makehope

240 children will have died before you finish reading! | Blog Action Day 2008 poverty

On January 9, 2007 I did a blog post called 30,000 yesterday, 30,000 today, 30,000 tomorrow it was my  horrified reaction to the realization that by some estimates** 30,000 children die ~ not each year or month but EACH DAY! These children die from poverty related illness which are for the most part and here's the kicker.... preventable!

And so do the math if it takes you two minutes to read this post and maybe click on a link ~ 240 children will have died! Startling but true.

So here we are on Blog Action Day 2008 some 645 days since my first post and I shudder to think that in that period of time some 19,350,000 more children have died due to poverty. Let me say that again,

19,350,000 more children have died due to poverty

I really don't know what to say, I just don't. I know there are numerous organizations and amazing people working their butts off to end this scourge. Some you might want to check out ONE, Oxfam, Kiva and Global Action there are many more but that should get you started!

While the mountain of poverty seems insurmountable I do know wherever there are human being who care there is always hope and the promise of the sunrise, the promise of new and better day.

Learn more at Global Issues they have some disturbing and sobering statistics

**some say the number is more like 26,500 a day which is of course zero solace

Blog Action Day 2008 | remembering Harry Chapin

I had all but forgotten, did you ? about one of the leaders in the fight to end poverty Harry Chapin. Listening to my iTunes party shuffle in my office and all of a sudden there it is All my life's a circle ~ what a sign!

Please remember today this gentle, giving giant of a man and his fight to end poverty!

"Look in their eyes Mom you'll see me."

Today is October 15, 2008 and if you're like most Americans you are full up with political nonsense, scared to death about your finances and worried about your children's future. Fair enough, it's been a heck of few weeks!

But I'd like you to take a few minutes to think bigger, to give some thought to people just miles maybe even steps away from you who are worried too, worried about where they will sleep tonight, if they will have enough to eat and worried if their kids will even have a future.

Today thousands of bloggers are writing about poverty and millions of readers (like you) are reading... together we can make a difference, we can make a start to finish poverty.

Rather than ramble on and on I am going to hand this off to none other than Bruce Springsteen ~ I'll let his music and words speak for me. All I am asking is that you listen (turn it up, WAY UP!) to Bruce's Ghost of Tom Joad  his homage to John Steinback's Grapes of Wrath a poignant duet with Tom Morello (it is a stunning performance). (there is a more beautiful video version on iTunes if you like)

If you would please watch the video and read the lyrics ~ I hope it moves you like it moved me ~ please let me know what you think by leaving me a comment below. End poverty, now.

The Lyrics:

The Ghost Of Tom Joad Men walkin' 'long the railroad tracks
Goin' someplace there's no goin' back
Highway patrol choppers comin' up over the ridge
Hot soup on a campfire under the bridge Shelter line stretchin' round the corner
Welcome to the new world order
Families sleepin' in their cars in the southwest
No home no job no peace no rest

(Chorus)
The highway is alive tonight
But nobody's kiddin' nobody about where it goes
I'm sittin' down here in the campfire light
Searchin' for the ghost of Tom Joad

He pulls prayer book out of his sleeping bag
Preacher lights up a butt and takes a drag
Waitin' for when the last shall be first and the first shall be last
In a cardboard box 'neath the underpass
Got a one-way ticket to the promised land
You got a hole in your belly and gun in your hand
Sleeping on a pillow of solid rock
Bathin' in the city aqueduct
(Chorus)
Now Tom said "Mom, wherever there's a cop beatin' a guy
Wherever a hungry newborn baby cries
Where there's a fight 'gainst the blood and hatred in the air
Look for me Mom I'll be there
Wherever there's somebody fightin' for a place to stand
Or decent job or a helpin' hand
Wherever somebody's strugglin' to be free
Look in their eyes Mom you'll see me." (Chorus)

[Professor] Godin did it again as he so persistently does -- his take on Talent vis a' vis Personnel vis a' vis  Lumber is dead on. He appropriately cautions... 

"The reason this [changing the vernacular] makes some people uncomfortable is that it seems like spin, like gratuitous double speak. And, if you don't change what you do, that would be true. He goes on to ask, "What if you started acting like the VP of Talent?" 

Photo courtesy of Clarke Historical Library

Now, think about your co-workers, your staff & your customers as Talent -- Wow for for me the view changed -- I started thinking about people in terms of their particular talents, their skills | what are they good at? hapless and frustrated at? [me|accounting]  Then, of course it follows are they in the right roles? Human Resources [yes the words alone] denudes our unique, potentially remarkable talent(s).

Steward vs. Flight Attendant -- Did you ever stop to consider how "PC" being "PC" really is?  We can, We must...Think [very] different.

What motivates giving? | Motivated asking!

Giving is but one half of the equation. I work with a number of different causes and all sorts of fundraising events and methods. It would be hard, no impossible to make a case for one cause over another they are all worthy and passionate in their quests. So what is a giver to do? How do you differentiate? Give a little to each? a donation to juvenile diabetes Research this year & Susan Komen the next? And just how does one choose Susan Komen over Avon over American cancer Society over Lance?

So how do charitable organizations breakthrough? What motivates giving, to you? [That's the real question right?]

The answer is stories, you have to help people tell their stories. Make their stories part of your cause!

Here is a story from a young women Nicole Kenney who participated in her first Heart Walk in Charlotte NC September 2007 on the Bank of America team...her story in part

I thought it was a great idea to make [photo] buttons to wear on the day of the walk.  I knew just which picture I wanted to use. And you took the time out to find out exactly why I was walking and why I wanted to get the buttons made, which made me excited that people actually cared about my story.  It was a nightmare that my family went through in losing my brother, but I finally felt like something good was coming from it: being able to educate others on the dangers of heart disease. The walk was a big piece of that, but so were the buttons. My mom even cried when she found out that I was getting buttons made. Both my mom and I wore two buttons each – one on the front, and one on the back, holding our sign in place (see the pictures for a better idea). Now, my mom wears her button almost everywhere with her, and I wear mine pretty frequently too.

Nicole had a story to tell. The photo buttons of her brother Bill were a powerful tool, a tangible expression of emotion. Nicole's and her team raised I think over $6000 because she had a story to tell and we helped her tell it. Motivated asking, it is the answer. 

I am honored to be chosen as South Park (Charlotte NC) magazine's Snapshot for March 2008! Buttons of Hope is my passion & I hope this helps everyone understand just how powerful custom photo buttons & putting a face on your cause can be! | read full the article here

This would be a good time to give a nod and thanks to some remarkable organizations --  I am honored & excited about working with the following groups in 2008:  Charlotte Catholic High School | Lance Armstrong Foundation | Live Strong Challenge |NC Special Olympics | Memory Walk South Carolina | Polly Klaas Foundation (missing children) | Kristen Foundation (missing adults) | Memory-Of.com | Memory Jar |  Adopt A US Soldier | Free to Breathe | Hope & Hearts | Carolina Breast Friends | Mother's day Central | & 24 Hours of Booty cancer fundraiser.

Buttons of Hope are Simply Powerful

It's been driving me crazy. This blog recently has been a little lonely and ignored ...no more. I'm Baaaacccckk!

(Dr. Doolittle & pushmi-pullyu I presume)

So. My other blog Behind the Button will focus on everything to do with my Buttons of Hope "business." You'll find stories from my customers, innovative fundraising ideas using photo buttons , buttons as powerful memorials, buttons as personal billboards to help find missing people and of course lots of thoughts on active charity fundraising for events like JDRF Walk to Cure, Relay for Life, Race for the Cure and more...

For all the rest of my right brain musings like my recent (ongoing) infatuation with Skitch, my Squidoo network, my new blog/squidoo consulting biz YouBlog and some random rants and raves about stuff like girl scout cookie sales, stuff that interests me -- that will be over on Behind the Button .

Will there be overlap -- sure (this one) -- occasionally I might even post almost the same post on both blogs -- but this is mostly for you the reader -- maybe the easiest way to explain it is makehope is for me & Behind the Button is for you!

So enough about me, what do you think of me? haha

Ooops I just realized I stopped posting here and gave my fans no where to turn --well now you have the opportunity to hear more of me in my newer blog Behind the Button. Please take  look -- more of the same but a year wiser I think!

My savvy friend Nedra is talking today about unintended consequences. Even when we try to get it right we in a way get it wrong -- especially when we try to do it BIG! I would suppose the rock stars will be jetting in to the nine "greenefit" Live Earth concerts in decidedly un-green private jets. OK well maybe not Fall Out Boy.

Carbon footprint nothing that's a carbon face plant waiting to happen!

The thing is Al and others are trying hard to do some good and that is....good! I remember railing about sweatshop clothing and trinkets (remember Kathy Lee? yeah like it was all her fault!) so how could we let people work for a dollar a day or less -- close those shops down and close them they did -- Ooops! Thing is even at a dollar a day these folks were doing better than most relatively -- I still believe sweatshop owners, child slavery practitioners and the like are at the lowest of the scum meter -- they rationalize the relativity -- hey I pay more to make t shirts than the kids tearing apart old computers in the street -- so there -- I'm doing my part. Whoa!

Thing is like Nedra points out unintended consequences  are squirrelly -- they aren't neat! You know how to reduce the unintended consequences from all this giving and volunteering and causing -- don't make me go Mother Teresa on you! Go local -- really local -- Mother Teresa made a million little differences. She did not give "some portion" of proceeds to charity -- lucky if she kept any portion for herself!

That's neat.

So....got any tickets?

Talent & Personnel & Lumber

[Professor] Godin did it again as he so persistently does -- his take on Talent vis a' vis Personnel vis a' vis  Lumber is dead on. He appropriately cautions... 

"The reason this [changing the vernacular] makes some people uncomfortable is that it seems like spin, like gratuitous double speak. And, if you don't change what you do, that would be true. He goes on to ask, "What if you started acting like the VP of Talent?" 

Photo courtesy of Clarke Historical Library

Now, think about your co-workers, your staff & your customers as Talent -- Wow for for me the view changed -- I started thinking about people in terms of their particular talents, their skills | what are they good at? hapless and frustrated at? [me|accounting]  Then, of course it follows are they in the right roles? Human Resources [yes the words alone] denudes our unique, potentially remarkable talent(s).

Steward vs. Flight Attendant -- Did you ever stop to consider how "PC" being "PC" really is?  We can, We must...Think [very] different.

What Motivates Giving?

What motivates giving? | Motivated asking!

Giving is but one half of the equation. I work with a number of different causes and all sorts of fundraising events and methods. It would be hard, no impossible to make a case for one cause over another they are all worthy and passionate in their quests. So what is a giver to do? How do you differentiate? Give a little to each? a donation to juvenile diabetes Research this year & Susan Komen the next? And just how does one choose Susan Komen over Avon over American cancer Society over Lance?

So how do charitable organizations breakthrough? What motivates giving, to you? [That's the real question right?]

The answer is stories, you have to help people tell their stories. Make their stories part of your cause!

Here is a story from a young women Nicole Kenney who participated in her first Heart Walk in Charlotte NC September 2007 on the Bank of America team...her story in part

I thought it was a great idea to make [photo] buttons to wear on the day of the walk.  I knew just which picture I wanted to use. And you took the time out to find out exactly why I was walking and why I wanted to get the buttons made, which made me excited that people actually cared about my story.  It was a nightmare that my family went through in losing my brother, but I finally felt like something good was coming from it: being able to educate others on the dangers of heart disease. The walk was a big piece of that, but so were the buttons. My mom even cried when she found out that I was getting buttons made. Both my mom and I wore two buttons each – one on the front, and one on the back, holding our sign in place (see the pictures for a better idea). Now, my mom wears her button almost everywhere with her, and I wear mine pretty frequently too.

Nicole had a story to tell. The photo buttons of her brother Bill were a powerful tool, a tangible expression of emotion. Nicole's and her team raised I think over $6000 because she had a story to tell and we helped her tell it. Motivated asking, it is the answer. 

Photo Buttons Serve Many Causes, Focus on People

I am honored to be chosen as South Park (Charlotte NC) magazine's Snapshot for March 2008! Buttons of Hope is my passion & I hope this helps everyone understand just how powerful custom photo buttons & putting a face on your cause can be! | read full the article here

This would be a good time to give a nod and thanks to some remarkable organizations --  I am honored & excited about working with the following groups in 2008:  Charlotte Catholic High School | Lance Armstrong Foundation | Live Strong Challenge |NC Special Olympics | Memory Walk South Carolina | Polly Klaas Foundation (missing children) | Kristen Foundation (missing adults) | Memory-Of.com | Memory Jar |  Adopt A US Soldier | Free to Breathe | Hope & Hearts | Carolina Breast Friends | Mother's day Central | & 24 Hours of Booty cancer fundraiser.

Buttons of Hope are Simply Powerful

pushmi-pullyu | deja vu'

It's been driving me crazy. This blog recently has been a little lonely and ignored ...no more. I'm Baaaacccckk!

(Dr. Doolittle & pushmi-pullyu I presume)

So. My other blog Behind the Button will focus on everything to do with my Buttons of Hope "business." You'll find stories from my customers, innovative fundraising ideas using photo buttons , buttons as powerful memorials, buttons as personal billboards to help find missing people and of course lots of thoughts on active charity fundraising for events like JDRF Walk to Cure, Relay for Life, Race for the Cure and more...

For all the rest of my right brain musings like my recent (ongoing) infatuation with Skitch, my Squidoo network, my new blog/squidoo consulting biz YouBlog and some random rants and raves about stuff like girl scout cookie sales, stuff that interests me -- that will be over on Behind the Button .

Will there be overlap -- sure (this one) -- occasionally I might even post almost the same post on both blogs -- but this is mostly for you the reader -- maybe the easiest way to explain it is makehope is for me & Behind the Button is for you!

So enough about me, what do you think of me? haha

Makehope is now Behind the Button

Ooops I just realized I stopped posting here and gave my fans no where to turn --well now you have the opportunity to hear more of me in my newer blog Behind the Button. Please take  look -- more of the same but a year wiser I think!

A carbon face plant!

My savvy friend Nedra is talking today about unintended consequences. Even when we try to get it right we in a way get it wrong -- especially when we try to do it BIG! I would suppose the rock stars will be jetting in to the nine "greenefit" Live Earth concerts in decidedly un-green private jets. OK well maybe not Fall Out Boy.

Carbon footprint nothing that's a carbon face plant waiting to happen!

The thing is Al and others are trying hard to do some good and that is....good! I remember railing about sweatshop clothing and trinkets (remember Kathy Lee? yeah like it was all her fault!) so how could we let people work for a dollar a day or less -- close those shops down and close them they did -- Ooops! Thing is even at a dollar a day these folks were doing better than most relatively -- I still believe sweatshop owners, child slavery practitioners and the like are at the lowest of the scum meter -- they rationalize the relativity -- hey I pay more to make t shirts than the kids tearing apart old computers in the street -- so there -- I'm doing my part. Whoa!

Thing is like Nedra points out unintended consequences  are squirrelly -- they aren't neat! You know how to reduce the unintended consequences from all this giving and volunteering and causing -- don't make me go Mother Teresa on you! Go local -- really local -- Mother Teresa made a million little differences. She did not give "some portion" of proceeds to charity -- lucky if she kept any portion for herself!

That's neat.

So....got any tickets?