TheMotherhood

JillSimpson Online Giving Meets Social Networking
By AMY WALLACE

LATE last month, tens of thousands of runners who are registered for this year’s New York City Marathon got an e-mail from Mary Wittenberg, the president and chief executive of New York Road Runners.

Ms. Wittenberg wanted to introduce them to a person whom many had already heard of: the actor Edward Norton. But the words “Hollywood movie star” didn’t appear once in her message. Instead, she implored the runners to join a social networking Web site that Mr. Norton and three partners started in May that she says has the potential to revolutionize charitable giving. It’s called Crowdrise.com.

“They’ve built a phenomenal platform to help us really broaden our reach,” says Ms. Wittenberg. Thanks in part to Crowdrise, she says, the marathon has a shot at raising a record $26.2 million, or a million a mile, for charity this year. That would be up from $24 million in 2009 and $18.5 million in 2008.

Yes, Mr. Norton is a runner. More on that in a minute. But this two-time Oscar nominee — known to many as the Incredible Hulk’s alter ego or the guy to whom Brad Pitt explained the first rule of Fight Club — is also a believer in marrying technology and philanthropy.

He knows that a majority of people who now donate to charity don’t do so online; they write checks. But he and his partners contend that Crowdrise, with its mix of edginess, silliness and good-humored competition, can change that habit, especially for young people.

“The ’60s were the era of people realizing they could rally together to express their priorities,” says Mr. Norton. But today, he says, social networking offers “a new way of getting people together to create power in numbers.” More than that, he said, it can help users express themselves through the causes they support.

Mr. Norton added: “One of the things we’re trying to say at Crowdrise is plant a flag. Raise a fist. Declare yourself.”

Crowdrise aims to make raising money for a cause not just easy, but also fun. Setting up a page to support something you care about takes less than a minute. Then, friends and family can be invited to be sponsors by donating any amount of money, large or small. You don’t have to run a marathon. You can volunteer at a soup kitchen or do whatever strikes your fancy. But Ms. Wittenberg, who has already sent her e-mail to 33,000 runners based in the United States and will soon send one to the 27,000 or so based elsewhere, hopes that anyone running in New York on Nov. 7 will use Crowdrise to do it for charity.

Once your Crowdrise page is up, anyone can donate to it and join your team.

Crowdrise isn’t the only site that helps with online fund-raising. There are a handful, with FirstGiving.com among the best known. But Crowdrise is different, its founders and users say, because it seeks to build community in much the way that Facebook does.

Read more here: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/05/business/05proto.html?hpw

4 days ago - Comment

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gottalovemom Two worlds don't have to be apart! Giving back and Bungee Jumping..

As posted in
http://gottalovemom.blogspot.com/2010/07/two-worlds-dont-have-to-be-apart-giving.html

Just like any other third world countries, the Philippines has not reached it’s economic potential to the fullest. Poverty is its most significant problem and I can point out corruption in government, income inequalities, lower levels of education and huge population as culprits!

The Philippines just elected a new president, President P-Noy (Noynoy Aquino). The current polls show that approximately 84 percent of the Filipino people trust the new president. I pray and hope that he maintains to walk the “straight path” as opposed to the “crooked path”.

There are a lot of people who can give back to the community.
Some live close by and some live continents away.
Some will always consider Philippines "home" no matter where they'll be.

In his recent State of the Nation Address (SONA), he pointed out the many challenges he has in front of him. The one thing that stood out for me was :

“ The time when we will no longer be made to choose between our people’s security and the future of our children is upon us now.

We can build more classrooms, and we will fund service contracting under the Government Assistance to Students and Teachers in Private Education Program (GASTPE). Conditional cash transfers that aim to lessen the burden of education on parents will also be funded if this partnership becomes a reality.”

I pray that P-Noy will get the support, guidance and strength that he needs to overcome the obstacles.
The children need his help!

In 2005, I visited Manila for the first time after being away for 21 years. And I guess, God has a plan for me and my children. We met 5 children and their “nanays” who live in makeshift houses in Fairview Quezon City. Through my cousin, Maiet Biliran, we founded the SISBA Scholarship Fund ( Click here for previous posting of SISBA )

I always believe that education is important in solving poverty. Most of the children from poor families are not motivated to go to school because even though public education is free, the transportation cost is a burden to them, too. The SISBA program encourages the kids and their mothers (since mothers play an important role in a child’s development) to continue to be in school from Pre-K to college. (My cousin’s initial vision was to turn these kids to lawyers – but mine is for them to pick a career or profession that they are happy with!)

Since then every year, we donate $100 to each child to help with their transportation. It’s not much but it’s hard work and commitment for the kid-sponsors who donated the monies. SISBA fund is kids helping children by putting aside a part of the kids-sponsor’s allowances or income every week. It’s putting aside twenty-eight cents a day for 52 weeks! It’s less than $2 a week! And then every few years, if we get extra funds, we try to give the kids and their mothers a little treat to make them feel special and loved.

This week, I was able to take them to Manila Ocean Park (MOP). First of all, I was so happy to see how much the kids have grown since the last time I saw them three years ago. The children and their “nanays: were so happy to see me as much as I was happy to see them. Taking a trip to the park, even to a nearby public park, Luneta Park, is a luxury for them. The SISBA program covered for the transportation, meals and entrance fee to Manila Ocean Park. Thanks to the staff of MOP, we were given a group discount.

(click on the link to read the rest - and to see photos)
http://gottalovemom.blogspot.com/2010/07/two-worlds-dont-have-to-be-apart-giving.html

22 days ago - Comment

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JillSimpson How do you help a friend going through a crisis?

Good essay by someone who's been there:

Coping With Crises Close to Someone Else’s Heart

By HARRIET BROWN

Over the last few years, my family has weathered our share of crises. First our younger daughter was hospitalized for a week with Kawasaki disease, a rare condition in children that involves inflammation of the blood vessels, and spent several months convalescing at home. Soon after she recovered, our older daughter landed in the hospital with anorexia, which proved to be the start of a yearlong fight for her life.

Somewhere in the middle of that process, my mother-in-law was given a diagnosis of advanced lung cancer, and died less than 11 months later.

So we’ve had plenty of opportunities to observe not only how we dealt with trauma but how our friends, family and community did, too. For the most part, we were blessed with support and love; friends ran errands for us, delivered meals, sat in hospital waiting rooms, walked, talked and cried with us.

But a couple of friends disappeared entirely. During the year we spent in eating-disorder hell, they called once or twice but otherwise behaved as though we had been transported to Mongolia with no telephones or e-mail.

. . . . .

True empathy inspires what sociologists call instrumental aid. “There are any number of tasks to be done, and they’re as personal as your thumbprint,” Dr. Rainer said. If you really want to help a family in crisis, offer to do something specific: drive the carpool, weed the garden, bring a meal, do the laundry, go for a walk.

I tested that theory recently, when a friend’s mother went through a series of medical crises and moved to an assisted-living facility in our town. Normally, I might have been guilty of pseudo-care, asking if I could do anything but never really stepping up. Instead, I e-mailed her a list of tasks I could do, and asked if any of them would be helpful.

To my surprise, my friend responded by asking if I’d visit her mother on a day she couldn’t. Her mother was glad for the company, and my friend felt reassured, knowing that her mother wasn’t alone.

And I had the chance to do something truly useful for my friend, which in turn let me show her how much I cared about her. The time I spent with her mother turned out to be a gift for me.

Thinking back to my own years of crisis, I wondered why I’d focused on the friends who didn’t come through when so many others had. In retrospect, I wished I’d taken a slightly more Zen-like attitude.

“The human condition is that traumatic events occur,” said David B. Adams, a psychologist in private practice in Atlanta. “The reality is that we are equipped to deal with them. The challenge that lies before us is quite often more important than the disappointment that surrounds us.”

Read the whole article at:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/17/health/views/17essa.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&hpw

23 days ago - Comment

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JillSimpson Love this story/website about a family traveling around the world volunteering--you can read each kid's blog, even donate:

http://www.rtwwithus.org/

about 1 month ago - Comment

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Cooper Make sure you guys check out Bag It Forward http://bagitforward.org/ to collect school supplies for kids in need! Thanks!

about 1 month ago - Comment

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Holland http://lifesimplifiedforyou.com/2010/07/16/what-can-you-do/

Seriously...for $3, you can change a child's circumstances! Read more at the link above.

about 1 month ago - Comment

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Brandie Charity Focuses On Power Of Friendship To Change The World

By Jessica Coscia - Bashyam Spiro

How did a 1940's movie and the power of friendships inspire the formation of a global non-profit?

"As a child, I watched It's a Wonderful Life more than a dozen times. The line, ‘Remember, no man is a failure who has friends' really resonated with me," said Murali Bashyam, President, Friends Unite. Back then Bashyam may not have realized a simple Christmas movie would be the impetus that would connect him and others around the globe.

For years the core message of It's A Wonderful Life stuck with him. He'd reflect on those who helped him throughout his life and find himself assessing his place in the world, wondering: is it possible to build an organization that can change the outcome for people around the world through the simple power of friendship? "I always believed that real success comes from our journey and the lives we touch along the way. The contribution of human capital is just as valuable as, if not more so, than monetary capital," said Bashyam. "I knew that if the right people got together to share resources and ideas that real differences could be made, problems could be solved, lives could be made better."

Bashyam's idea recently turned solid with the creation of Friends Unite a global non-profit that works to provide the support necessary for people and communities to help themselves. Friends Unite's Web site (www.friendsunite.org) launched earlier this month. Friends Unite works to bring people, their ideas, and their spirit together to help solve some of the most pervasive problems faced by individuals and communities worldwide. The organization is currently focusing on partnerships in the areas of global education, development, and health.

Continue reading here: http://wake.mync.com/site/wake/news|Sports|Lifestyles/story/53397/Charity_Focuses_On_Power_Of_Friendship_To_Change_The_World

2 months ago - Comment

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Holland http://lifesimplifiedforyou.com/2010/06/21/got-an-hour-to-spare/

16 years ago when I moved to St. Louis, the Residence Life Office where I worked also housed the Volunteer Programs Office for the University. Wanting to make a good first impression and because I wanted to meet some new folks, I went in to see where some local needs might be. Since I didn't have a predictable schedule and didn't want to over commit, I requested something that was less than 5 hours/month. Their first suggestion was to be a reader/helper for an elderly woman who was visually impaired and I agreed to give it a shot. Mrs. Kelley and I met a week later and we've been together ever since. We read her mail, pay bills, do taxes, run occasional errands or enjoy a quick meal out.

There are a million places and ways to volunteer but many times people don't know where to start. Volunteer Match is one of the best comprehensive sites that can connect you locally and in an area of your interest. Enter your ZIP code, city or state and keywords describing the opportunity you're looking for or you can enter the skills you have or would like to develop. Idealist.org and Kids Care are good places if you have kids or teens that want to volunteer.

Read more of this article by clicking the link above.

3 months ago - Comment

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JillSimpson The best Father's Day gifts ever!

Love this post from Nick Kristoff! Gotta love those talented giant rats too (just hope I never meet them in person!) This statistic really got me:
"The National Retail Federation projects that Americans will spend $9.8 billion on Father’s Day this year. To put that in perspective, that’s more than enough to assure a primary education for every child on the planet who is not getting one right now."

DAD WILL REALLY LIKE THIS

By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
Published: June 16, 2010

No more neckties!

Sunday is Father’s Day, and we dads will be overwhelmed with neckties and wrench sets. We will feign ecstasy, and our loved ones will pretend to believe our protestations of pleasure.

But for a really nifty Father’s Day gift, how about sponsoring a rat? Specifically, an African giant pouched rat, about 30 inches long including tail. These are he-man rats, the kind that send cats fleeing. What’s more, we’re not talking about just any giant rat, but an educated one with the rodent equivalent of a Ph.D.

A Dutch company, Apopo, has trained these giant rats, which have poor sight but excellent noses, to detect landmines in Africa. The rats are too light to set off the mines, but they can explore a suspected minefield and point with their noses to buried mines. After many months of training, a rat can clear as much land in 20 minutes as a human can in two days.

In addition to earning their stripes as mine detectors, the giant rats are also trained in health work: detecting cases of tuberculosis. Possible TB sufferers provide samples of sputum, which are then handed over to the rats to sniff out. This detection process turns out to be much faster than your typical microscope examination. A technician with a microscope in Tanzania can screen about 40 samples a day, while one giant rat can screen the same amount in seven minutes.

What man wouldn’t pass up a necktie for the chance to be associated with an educated, supermacho giant rat? For just $36, you can buy a year’s supply of bananas to feed one of these rats. Or, for a gift more on the risqué side, $100 will buy a “love nest” for a breeding pair of rats.

Both options are at www.globalgiving.com, a site that allows donors to browse aid projects around the world and make a donation on the spot.

Father’s Day tends to be less a celebration of fatherhood than a triumph of commercialism. The National Retail Federation projects that Americans will spend $9.8 billion on Father’s Day this year. To put that in perspective, that’s more than enough to assure a primary education for every child on the planet who is not getting one right now.

In fact, we could send every child to primary school and have enough left over to get each dad a (cheap) necktie. And if we skipped store-bought cards (almost $750 million annually) and offered handmade versions, the savings alone could make a vast difference to great programs that help young American men escape poverty.

Think of the National Fatherhood Initiative, www.fatherhood.org, which works to support dads and keep them engaged in their children’s lives. There’s some evidence that absent fathers create a vicious cycle: boys grow up without positive male role models, get into trouble and then become absentee fathers themselves.

Another group is the Black Star Project, www.blackstarproject.org, which seeks to get families in low-income communities more involved in the educational lives of kids. Or there’s World of Money, www.worldofmoney.org, which coaches kids in poor communities on financial literacy and business skills.

For gadget lovers, how about a donation in dad’s name to the National Urban Technology Center, www.urbantech.org, which helps low-income youths gain computer skills?

Or for those into automotive accessories or tools and appliances (almost $1 billion a year, by the way), why not rev up instead a motorcycle used to bring medical care to people in remote areas? An aid group called Riders for Health, www.riders.org, provides motorcycles and cars to health workers in Africa, along with rigorous training on maintenance and repair. Health workers end up reaching roughly five times as many patients as they would on foot.

And if you give dad a stake in a motorcycle at a clinic in Zambia, you can be pretty sure he won’t crash it.

Wouldn’t most dads feel more honored by a donation to any of these organizations than by a donation to commercialism?

I think so. My hunch is that family members, manipulated by commercial messages, think that they aren’t showing dad enough love if they don’t buy him something expensive. But give us some credit! The friend who suggested this column, Sam Howe Verhovek, noted the huge sums spent on cuff links and Best Buy gift cards and said: “I don’t know about you, but I don’t really need any of the above. A handwritten, ‘Thanks, Dad!’ note from my kids would mean more than anything Hallmark’s poets could come up with.”

That’s the truth. But if you must pull out the credit card, this is my sincere advice: It’s a rare dad who would choose a store-bought card over a homemade card; or for that matter, a necktie over a gigantic, bomb-sniffing rat.

3 months ago - Comment

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Deborah Jack Johnson celebrates his father with "to the sea".

Reason #327 why I LOVE Jack Johnson...aka....my boyfriend ;)

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127771198

3 months ago - Comment

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ErinCS This is the most fantastic story!
98-Year-Old Woman Leaves Secret Millions to Home Town

Read more: http://newsfeed.time.com/2010/06/11/98-year-old-woman-leaves-secret-millions-to-home-town/#ixzz0qYmv3CBH

The tale of 98-year-old Verna Oller, who bequeathed her secret $4.5 million investing fortune to her home town of Long Beach, Washington. The money will be used to fund scholarships and build the town’s first indoor pool.

3 months ago - Comment

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rjlight You wouldn't think it would be so hard...

One of the things I determined when I started my business would be that I would give back as I could. I did one fundraiser and was supposed to do another and then the organizer backed out. I have been trying to find some charities that would like me to fundraise for them. This is how it works: The organizer invites people to a jewelry party, I bring the jewelry and give ALL of my profit to the charity. There are representatives with my company that have raised thousands of dollars for charities this way and I can't seem to! Maybe I want to have a connection with the cause or just know it is a match? I don't know, but I didn't expect it would be this hard to give money away. Maybe it is because people don't trust me? Or because I do gain sales and exposure people think it isn't really giving? Any thoughts?

4 months ago - Comment

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Holland http://lifesimplifiedforyou.com/2010/03/28/birthday-buddy/

Take a look at this phenomenal program I discovered last year called Birthday Buddy. This is currently through the St. Louis Foster and Adoptive Care Coalition but anyone from anywhere can participate or see if your own local agency has a similar program.

You can make a foster child’s birthday wishes come true by registering to be a Birthday Buddy! As a Birthday Buddy, you ask your guests to bring birthday presents to donate to a foster child in lieu of gifts for you or your own child. There are currently over 4000 children in foster care in St. Louis and most children spend at least 2 birthdays in foster care.

I talked with my daughter about doing this and we came to a compromise. We would ask all the kids coming to her birthday party to bring gifts for the birthday buddy but family gifts would still be for her. We intentionally selected a same age but different gender buddy so that the gifts wouldn't be so hard to part with. C'mon, she's 5, not Mother Teresa. And when we did drop the gifts off, she (nor I) couldn't have been more excited.

It couldn't be easier to become a birthday buddy:

Click on the link above for more information.

4 months ago - Comment

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juliepippert How can you help?

A while back, we were all talking about how we can volunteer and help. As a busy mom who juggles the myriad home and family demands with work, it's hard for me to find the time commitment most charities want from volunteers. There's the whole getting there thing plus the what do I do with the kids thing on top of the where do I find the time thing.

Still, giving back is really important to me so I search for creative ways I can help and support.

I'm very plugged into volunteering with the American Cancer Society.

I asked my friends there and got this nice reply about ways we can help:

"I heard back from our colleagues in other parts of the organization and the greatest opportunity for this centers around Hope Lodge.

Our Hope Lodge facilities can usually use items like throw blankets (very popular), pillows, comfort items, cards, frames, hand-knitted or crocheted small wraps (as many patients stay chilled through treatment and can never seem to get warm), etc. so your friend is right on target. These are all things that help the guests make their rooms and experiences feel homey.

As far as getting groups of women/book clubs together to do things, everyone could bring purchased/donated items and put together small "gift bags" with toiletries or laundry supplies that could be given to the guests at check in - those are always well received.

Additionally, making cards for cancer patients and the caregivers staying at the Hope Lodges that offer words of encouragement and support are also appreciated. Each Hope Lodge has spaces for mail for each guest room and we find that often times, Hope Lodge guests don't receive mail and they all LOVE to get mail. Or ... provide cards for guests to send to others.

For outward facing ideas, people should visit http://www.cancer.org/docroot/subsite/hopelodge/index.asp where they can find a listing of hope lodge facilities and contact information for donating items and finding out what else might be needed/well received."

I love these ideas! Very do-able! If anyone is interested is donating, helping, or combining efforts, let me know!!

Julie

4 months ago - Comment

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Cooper Save a Mother

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/09/opinion/09kristof.html

After all those Mother's Day brunches, now we can make the world safer for moms everywhere.

4 months ago - Comment

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Emily The Mother's Day Walk

There are lots of charitable walks timed to Mother's Day this year. As I've written about before, I'm joining one in Central Park that works to improve pediatric emergency care - the R Baby Foundation.

http://www.rbabyfoundation.org/

I'll be with thousands of people running and walking this morning (I'm walking with Beth Feldman (Rolemommy), Julia Beck (Forty Weeks) and Nicole Feliciano (MomTrends), though I have a feeling Nicole is going to go running right by us.

We have a GORGEOUS, chilly day, and I'm excited to be heading into the city.

4 months ago - Comment

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Cooper To help the people of Nashville who are facing devastating flooding, our awesome friend @alliworthington of Blissom and Nashville fame suggests HandsOnNashville.

http://www.hon.org/HomePage/index.php/home.html

At @HONashville you will find a list of volunteer and donation needs as well as up to date information on ways to help. It looks like a wonderful resource. Our thoughts and best, most healing wishes are with our friends in Nashville right now.

4 months ago - Comment

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Gina Rau Hello everyone. I'm new to the Motherhood and was so excited to stumble across this circle. My family started a project just over a year ago called Change Becomes Change where we share simple, easy, fun ways that every family can make positive change. It's been a lot of fun for all of us. I'm looking forward to exploring the links and stories here.

4 months ago - Comment

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Emily 'Idol Gives Back' raises $45 million

http://marquee.blogs.cnn.com/2010/04/23/idol-gives-back-raises-45-millon/?hpt=Sbin

It wasn’t a good night for Tim Urban, who was booted off "American Idol" Wednesday night - but the two-hour event that was “Idol Gives Back” had a very good evening, raising almost $45 million for charity.

This year’s show was broadcast live from the “Idol” stage, where host Ryan Seacrest was the master of ceremonies, and the Pasadena Civic Auditorium, where actress/singer/rapper Queen Latifah served as host.

“Once again, I am over overwhelmed by the generosity of the ‘American Idol’ viewers, our sponsors and our special benefactors. I am so thankful to all of the celebrity guests and performers who appeared Wednesday night to support ‘Idol Gives Back,’ ” said “American Idol” creator Simon Fuller. (Click the link above to read the rest.)

5 months ago - Comment

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juliepippert National Volunteer Week!

How will you spend your hours?

American Cancer Society, for example, is asking for only one hour and offers a neat pledge/tracking tool here: http://www.morebirthdays.com/morebirthdays/volunteer.asp

I mention them because that is where I donate most of my volunteer time.

What's your favorite?

5 months ago - Comment

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