Day 324

Today was another day of Virtual Volunteering. While sitting at home and watching the Atlanta Falcons game I played some free rice. I donated 5000 grains of rice while brushing up on my chemistry, english, and french skills.

Giving is just that easy. Give it a try and see how much rice you can donate by going to freerice.com.

~Hema

Day 321

Today was quite a crazy day. Hema spoke with Vearn and was informed that there was no service today at SafeHouse. Then roughly around 5pm, I get a call from LeBlanc saying that there was going to be service. A youth pastor that usually comes to SafeHouse about once a month happened to come by today and noticed that there was no service. So on the spot he decided to sponsor the meal and do a service.

I arrived at SHO and there was so much to be done. The pastor had ordered 25 pizzas from Fellini's Pizza and they needed to be picked up. So we went to Fellini's, stopping at Publix on the way to buy lemonade, and picked up the pizza. When we returned to SHO I helped pack the plates up with food. We packed them pizza and brewed some coffee. In a matter of two hours, we were able to prepare a meal for about 100 people. :)

Hema was not able to make it to SafeHouse on the short notice, but she had already done some work on freerice.com and donated 2000 grains of rice, since she thought we would not be able to go to SHO.

In the end, I was glad I was able to make it to SHO today since it had been quite some time since my last visit. It was great to see people come together at the last minute to help out and get a meal served. Thank you to everyone that was there today and was good seeing everyone again :)

Day 234

Traveling this week so I gave through www.freerice.com

Donated 2500 grains of rice and learned some Spanish. Also read through some articles on the World Food Programme website regarding the crisis in Somalia, Ethiopia, and Kenya.

Just a few minutes of your time makes a difference...and if you need anymore convincing check out:
http://www.wfp.org/photos/gallery/horn-africa-drought?utm_source=freerice.com&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=fr_latest_in_fight_HOA

Happy giving!

Day 194

Spent some time on freerice.com this evening.

I tried the English Grammar and pretty much did all the questions and levels they had, but that only took me to 2000 grains of rice!

My brother Jiten helped out and donated 5120 grains of rice!!! In about an hour! He tried geography and math (he's a math whiz!) and did english vocabulary, which he said was a little tough : )

7120 grains of rice donated in just over an hour! Having too much fun giving back!

Day 95

It was a day for freerice and polishing up on my vocabulary. After defining words like ghee, kith, tandoor, geomancy, and osculate I donated 5000grains of rice. While on the freerice website, I learned a little more about where the rice goes to:

The UN World Food Programme works around the globe and Freerice donations are made with no restrictions. This freedom of use allows them to apply the donations to countries that need it most, often those that don't make the headlines in the news, yet where chronic hunger continues unchecked.
Often World Food Programme is able to purchase the rice in the very countries where the beneficiaries are located, cutting down on the transport time to reach the hungry and helping to stimulate local economies at the same time. Here are some examples of where Freerice rice has been distributed:

• In Bangladesh, to feed 27,000 refugees from Myanmar for two weeks.
• In Cambodia, to provide take-home rations of four kilograms of rice for two months to 13,500 pregnant and nursing women.
• In Uganda, to feed 66,000 school children for a week.
• In Nepal, to feed over 108,000 Bhutanese refugees for three days.
• In Bhutan, to feed 41,000 children for 8 days.
• In Myanmar, to feed 750,000 cyclone affected people for 3 days.

In an hour I was able to donate 5000grains of rice, how much can you do in an hour??

Day 88

After a longer than normal drive to Augusta, I visited the care2 website to give back through the click to donate section (it's easy to give back even after a long day, so hope you are able to give back today too!) . While there I also signed several petitions related to mining, air toxins, pollution, and stopping preventable diseases.

As I was doing this I saw two blurbs about the difference our "clicks" make:

• Since Children International became a part of the Click-to-Donate program in 2004, Care2 has sponsored 16 needy children from nine countries -- contributing over $21,000 to their care. 
• The Care2 community responded quickly to the crisis in Haiti. We have met our goal of raising $5,000 to support Oxfam America's relief efforts through Care2's Click to Donate for Haiti and Butterfly Rewards. The Click to Donate for Haiti is now closed.

It takes just a couple of minutes but our clicks can make a real difference to the lives of those in need! Amazing!

This of course made me want to give back some more, so I went to thehungersite and did all of their click to donate. My last stop was freerice (they have some new words!), where I donated 1,940 grains of rice.

Happy Giving!

Day 47

Since I'm on the road again, today's giving was virtual...I started with the click to donate section on care2.com:

• helped sponsor 1 child in need today
• saved 7.4 sq ft of rainforest
• protected 11,000 sq ft of big cat habitat
• supported life saving research
• helped a shelter pet
• helped protect baby seals
• protected 100 sq ft of ocean
• fed a rescued primate
• offset my computer's energy use
• helped provided justice for women worldwide
• helped adopt and protect threatened wolves

Check out Project 365 on the TrailBlazers for Good blog on care2:
http://www.care2.com/causes/trailblazers/blog/365/

I also went on to thehungersite.com to check out their click to donate section:

• donated 1.1cups of food to the hungry
• helped a woman in need get a free mammogram
• helped provide a child with lifesaving healthcare
• helped give books to a child in need
• helped protect 11.4 sq ft of rainforest
• gave .6bowls of food to a rescued animal

Lastly, donated 3000grains of rice through freerice.com

Hope you guys are able to check these sites out!!

Day 40

So there was more candle making by Raksha today...here's a summary of how she makes them (pictures coming soon!). They are made from 100percent organic soy wax and she custom blends a fragrance using natural essential oils. The soy wax is melted and the fragrance and color are added to it. This is then poured into whatever container she is using (the wick is pre-placed in the container) and allowed to cool. It's really not as simple as I make it sound but she is a pro!

I wasn't able to join her today either so I did some more virtual giving at freerice and donated 5000 grains of rice this evening! 

Day 33

It was a day of giving from home...so there was freerice - donated over 3000 grains of rice and polished up on some french and geography. The hungersite - gave 1.1 cups of food; helped a woman in need get a free mammogram; helped provide a child with lifesaving healthcare; gave a child in need a book; helped protect 11.4sq feet of rainforest habitat for wildlife; and gave .6 bowls of food to a rescued animal. And lastly from care2.com - sponsored 1 child in need; saved 7.4sq ft of rainforest; protected 11,000 sq. ft. of big cat habitat; supported life saving research; helped a shelter pet; helped protect baby seals; protected 100sq ft of ocean; fed a rescued primate; offset my computer's energy use; and helped provide justice for women worldwide.


Hope everyone gets a chance to try out these online opportunities to give back!