And the Winner Is....

EDDIE CHEN

"I'm helping at a food pantry in Washington D.C sorting out meals from each other to be delivered to individuals living with life-threatening diseases"

Thanks for all the entries!

Eddie now gets to choose between a Starbucks, Dunkin' Donuts or UBurger $10 gift card.

Do you know of any other photo contests going on? Or a contest to do with volunteering? Post it in the comments.

City of Boston's Roll It Forward

Think. If you have a bike that's been sitting in your garage that no one in your family uses, a bike you have been meaning to get rid of or a bike on it's way from the dump-- now's the perfect opportunity to donate your bike to a good cause! Don't have it take up space or end up in a landfill-- donate & help your community.

The City of Boston has a Roll It Forward! Campaign going on. This project seeks to make cycling a more accessible transportation for low-income communities. The overall goal of the campaign is to collect, repair, & distribute 1,000 bikes to Boston's neighborhood by spring 2012.

Every bike recipient will be fitted with a helmet & be educated on proper bike safety. Bikes are needed for Boston residents of all ages, not just kids, so donate your bike today! Donate your old bike through December 10th at the following locations.

What do you think about this project? What do you enjoy most about having a bike and how do you believe families will benefit from the City of Boston's Roll Forward Campaign?

World AIDS Day

December 1 is World AIDS Day. Started in 1988, World AIDS Day is essentially about increasing awareness, fighting prejudice and improving education about HIV/AIDS.

2010 Theme: Universal Access and Human Rights

Currently, there are 3.3 million people living with HIV, including 2.5 million children. During 2009, some 2.6 million people became newly infected with the virus and an estimated 2.6 million people became infected with the virus and an estimated 1.8 million people died from AIDS.

These statistics may be hard to swallow and may not mean much, despite the large numbers-- one way to think about the epidemic is by listening to stories. HIV/AIDS is not a crime or a punishment. HIV/AIDS is a serious, yet preventable disease. December 1 is a great day to tear down the stigma surrounding HIV/AIDS and learn the facts.

How can you help?


Learn the facts and spread the word. Tell people about what you know and break down people's stereotypes and negative stigma surrounding HIV/AIDS

Wear a red ribbon. The red ribbon is an international symbol for HIV/AIDS awareness that is worn by people to show care, concern and support for people with HIV/AIDS.


Attend events in Boston and other places in MA about World AIDS day. There's lots of opportunities to get tested, watch films, and get educated about HIV/AIDS all other Boston and MA on December 1.

If you are a Boston University student, support & sign up for Dance Marathon in the spring. (Check out their blog: http://budancemarathon.blogspot.com/) For the past eight years, Dance Marathon has been the largest annual fundraiser at BU. Dance Marathon is able to donate thousands of dollars each year to two organizations that assist children and their families who are combating pediatric HIV/AIDS and fund research efforts to find a cure! (I wish I could do this this year, but I will be in Sydney, Australia studying abroad. Dance for me!!)

Take AVERT (an international HIV and AIDS charity, based in the UK, working to avert HIV/AIDS worldwide, through education, treatment, & care) quizzes and games to test your knowledge about HIV/AIDS, sex, pregnancy & condoms.


This is an important day and it's important we all show our support. In what ways will you support people with HIV/AIDS?

Love animals? Cool ways to volunteer with them in Boston!

Check out these cool ways to volunteer with animals in Boston. The one thing that I have learned from volunteering to work with animals in the past is to BE PATIENT. These organizations are inundated with applications because these volunteer positions are so popular and some of the volunteer positions require an orientation session or several training seminars. It's all worth it though because you get to help animals!

Volunteer at the New England Aquarium. My friend, Mary-Kate, volunteers at the New England Aquarium and she loves it! Volunteers do all sorts of things, like even scuba-dive in the tanks to help clean rocks and take care of the sea creatures.

Become a Museum of Science Butterfly Garden Volunteer. Volunteers in the Museum of Science Butterfly Garden (which if you have not been to the Museum of Science, I highly recommend you check out! It's a really cool place with tons of awesome exhibits.) answer questions on butterfly identification after receiving training. This helps educate and teach people about butterflies in Boston. Pretty cool.

Animal Rescue League of Boston. Volunteers at Animal Rescue League of Boston volunteer with direct animal care, animal socialization and general administrative support. No matter what your volunteer position if you volunteer with Animal Rescue League of Boston, you will be touching the lives of animals-- whether directly or indirectly.

MSPCA Boston Adoption Center cares for over 6,000 animals annually and are available 365 days a year. The organization relies on volunteers for everything from cat cuddling to cage cleaning. 


Why do you love working with animals? Have you volunteered with these organizations or organizations like this? Tell me about your experience.

Contest!!

PHOTO CONTEST!!

Send me photos of you volunteering and a sentence or two to describe what's going on in the picture. This picture could have been taken anywhere-- but I'd love to see some Boston photos. Be sure to send your name and the description along with the photo.

My favorite photo will be chosen Monday night (11/29/2010). Submissions must be in my email by 10:30pm on 11/29 to be eligible for the contest.

Winner's photo & volunteer story will be featured on my blog, and will receive a $10.00 gift card (Winner will have the choice between Starbucks, Dunkin' Donuts, UBurger gift card).


Submissions can be emailed to ameyowen12@gmail.com.


Tell your friends! Good luck!!

Ways to Help Charities, Non-Profits & People Without Money

Make a difference without emptying your wallet!

People often say you can't make a difference without spending money. But, as I've shown in my past posts, there are lots of ways to make a difference without spending a dime. Check out these 4 ways in particular that cost you nothing to help charities & the people they help:

Use the coupons you get for places like Shaws, CVS, Rite-Aid and Stop & Shop to get free food. (See the video below). If you don't need or like the particular item you get from the store, donate it to a local charity. What could be easier? Plus, it doesn't cost you anything.

If your hair is long enough and grows back fast, donate your hair to Locks of Love! Children lose their hair due to cancer treatments, alopecia, burns & other circumstances.  It is Locks of Love mission is to return a sense of self, confidence and normalcy to children suffering from hair loss by utilizing donated ponytails to provide the highest quality hair prosthetics to financially disadvantaged children. The children receive hair prostheses free of charge or on a sliding scale, based on financial need.

Before you throw something away, visit Boston's Freecycle Network. This is a great website that helps the environment and people worldwide. Before tossing items (like an old fax machine, an old tennis shoe missing a pair, or an old picture frame)-- think to your self: Can someone use this? Simply join the Freecycle Network & post your item up and before no time-- someone is bound to want to use your item. 
You can even use FreeCycle to acquire something for yourself. Respond to a member's offer and you might just get it. Know, however, it's up to the giver to decide who receives the gifts and set up a pick up time to pass on the treasure.

Blog, Facebook, or Tweet about your favorite non-profit or charity. Word-of-mouth, especially via social networks and new media, is especially important because it lets people know about ways to volunteer and help different causes. People value the opinions of their friends and family and will value what you have to say and your advice about who to donate to or to volunteer with. Spread the word!

What ways do you help charities and non-profits for free?

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Happy Thanksgiving readers! I am thankful for you!

Spend time with friends & family today. :) Be thankful for all you have and those around you.

...and EAT TURKEY.

What are you thankful for? Post what your thankful for in the comments.

Plaid Friday

Remember a few posts back when I raved about Black Friday? Well, I mean it's still pretty cool-- but check out this new initiative: Plaid Friday. While I admit might take a while to get off the ground, Plaid Friday has great potential to help out a lot of local businesses out during this popular shopping day.

Instead of rushing to huge shopping malls and larger commercial stores, take a new approach to Black Friday: appreciate the city you live in by shopping at the rich variety of locally owned stores and restaurants. This is good because not only do you get to avoid the Black Friday mall mob rush (which, I do understand does have it's thrills) and you get to help out local businesses who rely on locals keep thriving.

If you are concerned shopping local won't be as good for the economy, then think about this: Even if you spend less this season, you are creating more jobs in your local town by shifting more of your shopping to locally-owned businesses. This is because, as Laury Hammel and Stacy Mitchell's article "Regional business leaders On Black Friday, "go local" instead" says:

Because unlike online retailers and big chains, local businesses depend on one another for certain goals and services (like accounting, Printing, and so on) so a larger share of what you spend at local stores is re-spent elsewhere in the community, supporting a variety of local jobs.

I found it interesting that “several studies have…found that locally owned businesses creates about 3x as much economic activity and more jobs in the New England region than spending that same dollar at a chain store.”

The idea behind “Plaid Friday” started in Oakland, California. But there’s ways to help in Boston and throughout New England at local stores:

In Greater Boston, for example, under the theme “Think Local, Thank Local” members of Cambridge Local First are donating a percentage of their sales during the week, starting on Plaid Friday to a local nonprofit, Food for Free.

All and all, I think this is a great idea. What are your thoughts? Do you believe it will catch on? Will you support local stores this Friday?

Got Books?

Every semester or so, I have to buy books for school. At the end of the school year, I attempt to sell most of my books back to the bookstore or sell them on Amazon. While this is often successful, some of my books remain unsold and just sit on my book shelves taking up space.

Recently, I came across a service I think is worth mentioning: Got Books?


Got Books? serves the local community by helping charities and nonprofit groups raise money and help the environment by saving unwanted books from being thrown away. When you donate books at local drop-off container, you help the local charity hosting the drop-off container raise money. Each time the container fills, Got Books? sends a check to that charity. In 2009, Got Books? raised over $500,000 for these groups. 

Got Books? sends over donated books to troops overseas through Books for Troops. 

Local teachers also benefit from Got Books? with free donated books through their Books for Teachers program.


There are several ways to donate:

1. You can use Got Books? FREE pick up service. Without even leaving your house, you can have Got Books? come to you to pick up your books, CDs, audio books & records. Call (978) 284 2500 to schedule your pick-up in many areas of MA and southern NH. You can also fill out a Pick-Up Request Form online.


2. Got Books? fundraising book donation drop-off containers and have over 350 placed throughout New England at schools, town halls, retail parking lots and a variety of other public locations. Donate books, CDs, audio books & records into any of these containers. Search for one near you here.


3. Mail them to Got Books? The site suggests you use Media Mail:


   Got Books, Inc.
   Attn: Donations
   255 Andover St. 
   Wilmington, MA 01887 


What do you do with old books? Have you thought about donating books before this blog post? Tell me what you have done with books in the past.

Big Wishes for Little Wanderers Gift Drive

Black Friday is coming up (one of my most favorite days of the year)! With lots of money to save online or in store, Black Friday is a great day to knock out some Christmas shopping for your loved ones. Since your saving money with all the great deals, remember to not only think of friends and family but those in need when holiday shopping.


Imagine on Christmas, you didn't expect anything. Presents were something you only dreamed of. That's how the holidays are for a lot of people & children in this world. How can you change this?

One way is to participate in The Home for Little Wanderers Big Wishes Gift Drive! The Home for Little Wanderers, where I intern, is the nation's oldest child and family service agency and has been part of the Massachusetts landscape for over 200 years. Today, The Home serves thousands of children and families living in at-risk circumstances.


There are a couple of ways you can help:

• Drop off new, unwrapped gifts at The Home for Little Wanderer's Toy Room, 161 South Huntington Ave, Jamaica Plain, MA or any of the drop off locations near you.

• Select a gift for a particular child or family using their Wish List Website.
• This list gives you background on an individual child or family and lists their wishes. When you purchase the gift, you can know the gift is something the child/family will appreciate or needs.

• Gift Card Challenge-- Donate a gift card. Gift cards are especially helpful in fulfilling wishes of teens, an often over-looked population for donated gifts. Gift cards are also great because families can use the gift cards to shop for themselves or use them to take care of basic things, like food shopping and clothes shopping. The cool thing about the gift card challenge Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage Cares and Bernie and Phyl's Furniture will match dollar to dollar up to $5,000 in gift card donations.

What is inspiring you to donate this year?

Mentor

Last year, I mentored a first grade girl through Boston University Community Service Center's Siblings program, designed to give children the opportunity to get involved with college students, who serve as a positive role models and good friends.

During my academic year as a mentor, my life was completely changed for the better. Every other week, I would do something fun with her. We would go to the dining hall, paint pottery, go bowling, go see a movie, go to the park-- whatever kind of adventure we wanted to get into. Every time I went to go pick her up, there she was waiting anxiously at the door before I even had time to ring the doorbell. Her face would light up and every time her mother would tell me how she just couldn't wait all week until I came to spend time with her. I watched my mentee grow from shy and anxious girl to a chatty, outgoing ball of sunshine. As the weeks went on, she taught me more and more about how to appreciate the little things and life.

Some cool reasons to become a Sibling (more listed on the CSC blog)

1. You will get a new friend who will look forward to hanging out with you-- no matter what.

2. You have an awesome excuse to relive your childhood at the Children's Museum.

3. The joy on your Sib's face when they accomplish something. I took my Sib bowling for her first time and when she got a strike she had this look of pure happiness that I will never forget.

4. A break from homework! It's fun to make bracelets, color and do something fun with your Sib instead of thinking about that big exam or working on that paper.

5. The smiles and the hugs! My sib would get so excited to see me every week. Sometimes, she would even make presents for me or draw pictures of me and give them to me when I came to hang out with her.


This program is only open to Boston University students. However, there are many other programs like siblings outside of BU that you can get involved in within Boston.

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Massachusetts Bay covers 4 regions within MA: Greater Boston, Cape Cod & The Islands, Fall River & Greater Attleboro. Big Brothers Big Sisters is the oldest and largest mentoring organization in the country, serving young people nationwide—including here in the Massachusetts Bay area.  As a Big, you get to be a kid again for a couple of hours every couple of weeks and in the process change a kid’s perspective on life. All you have to do is be a real friend and involve your "Little" in things you probably do already, like play sports or play video games. To apply, visit here. If the time commitment is too large for you at this time, donating to the cause is always an option. 

Best Buddies is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to establishing a global volunteer movement that creates opportunities for one-to-one friendships, integrated employment and leadership development for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. There are six different programs within Best Buddies to get involved in-- Best Buddies Citizens, Colleges, e-Buddies®, High Schools, Jobs and Middle Schools – that will positively impact more than 400,000 individuals this year alone. To volunteer, click here or donate to the cause.

Want to learn about more mentoring opportunities within Massachusetts? Check out the Mass Mentoring website,the umbrella organization for more than 165 mentoring programs throughout the state. This website makes it easy to find the right organization for you to find a mentee through.

Are you a mentor? Tell me why you became a mentor and how it changed your life.

Do you knit?

I, for one, do not knit. I wish I had the skills. My roommate is a crazy good knitter and knits up a storm blankets, hats, little yarn animals-- you name it. She's really good and she inspired me to blog ideas about where to donate knitted items in Boston.

If you possess the skill to knit (I wish I was that talented), you can donate your knitted goods & help lots of people!

Knit for Boston is a program that connects kindhearted crafters with local charities in need of clothing, blankets and other knittable items. Currently, the program donates items to Friends of Boston's Homeless, Cradles to Crayons, Dana Farber Cancer Institute, & Blum Cancer Resource Room at MGH.


As of right now, the need for donations include:

• Chemotherapy Caps
• Children's Sweaters, Hats, Scarves, Mittens--These items will be donated to Cradles to Crayons
• Mittens, Sweaters, Socks--These items will be donated to Friends of Boston's Homeless

How can you help? Send clean completed projects to: 
Knit for Boston
P.O. Box 425762
Cambridge, MA 02142

Warm Up America!, founded in 1991, started in the small Wisconsin town with neighbors knitting and crocheting afghans for neighbors in need.

Ways you can help:

• Crochet or knit 7" x 9" sections for Warm Up America!
• Joining sections into completed afghans
• Have your club, organization, book club, co-workers or friends all come together and knit for good cause. For example, the Boston University Knitting Club has all their new members create a square for Warm Up America!
• Donating yarns and needles/hooks to groups in your community
• Contributing money to expand Warm Up America! to groups nationwide

There are several other organizations worthy of knitted donations. Check out this complied list of Boston Knitting Charities. 

Do you knit? Where do you and your friends who knit donate items?

Boston Impact Group

Often times, I know, especially for college students, it can be hard to donate a lot of your time to a good cause. As much as you want to dedicate time all the time in the world to a volunteering with a non-profit or an initiative, it can be hard. Because I follow the Boston Community Service Center on Twitter, I learned about a cool new group, which provides monthly community service opportunities to students in the Boston area. 

Boston Impact Group

The goal of Boston Impact Group (BIG) is to allow busy college students the flexibility to volunteer without the pressure of a full-time commitment. The mission of BIG is to impact the city of Boston in a positive way with time and talent: two things everyone has at least a little bit of.

BIG is involved with several different areas of community service around the city of Boston. Throughout the year, BIG will participate in the BU Relay for Life, Boston's Walk for Hunger, Red Cross Blood Drives, as well as more hands on experiences such as serving dinner at a soup kitchen, sorting clothes at a shelter, and visiting the elderly.

The creators of Boston Impact Group are Boston University students Joshua deVries and Stephanie Braman. Boston Impact Group is comprised mostly of undergraduates with a few graduate students and young professionals  Although most of BIG"s members attend Boston University or live in the BU area, students from other Boston schools are highly encouraged to get involved in their volunteer initiatives.


What is great about BIG is they understand college students have crazy busy schedules. There are no monthly or weekly meetings to attend. To keep people in the loop,  Boston Impact Group sends out a weekly newsletter with upcoming volunteer events, which usually take place on weekends. The great thing is no volunteer is obligated to volunteer at any of the events-- even if you only volunteer once a year, you can still make a huge difference. 

To join BIG, simply:


Send an email to bostonimpactgroup@gmail.com
Include your name, school, address and telephone number
"Like" Boston Impact Group on Facebook!


Some of the cool events BIG has going on:


Haley House Neighborhood Clean Up
Muddy River Clean Up with Emerald Necklace
Salvation Army's Dress an Angel Program


I think it is really cool two students started this group! I personally love volunteering & can't wait to get involved in some of their projects. Know of any  other projects like this? Let me know-- I'd love to feature it in my next blog!