all my causes

Headed to Africa!

Sunday, June 17, 2007

No, I'm not going to Africa, although that would have been a valid excuse for the lapse in posts for the last 6 weeks. My good friend Maggie Rosen is on her way to Zambia with Tiny Tim & Friends and she'll be blogging about her experiences here.

As I wrote about when Maggie first introduced me to this organization, AIDS kills at least 200 people a day in Zambia. Tiny Tim & Friends provides medical, nutritional and educational support to orphans, many infected with HIV.

Maggie will be working with the organization's founder, Dr. Tim Meade, who runs a medical center and day care. As a second year medical student at The Ohio State University, she will help with everything from medical procedures to day care. You can can learn more about it at the TT&F Volunteer Blog.

Good luck and be safe, Maggie! I'm proud of you and can't wait to hear about you adventure!

Bono the Idol

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

The ONE Blog shares that Bono will be appearing on American Idol tomorrow night.

His appearance is part of a two-night special called "Idol Gives Back" which will focus on extreme poverty in Africa. On both nights, Idol with air a 30 second spot on the ONE Campaign.

I also learned that American Idol is the most watched TV show in America, so I guess I'll jump on the bandwagon, at least for one night. Ellen DeGeneres is hosting, and Pink, Gwen Stefani, and others will also perform. It's safe to say the already ridiculously popular TV show will gain some new viewers, but will the ONE Campaign attract a new audience?

Networking for good

Friday, April 06, 2007

In the midst of the social-networking-for-a-cause flurry, I'm doing my best to evaluate all these sites. There was a great article in the San Francisco Chronicle over the weekend about the somewhat inspiring origins of these start-ups.

The online grassroots trend has taken some by surprise. Silicon Valley hasn't always been known for its largesse. Sharing the wealth with the less fortunate usually means issuing more stock options to employees. And the Web 2.0 generation, with its YouTube and Twitter mania, has gotten a particularly bad rap for self-obsession and indulgence.

But social activism is rising among entrepreneurs who are using ambition, creativity and daring to fuse their personal values and career goals.

I plan to at least give all of these sites a shot. I've been registered on Change.org (not mentioned in the article) for a couple months, but I haven't found myself visiting it much. In other words, I'm still trying to find a reason to visit it. There are some good debates and you can download a fundraising widget (probably much like ChipIn), and the tag cloud on the homepage is a cool indicator of "hot causes." You can make your own like mine:

powered by Change.org

Putting spin on his cause

Wednesday, April 04, 2007

I've really wavered on my support of the LIVESTRONG campaign. When the yellow bands were first introduced in 2004, they were the cool thing to wear, but seemed to lack any real purpose or accomplishment. It left a bad taste in my mouth.

Since then, trend jumpers have hopped off the bandwagon, but Lance has continued to build a devoted Army of followers. I started reading his blog, and I've become increasingly impressed. Most importantly, he's created more awareness of cancer related issues than any one person I can recall.

This week, the campaign is featured on the cover of Newsweek, a testament to the person who has never wavered on the support of this cause. For that, I congratulate Lance, and encourage everyone to check out Livestrong.org for stories of survival and ways to help the fight against a disease that hits one in three people.

$100 well worth its weight in water

Sunday, April 01, 2007

This post is a little late, but I wanted to share a great accomplishment from Water for Waslala. Today, their Walk for Water raised thousands of dollars, primarily due to the support of the Villanova community. So far, the total is $24,441, but I'm sure that will continue to rise.

Of course, they're still accepting donations on the website-- $100 will supply one family of four in Waslala with clean water for a lifetime!

You can read more about my 4th cause, Waslala, here.

Twittering

So, this isn't a cause, which I'll be getting to soon, but just wanted to let everyone know that I'm trying Twitter, and need more friends to make it worth it, so add me!

SPF for SPF

Sunday, March 18, 2007

I'm going to try to do my part to support my first cause by Saving Pennies For SPF, the Spastic Paraplegia Foundation.

The goal of the Penny Campaign is to collect one million pennies -- $10,000.00. I'm coming into the game at the final stretch (they will be announcing this year's total at the 2007 Annual National Conference in April), but better late then never.

I'll have a jar on my desk and at my house, and I'm obviously encouraging everyone else to do the same. Contact me or the foundation to make your contribution... my coworkers and friends can swing by and drop some pennies in my jar.

I'm overwhelmed

Thursday, March 15, 2007

The support of my friends, as usual, has been amazing. You know who you are, and I hope you know how much it means to me.

I had to write this post to say THANK YOU, on behalf of my family, the Merz... and me. It's less about the money and more about the love.