Monday, January 26, 2009

Our Purpose

I read this today and can't stop thinking about it ...
"Never underestimate the ability of a small group of committed individuals to change the world; indeed they're the only ones who ever have." - Margaret Mead

Sunday, January 25, 2009

300 Voices

We are helping to spread the word for 300 Voices ...

We need 300 people.

300 people to make a commitment to 300 Voices .... Water For All Season.

This will be a commitment of $20/month.

Water For Christmas (WFC) will stay open all year. We get 300 people to commit to $20 a month for 2009 and that's an additional $72,000.

Did you get that?

That is 15 wells.

That's a lot of money ...

As always, 100% of your money goes to charity: water. They use 100& to drill fresh wells and clean water solutions.

But beyond that, the idea is to keep water on our hearts and minds of a 300-person team.

So we will give all year.

We pray, we dream, we plan.

And then in November 2009 we kick off Water For Christmas with a team of 300 that have been serving all year.

Here's how it will work:

water4christmas.com is being developed and will be ready to launch later in the year.

For now, go HERE to sign up. Give us your name and location. We'll start a list of people around the country who are committing to Water. You can do your donations for $5/week, or $20/month, or $240 donation for the whole year. We will not bombard you with emails ... but if you want monthly or weekly reminders to donate we will do that. If you don't do online giving, and would like to mail in checks, you can still do that by making checks payable to Charity Global with Water For Christmas in the memo line. Please mail checks to: Charity Global - 150 Varick St. 5th Floor, New York, NY 10013. We will even send you a set of 12 envelopes if you would prefer to send a monthly donation by mail.

We will have a counter showing how close we are to getting 300 people.

300 Voices.

There is a new blog badge for 300 Voices ... use it if you want.Anyone can join.

Talk about it.

Blog about it.

At this point, all it means is a $20/month commitment. The giving is just to force us to put action behind our causes. And provide clean water for thousands in the process.

Ideally, in November 2009, we have people whose treasure has followed their heart and they are ready to go. We reach 300 times more people with awareness about clean water.

The money is multiplied.

And clean water will erupt from the dirt of Africa's floor.

We will be one voice ... 300 strong ... for clean water ... for life.

So.

You want in?

Go.

Sign up.

For more info, updates and inspiration ... visit Jody's blog HERE.

It looks like Jody may even be able to give us updates personally ... from the ground in Liberia. So we can see how our money is changing and saving lives.

Let's keep it fresh in our hearts and minds.

Even if it's only $20 a month.

Times 300.

Monday, January 19, 2009

BOOK CLUB Part 2

I would love to hear from any of you who have started reading this book by Somaly. I just spent a few minutes in the beginning chapters again, asking myself how a child can be left to fend for themselves. I think most of us would agree we have NO slot for that kind of childhood. And how could she be so easily given to "GRANDFATHER"? She truly was alone and at the mercy of anyone who had remotely looked after her. Did you sense her longing to belong, to be loved, to be a part of a family?

We all were made with that deep need to know we are of value, that someone notices us, puts a plate at the table for us, misses us if we don't show up. It is amazing how wonderful it feels to have someone pat a seat next to them and say, "I saved a seat for you".

How can we do that for people in our lives today? Does someone come to mind that needs you to "Save them a seat", send them an email of appreciation, value their presence in the meeting?

I would love to hear how each of us could take up the challenge to encourage and validate the "Somaly's in our lives".

I am a total culture geek, so I spent a good amount of time looking up subjects like PHNONG, MONDULKIRI PROVINCE, and especially the history of the POI POT'S KHMER ROUGE. There is no way I can express the sorrow I felt walking among the devastation of that regime in Cambodia only two years ago. This history of genocide plays a ferocious part in the mind-set of the Cambodian people. I will never be the same after viewing first-hand the atrocities of this regime.

Please share with us your impressions, your insights, your journey in this book. We all will grow and learn from your honesty.

Blessings to each of you for letting your heart and mind be vulnerable,

Patti

Monday, January 12, 2009

2009 EWOP Book Club


With 2009 upon us, we are hoping many will want to join us in our new Book Club as we educate ourselves on the subject of Human Trafficking. The first book we will read together is one just published in 2008 by Somaly Mam called THE ROAD OF LOST INNOCENCE. (You can order it now by clicking on the link.) It gives a very heart-wrenching account of her life and the struggle to set others free from sexual slavery in Cambodia. I believe this book will be a valuable tool to enable each of us to better understand this injustice. From our readings and discussions, I hope we all can be better informed to explain this cause we have decided to give our hearts and resources towards in making a change.

In the next few days, I will be posting a quote or posing a question concerning this book to start us looking and asking some of the hard questions and ways we can make a difference right where we are.

It is a very powerful story of a Cambodian heroine.

Patti