Suebob's Red Stapler

Photo from United Nations Development Programme

Thanks for stopping by my 50th Birthday Celebration, Day 23. Twenty-three is a magic number, and not just because it was worn by Michael Jordan.

Here’s the background story: because I feel so blessed and have pretty much everything I could ever need, I am asking people to get involved with charities, if they are so inspired, in lieu of any fabulous birthday presents you were planning on sending me (or not).

I am featuring a different charity every day for 50 days leading up to my 50th birthday to give you plenty of chances to get involved. I started on May 18. I wanted to give a voice to different good works around the globe. If you ARE inspired to take action, please leave me a comment and let me know that you did. This is all I want for my birthday – to spread some love and kindness. Thank you, my dear friends.

I was floored when I heard about Team Rubicon. They began when two Marines, back from active duty in Iraw and Afghanistan, went to Haiti after the earthquake to help out. They found that their skills from battle served them well in the chaos of an emergency situation and realized that if they could do it, other military people could do it too. These are people who have put their lives on the line for their country, and now they are doing it again for strangers in need.

They say:
We are a new way of thinking in disaster response. We bridge the gap between catastrophe and large-scale response, uniting military veterans with medical professionals. We utilize flat command structures, social networking technology, and simple decision making processes. We don’t wait for ideal situations to develop, we make dysfunctional situations ideal.

We are Team Rubicon.

Donate here. Volunteer application for military medics and corpsmen and others with medical/paramedic experience.

Previously featured organizations:
Kiva
The Carter Center
Bikes Not Bombs
Friends of Maddie
ProPublica
Surfrider Foundation
Livestrong
United Through Reading
Operation Shower
The Liz Logelin Foundation
KidSave
American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
Kids Vs Global Warming
Help a Mother Out
Direct Relief International
WriteGirl
Accelerated Cure for Multiple Sclerosis
Women for Women
Epic Change
Amnesty International

A Nicaraguan woman I loaned to so she could improve her car wash business. Photo from Kiva.org

I have said it before and I will say it again…Thanks for stopping by my 50th Birthday Celebration, Day 22.

Here’s the background story: because I feel so blessed and have pretty much everything I could ever need, I am asking people to get involved with charities, if they are so inspired, in lieu of any fabulous birthday presents you were planning on sending me (or not).

I am featuring a different charity every day for 50 days leading up to my 50th birthday to give you plenty of chances to get involved. I started on May 18. I wanted to give a voice to different good works around the globe. If you ARE inspired to take action, please leave me a comment and let me know that you did. This is all I want for my birthday – to spread some love and kindness. Thank you, my dear friends.

Kiva.org is my little not-guilty pleasure. Sometimes when I feel the jingle of change in my pockets, instead of buying yet another necklace on etsy.com or going book shopping, I go give a micro-loan.

You’ve probably heard of Kiva. People band together via the internet to help small entrepreneurs fund business projects around the world. The minimum loan amount is $25. To me, it is really fun to go shop for someone to give a loan to.

It isn’t a donation. It is a loan that carries risk – you may get paid back, you may not. I imagine that most people roll their repaid loans over into new loans to other people, so the money keeps doing good over and over.

So, go, make some loans!

Previously featured organizations:
The Carter Center
Bikes Not Bombs
Friends of Maddie
ProPublica
Surfrider Foundation
Livestrong
United Through Reading
Operation Shower
The Liz Logelin Foundation
KidSave
American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
Kids Vs Global Warming
Help a Mother Out
Direct Relief International
WriteGirl
Accelerated Cure for Multiple Sclerosis
Women for Women
Epic Change
Amnesty International

It is Day Nineteen of my 50th birthday celebration. We’re almost 40 percent done with this seemingly endless journey.

Here’s the background story: because I feel so blessed and have pretty much everything I could ever need, I am asking people to get involved with charities, if they are so inspired, in lieu of any fabulous birthday presents you were planning on sending me (or not).

I am featuring a different charity every day for 50 days leading up to my 50th birthday to give you plenty of chances to get involved. I started on May 18. I wanted to give a voice to different good works around the globe. If you ARE inspired to take action, please leave me a comment and let me know that you did. This is all I want for my birthday – to spread some love and kindness. Thank you, my dear friends.

I wanted to give a nod to Bikes Not Bombs
as a way to honor my sister Laura, who loved this organization.

From their website: Lasting peace and social justice require equitable and sustainable use of resources. BNB provides community-based education and assists development projects with recycled bicycles, related technologies and technical assistance, as concrete alternatives to the militarism, over-consumption & inequality that breed war and environmental destruction. Our organization is part of a worldwide movement for peace and responsible stewardship of the earth.

We currently receive approximately 6,000 used bicycles and tons of used parts each year. We ship about 4,800 of these bikes to economic development projects (micro-enterprise bike businesses, sustainable technology projects, and youth training programs) in Ghana, Tanzania, Guatemala, and Nevis Island every year. BNB also sends technicians and tools for start-up projects to these same countries…We use the remainder of our collected bikes at our Jamaica Plain Center; some are used in our co-ed youth Earn-A-Bike programs, and others are repaired by teenage mechanics as part of our Vocational Training programs and are for sale in our bike shop. BNB also offers girls-only programs all year round.

We operate a full-service Bike Shop, staffed by local teen graduates of BNB training programs and supervised by professional adult bike mechanics. The shop repairs customer bikes, offers hard-to-find used parts and sells new parts, locks, accessories and refurbished bikes with a warranty.

Here’s the donation page. They’re also looking for a variety of volunteers around Jamaica Plain, MA.

Previously featured organizations:
Friends of Maddie
ProPublica
Surfrider Foundation
Livestrong
United Through Reading
Operation Shower
The Liz Logelin Foundation
KidSave
American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
Kids Vs Global Warming
Help a Mother Out
Direct Relief International
WriteGirl
Accelerated Cure for Multiple Sclerosis
Women for Women
Epic Change
Amnesty International

Thanks for stopping by my 50th Birthday Celebration, Day Eighteen. Onward!

Here’s the background story: because I feel so blessed and have pretty much everything I could ever need, I am asking people to get involved with charities, if they are so inspired, in lieu of any fabulous birthday presents you were planning on sending me (or not).

I am featuring a different charity every day for 50 days leading up to my 50th birthday to give you plenty of chances to get involved. I started on May 18. I wanted to give a voice to different good works around the globe. If you ARE inspired to take action, please leave me a comment and let me know that you did. This is all I want for my birthday – to spread some love and kindness. Thank you, my dear friends.

Operation Smile

From their website: Operation Smile is a charity organization healing children’s smiles, making the world a better place.

As a children’s charity, we measure ourselves by the joy we see on all of the faces we help. At Operation Smile, we’re more than a charity organization. More than an NGO. We’re a mobilized force of medical professionals and caring hearts who provide safe, effective reconstructive surgery for children born with facial deformities such as cleft lip and cleft palate.

More than 200,000 children are born with a severe cleft condition each year — often unable to eat, speak, socialize or smile. In some places these children are shunned and rejected. And in too many cases, their parents can’t afford to give them the surgeries they need to live a normal life.

That’s where we come in as an international charity providing much needed surgical services. Since 1982, Operation Smile — through the help of dedicated medical volunteers — has provided free surgeries to children around the world. As one of the most prominent children’s charities in the world and with a presence in over 60 countries, we are able to heal children’s smiles and bring hope for a better future.

Thanks to the generosity and spirit of volunteerism shown by our supporters, we heal thousands of children per year and, today, more than 160,000 girls and boys have a new chance at a new life because of our work. With your help, how many lives can we change tomorrow?

Here’s the donation page. They also need volunteers.

Thanks for stopping by my 50th Birthday Celebration, Day Seventeen.

Here’s the background story: because I feel so blessed and have pretty much everything I could ever need, I am asking people to get involved with charities, if they are so inspired, in lieu of any fabulous birthday presents you were planning on sending me (or not).

I am featuring a different charity every day for 50 days leading up to my 50th birthday to give you plenty of chances to get involved. I started on May 18. I wanted to give a voice to different good works around the globe. If you ARE inspired to take action, please leave me a comment and let me know that you did. This is all I want for my birthday – to spread some love and kindness. Thank you, my dear friends.

Friends of Maddie is an organization founded by one of the nicest couples on the planet, Mike and Heather Spohr. Following the death of their toddler daughter Maddie, they first raised about a zillion dollars for March of Dimes and then founded Friends of Maddie to help other families with babies in neo-natal intensive care.

Here’s what they are doing:

• Providing NICU Family Support Packs to the nursing staff of Level III NICU’s across the country which will be distributed, at their discretion, to families of children being admitted to the NICU for long term care.
• Assisting in finding temporary lodging for families who live beyond commuting distance of the NICU that is treating their child.
• Creating a network of former NICU families who are willing to provide counseling and more to families currently in the NICU

.

Here’s the donation page. You can also show your support with a Friends of Maddie button and show Maddie’s sweet face on your site.

Previously featured organizations:
ProPublica
Surfrider Foundation
Livestrong
United Through Reading
Operation Shower
The Liz Logelin Foundation
KidSave
American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
Kids Vs Global Warming
Help a Mother Out
Direct Relief International
WriteGirl
Accelerated Cure for Multiple Sclerosis
Women for Women
Epic Change
Amnesty International