Volunteerism, Get Involved
I had planned on making those Greek pastries today, if I was motivated, and was going to bake my extremely delicious brownies first thing. But then I started thinking about how (as a whole) Americans "have it all." Imagine...I was debating about whether to try a new recipe, or simply whip up a pan of my brownies...my tummy was still full from the taco salad I'd fixed for dinner, and the Oreos I'd nibbled on while doing some studying. On the other side of the Atlantic Ocean...where we usually look to see if a tropical depression is forming so we can stress out about a hurricane which will cause all of the food in our refrigerators to spoil when we lose power...and we'll have to eat canned stuff or Pop Tarts...
On THAT side of the Atlantic, there are people who could feed an entire community on what most of us have in our refrigerators and cabinets. How DARE we have food eating contests, where the sole purpose is to see how disgustingly we can overconsume, only to puke it up once the prize has been awarded...when there are people dying of starvation. There certainly people in the U.S. who go to bed hungry. But I do not believe for a minute that any hunger in this country even comes close to what is happening on the continent of Africa. I am not jumping on the "Brad-Jolie" bandwagon. I was trying to draw attention to and collect donations for the Red Cross back in Chicago in the 70s for people in Bangladesh and the Sudan who were starving. It may not be our fault that people are starving, and I don't suppose that by refusing to "super-size" our fast food orders the issue of starvation is going to go away. Africa is far away and many of us will never have an opportunity to go there. Many probably wouldn't go there even if the opportunity arose. However, I for one, am very aware of our government's lack of action in aiding people in Darfur, just as we neglected our collective responsibility to help in Rawanda in the 90s. As human beings, as co-inhabitants of this planet, as church-, synagogue-, mosque-attending people, or whatever your faith or lack of, I believe we have a personal responsibility to figure out what we each can do to help others. Maybe some of you couldn't care less. If that's how you feel, then I would appreciate it if you don't even waste your time reading my blog. Go out and buy yourself something and leave me and my thoughts the frig alone. But if you are a caring human being, don't think that just one person cannot make a difference.
What I would like to do, and see if you agree with me...is to see if WE (you and I) can create a bloggers' challenge. I couldn't sleep last night because I was brainstorming ideas. I think it would be incredibly cool if we could all come up with ideas on ways that each of us can make the teeniest, tiniest difference. We can share our ideas with each other, share ideas with friends, co-workers, co-parishioners, drinking buddies, or whatever. Come up with ideas, organize into groups, and challenge other blog groups to see who can come up with the most ideas, and best of all, put them into action. You can all be my Cinnabeyotches. I don't know how the success or winning group would be determined. Maybe calling attention to a blog challenge on one of the cable news shows, and send them the results and let them judge who the winner is. I would be willing to bake brownies for the person or group who wins, and then CARRIES THROUGH with their plan. Examples would be as easy as some of these cheap and simple ideas:
1. Designate one person in your group/office to find the poorest school in your community or state, staple a large zip-lock bag to your bulletin board, and ask everyone in your office/group to save BoxTops for Education (on General Mills Products) or Campbell Soup Labels. Challenge other groups to do the same. The one person will be responsible only for seeing to it that the things get mailed to the contact at that school.
2. Put a box or shopping bags in your office storage room...ask co-workers to buy ONE can (or more) or box of a non-perishable item each time they do their grocery shopping...you can get a can of tuna, fruit or vegetables for less than a dollar. Weigh or count the number of items. Challenge another group/business to do the same
and donate it to a local food bank, to the Boy Scouts, or the US Postal Service when they do their annual food drives.
3. Ask everyone you know to buy one tube of toothpaste, one brush and a roll of dental floss. Collect it and drop it off at a homeless shelter. For some people, this may be the only dental care they will ever receive. It will cost you less than a Combo Meal at a fast food place.
More later!! Matthew is asking, "You wouldn't want to give me a ride to see my girlfriend, Wouldja?" (See I told you that's what he calls me.)
On THAT side of the Atlantic, there are people who could feed an entire community on what most of us have in our refrigerators and cabinets. How DARE we have food eating contests, where the sole purpose is to see how disgustingly we can overconsume, only to puke it up once the prize has been awarded...when there are people dying of starvation. There certainly people in the U.S. who go to bed hungry. But I do not believe for a minute that any hunger in this country even comes close to what is happening on the continent of Africa. I am not jumping on the "Brad-Jolie" bandwagon. I was trying to draw attention to and collect donations for the Red Cross back in Chicago in the 70s for people in Bangladesh and the Sudan who were starving. It may not be our fault that people are starving, and I don't suppose that by refusing to "super-size" our fast food orders the issue of starvation is going to go away. Africa is far away and many of us will never have an opportunity to go there. Many probably wouldn't go there even if the opportunity arose. However, I for one, am very aware of our government's lack of action in aiding people in Darfur, just as we neglected our collective responsibility to help in Rawanda in the 90s. As human beings, as co-inhabitants of this planet, as church-, synagogue-, mosque-attending people, or whatever your faith or lack of, I believe we have a personal responsibility to figure out what we each can do to help others. Maybe some of you couldn't care less. If that's how you feel, then I would appreciate it if you don't even waste your time reading my blog. Go out and buy yourself something and leave me and my thoughts the frig alone. But if you are a caring human being, don't think that just one person cannot make a difference.
What I would like to do, and see if you agree with me...is to see if WE (you and I) can create a bloggers' challenge. I couldn't sleep last night because I was brainstorming ideas. I think it would be incredibly cool if we could all come up with ideas on ways that each of us can make the teeniest, tiniest difference. We can share our ideas with each other, share ideas with friends, co-workers, co-parishioners, drinking buddies, or whatever. Come up with ideas, organize into groups, and challenge other blog groups to see who can come up with the most ideas, and best of all, put them into action. You can all be my Cinnabeyotches. I don't know how the success or winning group would be determined. Maybe calling attention to a blog challenge on one of the cable news shows, and send them the results and let them judge who the winner is. I would be willing to bake brownies for the person or group who wins, and then CARRIES THROUGH with their plan. Examples would be as easy as some of these cheap and simple ideas:
1. Designate one person in your group/office to find the poorest school in your community or state, staple a large zip-lock bag to your bulletin board, and ask everyone in your office/group to save BoxTops for Education (on General Mills Products) or Campbell Soup Labels. Challenge other groups to do the same. The one person will be responsible only for seeing to it that the things get mailed to the contact at that school.
2. Put a box or shopping bags in your office storage room...ask co-workers to buy ONE can (or more) or box of a non-perishable item each time they do their grocery shopping...you can get a can of tuna, fruit or vegetables for less than a dollar. Weigh or count the number of items. Challenge another group/business to do the same
and donate it to a local food bank, to the Boy Scouts, or the US Postal Service when they do their annual food drives.
3. Ask everyone you know to buy one tube of toothpaste, one brush and a roll of dental floss. Collect it and drop it off at a homeless shelter. For some people, this may be the only dental care they will ever receive. It will cost you less than a Combo Meal at a fast food place.
More later!! Matthew is asking, "You wouldn't want to give me a ride to see my girlfriend, Wouldja?" (See I told you that's what he calls me.)
posted by Cinnabitch | 11:42 AM
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