New Ways to Make a Difference
Tuesday, December 1st, 2009 by nicoleI clipped this article from my Time magazine in September and given that we just celebrated Thanksgiving, the timing for this seemed perfect. I have so much to be thankful for and although I may think (key word here is think) that I don’t have the resources to support others, there are plenty of ways to enjoy giving to others.
The Sangha community that I sit with on Monday nights has introduced a similar activity to cultivate the act of giving. Each month one member of the group will gift $108 to someone, somewhere that they think is in need of it. Try it and remember…
All that we give we receive…
Put Your Time to Work
- For anyone with a jammed schedule, a new group called the Extraordinaries offers ways to devote even just a few minutes of free time to something worthwhile. Micro-volunteering opportunities abound on BeExtra.org, from using your smartphone to view and label photos (to help digitize museum archives) to snapping a picture of a local park (to help build a map of places where kids can play).
- Another new tool aims to break world-changing action into its tiniest subparts. IfWeRantheWorld.com, which expects to launch this fall, encourages you to dream big  end poverty! cure cancer!  and then helps come up with small, specific ways you can help achieve progress in those areas.
- Random acts of kindness are getting a high-tech boost, thanks to social entrepreneur Daniel Lubetzky. First, print a card at Kinded.com. Then do something nice for a stranger, like sharing an umbrella or helping carry luggage, and hand that person the card. The recipient can go online and note where the act of kindness took place and then pass the card along. It’s like Pay It Forward, with mapping features.
Read more: http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1921428,00.html#WordPress#ixzz0YTcfp7XM
