40 Days and 40 Ways ...(to help) #5 Feed an Orphan

When I found this site earlier this year it absolutely inspired me! Three years ago a then seven year-old Sydney from Knoxville, TN (woot woot for the shout out!!) decided she needed to do something to save the orphans in Africa. She describes in her blog that one night she told her mother that she didn't want to eat dinner asking, “Why should we eat like kings and queens when they have nothing?”

Three years (and two adopted siblings from Ghana) later, Sydney is saving the world with her site http://feedingtheorphans.com/ !!! On this site you can donate as little or as much as you see fit. You can sponsor a child for $25. a month, or you can even buy a t-shirt for yourself and the proceeds will go to Sydney's cause.

Most of you at one time or another have probably heard me say my favorite quote, "Live simply so that others may simply live." I'd love to live by that mantra. I say I'd love to because I don't really. It's a struggle to deny yourself for the love of others; it's a constant battle, especially in our society where "stuff" determines success. At least that's what we're meant to believe. But Sydney is doing it. She's living what I don't have the courage to do enough. She's striving for simple living for the betterment of others.

And if a mere child is doing it, why aren't we?

40 Days and 40 Ways ...(to help) #4: SHOES

Yep. Shoes. I'm not kidding. Just by going through your closet you can help people. So you can actually mingle your Lent project (if you are choosing to do these blog suggestions for Lent) with your Spring cleaning!! BAMSES!!

Shoes may not seem like a big way to help, but put yourself in a hurricane survivor's shoes (no pun intended :) ). You've just survived a HURRICANE, but you've lost everything you have and there is debris scattered everywhere. There's broken glass and plastics everywhere, not to mention the sewer that has now overflowed into to the street. What would you do if you had no shoes??

Now are you wondering how to help?

Here's how:

1st: Go through your closet and pick out all the shoes you don't wear. All of them. Even the ratty, old, no-one-would-ever-stick-their-foot-in-this-nasty-old-shoe shoes.

2nd: Organize them into two piles: The somebody-might-wear-this pile and the aforementioned nasty, falling apart pile.

3rd: Check out this site: soles4souls.org - This is a site I read about back in my college days and have sent shoes to a few times. They are a Nashville-based group that collects used shoes to send to those in need. They've sent gently worn shoes to over 125 countries!! They'll even accept that one shoe with the lost match!!

And this one: http://www.nikereuseashoe.com/faqs - This site is for those running shoes (or any athletic shoe) that you have worn out. Nike recycles them and turns them into running tracks, tennis courts, playground equipment, etc.

Both sites have drop-off centers (you can search for them on their websites) as well as the capability to mail them in! So grab your family, and bury yourself in your closet for an hour. See just how many people you can help today!!

40 Days and 40 Ways ...(to help) numero tres

I had planned to post something entirely different from what you are about to read, but when I signed on to facebook today I saw a post from an old friend and the topic just warmed my heart.

Adoption.

Now that I'm getting to that wonderful age when everyone I know is bringing home tiny widdle precious babies, I get to hear A LOT about them. I hear about how easy it is for some couples to just decide to have a baby and vavoom! 9 months later they are cradling an angel. And I hear about the couples that don't have it quite so easy, and it's so devastating. I can't imagine the heartache that comes from wanting something so badly, something that is supposed to come so naturally for everyone, but isn't happening for you.

Luckily, God has a plan for that too! (Isn't he amazing?!) God tells us that "Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you." James 1:27.

This site is an example of such pure and genuine religion: http://www.iamprojectgift.com/ Daniel Bashta wrote a song called Like a Lion and the proceeds that he made off the song allowed he and his wife to adopt their first child!! He was so stoked about it that he wanted other parents to benefit from adoption through his song. So, if you go to this website you can make a donation for parents wanting to adopt and you get a download of the song!!

Or if you aren't that into the music, you can donate directly to http://www.bethany.org/

40 Days and 40 Ways ...(to help) part deux

Someday, when I grow up, I want to be in the rankings of those that really stood up for our kids in public education. Not just a great teacher or administrator, I'm talking about one of the greats, like Jonathan Kozol who wrote amazing books advocating for our students in failing, poor schools and communities like Savage Inequalities and Amazing Grace. Maybe I could be like Mike Feinberg and Dave Levin, the co-founders of KIPP schools. Or perhaps, I could simply join forces with this woman <----- Michelle Rhee. She's the former Chancellor of the D.C. public schools and she now runs the organization Students First. studentsfirst.org the organization's focus is to build an educational system in America that puts students first. Not teachers, or big-wig superintendents, or any other person wanting their piece of the pie. She's in it for the kids. Ya know, like it should be, like it was in your first education class when you were so stinkin' passionate about it that you wanted to write lesson plans just for fun!! (ok, maybe that's just me). Anyway, to help Michelle Rhee and students first to change the bureaucracy and mess in public ed, join the movement! Sign the petitions for things that matter!! I did, and I hope I do help to make change in education. I think it's a vision we can all get behind.

Check out the latest http://www.studentsfirst.org/video/?sms_ss=google&at_xt=4d716f19098b9d24%2C0

40 Days and 40 Ways ...(to help)

I've been rolling ideas around in my brain for what to do about Lent this year.

I think I'm going to give up eating meat. I read in "Natural Health" the other day that it can take at least 40 times as much water to produce a pound of beef compared to a pound of veggies. Who can live with that kind of waste when I could be eating healthier anyway? I felt like it was a double-wami kind of deal. Be healthy, conserve resources!

But as I was telling John about it another super-great idea came to me- what about 40 days to helping?! That's where this blog topic came from. I'm not really doing this for Lent because, well let's be honest, I haven't updated this blog since August, how could I find the time to do it for 40 days straight?! But if I start now, maybe I can get 40 days in before April 24 (the end of Lent). So hopefully, by March 9 (the beginning of Lent) someone will have read one or two of these posts and have found one of the ideas handy!

So here goes.... 40 days and 40 ways to help. Way #1: http://www.kiva.org/ This site rocks my world. Or really, it rocks other people's lives around the world. I know a lot of people feel that they already give so much money to good causes (like this week when I got annual fund notices from Easter Seals, March of Dimes, the Alzheimer's Foundation and Susan G. Komen), and they really don't have the money to help all the people that they'd like. Kiva changes all that. Kiva, in Swahili, means "agreement" or "unity." Kiva.org is just that. It is a charitable loan. You loan $25 to help low-income entrepreneurs to get their feet off the ground and within a year, the money is repaid to you. From there you can take your money and smile :D about the difference you made in the world, or you can reinvest in another entrepreneur.

Check it out!! http://vimeo.com/16991128

Doesn't that just feel good?

Get Green!!

Making your home green is sooooo much easier than you think. Since I'm now pretty much obsessed with the idea, I thought I'd share some of my fave and easy-peasy ways to make your home safer for you and the earth :)

<-- This one is pretty much a no-brainer. Reusable bags EVERY TIME you shop! This one is $1.50. It fits in your purse and Target gives you $.05 back every time you use a reusable bag! Just think of how much plastic (and eventually $$ you save!)

These are 2 great items for your kitchen! Seventh Generation paper towels are 100% recycled. Although we try to use cloth for most things, every once in a while you need a paper towel. And dishwasher tabs that work waaay better in my dishwasher than the cascade brand we were using. Not only are you not flushing terrible chemicals into the streams and oceans (yes, you are killing sea animals, just like BP!!!), but the cardboard box is made of 100% recycled paper.



Laundry. 1. Quit the dryer and get a drying rack. Save $$ and energy! 2. Try method! It's concentrated (less trash!) and even the container is made of 50% recycled

plastic!


In the bathroom: 1. Soap in boxes is so much better & cheaper than body wash in bottles. Plastic can only be recycled so many times before it becomes toxic, and most soaps come in recycled cardboard, so if you aren't going to recycle then at least buy a product that has been. 2.Give recycled t.p. a shot. It's amazing how much virgin paper is wasted on our waste! 3. www.preserveproducts.com

these products are made from recycled materials AND you can recycle them with their easy mail-back form! They even have a toothbrush recycle program you can sign up for and they will send you a new brush every 3 months! You won't have to remember when to switch anymore!

And cleaning: Using one concentrated, natural all-purpose like Simple Green saves space and oceans :) Also, Seventh Generation antibacterial keeps the chemicals that can cause asthma attacks away from kids, but still germ-free!!

I love anything by Seventh Generation. They dedicate 10% of their profits to organizations working for change, they even used recycled packaging, all their products are natural, they offer coupons on their website, and you can find them at stores like Target! Why would you not buy their products?

Lastly, I know what you are going to say. "I can't afford green products." But, it's not true.

You can! I've included a cost comparison that I found in RealSimple magazine on laundry detergents. Also, check into coupons on the company websites. I also stock up when these products are on clearance at Target (which is often- you know Target). And many things you can do in your home don't require buying anything and can cancel out any extra cents you're racking up to buy something good for you.

CoMpOsTiNg!!

On a recent visit back to Mammoth Lakes my Bestie from Mammoth, Sarah, and I decided to make a compost box!! I've been wanting to do this for a while, but couldn't in Mammoth due to bears and can't in Monterey because we live in an apartment. Sarah, however, has just moved into a fabulous place with a barn/garage. It's an ideal place to keep our compost box bear free!

So here's how we did it.

Step 1: Supplies. Sarah and I went shopping at K-Mart which is where we found all that we needed for our compost box. We purchased about 80 night crawlers, two plastic tubs, one garden stone, and we picked up a free newspaper.

Step 2: The box. Poke holes in the sides and bottom of one of the plastic tubs. This is so that the compost can breathe and any liquid will drain out into the other tub.

compost juice and it's such great fertilizer that you have to dilute it before using it on your plants!)

Step 3: Break apart the garden stone and place it in the bottom of the 2nd tub. Place the 1st tub with the airholes on top of the stones so that the

1st tub fits inside the second.
Step 4: Add potting soil, worms, strips of newspaper, and food particles such as peels of fruit, veggies, etc.

Step 5: Enjoy!!

Other rules of thumb I've learned from the FABULOUS Sarah :)

1. No meat, cheese, or fatty substances. This will attract flies.

2. To keep flies away tape paper soaked in tea tree oil to the box.

3. Stir your compost regularly to let air in. This helps with the decomposition.

4. Break apart egg shells. This helps them decompose faster.