Being the Difference

On a mission to shield kids from gun violence

From InsideBayArea.com:

     Hey kids, know what's not cool? Getting shot. Ask Arthur Renowitzky, he knows. The 21-year-old paraplegic told a rapt group of teens at a Boys & Girls Club in East Oakland on Tuesday that despite what some hip-hop heroes may say, there is nothing glamorous about gun violence.

     "It took just one to put me here," Renowitzky said from his wheelchair. "One shot, one bullet and I'm paralyzed. A lot of people see Tupac and 50 Cent, and hear raps about how it's cool to be shot — it's not. It won't get you more girls. ... I'm lucky just to be alive."

     It all went down Dec. 2, 2007. That Saturday night had turned into a wet Sunday morning, and Renowitzky was leaving a San Francisco night club in a good mood, with a "couple of numbers" from women he had met. Turning a corner into the dark alley where he had parked, he heard a loud voice: "Give me your wallet and chain, or I will kill you." He saw a flash, heard a bang. Felt the pain and the panic — I've been shot!

     During his 40 days of rehabilitation at the hospital, Arthur decided that things happen for a reason. Not deeply religious but Christian, Arthur believes that God has a plan for him. And he believes that plan involves teaching youths about the damage a gun can do, and thus began the Hayward-based nonprofit Life Goes On Foundation. "I didn't want the same thing to happen to another happy, innocent kid like me," Renowitzky said. "I didn't think things can happen just like that. I'd see them in street, you know, the guy in a wheelchair, but you never know that it can happen to you just like that."

     He said he wants to change a mindset that glorifies the gun, making it seem like little more than a toy or status symbol. "It's so easy to pick up a gun these days, and people think it's OK," he said. "They don't know the effects of gun violence. ... If they could live one day in my position and see what it's like, I think they'd change their mind."

Continue reading this story here...

    Arthur Renowitzky is a true example of being the difference! Do you know someone who is being the difference in your community?  Tell me about them and they may be featured on this blog.

Rock the Vote

     Earlier this year, Tom's of Maine launched the 50 States for Good initiative to reward non-profit organizations focused on lasting, positive change.  The initiative received project funding proposals from non-profits in all fifty states that work in the areas of environment, community building, and health. 

     Based on the positive impact, achievability and level of community involvement of each project submitted, a panel of judges (myself included) narrowed the list down to fifty finalists. 

     Head over to www.50statesforgood.com, where you can read about some great non-profit project ideas from around the country and vote to determine which five projects will split $100,000 in funding. Voting ends on October 30th and the winners will be announced in November.

Charity TV

From Mormon Times:

     Late at night, starving children, homeless veterans and unwanted animals come out. Commercials showing the destitute, the afflicted and the in-need are broadcast in between regularly scheduled programming on network television -- to empty living rooms, night owls and people who can't sleep.

     Some viewers feel the beginnings of sympathy during the 30-second spots, but before those feelings take root and turn into action, the images are often off the screen, and the toll-free number gone. John Marsh wanted to provide a louder voice.

     Marsh is the creator of a non-profit TV station on Dish Network called the Starfish Network. It's a channel he built for programming that inspires people to take interest in their fellow men. It's a place where old public service announcements live on, where celebrities promote causes instead of themselves, and where people who want to know how to help can tune into.

     "I noticed that there was a food channel and a golf channel and a history channel, and I really felt there ought to be a charity channel," Marsh said.

     The Starfish Network broadcasts news and information about charitable causes 24 hours a day, seven days a week. More than 500 charities are represented, at no cost to the organizations. "Our product is our airtime, and we give it away," Marsh said.

Continue reading this story here...

For more information or to watch live or archived programming, visit www.starfishnetwork.org.

Making a Difference Through Story Time

From Reader's Digest:

    Tammy Barry sits in the front of the library, trying to transform a newspaper into a boat. Her audience is young women and their toddler children, and she has just read aloud a book about Curious George—that naughty monkey!—who neglects to deliver newspapers along his paper route and instead folds them into boats and floats them on a pond.

    But Barry is not exactly a whiz at shipbuilding. "This is hard for me," she tells the mothers in Spanish. That's when one of the women, who had only paper boats to play with as a child, shows the group—in 30 seconds flat—how to make one. Once the fleet is folded, the group launches their boats in water-filled Tupperware "ponds."   It's moments like these that Barry, 46, most loves about her volunteer job teaching three reading classes a week at Mercy Learning Center in Bridgeport, Connecticut.

Continue reading this story here...

    Tammy Barry is a true example of being the difference! Do you know someone who is being the difference in your community?  Tell me about them and they may be featured on this blog.

Can Fashion End Sexual Slavery?

From Change.org

Nomi Network Co-Founder Diana Mao tells the powerful story of how a heart-breaking trip to Cambodia led her to create her own non-profit organization to help girls and women in Cambodia find freedom from slavery.

My first encounter with sex trafficking was when I was a micro-finance research fellow in Cambodia in 2005.  My task was to interview over 300 micro-finance clients, many of whom lived in remote villages and made less than $1 per day. The experience was a rude awakening. A micro-finance client and father of 7 children offered to give me his daughter to bring back to the United States, in the hope that she would have a better life. As I stared into his eyes, I understood that he did not want to give up his daughter but that his request was a result of desperate poverty. In this same village very young girls were being recruited to work in brothels.

My experience in Cambodia led me to form the non-profit organization, Nomi Network. Sex traffickers prey on poor and unemployed women. The goal of Nomi Network is to empower women economically by employing them in manufacturing jobs in the fashion industry, and to help create a market for the products they make. Once women have stable employment and a steady income, they will no longer be at risk to sex traffickers. To ensure success and sustainability, Nomi Network coordinates the efforts of the women with manufacturers, retailers, and consumers. 

Consumer purchases can contribute greatly towards the eradication of sex trafficking. The total market for illicit sex trafficking is approximately $28 billion dollars. What if just a fraction of that amount was channeled into creating opportunities for girls that have been exploited? Girls, some as young as 5, who were once exploited, violated, and stripped of their dignity could be given the hope of a future.  Nomi Network offers survivors of sex trafficking gainful employment by ensuring that there is a demand for their products and not their body. 

You can help break the vicious cycle of sexual exploitation and invest in their lives by purchasing Nomi Network's signature product, the "Buy Her Bag, Not Her Body," tote bag.  The tote bags are made from recycled rice-bag paper, and are made by women who are either survivors or at risk from sex trafficking.  The women who make the bags receive competitive wages, medical care, childcare, and one meal per day. In addition, a portion of the proceeds from each sale will be allocated to creating more training and job opportunities for survivors. Put your consumption power to use and pre-order a bag today for $20 at www.nominetwork.org.

Start a kid's school year off right with just $15

      If you subscribe to your local daily newspaper or are a budget-conscious shopper, you're probably familiar with the weekly sales ads from grocery and drug stores.  Some people probably ignore these ads altogether while others look for deals and discounts on items they purchase frequently.  Yesterday, as I was looking through some of these weekly ads in the newspaper I wondered, what if people used the coupons and discounts offered in these ads to purchase commonly needed items for charities?

     With the back-to-school shopping season in full swing, many of the current ads feature deep discounts on school supplies.  I figured that with all the sales and discounts, I could get a good amount of items to donate to a local school supply drive.  So today, I went to the drug store in my neighborhood to see how much I could get for $15 to donate to a school supply drive.

Here's the final rundown of what I purchased and will be donating:

 

• Backpack ($7.49)
• Insulated lunch bag ($3.99)
• Pack of 10 pencils (33 cents)
• Pencil sharpener (50 cents)
• Small notepad (50 cents)
• Three 70-page notebooks (33 cent each)

     It took me less than 10 minutes and I didn't even need to use a coupon because all the sale prices were clearly marked (thanks Rite Aid!).  The total cost was $14.88.

     So if you haven't already donated to a school supply drive this season, now is a great time to do it before the sales end.  You just might be surprised by how much you can get and how big a difference it can make in helping a kid this school year.

Teen Urges Others To Give

From The Washington Post:

      As a high school student, Krysten Thomas was alarmed by the number of Washington, DC residents living with HIV and AIDS and wanted to help. So she devised a way to collect and donate toiletries to those affected.

     Thomas initially gathered items from family, friends and church members, but she struck the mother lode when she wrote letters to more than 50 hotels seeking donations. She collected about 4,000 items, which were distributed equally to District residents and people affected by the virus in Tanzania.

     "Every time you go to a hotel, people don't even use the toiletries most of the time," said Thomas, who graduated in June from National Cathedral School in Northwest Washington. "I got toiletries they weren't using and were willing to donate." 

Continue reading this story here...

Krysten Thomas is a true example of being the difference! Do you know someone who is being the difference in your community?  Tell me about them and they may be featured on this blog.

An American in Pakistan

     Today's New York Times features a profile of Todd Shea, an American currently serving a community in Pakistan.  As the Times reports, "Despite no college education or a medical background, a rugged American named Todd Shea runs a charity hospital in Kashmir, where a 2005 earthquake killed 80,000 people."

Check out a video of Todd's remarkable journey, here.

Todd Shea is a true example of being the difference! Do you know someone who is being the difference in your community?  Tell me about them and they may be featured on this blog.

The past few weeks

 

     It's been a little over a month since I last posted on here.  You may be wondering where I've been or why the posts have recently been few and far between.  Well, quite a few things have happened in the past few weeks.  Here's the rundown:

Graduation
On May 16th I (finally) graduated from law school at UC Berkeley!  It was a long and grueling three years, but I'm more than pleased to be done.

Train Trip
Finishing law school in California meant moving back to the east coast where my family and friends (and future job) are located.  For quite some time I've wanted to take a train trip across the country and I figured this final trip from the west coast was a better time than any.  So I boarded Amtrak's California Zephyr in Oakland, CA on a Thursday and arrived in Charlotte, NC four days later.  Spending four days on a train may not seem like fun for most people but I enjoyed the rare opportunity to see some of the most beautiful and remote parts of our country.  I took over 500 pictures during the trip, take a look at some of them here.

Bar Exam
Although I've graduated, I continue to spend my days studying.  No, it's not because I have nothing better to do, it's because I'm studying for the bar exam!  It requires about 10 hours of studying each day, but it will soon be over at the end of July. 

     Despite this busy schedule, I'll continue to blog here regularly to introduce you to some ordinary people doing extraordinary things to change the world.  Oh, and if you haven't read the book Being the Difference, now is a great time to get a copy for yourself or someone else.  It's just been updated with some new info and, as always, a portion of the sales proceeds go to the charities profiled in the book!

Do you know someone who is being the difference in your community?  Tell me about them and they may be featured on this blog.

A great way to donate to the charity of your choice—without paying a cent

 

   Recently I heard about the new site Better The World.  It’s a great way to give to charity if you don’t have the extra cash or if you are already giving but want to do more.  This month they are also running a contest where members can win a MacBook and have textbooks donated to a school in Africa on their behalf.

      How it works is simple—when you are surfing the internet you are already seeing ads that corporations are paying for you to see.  By joining Better The World and downloading its tools, you still see ads, but now 90% of the revenue from Better The World ads goes to a charity you pick.  And, as an added bonus these ads are all from companies that have social responsibility programs, social products and services, have products of interest to our members, or are non-profits.

By going to www.bettertheworld.com you can immediately start raising money by:

1.      Choosing a charity you are passionate about.
2.      Downloading a sidebar (seamlessly integrates into Microsoft Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox).
3.      Surfing the Internet as usual.

      “Books to Better The World” is a contest that runs between May 1, 2009 and May 31, 2009.  The contest is designed to reward the most active members of bettertheworld.com – those that take free and easy online actions to earn points toward their profile and support a charity.  The top 20 point leaders for the month of May will have a chance to win an Apple MacBook.  Contest participants will also have a chance to win an Apple iPod Touch.

      So, for those of you interested in bettering the world, whether you are someone who already contributes but wants to do more, or you just can’t afford to donate to a cause quite yet, Better The World offers an opportunity to help the charity of your choice.  It’s a simple, but highly effective way of combining the power of the Internet and your desire to help make the world a better place.

To sign up today and earn points visit http://www.bettertheworld.com