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>Free Rice, Project OKURASE, Writing Without Paper Blog

>Autumn is finally here in Northeast Ohio…

Project OKURASE – Stitch Magazine had an article titled “Sewing with a Purpose” written by Tricia Waddell about  a program that was developed in 1999 by Dr. Cynthia Cupit Swenson and Ida Taylor . It provided west African dance and drumming lessons to a group of at-risk children. This program grew into Project OKURASE (which stands for Opportunity, Knowledge, Understanding, Renewed Health, Arts-Based, Skills Training and Education). It is located in a remote village called Okurase in eastern Ghana and was created to address the HIV/AIDS crisis by helping children and families affected by this disease.

Read the details about the sewing center initiative led by Rhion Magee and the creation of fair trade goods here.

Project OKURASE  also works with the Gethsemani Quilters, which is a volunteer group of quilters who are African-American, living in Charleston, South Carolina.

Here is the Project OKURASE blog , sponsorship and donation information, and ways to give. See their website for more details.

Wanted to mention – Free Rice. This website is fun, great for learning new words and also a way to donate rice to those who need food. I try to do a bit of it every day and it adds up quickly. Try it! Watch it, though, you will get hooked!

This is from their About page:

FreeRice is a non-profit website run by the United Nations World Food Programme. Our partner is the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University.
FreeRice has two goals:
- Provide education to everyone for free.

- Help end world hunger by providing rice to hungry people for free.

See their website for lots more information…

And finally,

Great blog to see: Writing Without Paper - please see this post, Maureen has a great quote from Mother Teresa here.  She has wonderful posts on this blog, I also have to spend more time here!

Thank you, Maureen and Mother Teresa.

Best to all of you, Sondra

>Twitter folks to follow…

>I am back after some medical issues and would like to share with you some amazing people who tweet valuable information for all of us:

Anna Fernando – on Twitter as @mynursecoach and here is her blog – Be healthy, well & inspired. According to her blog, Anna is a registered nurse turned corporate IT professional by day and blogger by night. She writes a lifestyle blog  about the body, mind, and spirit connection, in essence,  holistic health. Her tweets are always full of valuable suggestions and or positive thoughts.
She is hosting a Giveaway for some green sponges – check it out!
Thank you, Anna, for all of your insight and all that you give of yourself.

Amy Neumann – on Twitty as @CharityIdeas and here is her blog – Amy Neumann – Experience and Philanthropy  Follow Amy on Twitter for TONS of tweets about positive events happening in the world, positive quotes, relevant causes to become involved with, on and on. She is a gold mine of information and a prolific tweeter. Amy is a true “giver”.

@CauseOfTheWeek is another Twitter find. Their profile states “Submit your Cause to us and we may feature it as our Cause of the Week!” – how generous of them to take the time! Here is their website – Socialize Your Cause/Cause Of The Week.

Quote of the day:
“The policy of retaliation has never succeeded”. – Mahatma Gandhi

spent bulbs digitally manipulated

>Madre

>Thank you to Michelle Gringeri-Brown of Atomic Ranch Magazine for this referral:

Madre: Demanding Rights, Resources & Results for Women Worldwide

MADRE uses human rights to advance social justice. They partner with women in communities worldwide to meet urgent, local needs and create long-term solutions to the problems that women face.

MADRE is an international women’s human rights organization that works in partnership with community-based women’s organizations worldwide to address issues of health and reproductive rights, economic development, education and other human rights. We provide resources and training to enable our sister organizations to meet these goals by addressing immediate needs in their communities and developing long-term solutions to the crises they face.

We work towards a world in which all people enjoy the fullest range of individual and collective human rights; in which resources are shared equitably and sustainably; in which women participate effectively in all aspects of society; and in which people have a meaningful say in decisions that affect their lives. (information from their website),

If you would like to become involved with Madre, read here.

>TOMS and Soles4Souls

>I received information about TOMS from a fellow blogger and friend, Egmont van Dyck, who is a multi-medium artist and photographer. He has three blogs that you will want to see: The Artist Within Us, Four Season In A Life Directory, which is packed full of resources and Four Seasons In A Life. They are beautiful blogs and worth many visits.

Egmont heard about TOMS on the Today Show and after I saw this website, I realized that I had heard about this program also:

Toms - For every pair of shoes that you purchase from this company, they will give a new pair of shoes to a child in need. They are also asking everyone to go one day without shoes, or at least part of the day on April 8.  I know that this post is late but I am guessing that this event will take place again.
Can you think of a better reason to go barefoot???
Thank you, Egmont for taking the time to send this.

Image from TOMS website.

Soles4Souls - Changing the world, one pair at a time.

Info from their website:

Soles4Souls is a Nashville-based charity that collects shoes from the warehouses of footwear companies and the closets of people like you. The charity distributes these shoes free of charge to people in need, regardless of race, religion, class, or any other criteria. Since 2005, Soles4Souls has given away over 7 million pairs of new and gently worn shoes (currently donating one pair every 9 seconds.) The shoes have been distributed to people in over 125 countries, including Kenya, Thailand, Nepal and the United States.

Image from Sole4Souls

What is great about this service is that you can drop off your shoes at many locations near your home because many retailers participate. There is a locator on their website. Drop off your old shoes or new shoes that you have never worn, if that is the case. Re-cycling at its best…

>Kiva – Loans that change lives.

>

Kiva is a very successfull organization that I heard about a while ago and thought was very relevant. It was developed by Matt and Jessica Flannery in 2005. “Kiva” is a Swahili word which means “unity” or “agreement”. 

Here is some brief information from the Kiva website:

Their mission: “to connect people, through lending, for the sake of alleviating poverty. Kiva empowers individuals to lend to an entrepreneur across the globe. By combining microfinance with the internet, Kiva is creating a global community of people connected through lending.”

Kiva promotes dignity, accountability and transparency. You can lend individually or though an established team. The minimum amount that can be loaned to an entrepreneur on Kiva is $25. There is now an option of starting your own team of lenders. Payment is through paypal. There is detailed information on their website and the process is facinating. It’s one of those “hard to believe stories”.

Here are some statistics from the website:
Number of loans funded through Kiva: 181,431
Percentage to women entrepreneurs: 82.29%
Number of countries located in: 52
Current repayment rate (all partners): 98.48%

Visit the Kiva website for detailed information on the entrepreneurs and their businesses, goals, dreams and fulfillments and much more. For only $25, we can help someone change their life. 
Have a healthy day…

>Craft Hope – Spreading Seeds of Hope One Stitch at a Time

>

Craft Hope is a blog that I learned about when I saw the “Craft Hope for Haiti” logo on Kim Kight’s fabulous TrueUp Blog. It is an incredible organization comprised of 3 young mothers: Jade Sims, who is the founder, Sarah Jackson and Marjorie Dolley. Jade’s husband, provides the tech support and social networking services.

As stated on their blog:

“Craft Hope is a love inspired project designed to share handmade crafts with those who need them. It is our hope to combine our love for crafting and desire to help others into a project to make a difference around the world.”

We donated fabric from our online company, Contemporary Cloth Inc. to the Craft Hope for Haiti Etsy Store Sale. Their staff spent countless hours organizing the Etsy Store and contacting sellers and buyers. Over $30,000 was raised from the crafting community to benefit Doctors Without Borders in Haiti.

They are continually moving on to new projects and always need crafters. Presently, they are working on Project 7 :: liberia orphan education project, click on the link to read all of the details. Their website has info on everything they have done in the past and it is a very informative and interesting read.

They just published a book titled: Craft Hope: Handmade Craft for a Cause by Jade Sims. It will be available in August ’10. It is packed with patterns by designers and one that you won’t want to miss if you are a sewer or know one!

Craft Hope – thank you for all that you have done and will continue to do. You truly are “givers”.

If you are a crafter or sewer who is interested in donating some of your time making projects for them, please don’t hesitate to visit Craft Hope and see what they are up to now!

Do you have any information on special people or places that you would like to share? You can always email at hopefulenergy@gmail.com.