As food bank shelves quickly empty during the recession and more people need help to feed their families, prisons are providing a partial solution.
The AP reports, “Several states are sending inmates into already harvested fields to collect millions of pounds of leftover potatoes, berries and other crops that otherwise would go to waste.”
Prisoners with garden hoes are also planting and harvesting their own vegetables to fill the need at local food banks.
Today we spent the morning going through our personal belongings. We were looking for items to give away, free, at a local park. Not just any items but things people really needed. We came up with blankets, soaps, food, and clothing. Not things we no longer wanted, but things we use everyday. Some of the items we needed, but split the amounts in half. A contact list of local agencies that help people was included. Small new toys were sent along.
Inside the boxes a simple letter was placed. It read in part…..
“Please take these items and know that your life is important. Times are difficult but these days will pass. We share what we have believing that it will matter. Use the food to nurture your body, use the blankets to stay warm. Be safe and know that the human spirit can overcome anything. Someday please do the same when you can.”
Who knows where these gifts of compassion will go. We have seen homeless people at the park, where we left the belongings.
I noticed that my wife had put into one of the boxes her favorite green coat. I asked if she was sure about it and she replied that it had a hood. Her answer told me why it is I love her. She liked the coat but knew the hood could shelter the rain.
How many uses can a blanket serve other than what it was designed for? We never go back and see what happens. Its unimportant. The right things will find the right people and that is all that counts.
On the way my wife started to cry. When I asked why she said because some things felt so right.
Read more stories at thesequoiaproject.blogspot.com.
In recognition of the 20th anniversary of the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child, a group of 50 underprivileged kids were treated to a three week summer camp in Northern France. The kids, from the Palestinian territories and other conflict zones, said they felt finally free.
Video below may take a moment to load…
Vacations in August may be just the thing a body needs to restore itself.
Whether you spend your free moments playing sports, socializing with friends or reading quietly, research suggests that the more of it there is, the better you feel and the healthier you are.
Europeans embrace this idea almost religiously. Vacations are enshrined in the laws of countries like Germany, the United Kingdom and France... Isn’t it time we did so in the United States?
(Continue reading or listen to the story at NPR)
Photo courtesy of Sun Star
Bruce Steiner may have stumbled upon the last signature of Abraham Lincoln in the bottom of a box of assorted papers he purchased at an Ohio Flea Market.
Steiner, 56, a self-proclaimed Civil War buff, recalled when he first laid eyes on the signature, dated the fateful day a bullet from John Wilkes Booth’s Derringer ended Lincoln’s life.
He thought it couldn’t be real…
Imagine a child who watches a friend receiving a pile of presents from his parents, but then remembers that his own family is too poor to buy gifts when his birthday arrives.
Economic woes have devastated so many people, and as the rate of poverty rises, so does the number of kids who go without being recognized on their one special day. Whenever a group called Cheerful Givers steps in, parents are given the joy that goes with handing to their own children a colorful birthday bag of gifts.
Since 1994, the non-profit organization has provided toy-filled gift bags to over 300,000 less fortunate children. Each bag contains an assortment of small toys, books, and candy treats and are distributed to shelters and food shelves so that parents are able to give the gift to their child themselves and family bonds can be strengthened.
Throughout the month of August, Cheerful Givers is holding their first online “Social Summer” fundraiser with the goal of harnessing the power of social media. Simple links have been set up for use on Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, and blogs for use in helping to spread the word about the group.
“Yesterday we received a small donation from a guy in Ireland who learned about us from a friend in Philadelphia who posted our link on her Facebook,” said Karen Kitchel, President of Cheerful Givers. “He said, ‘I think it’s good to give donations to worthy causes anywhere; I only wish I wasn’t living paycheck to paycheck so I could give more.’”
Half-way through the month, the campaign already raised 50% of their goal of collecting $1,000.
“While the need is much greater,” Kitchel noted, “we wanted to try this concept in hopes of generating a greater amount of future funding in this way. Our goal for this year is to provide birthday gifts to 50,000 less fortunate kids, and to do that we need the support of many.”
Visit www.cheerfulgivers.org for more info or to make a donation.
A performing macaw that flew the coop in San Diego’s Zoo Saturday was missing for days until it was rescued by a family with a little help from their pet macaw.
Curly, a 10-year-old trained green-winged macaw, had been missing since Saturday night when he flew away after being startled while performing in the popular program “Soar — A Symphony in Flight.”
Meanwhile, Chad McManamy was in his front yard on Palmetto Way on Sunday night with his pet harlequin macaw Charlie when he heard another macaw calling. He looked up and saw Curly flying overhead…
(Continue reading in San Diego Tribune)
Photo courtesy of Sun Star
Straw fences and tin roofs: the homes in Pritomoddi village are typical of millions of others across rural Bangladesh, except for one thing: the shiny solar panels that provide electricity, all the time.
The Grameen Bank works with the World Bank and a state-owned company to spread the technology throughout the impoverished country.
photo by John Stone www.eyeclectic.net
Last month a group of unlikely lobbyists came to Washington, DC, survivors of shark attacks — many with missing limbs and legs — to help save the very predators which attacked them, but are in danger of being hunted to extinction.
They are attempting to perusade US legislators – starting in the Senate – to back a tough new US law to clamp down on the widespread killing of shark, which has steadily risen in response to Asia’s insatiable appetite for shark fin soup.
Overcoming challenge is the mantra of young Palestinian musicians rehearsing and performing in the only Palestinian orchestra in the territories. They’ve teamed up with a Lebanese composer in preparation for their latest concert, an ode to peace and hope for a future homeland.
The AFP video below may take a moment to load, or watch it on ClipSyndicate…
The latest Electric Power Monthly Report released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) shows net U.S. electrical generation from renewable sources (biomass, geothermal, solar, hydro, and wind) reached an all-time high in May of 2009, comprising 13% of the total electrical generation for the month.
Of the 13% from renewable for May of ’09, 9.4% came from conventional hydropower and 3.6% from non-hydro renewables. From that 3.6% of non-hydro, 1.8% came from wind, 1.3% from biomass, 0.4% from geothermal, and 0.3% from solar. Compared to May of 2008 wind net generation increased by 12.5% (with increases in the state of Iowa representing 52.2% of the national rise).
(Continue reading in GlobalWarmingIsReal.com)
Global recognition including the Nobel Peace Prize and the Presidential Medal of Freedom has not kept Muhammad Yunus from his main goal – helping millions of people out of poverty with the help of small loan-interest loans.
The Nobel Laureate is on a mission to make the financial system accessible to every human being on the planet, whether they reside in a village in his native Bangladesh, or in New York City, where his banking organization, the Grameen Bank, has recently expanded, issuing micro-loans to 1000 low-income borrowers.
Hours before receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom from U.S. President Barack Obama in the White House last week (photo, above), Yunus told reporters in Washington that credit should be a human right available to anyone who needs it.
College football teams are planning to start the season off on a courteous note.
As part of a sportsmanship initiative, the American Football Coaches Association and NCAA are encouraging schools to arrange teamwide handshakes on the field before kickoff.
Jimmy Page, Jack White and The Edge unite in Davis Guggenheim’s new documentary ‘It Might Get Loud’. Filmed through the eyes of three virtuosos from three different generations, audiences get up close and personal, discovering how a furniture upholsterer from Detroit, a studio musician and painter from London and a seventeen-year-old Dublin schoolboy, each used the electric guitar to develop their unique sound and rise to the pantheon of superstar.
It Might Get Loud opened Friday in New York and California, and opens in coming weeks across the U.S. and the world.
Japan’s Prime Minister expressed deep regret over the suffering his country inflicted on Asian countries during World War II in a solemn ceremony Saturday. The Prime Minister vowed that Japan would never repeat the tragedy. Emperor Akihito said he hoped Japan would never again wage a war
(Read the AP account at WTOP News)
Hundreds of newly minted physicians can benefit from a California program that offers them help paying off their student loans in exchange for three years of work in poor neighborhoods.
“At the end of my residency in 2008, my worry was about the kind of work I’d have to find to be able to pay off that $150,000 debt,” said Dr. Jorge Rubal. “For me this grant is a blessing, because it gives me the chance to work with my community where they most need doctors who speak Spanish.”
Wars are less deadly than they’ve been for 12,000 years. Things could get even better. A sign at the entrance to the West Point War Museum states, “Unquestionably, war-making is an aspect of human nature which will continue as nations attempt to impose their will upon each other.” Actually, this assertion is quite questionable.
A recent decline in war casualties—especially compared to historical and even prehistorical rates—has some scholars wondering whether the era of international war may be ending.
It was 40 years ago that young hippies watched the sun come up at the Woodstock music festival, an event that spread the message of love and peace, and defined the 1960s.
A new museum opened last year at the site to celebrate the memory of the old dairy farmer in Bethel, NY, Max Yasgur, who welcomed the concert-goers to his meadow, more than a million strong.
These videos help paint the picture of an anniversary mood forty years later. . .
It is certainly no secret (unless you’ve been relaxing for decades with no media access) that stress is a killer. Our bodies suffer chemical changes that are long lasting and lead to high blood pressure, a compromised immune system and other very detrimental health issues.
Read this article from Examiner.com about how important it is to reduce your stress and RELAX!!
The Historic Park Inn Hotel, along with City National Bank in Mason City, Iowa, designed by architect Frank Lloyd Wright, will stand together forever, thanks to a group that has claimed victory in its efforts to begin restoration of the collapsing properties.
The Park Inn Hotel was the last of six Wright designed hotels left in the world, after the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo was demolished in 1968. Once the $18 million restoration is complete and the building reopens to the public in early 2011, Wright enthusiasts will be able to stay overnight in any of the functional hotel’s 20 suites. The group, Wright on the Park, Inc., named because of the location across from central park, plans a complete renovation of the striking design, including restoration of the distinctive brick and terra-cotta façade as well as the art glass windows.
Read a feature story w/photo from the AP, at USA Today.
Photo from wrightonthepark.org
