Author Helps 101 Year Old Woman Reclaim her Foreclosed Home

Last fall, Texana Hollis, 101, sat in her wheelchair in her front yard and wept as she watched workers move her furniture out of her home and onto her lawn. A great-grandmother, Hollis had lived in her house for more than 60 years, ever since her husband purchased it after returning from World War II.

She was evicted. Her son had failed to pay taxes on the property, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development foreclosed.

Mitch Albom, author of the popular memoir "Tuesdays with Morrie" and Detroit resident was stunned as he heard of Hollis' troubles on the local news.  "This is what happens when people forget people," Albom said. "You can't throw someone out like that; I don't care what the numbers are."

Albom went to work purchasing the home from HUD and mobilizing his charity S.A.Y. Detroit to make the home livable again. Caring people came together to make renovations so that Hollis can live in her home again.

Rescuing Children from Prisons

Pushpa Basnet doesn't need an alarm clock. Every morning, the sounds of 40 children wake her up in the two-story home she shares with them.  As she helps the children dress for school, Basnet might appear to be a housemother of sorts. But the real story is more complicated.  All of these children once lived in Nepal's prisons. This 28-year-old woman has saved every one of them from a life behind bars.

Nepal is one of the poorest countries in the world -- according to UNICEF, 55% of the population lives below the international poverty line -- so it lacks the social safety net that exists in most Western nations. Space is extremely limited in the few children's homes affiliated with the government.

So when no local guardian is available, an arrested parent often must choose between bringing their children to jail with them or letting them live on the streets. Nepal's Department of Prison Management estimates 80 children live in the nation's prisons.

"It's not fair for (these) children to live in the prison because they haven't done anything wrong," said Basnet, who started a nongovernmental organization to help. "My mission is to make sure no child grows up behind prison walls."

Basnet is one of several in Nepal who have started groups to get children out of prison. Since 2005, she has assisted more than 100 children of incarcerated parents. She runs a day care program for children under 6 and a residential home where mostly older children receive education, food, medical care and a chance to live a more normal life.

Pushpa Basnet has been nominated as a 2012 CNN Hero.

Giving Wildlife a Second Chance

Yggdrasil Urban Wildlife Rescue heals sick and injured animals and prepares them for release back to the urban wild.  They also care for orphaned animals until they are able to live on their own.

When an injured or orphaned wildlife mammal is found, we nurse these animals back to a healthy state where they are able to be released back into the wild. Through education to children and adults alike, we try to raise awareness of these wild residents of our cities in the hope that a better co-habitation will lead to less injuries/orphans and more enjoyment of the urban wildlife with which we share our cities. 

As a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit, Yggdrasil educates people of all ages in the wonder and enjoyment of wildlife and nature and why it is so vital we protect it.   Patience and compassion for urban wildlife helps the creatures to be viewed in a positive light by everyone- not as pests, but as important co-habitators of our environment.


We are a grassroots organization and are 100% volunteer-run and donation-funded!

Teen Starts 3 Nonprofit Organizations

Jillian Roels knows what it's like being bullied.  The grief she experienced in junior high school inspired her to start three nonprofits, including a chapter of Girl Talk, a mentoring program for middle-school girls.

“I wish I’d had something like this to go to when I was dealing with tough stuff in junior high,” she said.

Jillian meets with a group of elementary school girls at Rosa Parks Elementary once a week. Using free materials provided by Girl Talk, the girls discuss subjects such as body image, friendship, and dealing with divorce.

She also meets with a group of junior high girls once or twice a month, discussing topics more appropriate for this age group, such as teen partying, depression and dating. By sharing her own experiences, Jillian helps the girls open up about theirs.

Listening skills are emphasized. Vanessa, a sixth grader, says, “You can say what’s on your mind, and they’ll listen and try to help sometimes.”

Marisa, also in sixth grade, was very shy when she joined the group. Now she speaks up confidently and likes being able to share her feelings. She also likes having an older role model.

“Jillian is a good person to look up to,” she said.

BEFORE STARTING her Girl Talk chapter, Jillian was already giving back in big—and small—ways. Two years ago, she created Spark Your Heart to inspire and perform small acts of kindness.

The idea grew out of an encounter with a homeless man selling roses on a street corner. She brought him snacks and small gifts to cheer him up, and the experience inspired her to continue performing acts of kindness all over town.

Since then, Jillian has babysat for special needs students, cheered on Special Olympics participants, written letters to military personnel overseas, brought flowers to retirement homes, collected items for the homeless, and—well, the list goes on.

“My passion lies in helping others,” she said.

When she learned about families who couldn’t pay the bills for their children’s medical care, Jillian created Spark Your Little Heart, a Seattle Children’s Hospital Guild that raises funds for uncompensated care. She has organized auctions, teddy bear teas and other events, and recently collected hats for children with cancer and stuffed animals for young hospital patients.


Many of these community service projects have been done in tandem with Jillian’s Girl Talk groups.

“Every day provides an opportunity to make a difference, and even a little bit goes a long way," she says.

Two years ago, she decided to try something new: a scholarship pageant. Besides the chance for scholarships, Jillian said she entered "for the experience.” She was chosen Miss Redmond Teen USA 2011, and she also competed in the Miss Seattle Pageant this Saturday, earning the scholarship award for community outreach.

Jillian is excited about college next year, where she plans to major in sociology. She hopes to find a way to combine her studies with some of her other interests—working with special needs kids, writing and interior design.

Whatever Jillian chooses to do with her life, you can be sure it will be more than just talk.

Source.

Teens for Jeans Helps Outfit the Homeless

Teens across the country collected a record-breaking 1 million jeans for homeless youth in just one month.

For the fifth year running, Do Something (dot) org partnered with retailer Aeropostale, and a few young celebrities, to execute its Teens for Jeans campaign, a program that galvanizes young people to collect jeans for people their age living on the streets.

The program has distributed 2.5 million pairs since it was first established.

"It blows my mind to see how many teens care so much about helping other teens with this campaign," DoSomething.org Chief Marketing Officer Aria Finger said in a press release. "Our members really did an amazing job this year!"

The campaign hit the milestone with the help of 1,000 stores, 12,000 schools and 125,000 teens cleaned out their closets for the cause.

Source.

Colby Salerno's Hope for a Heart

Video Courtesy: CTNOW (dot) com

Colby Salerno doesn't feel his "story is more important than anyone else's" he writes on his Tales from the 10th Floor blog.  But he's thrilled about his own role in increasing awareness about organ donations in Connecticut.  The 24-year-old has spent the last 3 months in the hospital waiting for a heart transplant. Salerno has been living with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy for half of his young life. The condition causes the heart muscle to thicken, forcing the heart to work harder to pump blood. A heart transplant is Salerno's best chance at life, and 3 months of hospital living haven't soured him on his dream to go to medical school and become a cardiologist.

Besides having his story spotlighted for organ donation education, more than 5,600 people have rallied in support of Salerno on facebook on the Have a Heart for Colby page. The local Fox station in Hartford featured Salerno's blog, Tales for the Tenth Floor, and the $5,000 donation pledge that came from the Eric De La Cruz Hope for Hearts Foundation for financial assistance to the Salerno family.  The money was raised through the recent Raise a Glass wine mixer and benefit.

"Colby is an amazing young man whose strength, positivity, courage and overall approach to his illness is more than inspiring. I believe he has something to teach us all about life."  Veronica De La Cruz, Hope for Hearts Foundation

Veronica De La Cruz is an NBC/MSNBC anchor. She founded Hope for Hearts after the death of her younger brother, Eric, who suffered from severe dilated cardiomyopathy and was denied insurance coverage due to his pre-existing condition. Veronica worked diligently and feverishly through social media and raised funds for her brother's heart transplant, but Eric De La Cruz passed away on July 4, 2009 before the surgery could happen.  She's made it her mission since to help other heart transplant patients like Colby Salerno navigate the exhausting process.

With humor and infinite patience, Salerno regularly shares his life now on his tumblr blog.  You can send your good will his way with greeting cards mailed to: Hartford Hospital 80 Seymour St., Bliss 10-I, Room 6, Hartford, CT 06102

And a fund established for Colby's cause accepts donations:

The Colby Heart Transplant Fund 

P.O. Box 225

Cheshire, CT 06410-0225

Coral Reef Restoration Inspires "Voluntourism"

In the next few weeks, some springbreakers will forgo the "wild" life in Daytona and the Florida panhandle for undersea wildlife in the Keys. Ken Nedimyer has made volunteer vacations popular with his Coral Restoration Foundation.  The project is dedicated to rebuilding coral reefs and does so by farming coral off Florida's most southern coast.  Climate change, pollution, and overfishing have all contributed to the decline of corals which are tiny, stationary marine animals.  The corals spend about a year in an underwater nursery before being transplanted into the wild.

That passion led to Nedimyer starting the Coral Restoration Foundation, which has grown more than 25,000 staghorn and elkhorn corals in underwater nurseries. He and his staff of volunteers work three days a week maintaining the nurseries just off Key Largo. The nurseries cover more than an acre of the ocean floor. --CNN

The goal is to get them to reproduce on their own and repopulate an area where they no longer exist.  Once Nedimyer felt helpless, but now he see hope.  His is the largest underwater nursery in the Gulf and wider Caribbean.

Nedimyer and his Coral Restoration Foundation were recently spotlighted by CNN Heroes.

Helping After March 2nd Tornado Outbreak

Weather Channel expert Greg Forbes says this storm outbreak has the potential to be the U.S.'s largest ever recorded in March.



If you're looking for ways to help, check out these organizations:

American Red Cross
Red Cross workers have opened shelters for displaced residents, providing meals for victims and first responders of the disaster.

Support relief efforts:
Donate online at redcross.org
Text RedCross to 90999 to make a $10 donation
Call 618-529-1525

Salvation Army
The relief organization is providing feeding sites, first responders and clean-up crews. It is not accepting in-kind donations at this time. Contribute to relief efforts:
--Text the word ARCH to 80888 to make a $10 donation
--Donate online at SalvationArmy.org
--Donate through the mail at The Salvation Army, PO Box 21787, St. Louis, MO 63109. Please designate the gift "Storm Relief."
--Call 1-800-SAL-ARMY

Team Rubicon
An organization that deploys veterans to help with disaster relief, Team Rubicon has sent three teams to Kansas, Missouri and Illinois. The group is clearing debris, assisting with security and making repairs where possible. Support Team Rubicon's response efforts here.

United Way of the Plains
Find volunteer opportunities and ways to help the small town of Harveyville, Kan. Support efforts and find options here.

Harrisburg Volunteer Hotline
Anyone wishing to volunteer with relief efforts should call 618-252-3732 and will be contacted as soon as possible.

Branson Volunteers
Anyone interested in volunteering or providing recovery assistance in the Branson area can find opportunities at volunteerbranson.org.

Feeding America
The hunger organization is calling for an increase in food donations to serve those in affected areas.Find local food banks here.

Architecture for Humanity
A grassroots network of building professionals, volunteers provide their services to areas of need post disaster. The organization accepts donations online.

Floating Doctors

Floating Doctors meets immediate medical needs and implement sustainable approaches to living healthier in underserved coastal areas around the world.  The mission is "to reduce the present and future burden of disease in the developing world and to promote improvements in health care delivery worldwide."

The organization is a nonprofit with goals that include:

• Providing free acute and preventative health care services and delivering donated medical supplies to isolated areas.
• Reducing child and maternal mortality through food safety/prenatal education, nutritional counseling and clean water solutions.
• Studying and documenting local systems of health care delivery and identifying what progress have been made, what challenges remain, and what solutions exist to improve health care delivery worldwide.
• Using the latest communications technologies to bring specialist medical knowledge to the developing world, and to share our experiences with the global community and promote cooperation in resolving world health care issues.

Floating Doctors stay in operation through donations.  A $5 donation provides 30 children with a month supply of multivitamins. One hundred dollars will microfinance a surgery. The more you give, the more the medical team can accomplish.

Founder Dr. Benjamin LaBrot is featured as a 2012 CNN Hero.

Seed Savers Exchange

Many people may not be able to say whether or not they've eaten genetically modified food, but chances are they have since 70% of the food available in the U.S. contains genetically modifed ingredients like corn or soy.  Seed Savers Exchange works toward preservation of food integrity:

Seed Savers Exchange is a non-profit organization dedicated to saving and sharing heirloom seeds. Since 1975, our members have been passing on our garden heritage by collecting and distributing thousands of samples of rare garden seeds to other gardeners.

Gardeners and food purists rely on Seed Savers Exchange for untreated, non-GMO (genetically modified organism) varieties of fruits, vegetables and herbs.  From arugula to zucchini, growers have more than 13,000 types of seeds from which to choose.

Raise a Glass for Healthy Hearts

On Tuesday February 28, 2012, The Eric De La Cruz Hope for Hearts Foundation will be hosting, Raise A Glass, a wine mixer and benefit. This event will take place at Vinatta Project, 69 Gansevoort St., NY, from 6 to 9 P.M. The benefit is to raise funds for heart transplant patients.

Along with a night of celebrating February as National Heart month, with MSNBC’s Veronica De La Cruz and other special guests, a silent auction will be conducted and all the proceeds will be towards the Hope for Hearts Foundation.

“The Eric De La Cruz Hope For Hearts Foundation has been formed to honor the memory of Eric De La Cruz and fulfill his wish that no heart transplant patient would ever again have to suffer because of a lack of insurance or the inability to pay for life-saving medical treatment.”

For more information or to make a reservation visit: http://www.hopeforheartsfoundation.org/raise.html

http://twitter.com/veronicadlcruz

@VeronicaDLCruz

February 28. Save the date and help a heart patient!

Source

KIND: Kids in Need of Dentistry

A child with a toothache is a child in debilitating pain. Eating, sleeping and concentration are all affected, and school work becomes a daunting task. Kids In Need of Dentistry (KIND) has spent the last century helping children achieve a healthy mouth.

KIND is a nonprofit organization providing "high-quality, affordable dental care to children in need throughout Colorado." Since 1912, KIND has helped thousands of children each year get the dental services they need at affordable rates.

The Chopper Topper program puts volunteer dental professional in schools. Young students receive oral health education, dental screenings and sealants at no charge.  The Miles for Smiles program is dentistry-on-wheels with a mobile unit that travels into rural areas and other places in Colorado with limited access to oral health care.

Learn more by visiting the Kids in Need of Dentistry website.

The Morgan Center: Daycare for Children with Cancer

Children with cancer often face isolation as chemotherapy suppresses the immune system and leaves them open to other illness that could complicate and even risk their lives further.  Nancy Zuch saw her toddler, Morgan, go through this as the 2 year old underwent treatment for leukemia. Zuch opened the Morgan Center, a New York-based preschool, to provide a clean environment for kids with cancer so the little ones wouldn't miss out on learning and making friends.

THE MORGAN CENTER is a 501(c)(3) not for profit charitable organization dedicated to providing preschool age children who are undergoing treatment for cancer the opportunity to interact and socialize, in a safe environment that stimulates cognitive and social development. Children on chemotherapy treatment have a suppressed immune system, and could otherwise risk infection and serious illness by attending typical age appropriate preschool programs.

The program has been so successful that another New York center is in the works, and Zuch has been approached by other states to reproduce her model of care around the country.

CNN Heroes spotlights The Morgan Center and what Nancy Zuch has made possible for children battling cancer.

Good.is, for people striving to make the world better

Left, right. In, out. Greed, altruism. Us, them. These are the defaults and they are broken. We are the alternative model. We are the reasonable people who give a damn. No dogma. No party lines. No borders. We care about what works--what is sustainable, prosperous, productive, creative, and just--for all of us and each of us. This isn’t easy, but we are not afraid to fail. We’ll figure it out as we go.

Good is a collection of people, businesses, moms, kids, artists, organizations, policymakers, students, teachers, and engineers. Everyone is participating in one simple idea that each is elevated by being connected to others.

• Good funds ideas that correct problems.
• Good promotes business that think about more than profits.
• Good applauds technology that makes doctors more compassionate.
• Good is science that leads to understanding.
• Good cares about environments that make a cleaner world or a saner working space.

Good's range of interest is a wide as every human imagination.

The Moth: Preserving the Storytelling Tradition

Stories attract people like moths to a flame.  Poet and novelist, George Dawes Green considered this in naming his foundation, The Moth.

George wanted to recreate, in New York, the feeling of sultry summer evenings in his native Georgia, where he and his friends would gather on his friend Wanda’s porch to share spellbinding tales. There was a hole in the screen which let in moths that were attracted to the light, and the group started calling themselves The Moths. The first New York Moth event was held in George’s living room, but word spread fast, and the events soon moved to cafes and clubs throughout the city. 

The not-for-profit organization is dedicated to the art and craft of storytelling. Experts and novices alike are allowed to share their stories as performance pieces. The former police officer in the video above tells of a humiliating experience as a rookie when he locked himself in the back of his own squad car.

Since 1997, The Moth has presented thousands of stories, told live and without notes, to standing-room-only crowds worldwide.

Phoenix Multisport: choosing health and sobriety

Scott Strode offers choice to people recovering from alcohol and drug addiction.  Strode battled addiction himself and knows one of the struggles is tearing away from social circles that help perpetuate continued substance abuse.  He founded Phoenix Multisport as a place for those facing these sorts of challenges.  The name is Phoenix alludes to the the mythical creature rising new and alive from its own ashes.  Stode's sports club welcomes anyone with 48 hours of sobriety free of charge.  Participants have instant camaraderie and a range of activities that promotes healthy living and fun.

"Life should be better once you get sober," said Strode, 38. "(We want to) help people build a new life, a new self-image and have fun without getting high." (CNN)

More than 4,700 people have participated in Phoenix which Strode started in 2007.  He is now featured as one of CNN's Heroes for 2012.

The Soup Movement

GPSoup is a gathering of like-minded citizens whose goal is to fund local initiatives by providing them with seed money that launches an idea or project.  It started with twitter and emails then became a monthly gathering.

Now GPSoup meets the last Sunday of every month. Everyone is asked to bring a $10 donation and a can of soup to be donated as well.

The $10 donation gets participants three things. A bowl. A spoon. A vote.

After a meal of soup and bread we will, as a group, listen to proposals from members of our community. Each proposal has five minutes to explain to those gathered why their idea would benefit the citizens of their community.  At the end of the presentations, you will be asked to submit your vote as to which idea has the most merit. We are not looking for the biggest, or the best idea. We as a group will have roughly $500-$1000 to grant someone, that's not a lot of money, unless there's some real ingenuity involved.

The idea should be new and something that hasn't been done before. It should be a new solution to an old problem.  Groups brainstorming for solving social issues are popping up throughout the U.S. and Canada.  NPR has more.

Heart Healthy Tips for Heart Health Awareness Month

The Eric De La Cruz Hope for Hearts Foundation raises Heart Health Awareness this month through social media.  Small changes in lifestyle and behavior can lead to better heart health.  Tips include:

• Cooking more at home
• Getting a check-up and having your cholesterol checked every 5 years
• Adding green tea to your daily diet
• Getting proper sleep
• Laughing more
• Choose whole grain breads
• Taking a tech break
• Raising heart health awareness by sharing tips via social media.

Hope for Hearts founder Veronica De La Cruz explains in this public service announcement how you can be heart smart while shopping:

The Hope for Hearts Foundation's was created in memory of Eric De La Cruz (Veronica's brother) who died while waiting for a heart transplant.  The organization helps people navigate the medical and financial hurdles heart transplant candidates face.  Presently Hope for Hearts is working with a new patient, Colby Salerno, who is waiting for a heart. He is celebrating his 24th birthday this month.

"We are trying to organize a donor drive online for him, since there are a shortage of organs and he has been waiting for a heart now for more than a year. His arteries are hardening and his heart is turning into scar tissue. The only thing that can save him is a heart transplant."  --Veronica De La Cruz, founder

If you're interested in helping Colby you can donate here.

Georgia's Friends of Refugees

The Perennial Plate Episode 90: Refugee Garden from Daniel Klein on Vimeo.

Friends of Refugees nurtures the Atlanta Metro area's refugees through relationships and opportunities that "provide for their well-being, education and employment as they become contributing members of society."

Thousands of refugees come to the U.S. each year seeking a better life. In the community of Clarkston, GA, near Atlanta, approximately 60,000 refugees have settled since the 1990s.  More 150 different ethnic groups are represented and Clarkston has been named “the most diverse square mile in America” by the New York Times.

Community Gardens are one way Georgia's newest residents can develop friendships while providing fresh, wholesome food for their families. Iraqis, Nepalese, Bhutanese, Burmese and others make the opportunity to raise produce.  Friends of Refugees also offers employment help, English classes, and after-school tutoring.  Literacy classes and summer camps are also provided by this 501 (c)(3) nonprofit.

Operation: Glass Slipper

The Ordway’s production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's “Cinderella” partners with a nonprofit to bring fairy tale moments for girls in low-income families. Operation Glass Slipper is the fairy godmother to these girls who dream of attending their high school proms.  The project provides dresses, new shoes, and accessories hoping to make a memorable prom experience in the spring.

“Its such a lovely mission that Operation Glass Slipper has,” said Ordway president Patricia Mitchell. “The Ordway was really happy to be a part of helping them achieve it.”

In January, Operation Glass Slipper received 200 dresses, 40 pairs of shoes and 50 pieces of jewelry.  Besides individual donations, the nonprofit also received help from local bridal and prom shops, as well as corporations.

In 2011, Operation Glass Slipper helped 1,100 girls prepare for prom.

Archi's Acres: From Combat Fields to Farms

Archi's Acres understands the problems facing veterans leaving combat service.  One of the farm's founders served as a Marine.  Colin Archipley and his wife Karen started farming with avocado trees.  When their methods proved unprofitable, they went for more sustainable methods by switching to raising basil and using hydroponic methods.  Their choice brought them success; so, they wanted to share their knowledge with returning veterans:

The USDA has a push right now to create a 100,000 farmers per year over the next five years.  They're not going to meet those goals, but we think we have a population that can certainly help who have the motivation and the willingness to do this; as well as the leadership skills and the management ability to operate a business.  --Colin Archipley

About half of veterans come from rural areas.  The Archipleys see farming as a natural transition back home for a veteran and the active military spend a lot of time outdoors.  Archi's Acres offers Veterans Sustainable Agriculture Training (VSAT) through a local community college.

With the help of VSAT, retired Marine Mike Hanes invented a wholesome and nutritional hot sauce called Dang!.

Go Halfsies for Good Health and Fighting Hunger

Halfsies: Connecting the Dots from Go Halfsies on Vimeo.

"About 40% of the food produced in the United States isn't consumed. Every day Americans waste enough food to fill the Rose Bowl. And our national food waste habit is on the upswing: We waste 50% more food today than we did in 1974." -- Jonathan Bloom, author of American Wasteland

Go Halfsies is a nonprofit and social initiative offering restaurant-goers the choice of healthier meal portions, reducing food waste, and supporting the fight against hunger.  When people choose to "go halfsies" at a participating restaurant, they receive a half-portion and still pay full price.  The restaurant then donates to local and world hunger causes.

Right now, New York City and Austin, Texas restaurants plan to participate, but since the idea was just featured, Go Halfsies has received requests from DC, Atlanta, Athens, Saf Fran, Boston, LA, Chicago, & even Australia.

Depave.org Reinventing Neighborhoods

PARKING LOTS to PARADISE // Documentary from Joey Dello Russo on Vimeo.

By all accounts, it was an awesome day! Frogs with jackhammers, asphalt art, 147 volunteers representing four continents, two Portland City Council Candidates, lots of laughter, music, celebration, pizza, donuts, and lots of earth liberated from the stranglehold of asphalt.

Too often, pavement and asphalt blight urban areas and streamline pollution into waterways.  An unutilized stretch of concrete compounds the heat in urban and suburban areas.  Depave.org has been greening up cities and towns by removing unwanted pavement and replacing it with parks, gardens and eco-friendly areas.  The organization's objectives include:

• Providing information, inspiration, and technical assistance to those wishing to remove concrete and asphalt.
• Educating the public about the benefits of pavement removal. 
• Advocating to minimize and/or reduce the amount of impervious pavement in public construction and repair projects.
• Promoting responsible and creative reuse and recycling of concrete and asphalt. 
• Providing an opportunity for greater connection with the natural world.

Depave's work is a nonprofit undertaking with a vision of "livable cities where people and wildlife coexist and prosper amidst clean air, clean water, robust urban forests and thriving local agriculture."

Cops Against Cancer

As a cancer survivor, Officer Craig Phinney sees himself as handed a second chance at living.  Knowing the many trials cancer patients endure and with deep gratitude for his own survival, Phinney and his wife founded Cops Against Cancer. The nonprofit's mission is two-fold:

• Helping those cancer patients and their families with the overwhelming and unexpected expenses and challenges presented to them during a very difficult time of their lives. 
• Assisting to build Colorectal Cancer awareness within our communities through public and patient education and to provide the resources for those in need of our assistance.

Cops against Cancer receives money through sponsors and donations.  While Phinney knows it’s important to raise money for research, he has firsthand knowledge of how critical financial support to cancer patients is.

In the U.S., cancer accounts for one of every four deaths, according to numbers released by the American Cancer Society. Well over a million Americans are diagnosed with cancer each year.

Mikey's Meals

A boy transforms his profound gratitude into service after receiving a life-saving operation. Michael Carraway Jr. received a liver transplant at UCSF Medical Center in 2008.  He had been a healthy, active 6th grader participating in sports, music, and Indian dance.  He became sick, and doctors placed him on a list for an organ transplant.  Michael's life was saved by a teenager who was in a traffic accident.  His recovery was swift, and by the time Christmas rolled around, Michael told his mother he wanted to feed homeless people for Christmas.  Mikey's Meals was born.

I prepared dinner and fed 25 people Christmas 2008 to start. In 2009, except for the months of April and May, when Michael was in the hospital, Mickey’s Meals feed 1,175 people in the city of Oakland, CA. Christmas 2009, in addition to providing meals to the homeless, Mikey’s Meals sponsored its first toy drive and handed out 100 gift bags that included toiletries, hats, socks, and gloves to adults.

Mikey's Meals also raises awareness about organ donations.  For his Pay-It-Forward spirit, Michael was recently featured as a CNN Hero for 2012.

Global Village Construction Set from Open Source Ecology

Open Source Ecology has created the Global Village Construction Set.  In technical terms, it's an "open source, low-cost, high performance technological platform that allows for the easy, do-it-yourself assembling of 50 different industrial machines."  The organization suggests you think of it as a life size set of legos that can create economies anywhere in the world.

Farmers, engineers and supporters are the brain power behind Open Source Ecology:

So far, they've prototyped 8 of the 50 Machines -- the tractor, drill press, soil pulverizer, torch table, hydraulic power unit, compressed earth brick press, walk-behind tractor, and 150-ton hole puncher. Along the way, they've been publishing the designs and instructions on their wiki. They've been financially supported by the crowd. A growing base of more than 400 "true fans" pays a small amount every month, and their recently successful Kickstarter campaign will help to build a 5k sq. ft. fabrication training facility at OSE's rural Missouri headquarters.

The main goal is to make farming, building, and manufacturing less of an obstacle financially.  The Global Village Construction Set costs 8 times less the equipment from big industrial producers.  3-D designs, schematics, and instructional video are all available on Wiki.

Open Source Ecology's goal for 2012 is to build the next 8 prototypes of the Global Village Construction Set.

Project Re-Generation: Ending Teen Idleness

Teens in Brooklyn turn away from guns, drugs and gang life thanks to the volunteer-based nonprofit founded by Barnabas Shakur. Since 2001, Project Re-Generation has attracted 5,000 volunteers who assist with legal services, career guidance, interview skills, and after school tutoring.  Shakur says the goodness of the community is what has made Project Re-Generation work.  While giving teenagers guidance is a priority, adults are encouraged to participate.
Programs for Teens:

• Foot Soldiers Program
• Knicks Poetry Program

Homeowners & Professionals Can Get Involved:

• Foot Soldiers Property Maintenance Services
• 1000 People whoBANG Professional Group Community Pride Day

Citywide, New York City faces a staggering 50% dropout rate. However, those involved in Project Re-Generation have 96% graduation rate, and many go on to pursue a university education.

The Pay It Forward Coffee Shop

Some customers in Bluffton, South Carolina get random acts of kindness with their morning coffee.  A wave of "pay it forward" began two years ago at The Corner Perk when a woman left an extra 100 dollar bill to cover the coffee lovers who followed her that day, and she insisted she remain anonymous. Word spread, and others wanted to make the same gesture--also leaving money to pay for customers that came in.  The owner reports some people come in and leave money without even getting coffee.

"People will come in and say, 'What do you mean? I don't understand. Are you trying to buy me a coffee today?'" the shop's owner, Josh Cooke, told the local news. "And I say, 'No, somebody came in 30 minutes ago and left money to pay for drinks until it runs out.'"

Bluffton is a small town of only 12,000 people.  The generosity is deeply appreciated in economically tough times.

Technology for the Poor

A 20 dollar investment in a container garden can yield 25 pounds of food.  This is one idea Dr. Job Ebenezer implements as he works to find ways to address food security among the poor. Feed bags, wooden pallets, and discarded tires are also handy containers for gardening in tight urban spaces. Inspired by the ingenuity of George Washington Carver, Ebenezer founded his nonprofit, Technology for the Poor.

"With inexpensive containers and suitable soil mix, you can create an urban garden virtually anywhere - on roof tops, vacant city lots, brown fields, and unused portion of parking lots." --Dr. Job Ebenezer

The Ohio-based organization isn't limited to the U.S. or food scarcity issues.  Technology for the Poor is spreading sustainable technologies all over the world.  Bicycles and simple windmills can be used for energy production.  Low-cost home construction includes ideas from the early American pioneering efforts when straw served as a critical material in building efforts.

Learn how to construct your own container garden by visiting the website.

Cell Phones for Soldiers

Back in 2004, two kids from Massachusetts came up with the idea to help troops and their families by way of cell phone service.  Since then Robbie and Brittany Bergquist and their family has raised more than "$7 million in donations and collected more than 8.3 million cellular devices" as Cell Phones for Soldiers.

Cell Phones for Soldiers operates as a nonprofit and is dedicated to providing deployed and returning troops cost-free methods to communicate with family while serving in the United States armed forces.

Since 2004, Cell Phones for Soldiers:

• Raised more than $7 million and provided more than 114 million minutes of free talk time
• Mails approximately 12,000 calling cards each week
• Recycled more than 8.3 million cell phones, reducing the impact on landfills
• Anticipates the launch of a new program, Helping Heroes Home, to provide returning troops with 30-days of free phone service following deployment.
• Has remained a family-run, non-profit organization operated almost exclusively by Bob, Gail, Brittany, Robbie and Courtney Bergquist.

You can support the effort by visiting the Cell Phones for Soldiers donation page.

Homeboy Industries Gives Hope to a Community and Futures to former Gang Members

Weary of performing funerals, Father Greg Boyle wondered, "What if?"  What if the community invested in itself, its people, instead of problem solving by incarceration?  Boyle's concern evolved into Homeboy Industries which is now operating a $14 million budget.  The organization began with a strong focus on jobs and job training as an alternative to gang violence. However, over the last twenty plus years, the organization has grown and now includes a charter high school, training facilities, tattoo removal and mental health services. Former gang members work for Homeboy Industries' Bakery, Homegirl Cafe and Homeboy Diner.

Gang-related homicides in Los Angeles county are way down over the last two decades and Homeboy has won both praise and funding from government officials -- last June, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa helped launch the opening of a Homeboy Diner at City Hall. And the organization has inspired similar initiatives in San Francisco, Boston and Missouri.

After going through Homeboy Industries job training, participants can specialize in "baking bread, learning to silkscreen, developing retail skills, or running a restaurant and catering business."

Enham's History of Helping

Enham in the UK began as a rehab community for veterans of WWI and military families.  In the ninety years since, the foundation has expanded its scope to focus on empowering people with disabilities.

"We have been responding to an ever-changing world by developing unique and innovative ways to continue to help disabled people exercise choice, control and independence."

Because of Enham, seven people with disabilities were just afforded the opportunity to climb Mount Kilimanjaro. Enham empowers by opening up opportunities and supporting choices for people with disabilities or in need.

Central to the organizations mission is making sure people with special challenges can:

• Live the lives they want
• enter into sustainable, paid work
• fulfill their dreams and aspirations

True to the nonprofit's history, Enham has reached out in support to the service men and women who fulfilled tours of duty in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The World Peace Game: Teaching Kids to Save the World

Devoted teacher, John Hunter found a way to allow students to resolve military conflicts and economic crisis in a classroom setting.  Hunter's The World Peace Game has "the goal to extricate each country from dangerous circumstances and achieve global prosperity with the least amount of military intervention." Students play on teams that represent different nations.

Children must wade through highly charged philosophical issues, identify ambiguity and bias in the information they receive.  They have to learn to understand what provokes antagonism and how to successfully deal with powerful enemies. Effective collaboration and refined communication becomes a skill for students navigating their way through the game.

The World Peace Game Foundation aims to help develop self-awareness in children and elevate their concept of world citizen:

The Foundation seeks to foster the concept of peace not as a utopian dream but as an attainable goal to strive for, and to stimulate the creative development of tools for this effort. It supports development of collaboration and communication skills for resolving and transforming conflicts, and the development of the skills of compromise, all while accommodating different perspectives and interests.

You can find out more about the Foundation's projects by visiting their website.