Friday, January 27, 2012

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.

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

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."

Monday, January 23, 2012

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.

Friday, January 20, 2012

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.

Wednesday, January 18, 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.

Monday, January 16, 2012

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:
Homeowners & Professionals Can Get Involved:
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.

Friday, January 13, 2012

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.

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

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.

Monday, January 9, 2012

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.

Friday, January 6, 2012

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."

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

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.

Monday, January 2, 2012

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.