Crafts and Charity

These days, we give a lot of things lip service.

We tell people we love them. We tell people that we are grateful for lots and lots of stuff. We say that we want to make the world better. We say we want to take care of people “at home.” We say we want to give today’s children a solid future.

Don’t get me wrong. It’s great to say these things. However, it’s not always the thought that counts.

Here in the US, today is Thanksgiving. Everyone is posting pictures of their delectable feasts. And that is fine. As it should be. However, what I think about every Thanksgiving, as I eat myself into oblivion and end up in a blissful tryptophan coma, is the fact that there are a lot of people in our own country (and maybe in your own city or town) who would be astonished at our gluttony. Most especially I am thinking about kids who are going to school hungry and who are going to bed hungry. I find myself wondering about how they absorb the fact that they are hungry while other people are eating to the point of being sick just because, well, they can. How can you make peace with an empty tummy when there are so many people overstuffing themselves?

That is why this year I am raising funds for No Kid Hungry.

The stats

You might be interested in seeing some statistics that truly illustrate the problem of childhood hunger in the US. You can view them all here, but I grabbed some for you anyway.

• There are 16 million kids struggling with hunger in this country

• 1 in 5 US kids don’t get the nourishment they need to perform well in school

• Childhood hunger can exist anywhere. Although it is most common in cities, kids anywhere can live in low-income families who just simply don’t have enough to provide food.

• You can’t tell a kid is hungry by looking at them. A child may look like his or her classmates. Hunger is easy to hide, but it may reveal itself through an inability to concentrate or even misbehavior

Helping these kids is super easy

Here is why I love No Kid Hungry. They make it super extremely easy to help these hungry kids.

As you sit with your family and friends, think about these two ways to help.

1. The Food Network is running a fundraiser till Monday, November 30th. Are you planning on doing any more baking? Maybe that first batch of holiday cookies is on the agenda. Well, all you have to do is post a picture (you probably would have anyway) and hashtag it #bakeitforward. Every time this happens a dollar will be donated to No Kid Hungry. Guess what? A dollar can provide ten meals for children. It matters.
2. You can visit my fundraising page and donate. Every little bit helps. $5, $10 – that’s awesome. Give up a Starbucks while you’re out Black Friday shopping and send that money to my fundraising page. My team is trying to raise $100,000 by Giving Tuesday. I think we can do it, but we need your help.

Let me reiterate – every little bit helps.

So, definitely indulge today and for the rest of the weekend. Enjoy your family and friends and fill that belly with everything good. But I highly encourage you to take just a minute – really, just a minute – and donate to No Kid Hungry. When a dollar can provide ten meals, what do you have to lose?

As is the case with so many of my online friends, I can’t remember *exactly* when I met Amber-Lee Dibble. It just seems like I’ve known her forever. I am fairly certain I met her over at Gini Dietrich’s popular Spin Sucks blog. In fact, Gini featured Amber-Lee in the SpinSucks Follow Friday series last year. I feel like I’ve just kind of known Amber-Lee forever.

I remember the first time I got to hear Amber-Lee talk about what her life is like up in Chisana, Alaska, working for Pioneer Outfitters. It was a video and her vivaciousness jumped out of the screen. Then Amber-Lee wrote a book talking about her combined role as a marketer, a mom, and a big game guide. In what is predominantly a man’s world, Amber-Lee is a boss, but she is not afraid to show her sweet side, her sentimental side. As I read Amber-Lee’s book, which she so kindly gifted me, I thought how rare the Pioneer Outfitters experience is these days. There aren’t very many people who can show you how to survive in the world’s wild places. To be able to dabble in that world is a real gift.

Recently I started seeing Amber-Lee post a lot about something called Stand for the Man in Black. She was posting a lot of pictures of her with master guide and her surrogate father Terry Overly. I clicked to see what was up. What I learned is that last September, the Pioneer Outfitters aircraft exploded. It’s hard to overstate the importance of this aircraft for Pioneer Outfitters. Chisana is not a place that makes itself accessible. In order to get food, find missing horses, and help rescue lost or stranded people, the aircraft is vital. Pioneer Outfitters has been hanging on these last several months but supplies are limited and their way of life just may not be sustainable without a new aircraft at hand.

This is where you come in. This is where we come in.

The money that Pioneer Outfitters needs is not over the top. They need $250,000. You could look at that objective as just being for an aircraft, but that’s not really true. That money is what is needed to keep a rare way of life intact.

Amber-Lee, my friend and a real role model for me, has started an Indiegogo campaign to raise these funds. She is working so hard. So very very hard. And she is graciously thanking EVERYONE who supports her. But she isn’t to her goal yet.

I know that money is tight for a lot of people right now. If you can’t donate, would you consider sharing the campaign? You can do either one here:

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/stand-for-the-man-in-black

Remember, in an effort like this, no amount of money is too small a contribution. If we all say, “Well, my $10 can’t do anything,” then nothing will occur. If we all say, “I’ll add my $10 or $5 or $1 to the bucket, it will add up,” then we can help Pioneer Outfitters get what they need so they can continue giving people the experience of a lifetime.

It’s a pretty easy trade, don’t you think?

About six years ago, Leslie Lehrman and her daughter Jennifer discovered first-hand the loneliness and fear that can plague patients diagnosed with cancer. When Leslie received the devastating news that she had cancer, she and her daughter had the choice to simply lament what was happening. However, like so many people we highlighted here at Inspiring Generosity, Leslie and Jennifer decided to turn their struggles into a way to help many other people who are also fighting the multitudinous types of cancer threatening our loved ones.

The mission statement, ultimately, is pretty simple to understand. Jennifer wants everyone who has cancer to be able to get at least one SMAC! (sock monkeys against cancer) sock monkey, not just to cheer them up but to give them a tangible reminder that they are not alone and that they are cared for.  To get to that point though, the campaign needs to get enough funding to get off the ground.

The Big Why

This whole entrepreneurial endeavor isn’t just about some random monkeys and attaching cancer to their name. It’s about Jenn’s Mom… and too many others like her.

The SMAC! monkey line was inspired by Jenn’s Mom, Leslie Lehrman, who was diagnosed with Stage IV lung cancer six years ago. No, she never smoked. ANYONE can get lung cancer (whole ‘nother story).

Cancer can be a very lonely existence. Family and friends can’t always be there. Jennifer lives 1,200 miles away from her mom, making her appointments, tests, scan results and treatments that much harder for both of them.

This is why Jenn created SMAC! — to give her mom a “buddy” she could hug to remind her that Jenn is with her.

It’s hard for me to describe how my boys (NoMo and Phoenix) make me feel. I look into their little eyes and they just make my heart melt. It may sound silly, but when I get up, I say ‘good morning’ to them too. They just make me happy… even on my darkest days.
-Leslie Lehrman (Mom)

Right now, NoMo is just a prototype.

If you’re like me, you really like food. Personally, I’m a big breakfast person. Give me some sausage gravy ‘n biscuits, some eggs, maybe some hashbrowns, and of course a hot steaming cup of coffee, and I am one happy camper. Of course, when I go out to eat I almost always leave food on my plate. Sometimes, as I’m sitting in a beautiful, climate-controlled, fully sheltered restaurant, I actually lament that the servings have gotten too ridiculously big or too small.

To far too many people in the world, all of this is so beyond the realm of their reality that you might as well try to explain to them that you ride a unicorn to work every day and sometimes Santa Claus comes with you.

Razoo and Yum! Brands are working with the World Food Programme tomorrow to try to change this disparity in fortunes. Razoo and Yum! Brands are hosting a giving day tomorrow. What does that mean? That means for 27 hours, starting at 12 AM ET on October 16th, Yum! Brands will match every donation up to $10,000. Pretty fantastic. When you consider that many people giving just $10 could get us there in no time, it also seems entirely 100% doable.

So, what can you do? I’m so glad you asked.

Step one – donate here – World Food Day Donation Page

Step two – send out these tweets from 8:30-9:30 AM ET especially (hint – schedule them into HootSuite or TweetDeck *NOW* and then you won’t have to worry about it):

• 925 million people do not have enough to eat. Join me this World Food Day and make a difference! #hungertohope http://hungertohope.razoo.com
• Undernutrition contributes to 5M deaths of children < 5 years old each year. Fight hunger today! #hungertohope http://hungertohope.razoo.com
• ¼ kids – roughly 146 million – in developing countries are underweight It’s World Food Day, help them: #hungertohope http://hungertohope.razoo.com
• 1/3 of deaths of kids < 5 years old are caused by undernutrition. This World Food Day, help them. #hungertohope http://hungertohope.razoo.com
• The 1st 1,000 days of a kid’s life are critical to tackle undernutrition. It’s World Food Day, help them: #hungertohope http://hungertohope.razoo.com
• It costs $0.25 per day to provide a child with all vitamins and nutrients needed. Fight hunger today! #hungertohope http://hungertohope.razoo.com
• Malnourished mothers give birth to underweight babies who are 20% more likely to die < 5. Help them: #hungertohope http://hungertohope.razoo.com
• Climate change will push 24 mil children into hunger by 2050. Help @yumbrands feed them World Food Day. #hungertohope http://hungertohope.razoo.com

Write your own blog post to help spread the word.

You can also get twibbons and other shareable stuff for Facebook over at the blogger resource kit.

Pretty easy stuff, but we can make a HUGE difference over the next day. This is a great effort that Razoo and Geoff Livingston have put together. We have the easy job. Let’s get er done.

Image Credit: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/x2jjan7tjmegxgu/RumjzRwKsG#f:PHI_20120125_WFP-Voltaire_Domingo_0004.JPG

As some of you may have seen, I started an initiative a couple of weeks ago called #vetsmatter. The idea is to get the hashtag to trend on Twitter in lots of places *before* Veterans Day and it’s also the hope that that awareness will help raise funds for various organizations that support veterans since our government seems to be backing away from such efforts.

Well, serendipity has struck. We have a chance to make a real difference in a veteran’s life and we can watch the results come in!

A couple of days ago my friend Raúl Colon pointed me to the direction of Mark Horvath’s blog. Mark (known as @hardlynormal on Twitter) works tirelessly on behalf of the homeless, and right now he has one person in mind, his “brother” Lanny. Lanny has been homeless for four years and finally has gotten a place to stay, but he has no furnishings or other essentials that you need for home-living.

That’s where we come in.

Mark is trying to raise just $1,000, but we only have until October 2nd. So here’s my idea.

We write blog posts about veterans – your experiences if you are a vet, your parents, your friends, thoughts in general, whatever you want, and then at the end you link to Mark’s blog and raise awareness for this (measurable) effort. Tweet out your posts with the #vetsmatter hashtag and feel free to CC me when your post goes live.

Does this sound good? I hope so, because we only have a couple of days to make this happen! Let’s do it!

Image Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisgold/5901794855/ via Creative Commons