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September 2013

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Swap Serve

swap serveAs most of you know I am a big believer in volunteering. Simply giving any talent, skill or time you have to a cause you care about and expecting nothing in return….except the great feeling you get from giving.

Well, it seems all of that is about to change. There is a new game in town and its called Swap Serve. Swap Serve has a little different approach to volunteering. They are trying to align non-profits with volunteers. Here is what makes this different, in exchange for your time, local businesses reward you with free stuff, such as coffee, donuts, movie tickets, etc.

Here is how it works:

I’m not sure if this is the way of the future, a win-win or defeating the point of volunteering? Regardless, anything that gets people out helping one another is a success in my book. So check it out and see if Swap Serve has come to your town yet. Do me a favor, if they haven’t, just keep on giving your time. There is no greater gift to give.

Charity Matters.

 

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Charity Matters Quotes

“Remember, with each act of charity, you get closer to the person you want to be.”

Anonymous

diannaThere really is no image to fit this quote. Rather the question becomes, when you give of your self who do you want to be? Mother Teresa, Princess Di, the Dali Lama?

Or simply your best self?

Charity Matters.

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Augie’s Quest

Augie NietoWhat would you do if you were told you had Lou Gerhigs disease? A disease also known as ALS, which is a disease where parts nerve cells that control muscle cells are gradually lost. I honestly don’t know what I would do but I can tell you what a remarkable man named Augie Nieto did. He got busy!

In March of 2005, at the age of 53 Augie Nieto was a thriving entrepreneur and fitness industry leader. His diagnosis of ALS changed the course of his life and positively inspired thousands of others. Augie’s first reaction was, “My first priority is to spend time with my family. What I learned later in my career is that it is not the quantity but the quality of time you spend that matters.”

His next step was to be part of the solution to find a cure for this disease. “My very first step in fighting back was to partner with the Muscular Dystrophy Association, which offers the best ALS doctors and health care professionals in the country. Together, MDA (Muscular Dystrophy Association) and I formed “Augie’s Quest,” which coordinates fundraising events that benefit MDA’s worldwide ALS research program.”

Augie didn’t start his own non-profit but rather partnered with an existing one and created a contract with MDS, clearly defining his terms. First and foremost was that 100% of the donations he raised went to research and to date that figure is somewhere around the 30 million dollar mark and counting. As if that wasn’t enough, in 2007 he co-authored a book entitled Augies Quest: One man’s journey from success to significance.

It has been over eight years since Augie’s diagnosis and the man who built his empire building other’s people’s muscles, has now lost the use of his own.  Although he has lost the ability to speak his spirit continues to be unstoppable in his quest to find a cure. Success to significance doesn’t begin to describe this journey.

Charity Matters.

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Changing the view

Changing the view

Everyone has a gift. Everyone. The magic comes when you discover how to share yours with another. There are not words to explain the video below……


One man’s vision becomes another person’s sight. The magic happens when we share our gifts with one another. That is the beauty of our humanity.

Charity Matters.

 

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Charity Matters Quotes

“Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth.”

Muhammad Ali

feeding the poor

Service. It comes in so many forms that often times we are giving of ourselves and don’t even realize the impact we are having on another. This week we started talking about children going green at their schools. Every time they recycle, use less trash and conserve energy they are serving the greater good. Whether you are helping out at your child’s school, serving on a board, volunteering or running in a charity event…its all service.

One is not better than the other, they are all the best gift you can give….yourself.

Happy Friday !

Charity Matters.

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Now I lay me down to sleep

now i lay me down to sleephaggard.onTime and time again I am moved and inspired by the human spirit, especially at a time of loss. It is at our lowest and weakest moments that we connect with our core, our bottom. Like the bottom of a pool we push up to the top gasping for air and are reminded that we are alive.  It is that reminder that motivates so many to use their pain to ensure that another does not suffer the same fate and as a result, begins an organization to help others.

That is just the story of Cheryl Haggard. Cheryl’s son, Maddux Achilles Haggard, was born with a condition called myotubular myopathy which prevented him from breathing on his own. After six short days his parents had to make the devastating decision to take him off life support. Before that moment came, they called photographer Sandy Puc to take beautiful portraits of them cradling their son. Sandy photographed the couple with their infant son before and shortly after he was removed from life support.

Those intimate photographs documenting Maddux’s short life and last moments inspired Cheryl Haggard and Sandy Puc’ to begin a nonprofit organization called, Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep, after the children’s bedtime prayer.

Since 2005, Cheryl and Sandy’s non-profit has provided thousands of families of babies who are stillborn or are at risk of dying as newborns with free professional portraits with their baby.  Today, over 11,000 volunteers have been part of the network.  Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep reaches every state in the United States and has been or is present in 40 countries worldwide.

Maddux lived just six days but his legacy goes on with every family that is blessed with the memory of their child.

Charity Matters.

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More than making the grade..Grades of Green

GradesofGreen+Annual+ClUcYEl7fxYl“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” That infamous Margaret Mead quote is what came to mind after my inspiring conversation with Grades of Green’s Kim Martin

Six and a half years ago, Kim Martin was an environmental attorney with young children in elementary school.  She befriended 3 other like-minded mom’s; Lisa Coppedge, Shaya Kirkpatrick and Suzanne Kretschmer, who had been deeply impacted by Al Gore’s environmental movie, An Inconvenient Truth. The four of them began working together to find creative ways to green their school. Before long, these savvy moms and their school were winning national awards for their efforts and making an amazing impact on their youth, school and community.

They realized that they were truly onto something much bigger as their initial students moved onto middle school and began asking questions about where were the recycling containers and why was the school using styrofoam? Moments like these prompted the four women to take their extraordinary volunteer efforts to the next level and three years ago they founded the non-profit, Grades of Green.

Their mission is simply to inspire and empower kids and the broader school community to care for the environment. The vision of Grades of Green is to make environmental protection second nature in young minds.

Their website breaks down initiatives for individuals and schools to make small and simple changes that have big impacts. Things such as Walk to School Wednesdays, (de)Tox Thursdays, Campus composting and Electricity Challenges. All these activities are free, simple, easy and impact full. The kids learn by doing, not by lecture. The founders’ dream is that this next generation lives in harmony with the earth and that all their decisions big and small reference that point.

What started as a small thoughtful group of committed citizens has already begun to change our world. Today, Grades of Green is in more than 209 schools, in 30 states and has worked with over 130,268 children and counting. That small thoughtful group has become a large one and as their motto says, “Every shade makes a difference.”

Charity Matters.

 

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When a hero comes along

heart911So many non-profits came as a result of September 11th. The need to take the tragedy and turn it into something positive, happened over and over in the aftermath of that day. Many of the non-profits have gone by the wayside in the past twelve years, but there is one that is still going strong and that is HEART911.org

I always refer to non-profit founders as heroes but this founder is the real deal and he has the medals to prove it. His name is Bill Keegan and he was the Night Operations Commander of the World Trade Center Rescue/Recovery Teams. Bill was awarded the highest medal for the WTC 9/11 assault as well as the 1993 WTC Bombing Medal of Valor for his rescue of school children trapped in a stalled elevator; the Hanratty Medal of Valor and over fifty police duty medals.

What makes Bill a real hero, as if he wasn’t already, was his creation of the non-profit, HEART 9/11 (Healing Emergency Aid Response Team) which he founded in 2007. Heart 9/11 is a non-profit disaster response organization composed of police, fire, union construction workers, and 9/11 surviving families. Their belief is that we help ourselves by helping others. These volunteers  help first responders and victims of disasters by transferring the hard-earned lessons they learned from the World Trade Center rescue/recovery mission. The Mission of HEART 9/11 is to alleviate the suffering of individuals and communities coping with disasters and related trauma, wherever it strikes in our world.

Today HEART 9/11 is over 530 members strong. These members were experienced by being victims (9/11), and as a result, understand the challenges in turning victims into survivors. HEART 9/11 continues  to rebuild lives in three ways: emergency response to disaster stricken communities, facilitation of mental health and build housing for wounded returning veterans.

September 11th was a day we will never forget. The heroes and the ripples of kindness that resulted from loss, continue to inspire.

Charity Matters.

 

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September 11th

Sept 11th faces

We all know where we were that fateful morning twelve years ago today. A moment burned in our minds forever. I will never forget taking my oldest son on a trip to NYC a few years after 9-11 and going on a tour run out of the temporary makeshift 9-11 museum.

The tours were lead by the victims spouses, brothers and first responders who lead us through the surrounding buildings of the World Trade Center. They shared their stories, their day and the legacy they were left with. Their pain was still palpable and they wanted to share it with us, so that we never forgot that these were not buildings but people.

 

We will never forget.

Charity Matters.

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The Edible Schoolyard

edible schoolyardWhen we hear the name Alice Waters, we think food, we think Chez Panisse, author and Berkley. What we don’t think of is non-profit founder. Even I was surprised to discover that this world renown chef has taken her gifts and shared them with others. It all started with a simple walk to work…..

What began as a simple walk to work 17 years ago has today turned into a beautiful garden with more than 100 varieties of seasonal vegetables, herbs, vines, berries, flowers, and fruit trees. The Edible Schoolyard Project now has a staff includes five teachers and two AmeriCorps members. Their 30 volunteers have served over 7,000 students. The Edible Schoolyard has had over one million visitors to date and counting, many who are past students coming back to share their memories of the Edible Schoolyard.

Today, in addition to supporting the Edible Schoolyard Berkeley Alice Waters and her team are taking their mission across the country and encouraging other schools to create their own Edible Schoolyard., thru their Edible Schoolyard Academy.

As Alice Waters would say, “Simply delicious!”

Charity Matters.

 

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September

fall tailgating

“The breezes taste
Of apple peel.
The air is full
Of smells to feel-
Ripe fruit, old footballs,
Burning brush,
New books, erasers,
Chalk, and such.
The bee, his hive,
Well-honeyed hum,
And Mother cuts
Chrysanthemums.
Like plates washed clean
With suds, the days
Are polished with
A morning haze.”

John Updike, September

As a huge fan of summer, I must be honest that September is often a hard month for me. Yet, there is something lovely about routine and exciting about a new season full of possibilities. I hope this September finds you enjoying the possibilites.

Charity Matters.

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Making Recess what it used to be…Playworks

playworks-1The first week of school already found me running to drop off my son’s forgotten notebook. I happened to find myself on campus during middle school recess. Meandering thru hundreds of  thirteen year olds in search of my son, I noticed something strange. No one was “playing.” Recess looked more like a benefit with swarms of clicks talking in large groups. What is happening to these kids? Does anyone play anymore?

Well, it seems that I’m a little late to this idea and that it isn’t just parents worried about play but also teachers and principals. I was thrilled to discover that someone is really doing something about this and her name is Jill Vialet.  In 1996, Jill had a conversation with a haggard looking school principal who launched into a tirade about…recess.

The principal was tired of seeing the same kids in her office every day, for fighting on the playground. She didn’t believe they were bad children but was equally worried about her teachers who were literally hiding, to avoid recess so they wouldn’t have to confront the inevitable outbreak of chaos.

That conversation struck both a chord and action from Jill Vialet, who within the same year founded Sports4Kids, which is now Playworks. Her goal was to transform recess and the school day with safe and healthy play so teachers can teach and kids can learn.

 

Playworks is the only nonprofit organization in the country providing trained, full-time play coaches focused on recess to hundreds of low-income schools in major urban areas. 85 percent of principals report that students are more engaged in school since having Playworks on site. The safe and healthy play Playworks is bringing to schools is helping students succeed in the classroom and in life.

Today, Playworks brings play and physical activity to more than 130,000 children in 300 schools in 23 US cities and continues to expand. Jill Vialet knows how important play is and her non-profit more than makes it work!

Charity Matters.

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Happy Labor Day!

“All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence.”

Martin Luther King Jr.
labor-day
I hope that today finds you relaxing and enjoying the fruits of your labor. Let us be mindful of all those who worked so hard to provide us this glorious holiday.
Happy Labor Day!
Charity Matters.
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