Triumph of a Dreamer...

Check out this inspiring article from the New York Times...

It was the most emailed for about a week and brought to my eyes after the first read.

Stories like this remind me of the power of education.
It's not really about teaching - it is about opening doors.
Classes are just the start of creating dreams...
books are tools that allow us to learn from mistakes of the past, find cures for our diseases and solutions to our humanitarian problems.

Kids need to be taught because there needs to be leaders.
What would tomorrow look like if we didn't help create a better one for others?

countdown...

less then 3 months until departure...

so thankful for all the support I've recieved thus far. Between my amazing family, extremely supportive coworkers and friends that continue to stand by my side, I couldn't be luckier!

Here's a quick recap of this past month or so:
- I’ve met ½ my fundraising goal – only $1,500 left
- Interviewed by our PR director regarding the trip and posted to the company’s global “intranet”
- Shout-out published on Agency Spy
- Spoke to Bill Clinton about the trip, (although - still awaiting his email response… )
- Successful 1st NYC Fundraiser
- 24th Birthday w/ some of the most amazing people

Only $1500 to go!
Thanks to all...

change africa

i just had to post this... :)

"...i know that I must do whats right
Sure as kilimanjaro rises like olympus above the serengeti
i seek to cure whats deep inside, frightened of this thing that i've become"

------------------------------- > for what it's worth

i believe in people, i believe in dreams, and i believe in faith.
i believe this is a test and i believe we will overcome.
i believe in love and i believe we are blessed.
i believe we are only given what we can handle, and it is only when we don't think we can - we grow.

i believe in life and i believe in happiness.
i believe in the power of music and the power of god.
i believe we are more than what we do or what we have.
i believe that when we look back on life - it is the challenges we have overcome that gives us our power and defines our character.

i believe our personal perseverance is a symbol of our inner spirit.
i believe if we are to exist, we are to make peace with ourselves and create only happiness for others.
life is too short not to believe.

power of education

obviously this topic could carry on for a while, but thought i'd share an interesting fact about malawi from the ny times:

"Perhaps Malawi's most powerful weapon against child mortality has been its ranks of more than 10,000 high-school-educated village health workers."

now... how to get more children to graduate high school...

view slide show here

charity:water - 3yr anniversary

thought i would share the latest video from one of my favorite non-profit organizations, charity:water. i think they are an amazing example of how to make things happen. starting from nothing - in 3 years, they have managed to build an extraordinarily successful organization - raising $10 million and making a difference in the lives of 710 thousand people! it is an inspiring story and offers a reason for us all to, at least try, to make a difference.

makin' moves

Alright, so i propose a challenge to myself. I'm thinking, why stop at raising money?

Let's try this:
$3,000 raised by January 1, 2010
1,000 smiles photographed during journey
300 school supplies provided to the children in Arusha

I may add more later, but that seems like enough for now. :)

It's on.

inspired?

Thought I would share some of the research I had found thus far on volunteer traveling and how to make it happen. As I begun to talk to people about what I'm doing - seems to have started others to think this through as well. It may seem daunting... but is just one of those things in life that after a while begins to get old talking about and if it's something you feel compelled to do - Nike says it best; just do it.

Here's the program I'm going with: International Volunteer Headquarters
Offering programs across Africa, Asia and South America.

After much research, it appears this truly is the cheapest, yet credible program. Some may say it's still cheaper to travel abroad and work directly with a school, orphanage or project - but the idea of orientation, training packages and 24/7 assistance is comforting and worth the extra money.

Here's a few other travel volunteer organizations that I have read good things about, (although I myself have never worked with).

i to i travel
Cross-Cultural Solutions
Global Vision International

Here's a list from idealist.org as well that should provide any specific interests or locations.

What are the costs going to? The 24/7 assistance, your room and most of your board and the set-up with the exact volunteer activity you'll be doing. Also, if you do attend a church or place of faith - there are usually trips scheduled such as mission trips, etc - that are also a great way to travel with a cause as well.

off to africa

During my backpacking trip last year through the wonders of eastern Europe – I had seen a sign for Volunteer travel in a small, little office space. The sign caught my eye and the idea made an impact in my heart.

I knew I had to do it.

My friend Kristina and I will be taking off to Tanzania in January 2010 to do some good in the world. We’ll be volunteer teachers in a small village outside Arusha, and living with a family for several weeks -completely absorbed in the Tanzanian way of life and looking for ways to improve the lives of the children we meet.

While we hope to make a difference – we know this a small effort in a place that needs a lot of help. With that, we’ve decided we will be assessing the town to see where we could financially make a difference as well.

Some schools in Africa provide lunch for the children – usually this is the only meal the children eat each day. There are times where the funds are no longer available to keep this type of program running. Most schools do not have appropriate resources to teach properly, with no books, no pencils… We would like to raise money to hopefully help eradicate one of these unfortunate conditions and make life a little bit easier for the residents after we leave.

Africa has been calling my name for a while… whether it’s a sign from God or something else – I know there is a reason I’m going.

We may all be feeling the pain of this financial downturn – but this decision has reminded me that it is only in giving that we receive.

I was once told, that it is where we put both our money and our time that defines what we treasure in life. With that, I challenge everyone to ask themselves – whose got your heart?

Thanks to everyone who has supported me in this decision and to all those willing to help support this effort.

Empowerment of a 5K

Yesterday was my second 5K, (EIF + Revlon Run/Walk for Women's Cancer), and I have to admit, I think I'm addicted. There is not another activity where I have felt so empowered and activated. 40,000 people arrived bright and early in Times Square, sprinkled with confetti and inspired by speakers such as Jessica Alba and Fran Drescher. While I'm not sure the total amount of money raised - there is no doubt that the participants were all there to help make a difference. While it was a whole lot of "yay!s" before coffee - I was inspired by the good the entertainment industry is doing, and the survivor's powerful stories. Knowing - we're all in it together with this one - was really the bottom line. The top of society and the bottom - we all have parents, friends, joints and body parts with risks.

Last year, my sister was diagnosed with breast cancer. And of course, like all her life trials and tribulations - managed to turn her rainy day into a rainbow for the world to share by starting a foundation focused on providing resources and information to women diagnosed with cancer, to protect their potential for being a mother. (MyVisionFoundation) While running won't take back the suffering or pain that my sister had been through, or anyone has gone through - it's a powerful metaphor for the hope and belief of finding a cure for the future.

Running amongst young girls who had lost their mothers, survivors, and friends of friends - left me with a powerful and optimistic feeling about our culture and my city. People of all races, ages, backgrounds - coming together to help solve a problem that touches us all. While NYC is the center of this culture convergence on a daily basis - never have I seen such a rally of positive emotion and good will.

I'm going to keep running. Never was I a runner before - but I'm a huge advocate for optimism, hope and charity.

Here's a list of all the runs taking place, listed by state
I think we should all do a 5K or two... who knows, maybe one day I'll start my own 5K. Now there's a big thought for a Sunday night...

Bag Full of Sunshine

Sun Chips and National Geographic have launched a new effort for Earth Day called "The Green Effect", encouraging users to submit their ideas on what social effort they would push forward or create with $20,000... essentially you could win a chance to make it happen. No user submissions are available to view yet... my guess is a locally driven effort will stand a better chance to win.

Also, Sun Chips has created the first compostable chip bag - ready Earth Day next year... powered by, yup you guessed it - solar power. "Sun" chips takes on a whole new meaning now.

so this is what i'm thinking...

No one can deny the amount of mass atrocities taking place in our world today. From war, modern day slavery, AIDs, our global financial crisis… there seems to be a continual black hole of bad news surrounding us. So what’s a girl to do? What’s any of us to do?

To avoid the cliché and standard call to action – I say we sit around and mope. We all wallow in our misery and lifeless future and figure, “it could always be worse”. But that just doesn’t feel right... There’s too strong of a positive buzz in the digital air for anyone to really agree with that mentality. I know I don’t, and while we all may think we’re too busy, we’re all a little tired of watching reality TV anyway - realizing it’s definitely not our reality.

I say we talk about it. We talk about what’s happening – but instead of discussing the images of death and destruction we see rolling across our CNN screen, or make assumptions and predictions of what Q3 will bring for our industry… we talk about solutions. Real time.

That’s the power of our “social” [not sure if you know, but this word will actually replace the word “digital”- yup, that was so last month] world that we are daily building on and interconnecting together. Your world is my world, your cause is my passion, your fight is my battle… real time.

There are thousands of individuals, companies, non-profits and politicians that are teaching students, building wells, inspiring entrepreneurs and fixing our issues - right now. All of these efforts are just waiting to be acknowledged, looking to be supported and hoping that their efforts will actually have a positive impact.

Knowledge is power – so this is my attempt at seeing what’s going on. Encouraging others to participate in conversations, and maybe inspire people to donate time, money and/or expertise to expand on the good of it all. And if nothing is donated or discussed… well hopefully we can all just feel a little better about the day knowing it’s not all bad out there. Despite all our attention disorders, overshadowing layoffs, and downright depressing news… there really is some good in it all.