Category Archives: PHILANTHROPY

Simple Volunteer Opportunities for Busy People

Want to make a difference, but life is just too crazy? We all hear that being a volunteer is good for the community and the soul. Maybe you’ve thought of volunteering your time, but life just got in the way. You heard about that great cause that sang to your soul, but then work, family, the laundry and the mounting DVR backlog struck, and you didn’t think about that cause for another two years.

Fortunately, there is a middle ground here. You can be involved in the community without sacrificing all of your evenings, weekends and lunch breaks. By thinking outside of the box, it’s easy to squeeze volunteering into your life in ways that may not even feel like you’re taking time out of your busy life. Below are several ways to make volunteering work in any time constraint.

Find limited special events

Volunteering can take as little or as much time as you want, and special events put that on display. One-day events run the gamut. The most popular are run-walks, where you can spend a day getting exercise outside while benefitting a cause. These are usually yearly events, so you’re not devoting nearly every single weekend to them, either.

5k race
a katz / Shutterstock.com

Run-walks usually require some type of fundraising to go along with the run, but many events don’t have a minimum fundraising limit. And with tools like Facebook, fundraising doesn’t have to take a ton of time.

Outside of run-walks, there are plenty of other events to look into that happen infrequently. Think about checking into events like humane society adopt-a-thons, trick-or-treating for a charity, events like the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service, a dance marathon or work at a food kitchen on a holiday.

 

Volunteer on vacation

Admittedly, ‘voluntourism’ trips are on the more time-intensive side. You’re giving up a whole week or more to work for free, after all. But in certain situations, they make plenty of sense. Let’s say life has been so hectic you’ve amassed vacation time you’ve been unable to use up until this point. You could take one of those weeks and jam a year’s worth of volunteering time into a single week.

water purification puremadi
Travel to help with water purification | Image courtesy of PureMadi

Volunteering abroad is a great way to do some good while seeing a different part of the world. And rather than going to an all-inclusive resort that looks basically like any hotel you’d see in the Western Hemisphere, you’re getting elbow deep in another culture and its people.

 

Virtual volunteering

The newest trend in volunteering is virtual volunteering. That’s where you use your computer in some fashion to lend your skills to an organization or group. Think of it like telecommuting for a cause. And it can be as intense or easy as you want. One hilariously lazy way to volunteer is to essentially rent your computer space out to research programs that need a ton of power to crunch numbers. One such program is BOINC (Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing), a program you download that allows Berkeley access to your spare computing power.

woman at laptop

If you don’t like the idea of giving a university idle reign over your spare computing power, you can volunteer to complete digital tasks for organizations. Sites like Volunteermatch.org and idealist.org can link you to places that need virtual volunteers and offer resources to get started. Needs range from web design to social media help. And since it’s digital, you can fit it in during small chunks of time around your other responsibilities.

 

Send care packages

Really crunched for time? Take the 20 minutes it would require to assemble a care package. This is a volunteer opportunity that is easy to forget amid the myriad of basic donation options like drop-off sites. But care packages are needed by many people: disadvantaged families, soldiers and military families, cancer patients and hungry children, to name a few. An idea to get you started is packing a lunch for hungry kids. If you’re really short on time, Operation Gratitude has donation options through eBay.

143d ESC receives holiday cheer
143d ESC receives holiday cheer, from 143d ESC on Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

 

Combine your hobbies and volunteering

Sometimes volunteering slips by the wayside because life is just full of so many fun potential hobbies. We mean to volunteer, but that novel calls or we’d rather be learning a new musical instrument. The way to fight that is to think of volunteering as synonymous with your hobbies.

Odds are, there are tons of ways to put your hobbies to use for others. DoSomething.org connects you to some of the top fun volunteer activities you can participate in. If you’re crafty, you can create dog toys. Use your love of reading to inspire literacy in others through reading games. Like art? Make a birthday card for a homeless .

woman crafting with dog

And it doesn’t stop there. Put on musical performances in health facilities through groups like Musicians on Call. If you like computers, you can code for a cause through groups like Code for America. Even video games are being used to help others through Games Done Quick, which is like running a marathon to raise money, but instead you’re finishing a video game extremely fast. It’s all a good excuse to practice your favorite hobby.

Do one good deed

The fact is, a lot of organizations know we’re all short on time. Volunteering means you give what you can when you can, and by looking for some of the most flexible options, volunteering might just be something you can fit in for as little as an hour a month, or even less. It’s certainly better than doing nothing.

Volunteer Opportunities for Animal Lovers

Do you wish you could spend more time with animals while making a difference? If you have a passion for furry friends and helping people, there are plenty of ways to get involved. Volunteering with animals is a great way to learn about animal-related careers and still give to the community in incredibly meaningful ways. Below are several often-missed ways to get involved with the philanthropic side of animal care.

 

Humane society opportunities 

The first place many people think of when wanting to volunteer with animals is the Humane Society, and it’s for a good reason. Most of them are always looking for help. But when many people think of volunteering at the Humane Society, they think of cage cleaning and kennel maintenance. And while these are necessary duties, if you’re not the mucking-about-in-filth kind of person, there are plenty of easily overlooked ways to put other skills to use with the Humane Society.

Wendy is a volunteer for the Humane Society.
“Wendy is a volunteer for the Humane Society.” from Jo & Joey on Flickr (CC BY-ND 2.0)


Many Humane Society locations will have the basic animal socialization needs, like cat cuddling and dog walking. These are great options if you just want some one-on-one time with some animals.

But there are also other programs like helping with mobile adoptions, where volunteers bring animals out into the community to show people what types of critters are currently up for adoption. This is a wonderful option for those who like to interact with the public as much as they enjoy working directly with animals. Along the same lines is helping with community events like run-walks and other fundraisers. Many shelters will also need help with animal training courses or may even need clerical help.

Your best bet is to call up your local Humane Society and see what they need.

Like most volunteer positions, you’ll most likely need to attend one or several training/orientation sessions, depending on which service you’re looking to help out with.

 

Foster and rescue care  

Want to work with animals, but would rather do it in the comfort of your own home? Starting a rescue or serving as a foster home for rehabilitating animals is perfect for those who have a strong caregiving streak for sickly, injured and healing animals.

Gouda
“Gouda. This the most ridiculously cute set of puppies my parents have fostered so far.” from Keith Kissel on Flickr (CC BY-NC 2.0)

Again, a great place to start is with your local Humane Society, many of which need people to take recovering or young animals into their homes to prepare them for adoption into permanent homes. The Humane Society will often support you with resources and training.

If you’d like to focus on a certain animal/breed it’s also possible to start running your own rescue out of your home, in which you take in animals and care for them until they can be adopted out elsewhere. This is a good opportunity for enterprising, organized people who prefer to work independently.

Granted, this is the most time-intensive and complicated option for volunteering with animals. With this, you’ll essentially be running a business. You’ll be connecting with others to find animals in need, possibly working with fundraising, getting the animals spayed and neutered and you’ll need to know everything about keeping animals healthy. You may have to pass state licensing requirements to become a nonprofit as well. This is often a graduated method of working with animals after you’ve had pets of the same type/breed and have worked with a shelter extensively.

If this is something you would seriously consider, start by learning everything you can. Talk to those who run rescues and research what it takes to run one.

 

Animal therapy programs 

Here we get back into something that’s less time-consuming. Getting your pet certified as a therapy dog is a rewarding way to work with your own pet and other people out in the community.

For those who have never seen a therapy animal, these are animals that are certified to go into facilities like hospitals, schools and nursing homes to visit with the patients, students or residents. Studies have found that interaction with animals helps with recovery and improves psychological wellbeing.

Norman West Therapy Dogs
“Norman West Therapy Dogs. Norman West showcased the various therapy dogs children can read to at the library.” from Pioneer Library System on Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)


To start this process, you’ll need to seek certification through courses offered by a therapy dog organization, many of which can run for about 12 weeks or so, though requirements vary. You can find a list of certifying organizations here. You’ll learn and be assessed on how to work with your dog and other people in the community in an effective, safe manner.

 

Zoo volunteer opportunities  

Want to work with exotic animals or help with animal education in the community? Check with your local zoo, if you have one. Many volunteers work directly with zookeepers to help maintain the zoo in some organizations, though not all.

New Heights
“Baby penguin climbing up Katie’s leg (before comically tumbling off).” from David Goehring on Flickr (CC BY 2.0)


A more common way to volunteer at a zoo is to become what many zoos call “docent volunteers,” in which people work with education programs and tours. This is a great option for those who love interacting with the public one-on-one, talking about animals and public speaking. Another common volunteer role is to work with fundraising programs to help directly raise money for a zoo.

 

Aquariums 

Aquariums are an often-overlooked place to volunteer, but many of them do need help. You may be surprised by what aquariums need from volunteers.

Miller & I
“Miller & I” from Stacina on Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

For instance, the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago has a number of volunteer positions that involve giving talks to school groups, gathering data about the guests who come to the aquarium though tasks like market research, helping with animal husbandry, working with the water quality or working in the library, to name a few. Experienced divers can even give presentations in the tanks to guests.

Pull Up Your Socks and Donate: How One Innovative Company is Changing How We Give

If you’re anything like me, social media and its targeted approach to advertising fascinate you. It seems the Internet understands us better than we do ourselves, and whenever something we’ve been searching for pops up in a newsfeed, we feel oddly appreciative. It’s almost like having a friend that volunteers their time without being asked – but what if you weren’t looking for anything? What if they just KNEW what you wanted without scraping your hard drive for data? That’s what happened to me the other day.

I was sitting in my office, scanning updates on Facebook when an announcement caught my eye. It was a sponsored post from Bombas, a New York-based sock company that began with an INDIEGOGO campaign. They were promoting a variety of neon-colored socks that offered the one and only feature I had been (secretly) hoping to find: seamless toes—a dream come true. I could almost taste the tears of joy rolling down my daughter’s cheeks when I told her about them. For years, we have argued over uneven stitching and discomfort. And while she whined and moaned because they were either too tight or not thick enough, I continued my search for a more suitable replacement while turning the old ones inside-out. Perhaps this was my lucky day.

bombas socks neon orange
Image courtesy of Bombas

When I clicked on the link to Bombas, I was elated. Right there, on the front page of their website, was proof of their integrity. Written in all caps was something I have never considered: SOCKS ARE THE MOST REQUESTED ITEMS IN HOMELESS SHELTERS. Not only was this company manufacturing high-quality footwear for men, women and children; they were donating a new pair of socks to a homeless shelter for each set purchased online; what a great way to give back to society—SOLD!

bombas socks couple
Image courtesy of Bombas

When the package arrived in the mail, it came with a thoughtful note and a reminder that my purchase had provided socks to four homeless children in need. It seemed like a high price to pay for giving back ($8-12 per pair), but my daughter has never been happier and our lifelong debate over tension and elasticity has ended in a peace-loving way. According to her, these are the most comfortable socks you (and a displaced stranger) will ever own. They stay up, aren’t too tight and never slip down. In other words, they are a perfect fit for anyone, and each unique style comes in a wide array of colors. Who knew that a single pair of socks could make such a difference in a person’s life? Imagine what it can do for the homeless.

bombas womens socks calf
Image courtesy of Bombas

If you have a child with sensitive feet or tenderness issues of your own, I highly recommend giving Bombas a try. They are an honest company, committed to loyalty, with a happiness seal of approval. And, in a world of “what’s in it for me,” it is nice to see someone pay it forward for a change.

Kids Boost: Turning Talent Into Kindness And Paying It Forward

With egotism at an all-time high, it often feels like we have lost touch with humanity. We crave and expect society to comfort our needs while complaining about poor WiFi service and low battery life. It is almost laughable how absurd our demands have become, and when you compare them against those who are truly struggling to survive each day, it makes you second-guess human behavior.

I am a firm believer that goodness comes from within, but how does it get there? How does a child learn to comprehend the effects of their actions without causing harm? Do we wait until they do something they may later regret or empower them with practical wisdom and compassion so they can BE the change we want for this world?

The Bert Show
The Bert Show

Kristen Stocks is a mother, Child Life Specialist and the brains behind Kids Boost in Atlanta. I first learned about Kristen during a live broadcast of The Bert Show’s Big Adventure: a nonprofit organization that provides a magical, all-expenses-paid, five-day journey to Walt Disney World® for children with chronic and terminal illnesses and their families. She was speaking on behalf of one of the kids in her organization, Savanna, who had danced her way into raising $2090 for their cause. I was mesmerized by what this woman created and dropped what I was doing to listen to her story.

jared CHOA
Jared at CHOA

While working as a Child Life Specialist at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta (CHOA), she met a young boy named Jared, who had undergone seven surgeries for a traumatic injury to his arm. He was six years old when it happened but knew, one day, he wanted to repay CHOA for saving his arm and nursing him back to health. At thirteen, he combined his passion for rock climbing with a desire to give back and asked friends and family to pledge a contribution to CHOA for each rock wall that he climbed. In total, he scaled one hundred walls, raised $2500 and became the inspiration behind Kids Boost.

When their work together ended, Kristen was so touched by Jared’s generosity that she wanted to take it to the next level. She wondered what the world would be like if every child had the opportunity to use their gifts and talents to do something positive. Soon after, her inquiry became the reality that is now Kids Boost.

caroline bakesale

Kids Boost meets with boys and girls, eight years old or older, to identify which activities excite them (i.e., sports, music, theater, etcetera). Once established, they take that genuine enthusiasm and wrap it into a lesson on philanthropy by giving the child $100 (donated to the Boost General Fund), a one-on-one coach, and the tools they will need to guide them along the way. Best of all, 20% of the total contributions they receive goes right back to Kids Boost to help another child get started on a charity of their own.

Jared wall climb

The children of today are the leaders of tomorrow. They are sponges waiting to absorb whatever spills at their feet, so why not strengthen their confidence by teaching them about business, money management, and benevolence; it just seems like the right thing to do. As a mother of an eight-year-old girl, I am in love with the concept of Kids Boost. Though philanthropy is a component at my daughter’s school, it is not a required part of their curriculum—yet. Perhaps all they need is a Boost.

To find out more about Kids Boost and how you can get involved, visit them online.

Aidan Cares: How One Kid is Changing the World

Do you believe that a teenager can change the world? There is a boy in Atlanta who thinks he can do just that. His name is Aidan Thomas Hornaday and he is a 15-year-old philanthropist. At age four, he told his mother that he wanted to be a difference maker and that he did not wish to wait until his 18th birthday to do so. He was obsessed with the need to contribute; to be a provider of sorts, but wasn’t sure what that entailed. Then again, he was still a toddler at the time.

Aidan Thomas
Aidan Thomas | Photo by Toren Anderson

A few years later, at age seven, Aidan’s vision grew into the joy of giving that it is today. It happened one-night while dining in a restaurant with his mother and some friends. Like most kids his age, Aidan got bored with the adult conversation and left the table to create his own diversion. He found a stool near the restrooms and pulled out a toy harmonica that was permanently stored in his front pocket. Without missing a beat, he threw his fedora on the chair next to him and disappeared into a musical oasis that caught everyone by surprise. When he awakened from his melodic trance, he was $80 richer and thoroughly confused as to why anyone in his or her right mind would pay him just for taking off a hat. Still, he was elated and couldn’t wait to get back to the table and share his exhilarating news.

Aidan Thomas

When his mother asked what he planned to do with the money, she was expecting a trip to Disney, but Aidan is an old soul with genuine purpose and his response was “to be the change that he desired”. He told his mom that he wanted to use the money to buy pills for children in Africa so they could fight off parasites and end their suffering. It was something that he remembered her telling him about once and he saw this as an opportunity to help. That decision turned into a movement that transformed into a non-profit organization dedicated to lifelong giving. His foundation, AidanCares, has since inspired youth from over 30 countries to create their own giving initiatives locally, nationally, and internationally. Aidan, with the help of his mother, has dedicated his life to making a difference for schools, non-profits, shelters, hospitals, and more. He is a global messenger for kindness who continues to share his mission through harmony and eloquent discourse. In other words, he is a difference maker.

In 2015, Aidan was invited to give a TED Talk to share his passion for music as well as his need to serve others. He began by playing live blues on the instrument that started his whole campaign in the first place: a small harmonica that he keeps in his front pocket. When he finished playing, he told the story of how running to need, not away from it, has set him on a journey to lead others toward philanthropy. It is one of the most articulate and powerful presentations I have ever seen, and he was only fourteen when he gave it. If a teenager with the ability to change the world seems absurd to you, it shouldn’t. These children are the future, and if they believe there is a chance to brush off the embers of indifference in our world and spin them into gold, then maybe we should listen.

Thousands in Flint Need Water, and You Can Help

Less than 90 miles west of southern Lake Huron is Michigan’s seventh largest city, Flint, about 70 miles northwest of Detroit. A diverse city with a complicated history, Flint is home to more than 100,000 men, women and children, about 40 percent of whom are living below the poverty line. Many Flintstones, a playful self-embraced demonym for Flint’s residents, continue to struggle due to the decades-long deindustrialization following the automotive industry’s crash. General Motors was founded in Flint — and the city’s economy relied on it for the better part of the 20th century.

Flint michigan

Flint has since been continuously combatting climbing crime rates, crippling debt and unemployment; but the sense of community remains strong. Residents continue to work hard in hopes of rebuilding the area, demonstrated by dozens of family-owned businesses, organizations and farmers markets downtown.

Flint michigan

The city is home to the historic Capitol Theatre, built in 1928, which is in the process of being redeveloped and reopened to the public thanks to a local non-profit reinvestment group. The area continues to be a hub for local artists and young people.

Flint capitol theater

A 78-mile river, The Flint, amply named, runs northeast directly through the city. The Flint River, a long-time recipient of nearby industrial runoff and dumping, is notoriously known to some as the “filthy Flint,” as well as a variety of other tongue-in-cheek nicknames. Flint River water is known to contain extremely high levels of chlorides, making it 19 times more corrosive to lead pipes than the Huron River, where most of Southeast Michigan gets its water.

“We steer clear of the river, and always have,” Damon Brown, 49, of Flint, says. “My kids don’t swim in it or play near it. In a city like this where there’s so little oversight, you have to be aware of the potential dangers.”

flint river

In 2014, when the city announced plans to save money by cutting off treated water from Lake Huron and switching to Flint River water, Brown was flabbergasted. After litigation challenges during a difficult budget crisis for both the city and the State of Michigan, residents began to see their water darken, almost overnight.

“My daughter comes out into the living room after taking a bath before bed and says, ‘The water looks dirty,’” Brown says. “So I called a few neighbors who said their water looked fine, so I kind of dismissed it until it became clear there was something more going on.”

Flint River

Soon, residents began visiting nearby medical centers in droves, citing abdominal pain, headaches and in some cases, seizures. Schools began to see more behavioral problems in their students as well.

“My little girl began vomiting one night,” Brown says. “So I took her to the ER, only to have them tell me they’ve had a few kids come in lately and they think some kind of bug is going around.”

Flint treatment plant

As it turns out, that “bug” was months of systemic lead poisoning from Flint’s drinking water. A research project by Virginia Tech researchers last summer found some samples contained lead levels high enough to meet the EPA’s definition of “toxic waste.”

In children, lead poisoning can cause learning disabilities, brain damage, behavioral issues and decreased muscle and bone growth, according to Kenneth Claiborne, a practicing pediatrician in Royal Oak, Michigan.

“The fact that these children were exposed to lead at all, not the least bit over the course of years, is highly disturbing,” he says. “What’s worse is they still don’t have access to clean water.”

In 2010, 34.3% of households included children under the age of 18, according to U.S. census data. It is estimated between 6,000 and 12,000 children have sustained injuries as a result of the crisis. While local politicians are playing the blame game, justifiably trying to hold those responsible accountable, including Michigan’s governor, Rick Snyder, and local emergency managers, Flintstones are in need of more immediate relief.

flint michigan

President Obama declared a state of emergency last month, promising $80 million in federal aid to build the river’s infrastructure, but the trickle down effect is taking much longer than is defensible, according to Alysia Harris, 34, of Flint.

“There’s a lot of political talk and talk about racial inequality. (Flint is majority African American.) But at the end of the day we need water, now. I have a toddler who is staying with her grandmother in another county so she’s not exposed to unnecessary poison. I want my kid back,” Harris says.

It’s estimated that residents could be waiting months to access clean, safe drinking water in their homes and community.

“Some of the politicians are telling us two months before it gets sorted out because there’s so much confusion, but I’d be surprised if it’s that quick,” Harris said.

Darren Willis, a local volunteer with the Prince of Peace Baptist Church, says members have distributed more than 10,000 bottles of water alone in recent months.

flint church

“There doesn’t seem to be an end in sight,” he says. “We’ll keep giving out water four hours a day as long as it’s needed.”

For those who don’t live within driving distance of Flint, there are several options to help provide immediate relief to those in need:

  • The United Way of Genesee County has set up emergency support services for Flint. “The UWGC has sourced more than 11,000 filters systems and 5,000 replacement filters, ongoing sources of bottled water to the Food Bank of Eastern Michigan and also supports a dedicated driver for daily distribution,” according to its website.

  • Flint Community Schools: Call the district’s finance office at 810-767-6030 about cash donations, so that students can continue to learn safely.

  • Catholic Charities of Genesee County: For information on making cash or bottled water donations to aid soup kitchens and warming centers, call 810-785-6911.

Homeless Helper Bags: A DIY Way to Give Back

Many of us live in cities stricken with poverty and homelessness, and the brisk winter season often compels us to help where we can. The season is also one of the busiest times of year. From gift shopping to flight delays, it can be difficult to give back to the degree we feel is necessary. Homeless helper kits offer solutions for the charitable who may be too time-strapped for traditional philanthropy. The kits — bags comprised of toiletries, protein-packed food and other essentials to hand out at a moment’s notice — can make a small difference to those with few luxuries. They make for a meaningful holiday family activity, teaching kids the value of giving. Whether you are keeping the kits in your backseat to hand out at stoplights, or donate to your local shelter, they are a simple opportunity to do your part.

Homeless Helper bag contents

Toiletries

Many assume homelessness means no access to running water or opportunity for basic hygiene. In fact, 65 percent of homeless Americans live in emergency shelters or transitional housing programs, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, while 35 percent live in unsheltered locations. Affording people the dignity of self-care can act as a powerful personal motivator. A toothbrush, some toothpaste, body wash and moist towelettes may go further than you know.

Food

In 2014, 48.1 million Americans lived in food insecure households, including 15.3 million children, according to the USDA. Millions of families nationwide are faced with limited availability to a nutritional diet. Many of the individuals who need the kits do not have access to stoves, can openers and microwaves, so food and snacks high in protein and other vitamins in the bags is crucial. Peanut butter crackers, fruit snacks, granola bars, dried fruit and other easily consumable foods are best.

Warmth

Especially important for those holding signs during the winter months: Gloves, socks, scarves, hand/feet warmers and ponchos. Keeping warm and dry helps prevent serious illness and sustain a slice of comfort.

Feel Good Items

Remember, you are compiling these kits for people similar to you.  It is possible to become homeless overnight, despite your best efforts. Many of us are an illness or natural disaster away from losing everything we have worked for. Consider what you would miss if you lost it all. Sometimes, petty comforts are much more in dire circumstances. Tossing in a few sweet treats, such as cookies or chocolate, reminds those down on their luck that they’re still loved and respected regardless of their circumstances.

For Women

About 40 percent of homeless Americans are women. Make sure to have a few kits concentrated on the particular needs of women. Tampons, Maxi Pads, shampoo and conditioner and travel-size hair brushes are hard to come by in shelters.

Regardless of what you give, chances are you’ll make a difference in the lives you touch. For less than $10 a bag and a few hours, you can get someone through the harshest season of the year.

Simple Ways to Support Our Troops This Christmas

More than 1.6 million Americans are actively serving in the U.S. Armed Forces with 21.8 million more veterans at home. These brave men and women deserve our gratitude every day of the year, but especially around the holidays. Here, we’ve rounded up our favorite organizations that support the troops while they’re on active duty and after they’ve come home.

 

Cell Phones for Soldiers

For active-duty military members, talking with loved ones back home provides untold comfort and keeps important family connections alive. Cell Phones for Soldiers helps them do this. Since 2004, the organization has been collecting used cell phones and using the proceeds to send prepaid international calling cards to troops overseas. To get involved, simply mail in your old cell phone with a printable packing label or drop it off at one of the many collection sites around the country. By recycling your old phone, you’re helping the environment, too.

 

 

Operation Gratitude’s Scarves for Troops Program

Get crafty for a good cause. Operation Gratitude sends more than 100,000 care packages to troops overseas every year and each one contains a handmade item. On the Operation Gratitude blog, founder Carolyn Blashek writes that scarves “send the very warm and loving message that people at home care enough to take the time and effort to make something as beautiful as a scarf.” Scarves of all patterns are warmly welcomed.

 

 

Puppies Behind Bars

Man’s best friend can also be a returning soldier’s lifesaver. A physical injury, traumatic brain injury or post-traumatic stress disorder can make adjusting back to civilian life difficult or impossible for many veterans. Service dogs, with their bottomless love and devotion, can make a profound difference in the lives of veterans suffering from these conditions. With a donation to Puppies Behind Bars, you’re helping two populations in need: prison inmates and wounded war veterans. The organization trains prison inmates to raise service dogs who are then placed with veterans. In turn, prison inmates learn valuable professional skills and veterans get devoted companions.

 

 

Adopt A US Soldier

Give an active-duty soldier support and a taste of home when they’re far away. Active in more than 170 countries and territories around the world, Adopt A US Soldier connects soldiers with civilians who want to show their gratitude. The mother of a soldier stationed in Iraq founded the organization after she learned of the huge emotional impact that words of encouragement and care packages can provide. It’s an opportunity to develop a one-on-one relationship with a currently serving soldier. Supporters send one letter a week and an optional care package once a month. Commitments can be short-term or long-term.

 

 

United Through Reading

Active-duty soldiers sacrifice so much to serve our country, including giving up precious time with their children. United Through Reading helps keep the parent-child bond thriving by recording and distributing videos of soldiers reading bedtime stories for their children back home. In 2014, the organization served more than 100,000 beneficiaries. You can get involved through a donation on the website or by volunteering your time in a variety of ways.

 

https://player.vimeo.com/video/96754291

Simple Holiday Giving to Help Children

This season helps us to appreciate all we have but it also reminds us of others who have so little. While each of us would love to give our time and effort to help those struggling, sometimes our busy schedules make it nearly impossible to set aside any to spare, even if it’s just to drop off a toy or donation. If this sounds like you, donating online is a great way to help children in need, even with a hectic schedule.

Here, we’ve put together a list of organizations taking online donations to benefit children this season.

 

Toys for Tots

toys for totsYou’ve probably seen them outside Toys ‘R’ Us or department stores, the US Marines in full uniform giving their time to accept toys from generous people that will later be distributed to children. Knowing that not everyone has the time to buy and give a toy, Toys for Tots has a simple way to give online. You can also donate in memorial of someone or by mail by visiting their site.

 

United Nations Children’s Fund

unicef While donating online to UNICEF doesn’t give children toys, it does give them things like food, drinking water, and protection programs. 90% of all donations to the UNICEF United States Fund go directly to helping children. You can give any amount you like on their site, where you can also read their stories and learn more about their mission.

 

Salvation Army

salvation armyOutside of grocery stores around the country right now you’ll find the iconic red kettles of the Salvation Army manned by volunteers accepting any amount of donations that will help to provide dinners, food, and toys to families this season. You can donate to the same fund online which will help the Salvation Army in your area.

 

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital

st jude children's research hospitalIf you haven’t completed all your gift shopping, here’s one way to check off your list while also helping children. The St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital has an online gift shop, with all sorts of items from clothing to ornaments to mugs, where 100% of the proceeds go back to St. Jude’s for their research in childhood cancer and other life-threatening diseases.

 

Make-A-Wish Foundation of America

mawThe Make-A-Wish Foundation helps to fulfill the dreams of children with life-threatening conditions. On their site, you can read some of these children’s  wishes; imagine being able to help make these wishes come true. You can, by donating online, where you can also choose where your donation will be applied – locally, nationally, or outside the US.

 

Rebuilding El Salvador, One Wave at a Time

Just imagine the collective power of humanity, if everyone just gave a few hours a year and fully dedicated themselves to a cause that they deeply believed in. Anything would be possible. ” – Lissette Perez

Thousands of miles from the ice bucket challenges, change-your-profile-pic-for-a-cause Facebook button and presidential debates, lies the small town of El Cuco, El Salvador. There you’ll find Lissette Perez, her surf resort, and a town that has transformed through a few hours of belief, repeated. Her cause began with free spaghetti and swimming in the resort pool for kids who made good grades. Eventually, it would lead to rescuing an endangered species and a new high school.

Driving from the San Salvador airport to a small surf camp in an even smaller town named El Cuco, one quickly gets a lay of the land. Outside the open car window, farmers dry harvested corn in the middle of the highway. Brightly colored busses narrowly avoid one another, passing on curves as if in a NASCAR race. Round-faced children sell plastic bags filled with cane syrup-sweetened coconut water on the side of the road for pennies. El Salvador is a poor country that not so long ago was in the midst of a serious civil war and where drug related gang violence still erupts daily.

The taxi driver explains that there was a time when he would be dodging guerilla rebels instead of corn on the road. He mentions that earthquakes easily destroy the adobe and tin-walled shacks that house the region’s people. He hopes to soon have cinderblocks to hold up the walls of his family’s home. Truckloads of supporters for each side of an upcoming election pass by with loudspeakers like dueling Central American Blues Brothers promoters. Armed guards with shotguns stand at attention at the doors of each gas station. El Sal is still a very fragile place. As we drive, dusk closes into darkness and eventually the paved road turns to rutted earth, a familiar and almost comforting feeling that I’ve come to love in Central America. Eventually, we pull into the small town of El Cuco and drive up to The Azul Surf Club’s gate.

I’m greeted by the night guard and led to a small room with two single beds, not much more. It’s plenty to satisfy a surfer’s basic needs. Before the sun rises again there’s a knock on the door. It’s Lissette, the owner of Azul. It’s time to surf.  I meet some of the other guests and sit down with Lissette for a family-style breakfast under a thatched hut. I ask where she’s from.

“I grew up in California and went to UC Berkeley.”

I think, oh now I get it. She’s a rich girl who was given a surf resort.

“Where’d you grow up in Cali?”

“The inner city. My mom was a single mom, we lived on welfare.”

I stood corrected.

“Wow, so how did you end up in El Salvador?”

“Well, I started coming for vacation to surf. I fell in love with the ocean here, and wanted to open a bed and breakfast. The community here is really poor, but the people are great and it reminded me of where I grew up. I saw a lot of opportunity here and the chance to be more than just some foreigner invading the town with a flashy new surf resort. I saw the chance to build something bigger. To give back to the people in ways that aren’t so self-serving. Giving back feels better than getting.”

After breakfast, we all load into the back of a Ford pickup truck that’s as well-worn as the dirt road it has traveled. We make our way through the still sleeping town of El Cuco and to the Las Flores point break just a few minutes away. A blood orange sun is quickly rising now,

El Cuco El Salvador

quietly revealing the waves and the serene beauty of the small fishing huts that line the water’s edge.

For the next two hours we catch peeling waves on the point that are as perfectly timed and predictable as a wave machine at Six Flags. Smiles all around. On the way back to the resort, we find similar smiles coming from the local people in the town as we drive by. Shouts of “buenos días” and “hola” from the local children erupt as Lissette drives past with her cargo (a bunch of long-haired half-naked white men) in the back. The locals’ warmth begins to hint at the truth behind the fact that Lissette is more than just a surf resort owner.

In the center of the tiny town we pass a small yellow stucco two-story house with a wrought iron balcony with flowers draped over the walls.

‘That’s my new house,” Lissette says. “It used to be a concrete walled pseudo fish chopping spot.”

Since founding the surf resort, Lissette has worked hard to also build up the local town and everything in it, so much so that’s she’s now known to the local villagers as “The Mayor.” There was no election, no primary, no debate, no, “What is this girl from California doing here?” Lissette has just been acting out the mayoral role one day and deed at a time.

Since painting and hanging flowers outside her house (another one of those “few hour” acts) she explains that other neighbors in the otherwise monochromatic brown town have painted their houses. “It’s about showing a little pride for what you have, even when you don’t have a lot. One of my guests left me a nice tip so I used it to purchase flowers, a bicycle and a can of paint. That small act of a guest paying it forward has led to the town to seeing itself quite differently, literally.”

Lissette (nonchalantly as always) says, “When you have faith in the ability to effect real positive change in your own little world, the universe suddenly opens up and everyone wants to be part of it.”

Back at Azul, I tour the grounds of the humble and bohemian resort.

El Cuco El Salvador

I find a nice pool, cabana with fresh fruit smoothies, a two-story palm-roofed hut that serves as a yoga studio, surf lookout and hammock station. Below it I notice a sign: “Turtle hatchery, please do not disturb.” I ask Lissette about it.

“Well, I found out that some of the locals were digging up the turtle eggs after they’d been buried. Technically, you could say they were poaching but the reality is that they were harvesting the eggs as a way to help feed their families,” she explains. “So, I pay the men for the eggs, they use the money to buy other food for their families, we rebury the eggs, and the turtles hatch and go back to the ocean as nature intended.”

As an expat in a faraway land, it’s easy to think that the locals might not be too friendly to a foreigner coming into town to “Save the Whales!” or turtles in this instance. I ask Lissette about her integration to such a place. “There’s a big difference between doing good for the community based on what you think they need versus what they want. The turtle poachers just want food. They have nothing against the turtles. They just need to feed a family, their kids, who don’t have much to eat. If I  buy their turtle eggs, they can afford chicken eggs. Sustainable food. It’s as simple as that. I want turtles, they want eggs.” I immediately think of inventing some clichéd “farm-to-table” term for her philosophy, but quickly remember that it’s not about what you call what you do, but rather what you actually do.

baby sea turtle El Salvador

Before lunch there’s time for another surf session out in front of the resort. Lissette’s adopted El Salvadorian son and his friends are showing us how they intend to rule the breaks for a long time to come.

Surfing El Cuco El Salvador

During lunch, I ask Lissette more about what she’s doing in the community. “Well, it all started with spaghetti,” she says. “The kids here aren’t that motivated to do well in school, so I promised them that if they made good grades they could come swimming here after school and get free spaghetti. Their grades got better. So there was a chance they could actually get into high school. But their families couldn’t afford it. I couldn’t afford to send them all to high school either, but I could afford to send one. So I created a scholarship. I asked all the kids to write me an essay about why they wanted to go to high school. I didn’t expect any of them to do it. The next day I had 50 essays sitting in my lap.”

Lissette’s flood of essays quickly evolved into copious amounts of concrete being poured into a slab, along with brick and mortar walls. There wouldn’t be one scholarship. There would be a new school.

“I didn’t know if it was even possible. When we started building the school I didn’t have the money to even finish it. But I had a friend who was traveling around Central America who’s a contractor,” explains Lissette. “He found out the goal and pulled favors for us to at least complete the first floor. A few months later, 20 volunteers came down and we finished the entire second floor and the rest of the school in weeks.”

And it all started with free swimming and plates of spaghetti? “Yup” Lissette says, smiling brightly. “When you have faith in an idea and actually do something around it, people surround you to help. You don’t have to start big. Start small and it will grow. Building the school is up there with graduating from Berkeley for me. I grew up with nothing and to see my first class of teenagers graduating from that school this year is awesome.” She offers to take me by the school that’s just down the road.

When we arrive the children are instantly hamming it up for the camera, between carrying buckets of fresh water to and from a newly built classroom.

Lissette Perez El Cuco El Salvador

The school has the same tidy look as Lissette’s house. Freshly painted blue walls, school uniforms abound along with brightly colored tables and chairs, not dissimilar to what you’d see in most states.

Workers El Salvador

Azul Surf Club's Gate

Lissette built this primary school in part with funds from the surf resort. She proudly explains that this year its first class will be graduating from high school. Farther down the road we cross a small concrete bridge—something she has also built—before we arrive in front of a small dilapidated shack. “This will be the new dentist’s office,” she says.

Looking at the swampy water and ramshackle tin-walled box that’s she pointing at, a hygienic dentist’s office is a bit hard to imagine, but based on what I’ve seen at this point, it’s not hard to believe.

Back at the resort, a former peace corps employee named Colin gives an impromptu yoga lesson on the second floor of the top cabana before we head off for the third and final surf session of the day.

surf trip El Cuco El Salvador

surfing trip El Salvador

I ask Lissette why she’s doing all this, expecting some grand speech about changing the world. Her answer is as matter of fact as her actions. “Because now this is my home, and my hometown, and my people.” and “Why not.”

Lissette Perez El Cuco El Salvador

I leave thinking that solving the world’s problems suddenly seems a lot simpler than I imagined.