Helping the People of Haiti: Make your response count

As we continue to see images and hear reports from Haiti in the wake of the devastating magnitude 7 earthquake that hit the island nation on January 12, we are moved by compassion to respond.

We want to collect things that we believe would be useful and send them to Haiti in the hopes that they will get to the people in need. Some of us want to go there to help ease the pain of survivors and to help with recovery.

As in any disaster, however, it’s less about what we want than about the needs of those people we’re trying to help.

The very best thing that you can do right now is to donate to vetted organizations responding to the crisis. Monetary donations provide the organizations with flexibility – they can use the money to respond to needs as they are identified in real time.

And as online donations have evolved, many organizations are able to accept smaller amounts, so you can give as little (or as much) as you can afford. Some organizations are even able to accept pre-determined donation amounts via text messaging.

How can you help?

• Cash donations to reputable responding organizations are preferred. InterAction, “the largest coalition of U.S.-based international nongovernmental organizations focused on the world’s poor and most vulnerable people,” provides a list of vetted, reputable organizations responding to the crisis. The list is updated daily, includes over 70 organizations & links to their websites, and gives an overview of what the organization is doing to address the current situation. InterAction also shares guidelines for the most effective ways to help.  I’m also a member of 12for12k, which is supporting Hope for Haiti.  In the words of 12for12k founder Danny Brown:

I chose Hope for Haiti for 12for12k’s support because they’ve been in the area for 20 years; they’re on the ground now; they know the needs of the people; the hardships they already faced and what they will face, and how to deal with that locally. Additionally, they give over $0.95 per dollar to the fund – I think that’s pretty good cause for support.

• Be wary of fundraising scams. While disaster brings out the best in most people, it can also lead others to questionable actions. Be diligent in your research and donate only to reputable, responding organizations using legitimate websites.

• Do not self-deploy as a volunteer. Consider volunteering locally to:
  • learn more about disaster preparedness and response opportunities in your community.
  • discover how you can make the best use of your unique skills following disaster.
  • become affiliated with a responding organization prior to the next disaster.
  • organize a fundraiser to support one of the responding organizations.

• Do not organize item collections at this time. If items have already been collected, please donate them locally. Why? Donated items require shipping, storage, and someone to manage and distribute them. Often during large-scale disasters, this infrastructure doesn’t exist. Items either don’t get to their intended destination or, lacking adequate storage, they must be destroyed to prevent the spread of mold and illness.

Organizations will provide updates about relevant volunteer opportunities (from local to international) as they learn more, but for the moment trained, affiliated and specialized volunteers are being used first. A select number of responding agencies are requesting specialized volunteers – more information can be found on their websites.

Please be patient. As much as we all want to do something immediately to make the situation better, understand that the survivors in Haiti will need our help for days, weeks, months and years to come. This is not a situation that will be resolved quickly, and as the recovery process unfolds there will be plenty of opportunities to help.

Thank you for commitment to helping others.

Photo credits:  Catherine Lainé  http://www.flickr.com/photos/aidg/ / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Musicians on Call – the Healing Power of Music

Music.  It brings people together like nothing else.  It evokes a wide range of emotions.  It makes us love, laugh, cry, dance, smile, sing, think, feel, and reminisce.

It also heals.

Musicians On Call is 12for12k’s October charity.

Musicians on Call

Formed in 1999, Musicians on Call brings live and recorded music to the bedsides of patients in healthcare facilities.  Musicians On Call uses music to promote and complement the healing process for patients, families and caregivers.

Musicians On Call was originally founded by Michael Solomon and Vivek Tiwary in the course of their volunteer work with The Kristen Ann Carr Fund at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.

To date, the organization has brought music to over 160,000 patients, their families and caregivers.  They have programs in New York, Philadelphia, Nashville, and Miami.  In addition to their bedside performance program, they’ve also created 320 CD Pharmacies in facilities across the country (and internationally).  And their Project Playback program gives patients the opportunity to have their original music recorded and produced.

On October 16th, 2009, Musicians on Call proudly announced that their program has expanded to V.A. medical centers nationwide, with bedside performance programs in Philadelphia and Nashville and CD Libraries in over 40 medical center in 30 states.

You can listen to music performed by select Musicians on Call volunteers via the MOC Jukebox.  Do yourself a favor and give it a listen – you’ll discover an incredible array of musical styles performed by extraordinarily talented and compassionate individuals.

So please take a moment and think:  what does music mean to you? What is your favorite song?  When has music played a big part in your life?  What would it mean to you, if you were in the hospital, to have access to a CD Library, or to have a musician visit you to play music at your bedside?  Can you close your eyes and imagine what a difference it would make?

Consider:  just $10 brings one song to the bedside of a patient in a healthcare facility, so every donation helps, no matter how small.  Please donate now to support Musicians on Call in their mission to being the healing power of music to those in need.  You can also visit the 12for12k Musician’s on Call post to learn more or to view our progress.

If you can’t afford to donate financially, perhaps you have new or gently used classical or children’s cds to donate to the CD Library program.

I’d love to hear from you if you have a moment:  what does music mean to you?  What music do you associate with different memories or feelings?  Do you have a personal story about the healing power of music that you’d like to share?  Did you find a favorite song on the MOC Jukebox?  (I did!)

Thanks for reading!

12for12k July Charity – Eye Care for Kids

As you realize, I’m part of a growing Twitter movement called 12for12k.  If you’d like to learn more about it, I’ll wait a moment while you scroll down to read a little more about our efforts under the leadership of the inspiring Danny Brown.

July’s charity is Eye Care for Kids. 

Our goal, as always, is to raise $12,000 during the month of July to support this incredible organization, as well as to raise awareness regarding the challenges faced by children who struggle with undiagnosed vision issues.

There are over 9,000 documented (and estimated up to 18,000 including undocumented) annual cases of children who need eye care in Utah, children whose families aren’t able to afford it.

Let me put it in perspective for you.

Have you ever seen a tree?

One of the founders of Eye Care for Kids, Joseph Carbone, tells the following story:

A few years ago an individual came into our office.  He was in his mid-twenties.  He had never been screened or examined before.  He was Native American.  He came right from the reservation.

We performed a screening, saw that there was a need to do a comprehensive examination.  We performed the exam, and the results of the exam showed that he was quite myopic and astigmatic.

We fabricated some glasses for him, and he came back to pick the glasses up.  He put them on and looked out the window.

He began to cry.

He had never seen a tree before in focus, with individual branches and leaves.

Could you imagine a 25 year old man not having the opportunity to see?

I could just imagine if he was in school during his formative years, he couldn’t see the book he was reading, nor the teacher in the front of the classroom.  I can’ t imagine how that affected his life.

From that story, from that true scenario, came the idea of Eye Care for Kids & Families.

Visit their site, learn more about the ways in which this organization has helped countless children overcome the obstacle of impaired vision to become better learners and better students.  Then visit the 12for12k website or the Eye Care for Kids website, click on the 12for12k widget and donate what you can to support this incredible effort.

We’re not asking for a lot – $12 can make a huge difference, if we can get enough people to give.  Thank you for taking the time to learn a little more about an important issue that can have an incredible impact on children struggling to learn, for donating what you can to address this issue, and for spreading the word.

*Photo from Eye Care for Kids website.

Lessons from Dad

In honor of Father’s Day, I want to share with you some lessons I learned from my dad:

Dad and me.

There are no strangers, only friends you haven’t met yet.

Dad could go almost anywhere, introduce himself to folks, and, within minutes, be well on the way to friendship.  He loved to go golfing alone so that he could join in to make a foursome and meet new people.  He knew all of his neighbors.  He got along with pretty much anyone, across age and gender, because he never spoke down to people, treated them with respect, and was genuinely interested in what they had to say.  He knew how to listen.

Carpe diem and don’t sweat the small stuff.

My parents loved to travel.  Once they went on a cruise leaving from Copenhagen.  The airline lost their luggage, and they weren’t sure if it would arrive in time to catch the ship.  Then dad’s wallet was stolen.  At this point, many people would have canceled the trip, sorted out travel arrangements and gone home, but not my parents.  They got on the ship, went to a formal dinner in sweatpants and t-shirts they bought in the gift shop, and had a blast.  (And, yes, their luggage did eventually show up.)

Dad sports a festive party windsock.

Life is filled with laughter and joy, it’s all in the way you look at things.

My father’s laugh could fill a room with smiles.  He could have fun doing almost anything, and in doing so made life fun for those around him.

If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing well and treat others the way you’d like to be treated.

Later in his life, dad worked in customer service.  He didn’t do it because he had to, he did it because he wanted to.  Nothing made him happier than fixing people’s problems, and he would often go far above and beyond what was necessary to fix a situation and to make things right.  When he was at work, he was 100% focused on doing the best job that he was capable of doing.  When he was at home, his focus was 100% on his family and friends.  How many of us can say the same?

Dad in his tux.

I learned a lot of other life lessons from dad, but I’ll stop here for now.

Dad died suddenly in 2006, one year shy of his 60^th birthday, and I know that I’ll miss him for the rest of my life.

I like to think he’s off adventuring on a cruise ship, drinking a Guinness and listening to Jimmy Buffett.

Wherever he is, I know he’s having a great time and making things fun for those around him.

Happy Father’s Day, big guy.

Listening Well

He had the gift
of stopping time
& listening well
so that it was easy
to hear who
we could become

& that was the future
he held safe
for each of us
in his great heart

you may ask, what now?
& I hope you understand
when we speak softly
among ourselves
& do not answer
just yet

for our future
is no longer the same
without him

-Brian Andreas

Further Adventures of a Reluctant Blogger

I started blogging last year as an experiment in social media.

First, I wanted to test drive a blog to learn how it worked.

Second, many of my posts were about my adventures in social media.  I shared my thoughts as I went along, hoping to encourage others in my small circle of acquaintences to give it a try.  Naturally, as I became more interested in different types of social media, my blog updates became fewer and far between.  Those of you who are observant will likely see a correspondence between the lack of posts and  my introduction to Facebook and Twitter, but I am not here to point fingers.

So why have I started again?

I first joined Twitter after watching a video by John Haydon.  He was kind enough to introduce me to others interested in social media and social change, and not long after that I met Danny Brown, the founder of 12for12k.  What is 12for12k, you ask?

The 12for12k Challenge is the combination of social media and fund-raising that aims to change the lives of millions worldwide.

Its aim is to raise a minimum of $144,000 for 12 charities over the course of 2009, with a new charity being supported every month. All proceeds raised go directly to the chosen charities.

The concept is simple:

• 12 months of the year
• 12 charities, a different charity each month
• $12,000 per charity

After sitting back and observing this initiative for a short time, I decided that I wanted to be a part of it.  I requested a 12for12k avatar for Twitter, put the badge on my Twitter background, and happily tweeted about the amazing charities spotlighted each month in the hopes of making a difference.

But now I want to do more.  I’ve started up this blog for a couple of reasons.  First, to help to promote 12for12k.  Second, because many people on Twitter have asked me why I don’t have a link to a website or blog or ANYTHING to help them learn a little more about me and my interests.  So here it is.

I’m not sure what this blog will be about, if anything in particular.  You’ll most likely catch me musing over random things.  Regardless, I appreciate you stopping by and look forward to connecting here or on Twitter.  Cheers!

Technorati Update

Forgot to mention that I finally remembered to go back to Technorati to see if I could actually claim my organization’s blogs. Short story – yes, I was able to claim them. Slightly longer but more accurate version: Yes, I was able to claim them but it was mildly painful.

In fact, several of the things that I tried to do earlier on Technorati were ultimately successful yet mildly painful in the short-term. Tried to upload a avatar picture – Oh, sorry, the account section can’t be accessed at this time. Please try back! Tried to modify verbiage describing one of the blogs – Oh! Hey, sorry about this but you’ve been kicked out of your account for no discernible reason. Try back later! I loved. . . L-O-V-E-D that they could make a cute little joke about not uploading any questionable images because it would cut into the time they need to improve the site (seeing as how they’d need to take that time to shut down my account or remove the image) considering that frankly the site does not appear, at this point, to be all that functional to begin with.

OK, I’m calm. I’m cool. I’m collected. And to be fair, it’s not like I’ve tried out the other features that Technorati has to offer. But at this point, do I want to try them?

In the spirit of fairness, I would actually like to hear if anyone has had a good experience on Technorati. So far the most interesting aspect so far (to me) was the fact that you can track rising blog posts.

You can do something similar on Twitter, by the way, using something called TweetDeck. It has a little app called TweetScoop that lets you track Twitter traffic by keyword. Let me be clear, here – I NEVER actually click on the words rising out of the cloud. I use it more like a brain teaser. For example, a couple of weeks ago I was in TweetDeck and I see the word Starbucks in HUGE LETTERS, so I assume something is happening and, given the economy, I’m thinking layoffs. Sure enough I catch the story later on the evening news.

OK, so maybe occasionally I click on the tags in TweetScoop. But frankly TweetDeck has far more to offer than that. Srsly.

Just so I capture it somewhere, here is a link to Twitter slang. I still get confused in Twitter, but some of the people I follow (and some who follow me) are super nice and helpful, so it’s all good. I still have a lot to learn, though. I think Twitter has a lot of potential, but I don’t know if I have the attention span and/or time to invest to make it work.

And just to make this the longest post EVER, here is something that I discovered from a friend on Twitter: Monitter. It lets you do things like put in a zip code to see what people in your area are Twittering about, or search a keyword like volunteer, etc. Tres cool.

True Colors

If you are interested in appearances (and here I’m talking about the appearance of your online identity, brand, what-have-you) then run, don’t walk, and download Colorzilla for your Firefox browser.

This little gem has incredible functionality (according to its website, at any rate), but I am still stuck on the bright, shiny object that is the tiny little color picker down in the lower left hand corner of the browser window. Find a color you like. . . could be from your logo, could be from a random image you find on the web. . . click on the little eyedropper, then click on the color and *BAM* you can now use that color wherever you can insert hex code.

Just double click the eyedropper icon once you’ve captured your color, and another screen opens up that gives you hue, saturation, etc. plus the hex code. Mischief managed.

Forget the days of eyeballing the color palate to try to match your colors. Been there, done that. I’m no visual genius, but I do like things to look consistent and eyeballing things is not the best way to make this happen. As I said, Colorzilla evidently offers a lot more than this (zoom, analysis, etc.) but in terms of graphic and web-based design, the little eyedropper pretty much rules.

Some other interesting color sites: Colour Scheme Chooser; Color Scheme Designer and Hex Color Codes. Interested in a little theory? Check out Color Matters. Just like everything else, I’m sure you can find countless sites about color on the internet. These are just a few that I found to be useful, so enjoy!

Facebook – Whoa

Well, I caved. I finally made a Facebook account. I’m trying to keep it social, since I figure anyone who wants to connect with me professionally can find me on LinkedIn. I briefly considered making two separate accounts (a good friend of mine just did this, in fact) – one for social, one for professional. HOWEVER, the time-sucking vortex that is Facebook is already becoming mildly addictive, and frankly I need one more account to monitor like I need to poke myself in the eye with something sharp.

Facebook is fascinating – I’ve reconnected with some great people from my past. It’s also a bit. . . well. . . odd at times, especially getting friend requests from people I barely recall meeting once. Now, I know that there are some people who have a goal of making some incredibly large facebook friends list. I am not that person. I’d prefer to know (fairly well) the people in my list, and to be ok with them knowing random things that I feel like posting. I guess we’ll see how this grand experiment works, eh?

Launched the second blog for my organization – this one for Volunteer Managers. This should keep me busy for a while (like I need something else to keep me busy. . . I have Facebook now, people!). I tried to add both blogs to Technorati.

I made an account. I verified the e-mail address. I tried to “Claim My Blog” by entering the blog address and, no kidding, it took me to a page that said “DOH!” and then something about the Technorati monster. Seriously. Undaunted, I tried several more times and finally couldn’t even get Technorati to LOAD much less process anything. I ended up putting it aside for now (current status: mildly daunted).

It does make me wonder. . . did someone else claim my blogs already? I mean, I’m not gonna pretend to be the Blogmaster of the Universe or anything (cool title, though), but now I’m just a little worried. Or maybe the blogs are SO BAD that Technorati instantly repelled them? Time will tell. I’ll keep you posted.

Good news, though. This month the hits on our website are through the roof. I started noticing them going up when I started with the Facebook page. We were averaging anywhere from 25,000 hits to 35,000 hits a month through August 2008. Then – BOOM! – 40,000 hits in September. So far this month (mind you, it’s not the end of the month yet) we have 48,500 hits to the website. Whoa.

What is really interesting, though, is that a lot of these hits are repeat visitors. We have increased our unique visitor count by around 200 per month and the visit numbers are pretty steady. If I’m reading this correctly (and no one would be more surprised than me if this is, in fact, the case), it means that more unique ip addresses are visiting our website, and those that visit are coming back for more. I take that as a good sign, really, but that doesn’t mean that you should stop visiting the website (hahaha).

So You Want to Be A Nonprofit Social Media Genius

Here is an excellent presentation from Beth Kanter at Beth’s Blog (and if you don’t think she’s a social media genius, Google Beth’s Blog. Go ahead. I’ll wait. She is in the number one spot on Google Search, right? ‘Nuff said.). If I only have time to read posts from one blog, this is the one I read. Beth provides real world examples of integrating social media into non-profit mission and operations. She tirelessly shares information and insights about making it all work, return on investment, and she spotlights best practices.

Take a moment to review the presentation and let me know what you think!

How To Think Like A Nonprofit Social Media Genius

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: socialmedia nonprofit)

Happy New Year!

Wishing everyone a festive and Happy New Year, with hopes for a wonderful 2009.

Sorry it’s been so long since my last post – I’ve been working on the center’s blog and creating one for Volunteer Managers, so things have been quite busy. I also created a Twitter account and have been playing with the website.

On a side note (like I ever really stay totally on topic), I finally figured out how to get that tiny little icon in the address bar and next to the address in bookmarks – it’s called a favicon and I used a service called Dynamic Drive Favicon Generator, created the icon, uploaded it to the website, added a wee bit of html and whooosh! Done! I feel so. . . so techy!

I also connected the Twitter account, the blog, and the Facebook page for the center together which makes updating super easy now. I’m not claiming to be Amazing Web 2.0 Guru or anything, but it sure is interesting to learn new things about how this technology works. I can see so many possibilities in terms of meeting my nonprofit’s mission. . .

Anyway, have a happy and safe New Year!