Category Archives: Social Good

Jul17

For someone whom I took to be soft-spoken when we first met, Jennifer James sure does know how to amplify! Through her voice and those of her team members, around 50 million people around the world have heard the words and images she has to share. That is loud, and her messages of social good are worth listening to. This past spring I announced that I will have the privilege of traveling in August with Jennifer to South Africa for The Global Team of 200. I would like to introduce you to my travel partner, founder of Global Team of 200, Mom Bloggers For Social good, Mom Bloggers Club, and dynamo, Jennifer James.

In order to introduce you, fellow Global Team of 200 member, Jennifer Barbour, generously agreed to let me re-post the fantastic profile that she wrote for her Philanthropy Friday series on her blog www.anotherjennifer.com. Click here to read her piece in its entirety .

As Written by Jennifer Barbour:

Jennifer James

Jennifer James started blogging back in 2004 at a time when most people had never even heard the term “blog”.

She founded the oldest and the largest social network dedicated to mom bloggers in the world, Mom Bloggers Club, in 2007.

Clearly ahead of her time in terms of using the power of social media and creating online communities, Jennifer James has had the unique perspective of seeing how mom bloggers, in particular, have grown throughout the years. Read the rest of this entry →

Jul5

Build Something Incredible With WaterAid In Madagascar This Summer

Posted on July 5, 2013 by documama

Build Something Incredible With WaterAid In Madagascar This Summer

Photo by Igor Laszlo

Madagascar is an Island nation in the Indian Ocean with a population of around 22 million. When Madagascar is mentioned, a lush landscape of biodiversity and unique wildlife is conjured in the imagination . When I learned I’d be writing about the WaterAid campaign to provide clean water and sanitation to thousands of children there, I called our friends Jim and Annick who had grown up and lived in Madagascar.

They describe the country as a tropical paradise, with unique cultural diversity, and as one of the most beautiful places on earth. While consistent with our perceptions of Madagascar, much of the population also lives in poverty. Jim adds that occasionally something will happen to remind you that this paradise is also one of the poorest places in the world.

This summer, let’s build something incredible… children’s futures! Be part of a unique project transforming the lives of Madagascar’s schoolchildren with taps and toilets.

Photo by Igor Laszlo

In Madagascar, the lack of taps and toilets is a big problem.

Every year, 13,000 children under five die due to water-related diseases. With half the population under 16, young people across the country are affected in many different ways.

This summer, you have an amazing opportunity to transform the lives of 12,000 children. With your help, we can reach 31 schools with over 100 toilets and 150 taps in total.

– www.wateraidamerica.org

Jim also clearly remembered visiting the Morondava area of Madagascar where WaterAid will be working this summer to improve water and sanitation conditions. He remembered well because he became horribly sick after a meal there with one of the worst intestinal illnesses he can remember. As he described the geography of the area, it sits on the West Coast Canal of Mozambique where hurricane season ricochets between the coasts of Mozambique, Tanzania, and Madagascar. The topography of the region is flat, and sits by the ocean, and despite its beauty, the clean water supply becomes tainted each year with the storms, and heavy rains, causing a surge in water related illness around that time. Jim states that “You are in Paradise, but Hell is not too far away”. For a child without access to proper healthcare, an illness like the one Jim experienced can be deadly.

Morondava Beach Photo by Igor Laszlo

Over the next few weeks you can follow the story as children in Madagascar get the water and sanitation they need to keep them healthy enough to build their dreams.

Children like Perlette and Zafera.

Follow their story on Twitter #buildfutures or Donate to help the project reach their goal.

Perlette: “I want to be a doctor”

“I am 13 years old. I love school, as it is the only way to be clever. When I am older I want to be a doctor and treat sick children. I have missed school because of drinking dirty water. It may stop me from being a doctor.”

Zafera: “I want to be a midwife”

“Science and geography are my favorite lessons. When I finish my studies, I would like to be a midwife like my aunt. If we have water and toilets here, we will be more engaged in our studies.”

All summer long they will be posting real-time updates on the two girls, the progress of the construction with a celebration on Sept. 19 when kids return to schools with taps and toilets for the first time. Check out the plans!

Please join me on an incredible journey. I’ll be bringing you stories and pictures from Tsimahavaobe school in Morondava, so you too can see the amazing transformation.- Ernest Randriarimalala, WaterAid Madagascar

I wrote this post as part of The Global Team of 200, a highly specialized group of members of Mom Bloggers for Social Good that concentrates on issues involving women and girls, children, world hunger and maternal health.

Our Motto: Individually we are all-powerful. Together we can change the world. We believe in the power of collective action to help others and believe in ourselves to make this world a better place for our children and the world’s children.

Jun17

Changing The World ONE Song At A Time

Posted on June 17, 2013 by documama

Changing The World ONE Song At A Time

Photo provided by ONE agit8

International leaders convene today in Northern Ireland for tomorrow’s G8 summit. Together they will craft policy on major decisions about the world we live in. ONE wants us to use our voices to call for commitments toward chronic malnutrition globally as an important step towards the end of extreme poverty, and preventable disease. ONE’s Agit8 campaign highlights the force of change inspired by protest music throughout history. They have compiled an amazing playlist of protest music over the years, and you might be surprised at the meaning behind some of your favorite songs.

Photo provided by ONE agit8

Growing up in Boston. a city that has been one of the most prolific incubator towns in our country for new music, listening to music was a huge part of our lives. Whether at the Boston Symphony Orchestra with my parents as a child, or in a basement club as a young adult, it is what we did. Later working in film production, I had the opportunity to meet and work with great musicians like Aerosmith, and James Taylor. My friend Lisa and I were even able to get our favorite indie band at the time, Chucklehead into a T.V. commercial we were on. The power of music weaves through each of our own personal soundtracks to take us back to specific time periods in our lives. When I think of music to change the world by, forever permeating my consciousness is the ‘We Are The World” track written by Michael Jackson.

In my mind those first startling images that woke up global awareness to the famine crisis in Ethiopia are inextricable from the music that followed. It stirred us to action, starting in London with Bob Geldof’s “Do They Know It’s Christmas”, and once our eyes were opened, there was no turning away. That sparked the USA to follow suit with We Are The World, and to me suddenly music seemed to become a powerful humanitarian driver. Songs have always inspired changed in the world, as evidenced by the history that ONE has compiled. From the nursery rhyme Ring Around The Rosie, thought to refer to the Plague epidemic in England in the late 1600’s, to Woodie Guthrie’s This Land is Your Land written in response to the blind American patriotism he saw surrounding U.S. involvement in World War II.

The Band Aid/Live Aid initiatives marked the greatest outpouring of collective compassion for a faraway people the world had seen.- ONE.org

When the world came together through music in response to the Ethiopian famine in 1984 the seeds of inspiration, and eventual formulation of the ONE campaign were planted. To see the background of its formation check out the amazing documentary Give Us The Money-Why Poverty about how Bono and Bob Geldof used their celebrity to become agents of change. A global awareness was sparked by those events in the mid eighties, and has since caught fire. Music continues to be a driver of change and solidarity for people, and right now we have the opportunity to use our voices and join the ONE campaign to be heard. If you love music, and it moves you, you can get involved with the Agit8 campaign and let the music speak to you, or for you here.

ONE is joining forces with Spotify and major artists to show the world the power of the protest song.
Listen to exclusive playlists, watch incredible live performances, and enter to win a Spotify Premium account!

Photo provided by ONE agit8

About ONE

Co-founded by Bono, ONE is a campaigning and advocacy organization of more than three million people taking action to end extreme poverty and preventable disease… because the facts show extreme poverty has already been cut in half and can be virtually eradicated by 2030.

We’re not asking for your money. We’re asking for your voice.

Find out more at ONE.org

Jun8

Art! Food! Merriment! At Festival Fete

Posted on June 8, 2013 by documama

Art! Food! Merriment! At Festival Fete

One of the things we love about Rhode Island is the amazing art scene, and this weekend one of my favorite local events is taking place. Festival Fete is an art festival featuring local artists, performers, and food vendors that bring together community to celebrate the arts. It is a two day event full of music, entertainment, free crafts for kids, Artists, and local vendors.

The mission of Festival Fete is: to offer a platform for local artists — of various mediums and levels — to show their work. In collaboration with community talent, volunteers and sponsors, to create profitable platforms that celebrate locally grown art, food and merriment.

“This is not your grandmother’s Art Festival!” is used as one of the festival’s tag lines, and certainly prepares you a bit for the 10 foot costumed Big Nazo creatures roaming amongst the vendor tents. Today we were charmed by painters and jewlers, bakers and popcorn-makers, and children selling their art. Women twirling rolling pins and covered in flower danced through the crowd to the music of their band, and tee-shirts were sold recycled as skirts along side organic laundry care by Yore. This festival is all about community, great art and supporting the arts. the Rock Climbing Wall donates 1/2 of it’s profit to ArtIsSmart, and Smashing Photo Booth donates the entire fee charged for photos.

Art Is Smart serves children by raising funds to support public education art programs. We produce and sell AIS merchandise, hold fundraising events, and direct 100% of corporate and individual donations to public school art teachers who request funding via a short, specific letter outlining what they need funding for and how much. A simple and straightforward process for raising and distributing funds, Art Is Smart is based on pure passion for the arts.

Even young artists in the community are given a chance to shine. The booth for them is free and in return they donate 10% of their proceeds to the ArtIsSmart program. David created the Festival along with his wife Jennifer, and says that grants are provided to nurture art programs in Rhode Island public schools where sometimes the budget for art supplies is zero. “Some schools with no budget for art supplies will come to us with requests for the most basic supplies such as paper and colored pencils.” says David. Over the past year thousands of dollars in grants went to funding basic art supplies for Rhode Island public schools.

We learned about the award winning art program riverz edge arts which is a really cool program that took part in the festival. It serves as a social enterprise where professional artists serve as mentors, guiding youth through their arts education in an environment that stresses hands-on learning, teamwork, mutual respect, and responsibility. At one of the booths I fell in love with the great logos on the Lotus Life tee-shirts that read “Create Yourself” and “She Believed She Could So She Did”. The sun came out to shine down on the festivities driving us to get refreshment at nearby Pinkberry frozen yogurt, where they also were donating proceeds from their sales to Art is Smart. The festival will be at Garden City June 8th & 9th from 10am – 5pm, since proceeds for many of the activities go to charity, you don’t have to feel guilty about going both days if you want. It’s all in the name of Art!

Jun7

Food For Thought; Save The Children Reports

Posted on June 7, 2013 by documama

Food For Thought; Save The Children Reports

On June 17^th and 18^th world leaders, including President Obama, will convene in Northern Ireland for the G8 Summit. Based on a newly released report by Save The Children, titled Food For Thought, Global nutrition should be high on the agenda. We have known for a long time that good nutrition is important for kids. What the Food For Thought Report highlights is that it is not just important, it is critical. Good nutrition, it turns out, especially in the first 1,000 days of life when the body and brain is growing rapidly, is more crucial to proper development than we realized.

“A quarter of the world’s children are suffering the effects of chronic malnutrition. Poor nutrition in the early years is driving a literacy and numeracy crisis in developing countries and is also a huge barrier to further progress in tackling child deaths,” said Carolyn Miles, Save the Children CEO and President.

Save the Children’s report also highlights the huge economic cost of chronic malnutrition. Chronic Malnutrition causes stunting of cognitive development that results in the inability to reach full adult potential. That means a quarter of the worlds adults will not be able to fully contribute to their communities in the way they would had they received proper nutrition as a child. Spending on nutrition programs is one of the most cost effective forms of development assistance, yet currently amounts to just 0.3 per cent of global development spending. Any investment now, the report says, would be a down payment on future prosperity.

“Improving the nutritional status of children and women in the crucial 1,000-day window – from the start of a woman’s pregnancy until her child’s second birthday – could greatly increase a children’s ability to learn and to earn,” said Miles. “World leaders gathering in London on June 8th must commit to concrete actions to tackle malnutrition in those critical 1,000 days, and invest in the future of our children.”

Of course the need for good nutrition does not end there. As a parent I know it is a life long commitment to ensure that my kids eat healthfully. I also know how challenging it can be to make sure to fit in all of the nutrients kids need in their daily meals. That’s why I love easy finger food vegetables for my kids like sliced cucumbers, carrot sticks or Iceberg lettuce wedges.

My favorite easy Gr8 recipe that all my kids love is Edamame:

Steam fresh or frozen Edamame in the pods.

Toss the cooked pods with a bit of kosher salt.

Let the kids pop out the beans and enjoy!

Check out more Gr8 recipes for healthful eating options on twitter #Gr8Recipes .

You can help let President Obama know that nutrition is an important item on the agenda by tweeting @whitehouse with your messages using the hashtags #next1000days and #Nutrition4Growth . A sample tweet may read something like this:

@whitehouse let’s make sure all kids get healthy food in their #next1000days so they can reach their full potential. #Nutrition4Growth

Save the Children is the leading, independent organization that creates lasting change for children in need in the United States and around the world. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

As Written by Jennifer Barbour:

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This summer, let’s build something incredible… children’s futures! Be part of a unique project transforming the lives of Madagascar’s schoolchildren with taps and toilets.

Perlette: “I want to be a doctor”

Zafera: “I want to be a midwife”

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About ONE

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