project: Skip1 & Clover from Skip1 on Vimeo.
World Water Day
Random Thoughts by Jennifer Wilson
When I was in Peru, our trip leaders were continually handing us bottled water every time we exited our bus or prepared to go on a home visit. The water there could have been our worst enemy, yet the kids there drink it everyday. It was weird to think that the clean water that my son snubs every day when I offer it to him is the very thing children his age are walking miles to get to in other countries. When it rains here, I find that I can no longer complain about it, because I think about the farmers in Africa who pray for enough rain to grow their meager crops, so they can survive.
Today is world water day. The Compassion blog today addresses the need for clean water across the globe in this post World Water Day 2011 — How Can Clean Water Make a Difference?
If you think that children should be able to go to school, instead of spend a great portion of their day transporting water, which is still often filled with contaminates, there is something that you can do. You can contribute a monetary donation to Healing Waters International, Sponsor a Child, or you can simply share the needs of those who are struggling with lack of substantial water with others.
Thanks for reading.
Have another glass?
I woke up this morning and hit the snooze on my iPod, went into the bathroom and, well you know what happens in there, brushed my teeth, went out to the kitchen, got some chocolate milk for the kids, then washed out their cups or refilled them so the milk residue don't spoil as it sits. Then I went in to get a shower, a hot one because it was a cold morning. This is pretty much my daily routine. The sad part about this to me is, I know that in the time it took to do all of those things, children have died because they didn't have the water it takes to do all of those things. Who will speak for them? Today, thousands of bloggers are focusing on the clean water problem, not only locally but globally. I talked about water not to long ago so I won't re-hash all those statistics because you can read that post here.
I want to change direction today. Most of you can look through my routine and say, yeah.. I do that stuff every day but not everything you did took water.. you would be wrong. You see, my iPod takes water because it uses energy and energy comes from water my friends.
To make it clear, no water equals no electric either. On top of that, remember the chocolate milk I got for my kids, it took water to make it and energy to do whatever they do to it to make it not taste like a cow udder. Maybe now you are curious at how much water you actually use, well check out this app for your iPhone/iPod Touch [2].
My intent is not to make you feel guilty, my intent is to help you realize how important water is and that a majority of the worlds population doesn't even have the most basic of elements available and/or accessible and together we can help eliminate this problem. Here are the action steps if you want to get on board:
[1] The Coming Clash Between Water and Energy
[2] The Virtual Water Project
I want to change direction today. Most of you can look through my routine and say, yeah.. I do that stuff every day but not everything you did took water.. you would be wrong. You see, my iPod takes water because it uses energy and energy comes from water my friends.
"Plug your iPhone into the wall, and about half a liter of water must flow through kilometers of pipes, pumps, and the heat exchangers of a power plant.[1]"
My intent is not to make you feel guilty, my intent is to help you realize how important water is and that a majority of the worlds population doesn't even have the most basic of elements available and/or accessible and together we can help eliminate this problem. Here are the action steps if you want to get on board:
- Help Build Wells: opportunities for this are on my previous water post.
- Conserve at Home: Not just water but energy as well.
- Don't Pollute: By throwing stuff in the water and even on the ground where it eventually ends up in the water, it takes more energy to clean it and make it safe for use.
[1] The Coming Clash Between Water and Energy
[2] The Virtual Water Project
Glug, Glug, Glug..
The good news is, there is a water fountain right down the hallway and I have access to clean drinking water, even if it tastes like rusty pipes all of the time. This is something I honestly take for granted far too often.
“Water management is a key factor in the global battle to remove the scourge of extreme poverty and to build secure and prosperous lives for hundreds of millions of people in the developing world.” – World Health Organization, 2007Safe drinking water is the ingredient to pulling more than a billion people out of poverty. Access to clean water is the foundation for other forms of development. Without easy access to water that is safe, countless hours are spent in water collection, household income is spent on purchasing water and medical treatment for water-related diseases. These factors contribute to keeping people trapped in poverty.
Elie Wiesel said: “We must take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.”
Almost 90 percent of all diseases in the world are caused by unsafe drinking water, poor hygiene, and inadequate sanitation. Every year, there are 4 billion cases of diarrhea as a direct result of drinking contaminated water; this results in more than 2.2 million deaths each year. Not that talking about diarrhea is extremely exciting but the last time I had it, I wasn't worried about dying. Unsafe drinking water can contain and spread diseases and bacteria such as Salmonella, E.coli, Schistosoma (I had to look this one up), Hepatitis A, and even Cholera.
Every day water-related diseases claim the lives of 5000 children under the age of five simply because they are the weakest members of their community and can't get water unless it is brought to them. That’s about one every 15 seconds, so by the time you have read this post, 2+ children have died from something preventable.
As always, I intend to provide you with opportunity. Here are several sites you can go to and help out this cause if you so choose:
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