Easter= Thanksgiving...... thanks and giving that is [63, 64]

What did my Easter look like, you ask? Well, here are some clues:

 

 NO

 

NO 

 

DEFINITELY NOT

 That's more like it

 Recycled

 Eco-friendly

 Local

 Charitable

 

Animal Friendly

That's what my Easter was all about. Also, my parents and I went shopping at Whole Foods for Easter brunch. In case you were unaware, Whole Foods works to offer as many organic options as possible, and it also supports a Whole Planet Foundation. The goal of this foundation is to alleviate poverty around the world by empowering families with microloans to create or expand home-based businesses and escape the poverty cycle. Because the foundation is run by Whole Foods, these microloans are offered through microfinance partners in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, specifically in the areas from which Whole Foods stores get their products. 

Our Whole Foods shopping experience also helped out some locals. Thanks to us bringing our own bags, the cashier asked if we would like to get 20 cents off our purchase or donate it to the Michigan Theater. The thing is, I only heard "donate" and "Michigan" and immediately said yes. With this "yes" reflex to "would you like to donate..." questions I might end up donating to all sorts of random causes I don't support, but so far so good. This time around I donated to a cause that I wholeheartedly support, so Happy Easter! 

Will you join me?

OneDayWithoutShoes.com

It's a movement, not a company [62]

 The Beginning: the first shoe drop  

PRESS HERE 

to find out why we've always been a movement 

not just a company   

From Shoes to --> One for One 

 
read more about Giving Sight with TOMS, HERE.

Four [61]

April 16, 2009

April 8, 2010

April 5, 2011

April 10, 2012

OWU kids: One Day Without Shoes photo shoot, HamWill from 4-6 pm. 

Be there!

Let's feed the world........ or 12 school children [60]

In preparation for One Day Without Shoes, I'll be counting down for the next five days (totally arbitrary number, I just thought it'd be fun). So get ready for 5 awesome acts to support Toms and give children shoes. And maybe I'll be super nice to you and give you random facts about Toms and its cause along the way. Just cause I'm that awesome!

First up, Toms is now partnering with the Feed Foundation so every time you buy a Toms + Feed style shoe (pair of shoes that is...) not only are you providing a kid in need with a pair of shoes, you are also providing 12 school lunches. BAM! World-changing wonderfulness in one very stylish package. I'll be quite honest and say that I don't know much about the Feed Foundation, but what I've gotten from the website is that it's a non-profit organization dedicated to providing nutritious lunches to school children as the start to improving the worldwide food system. In the process it's also dedicated to raising awareness, especially about the almost 400 million children worldwide who go to bed hungry every night. But it's not only about the children, it's about food problems around the world that affect everyone. It's about the 1 billion people who are hungry and the 1 billion who are overweight around the world. It's about food security for everyone, it's about feeding children in schools, and it's about healthy food.

Stay tuned for more Toms facts and causes to support, and get ready for One Day Without Shoes, April 10th!!

Shine On [59]

I have found the absolute perfect inspiration for this blog. It's called the Shine Project and it's........ well basically the exact same thing that I'm doing, just with a bit of a different character. It was started by a woman named Ashley exactly a year before I started my project. Her goal was to have a place where the world could come to be inspired and a place that would inspire change. Sound familiar? You can read more about the beginnings and progress of the Shine Project on her blog: here. 

I think the Pursuit of Happiness post might be my favorite of the ones I've read so far and I know where all of my loose change is going from now on (remember this post and this one?). Ashley started a Change4Change campaign and I love her idea of making cute little jars and collecting spare change in them until there's $100 worth. The best part of the project is that the money goes to her Shine Scholarship Project, which helps inner city high school students afford their first year of college.

So, as Ashley and the Kooks say: 

Shine On

Awareness in April [57, 58]

April is both Autism Awareness Month and Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Month. Also, yesterday, April 2, was the 5th annual World Autism Awareness Day and tomorrow, April 4th, is World Stray Animals Day. These are two of the most important causes in my life and to honor them I wore blue yesterday for World Autism Awareness Day and I'm working on turning my facebook orange for the month to promote animal welfare.

Autism, or autism spectrum disorder (ASD), is actually a general term for a group of disorders that are characterized by difficulties with verbal and nonverbal communication, social interaction, and repetitive behaviors. It has been linked to very early brain development even though symptoms are usually diagnosable around the age of 2 or 3 years old. Although autism manifests itself in intellectual, motor, and physical health disabilities, an autistic individual may also excel in visual skills, music, math, and art. Autism may develop in a variety of ways. There are some genetic mutations that are strong enough to cause autism development on their own. There is also the possibility that a genetic predisposition is paired with an environmental stressor. The common stressors are advanced parental age at conception (both mom and dad), maternal illness during pregnancy, or problems causing oxygen deprivation during labor. In the United States alone, 1 in 88 children are diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder. Divided by gender it is 1 in 55 boys and 1 in 252 girls. Autism Speaks works to support all individuals with an autism spectrum disorder, whether that means providing better services and treatments or increasing acceptance, respect, and support in the greater community. Even though you've missed the Light it Up Blue campaign (thanks to my slow-poke-ness), you can still join Autism Speaks and all of us promoting Autism Awareness Month, go to Autism Speaks' website or its facebook page or here for more ideas on how to support all those with autism.

 

600 million animals around the world are strays, starving, cold, sick, and abused, living miserable lives. 10 billion animals are raised for food in the United States each year. 5-7 million animals enter shelters nationwide annually and 3-4 million of them are euthanized (that's 60% of the dogs and 70% percent of the cats). If I've learned anything from working at the Humane Society these past few weeks, it's that these animals deserve better. Yeah, sure, each of the animals I've worked with so far has had his or her unique little quirks, but if we dumped all of the kids (and adults) on the street or in shelters that had a quirk or two, how high would the stray human population be? So here's to an orange facebook, the ASPCA, the Humane Society of the United States, and all the individuals who have spent hours and hours and hours saving, walking, and loving the animals of this world. What can you do? Well, turn your facebook orange, support the ASPCA or HSUS or a local shelter. You could go vegan or at least speak with your dollars by buying your food locally and from ethical producers. As cliché as it sounds, the options are endless, so start changing the world!

 

24 hours of giving [54, 55, 56]

It all started Saturday night when a couple friends and I went to this cute little Indian place for dinner. Our waitress seemed to be the only one working at all, and she was running her feet ragged, back and forth trying to keep everyone happy. When I paid for my dinner she asked me if I wanted my change back. The dinner itself only cost $12, so maybe $1.80 would have been a good tip (that's about 15% right?) and the amount of change I would have gotten back would have been $3. So I just told her to keep the change. A little bit extra to help her out. Then, Sunday morning I met my friend for breakfast at the local Tim Horton's and instead of taking my change and keeping it, I dumped it all in the little box they had set up for the Tim Horton Children's Foundation. If you're like me, you'll never have heard of the Tim Horton Children's Foundation before, so here's a little blurb right off of the website for you:

 

The Tim Horton Children's Foundation was established in 1974 by Ron Joyce, Co-Founder of the Tim Hortons chain, to honour Tim Horton's love for children and his desire to help those less fortunate. The Foundation is a non-profit, charitable organization committed to providing a fun-filled camp environment for children from economically disadvantaged homes.

Go read more: HERE. You can also donate, host a fundraiser, or like them on facebook. Go, go world-changers, GO!

And then finally there was church. I've missed a couple weeks of church for a variety of reasons and other weeks I either forgot money or was too lazy, yep I'll admit it, to drop my offering in the box. But no longer! I'm back to donating to the church that's become home for the last three years.

There you have it friends, my good acts for the weekend. Stay tuned for more, I've got some exciting ones planned for this week.

TWLOHA [53]

March 31st is the anniversary of a "To Write Love On Her Arms" shirt being worn for the first time (by a member of the band Switchfoot). Although I'm too cheap to buy a shirt (one day I'll have the money to spare), I did honor the day by writing the word "Love" on my arm. Some may remember my beautifully decorated arms from a couple years ago, when for "TWLOHA" day I had a bunch of my friends write the word "love" in any language that they knew. I had German, English, sign language, Bulgarian, French, Spanish, Mandarin Chinese and a couple others that I can't remember off the top of my head. This year it was simple, small, and not very noticeable, but it reminded me about the cause.

The TWLOHA Mission statement:

To Write Love on Her Arms is a non-profit movement dedicated to presenting hope and finding help for people struggling with depression, addiction, self-injury and suicide.  TWLOHA exists to encourage, inform, inspire and also to invest directly into treatment and recovery.

If you're interested in learning more and joining the movement, check TWLOHA out here: http://www.twloha.com/

Going Tiny [51, 52]

There's three things I love to do: use the energy saving setting on washing machines, drink tea, and eat blueberries. I mean really, who needs normal settings when there's an energy saving setting? Also, we all know how much I love food, I've probably bored you silly with all my food-related posts. In particular, I can rant and rave all day about how much I love blueberries and how much I love tea. Now imagine how long I could talk about my love for blueberry tea. NOW think about how long you'd be sitting there listening to me blab on and on and on if that blueberry tea was good for the Earth and perfect for this here blog? Yeah. Crazy, I know. But, I'll be nice and spare you any further ranting. All I'll say is: the natural fiber pouches that are used for this blueberry tea have no tags or strings, which saves 3.5 million pounds of waste a year. Also, there's a fabulous Mark Twain quote on the box (which is recyclable too) that fits so well with my blog theme: