This week I have been bombarded with online videos and stories that have touched me beyond belief. First there was the story of a man who made a beautiful love video for his wife’s birthday. He’s since passes away from cancer. I sobbed.
Then, the amazing story of a girl with autism who was completely uncommunicative until the age of eleven and now has a blog! She inspires me and what she will be able to do to help people understand those like her… there’s nothing like it!
Lastly (for today) this lovely Ottawa girl Hélène who suddenly got ill this past summer and now needs a lung transplant. What is most inspiring about her is that she’s taking this journey as an opportunity to be positive and raise awareness about the importance of organ donation.
I’m always been big on organ donation - I think it’s SO important. I signed my driver’s license the minute I got it back when I was 17. But that was before they became laminated cards you couldn’t sign. Now you can register online to be an organ donor. I didn’t realize you could do that! I filled out the form immediately. Will you? It’ll take five minutes and could save many lives one day should tragedy befall you.
Take the time to watch Hélène’s video and help her spread her message. Both she and the cause deserve it!
If you want to help you can also donate to Hélène to help her with the cost of relocating and waiting for an organ. I’m pitching in $5. It’s not much, but if a lot of us do it, it’ll add up! Will you?
Social Media for Social Good: Movember
I believe social media can help spread the word of important causes. As such, I pick a cause every month and ask you to consider making a small donation.
November is MOvember - don’t know what that is? Here’s a short video I think explains it well.
Women’s cancers get a lot of air time, I think it’s great that Movember gets us talking about prostate cancer.
What can you do?
Do you know someone growing a moustache for Movember? Support them, even $5 makes a difference towards the cause!
If you don’t - my husband is growing a moustache and he’d be happy to have your $5 go towards his goal ;)
A bit more why
FACT: 1 in 6 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer
Are you or anyone you know participating in Movember? Have you donated?
Social Media for Social Good - a monthly challenge
Image via Wikipedia
Social media for social good has been theme at lot of conferences I’ve attended and I totally understand why.
Social media is such an amazing tool for non-profits and charities. Once they have a grasp on how to use social media themselves the power to spread their messages at low cost can be incredible!
My contribution
I’ve decided that once a month I am going to pick a cause and promote it for that month. Whatever the cause is, it will require a minor contribution (under $10, I’m aiming for ~$5) to take part. Why? Because realistically it’s hard for me to invest a lot right now (as I’m sure it is for others) but more importantly a small donation isn’t as hard to commit to. I can donate $5 without having to think about it. We want immediate action.
October’s cause
This past week I was at a conference called She’s Connected where they challenged us to buy a stove.
In Sri Lanka many women have no stoves and have to cook over a fire. They have to search for fire wood daily, often taking them out into dangerous areas that still have unactivated landmines in the fields.
For $5 donated to the World Food Programme they will give a woman a stove. These stoves will also be produced within the country, creating more jobs. I donated $5 buying one stove. ($5 - that’s a latte?)
You can pay using paypal (link on the left) meaning the process is pretty easy and painless (having to stop and find my wallet and credit card and proceed has stopped me from donating to charities in the past. I know it’s lazy, but it’s true).
What you can do
- donate. You can buy more than one stove if you want :)
- I need an official name for this series and a blog button. If you want to help me with either I will credit you in all subsequent posts
- spread the word. Tweet, Facebook, google+, linked in, blog and email it out. Wouldn’t it be great if we could get 50-100 stoves donated??
- let me know if you donated. It’s not a requirement, but I’d love to know!
