Category Archives: Change the World

Give In To The Inspiration

Have you heard about Erik? He volunteered at 20 different causes over a period of 20 days.

Read all about it here! Go. Now. I’ll wait until you’re done.

I’ve always thought of myself as a charitable person, but I’ve never actually gotten involved and volunteered my time. I’m embarrassed to admit that. I’ve looked into causes and I’ve gone on volunteer websites like Volunteer Match and Chicago Cares. But I’ve never signed up for anything.

It’s fear of the unknown. It’s fear of doing it alone. It’s fear of doing more harm than good, especially if I volunteer to work with children or people with special needs.

None of that should stop me, though. I have no excuse, especially after following Erik’s journey. He never volunteered before and acknowledged being out of his comfort zone. He’s inspired me and many others to get off our butts and actually DO something. It’s easy to spew inspirational quotes and tell everyone how zen and aware you are. What’s difficult is diving in and sharing your experience with others.

2010 Goal #3 –> Volunteer! I will report on causes I’ve picked by the end of January.

Friends in Chicago: If you already volunteer somewhere or are interested in being my volunteer buddy, let me know! Leave me a comment or contact me on Twitter, Facebook, e-mail, phone, text, etc.

If you haven’t already, don’t forget to visit Erik’s site 20 Causes, 20 Days.

Alright, now that I’ve put this out there for all the world to see, I better not let any of you guys or myself down. Wish me luck! I’m seriously gonna need it.

Closer to Helping People

Okay, so January is nearly over and I still haven’t volunteered my time to good use like I wanted to. But, I think I figured out what I want to do. I want to get involved with an organization that helps children with with mental or physical disabilities. The YMCA near my sister has these pool parties for these children and their families. They sound like fun and it’s exactly the type of thing I think I would enjoy helping out with.

I need to find something similar in the city. It shouldn’t be hard. When I figure out what I’m doing…well, I won’t tell you. HELLO – this is going on the Internet and I really don’t need people stalking me while I’m trying to do something good for people.

The Reusable Water Bottle Debate

TinyChoices.com recently posted that a major co-op in Canada is discontinuing the sale of Nalgene water bottles due to some chemical that may be unsafe. Basically, it hasn’t been proven that bisphenol A is unsafe, but it also hasn’t been deemed as totally safe.

I’ve been trying to find an environmentally friendly and non-toxic reusable water bottle, but there are pros and cons to everything. I currently have a Nalgene bottle, but I’m not totally in love with it. And reusing water bottles is just gross (hi, bateria and chemicals-in-plastic-seeping-into-my-h2O, nice to meet you).

Two options that I’m considering are Sigg and Kleen Kanteen. These are mentioned in every article or blog post I’ve read about reusable bottles. Looks like I need to trek to the new REI by work and buy some bottles to test out.

On another note, did you hear that California is totally using filtered sewage for their water supply now? I don’t remember the whole news story, so look it up (because I’m feeling lazy right now).

Countdown to 2008: Be the Change

One of the promises that I’d like to keep in 2008 is that of doing some type of regular volunteer work. At the moment, I’m more attracted to the school/museum/music- or art-related type of ventures. That’s nice and all, but I should probably work on feeding the hungry and helping the underpriveleged as well.

To help me find a place or organization to donate my time to, I’ve checked out www.chicagocares.com and www.volunteermatch.com (thanks to Tammi for bringing these to my attention). The next step is to stop being a big baby and dive right in! I’m open to suggestions – leave me a comment.

Clean House and Do Good at the Same Time

I’m on a mission to donate my beanie babies. I thought about selling them, but at 40 cents a pop, I thought I would rather donate them. I found a couple web sites for donating, but have decided to go with www.beaniebabyambassador.com. Unfortunately, they just got a huge shipment from a school and can’t take anymore donations until this shipment is sent to Iraq. I’ll keep you posted. I’m pretty excited about this.