Just Give

I decided to help out the salvation army by choosing a child in need off the Christmas tree. I picked a 12 year old boy and bought him his "dream gift": a skateboard. I also bought him a helmet, elbow pads, knee pads, and wrist guards. If I can find enough money, I'm going to try to buy him some new shoes too, which it says he badly needs. I challenge anyone who reads this to do the same thing. Hopefully we can all brighten Christmas day for a lot of children this year.

I've been donating a lot lately, I gave to the ASPCA, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, the Humane Society, and the Save Darfur Coalition. I could only afford to give $10 each, I hope my donation helped a little. I know if everyone would give just a little bit, it would add up to a lot of help! I also bought a t-shirt from the ASPCA. For those who don't know about just donating, if you do some of your holiday shopping through a site that donates some or all of the profit to charity, you are still helping! Consider this when you start thinking of Christmas or other holiday gifts from now on.

Finally, I don't know if I've mentioned it, but for those completely unable or unwilling to give money, you can still help in other ways. If you have time to volunteer at animal shelters, soup kitchens, food drives, etc. you are helping in a huge way! If you don't have that much time to give, but can find about 10 minutes a day, here's another way to help. The following sites are easy and FREE ways to help animals and people in need. Your daily click is funded by sponsors who give money to the charity designated by each site. Even if you don't have money, or time to volunteer, you should at least be able to find 10 minutes to click on these sites. Even 5 minutes would allow clicks on half of them. Clicking through even 1 of the sites would take less than a minute, and if you're online right now, I'm sure you have a few seconds to spare, so help out. Click today to help the following:

Hunger:
1. http://www.thehungersite.com/clickToGive/home.faces?siteId=1
2. http://www.hungerfighters.com/
3. (Click the wooden toy to feed the hungry in Poland)http://www.pajacyk.pl/

Breast Cancer:
1. http://www.thehungersite.com/clickToGive/home.faces?siteId=2&link=ctg_bcs_home_from_ths_home_sitenav
2. http://breastcancer.care2.com/

Children:
1. (Health)http://www.thehungersite.com/clickToGive/home.faces?siteId=5&link=ctg_chs_home_from_bcs_home_sitenav
2. (Literacy)http://www.thehungersite.com/clickToGive/home.faces?siteId=6&link=ctg_lit_home_from_chs_home_sitenav
3. (Children around the World)http://children.care2.com/

Animals:
1. (Shelter Animals)http://www.thehungersite.com/clickToGive/home.faces?siteId=3&link=ctg_ars_home_from_trs_home_sitenav
2. (Baby Seals in Canada)http://babyseals.care2.com/
3. (Ocean Animals)http://oceans.care2.com/
4. (Big Cats)http://bigcats.care2.com/
5. (Primates)http://primates.care2.com/
6. (Homeless Animals)http://pets.care2.com/

Earth:
1. (Rainforest)http://www.thehungersite.com/clickToGive/home.faces?siteId=4&link=ctg_trs_home_from_ths_home_sitenav
2. (Rainforest)http://rainforest.care2.com/
3. (Global Warming)http://www.thehungersite.com/clickToGive/home.faces?siteId=4&link=ctg_trs_home_from_ths_home_sitenav

Miscellaneous:
1. (Violence Against Women)http://stopviolence.care2.com/
2. (Rainforest, Endangered Animals, Pollution, US Wilderness, and more)http://ecologyfund.com/ecology/_ecology.html
3. (Poverty)http://www2.povertyfighters.com/
4. (Plant a Tree in Niagara)http://www.landcareniagara.com/
5. (Click to help the poorest of the poor in Africa, Asia and Central America. Click on the red "geef gratis een gift voor een straatkind" link.)http://www.woordendaad.nl/Index.cfm?ApplicationServer=WIS


Please share these links with your friends and family. Working together, we can make a difference in the lives of many.

Green

So, along with my efforts to lose weight, I'm also working on going green. I've been pretty successful so far. It's great because not only am I helping save the planet, but I'm saving money at the same time.

Here's what I've done so far over the past several months:
-Lowered my thermostat several degrees (for winter) and I raise it in the summer. I simply bundle up in sweats in the winter and wear shorts and a tank top in the summer. Who needs to walk around in their undies in the winter??
-Installed a low-flow shower head, and an aerator on the sink in the bathroom.
-Take shorter showers.
-Always wash clothes in cold water and use a drying rack and hang clothes up to dry instead of using the dryer, whenever possible.
-Keep lights off, and installed compact fluorescent bulbs in the rooms we use the longest (kitchen and bathroom).
-Keep things unplugged so they don't waste electricity when we don't need them to.
-Got a filter for the kitchen sink so we can drink water from it instead of buying bottled water.
-Recycle! I recycle plastic bottles/milk jugs/plastic bags, and newspaper. I wish I could recycle more, but that's all our recycling center will take. I try to reuse everything else!
-Don't eat meat very often.
-Save mail envelopes and such to use for scrap paper.
-Print on recycled paper from office computers. I don't buy new computer paper.
-Purchased a Diva Cup.
-Signed up for paperless billing statements for all my credit cards and utility bills.
-Wash and reuse plastic baggies for my lunch at work.

Here's what I'd like to do soon:
-Become a vegetarian. I don't eat much meat as it is, usually just chicken. I just need to transition the rest of the way.
-Walk more, drive less. I'm moving in January and will be close enough to walk to work and ride the bus to classes. I can even walk to get groceries and such. I won't need to drive much at all!
-Stop receiving so much junk mail. It's so wasteful and annoying. I will be filling out some paperwork soon to stop a lot of it.
-Donate all my old clothes that I no longer wear to charity.