In Honor of Nelson Mandela

In honor of Nelson Mandela International Day, the Nelson Mandela Foundation asks that people around the world do a mere sixty-seven minutes of work to better the community in honor of the sixty-seven years of service Mandela has performed for the greater good. The inspiring South African leader turns 93 today.


The Foundation has sixty-seven suggestions of simple things that each person can do to better the world, among which are getting tested for HIV with a partner, reading to someone who can't or helping out at an animal shelter. For working folk, it's hard to dedicate sixty-seven minutes to breathing, let alone helping others. Well, if you have a computer you don't have an excuse.


There are several sites which allow online participation in volunteer work and a list of organizations that welcome that kind of help. Giving a mere thirty minutes to an organization helping them to design a flyer, edit a blog post, providing your business or legal expertise or even just doing some good old fashioned research can make all the difference in the world.

Coyotecommunications.com provides a bevy of organizations and ways to work with those organizations from your computer or smart phone. Onlinevolunteering.org offers similar services providing you with a more permanent way to log and help out. Volunteermatch.org also is an online service that matches you to community service opportunities both on and offline that will better both you and your community.


Some of our favorites include:

http://www.bookshare.org/ This online reading source needs help scanning books and editing uploaded material, and the best part: You can do it from your own home.

http://netmentors.org/ Help eMentor teens who need advice on career choices.

http://www.restoreachild.org/ The group needs some help with video editing. For more information, click here.

So log on and sign up to honor the man that has changed countless lives for the better, and maybe change a few yourselves. Happy Nelson Mandela International Day!

http://www.un.org/en/events/mandeladay/takeaction.shtml"


Take Action! Inspire Change

Can you spare 67 minutes of your time helping others?

On this year’s Mandela Day, people the world over are being asked by the Nelson Mandela Foundation to do just that.

By devoting 67 minutes of your time – one minute for every year of Mr. Mandela’s public service – you can make a small gesture of solidarity with humanity and a step towards a global movement for good.

Join in and donate 67 minutes of your time in serving your local community on Nelson Mandela Day, 18 July 2011.

Here are just a few examples of how you can take action and inspire change:

Make a new friend. Get to know someone from a different cultural background. Only through mutual understanding can we rid our communities of intolerance and xenophobia.

Read to someone who can’t. Visit a local home for the blind and open up a new world for someone else.

Help out at the local animal shelter. Dogs without homes still need a walk and a bit of love.

Help someone get a job. Put together and print a CV for them, or help them with their interview skills.

Many terminally ill people have no one to speak to. Take a little time to have a chat and bring some sunshine into their lives.

Get tested for HIV and encourage your partner to do so too.

Take someone you know, who can’t afford it, to get their eyes tested or their teeth checked.

Donate a wheelchair or guide dog, to someone in need.

Buy a few blankets, or grab the ones you no longer need from home and give them to someone in need.


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You don't have to just volunteer your time today but make the most out of it and volunteer everyday or as much days as you can - remember you never know when that someone in need is going to be you!


Thanks for volunteering!

All Month of July - Donate to a Food Bank in your town!

Help even if it is not Food Month for you're area of town! All across the nation we have people go without food on a daily basis!

Here in Northeast Florida - I am helping out we have food bins placed in areas of town so that people can donate - it is easy - this is how when you go shopping pick up that extra can of veggies and or rice most stores have the buy one get one free so you can donate the other item to your local Food bank - to find them search for Food Bank in your town to see the one near you!


Second Harvest (now known as Feeding America)


Mission Statement

The mission of Second Harvest is to distribute food and grocery products to hungry Americans and to educate the public about the causes and possible solutions to problems of domestic hunger.

Description

The Second Harvest Food Bank, a program of Lutheran Social Services, serves needy families in 18 counties of North and Northeast Florida. We operate by distributing food both directly to individuals and to other nonprofit charities. The food that volunteers help sort benefits almost 600 organizations and serves more than 160,000 people each day.

This food bank is a member of over 200 food banks across the nation that serves the needy. Our food handling, distribution, and donations are closely monitored. You are volunteering for a wonderful organization and you can truly know where your effort will go.

The Second Harvest Food Bank is a first responding organization to all crisis situations including personal crisis, hurricane, natural and/or national disasters, as well as other weather related events. If you are reading this description during a time of disaster, please call us for the current opportunities.

One dollar donated to Second Harvest generates six meals, or the equivalent of two days of food for a person in need. By establishing relationships with large food suppliers like ConAgra and others, Second Harvest is able to purchase an enormous volume of food and stretch each dollar incredibly far. And because of our lean staff and the generosity of our volunteers, more of every donation goes directly to our programs -- not to overhead.

Second Harvest serves nonprofit agencies in the following 18 counties: Alachua, Baker, Bradford, Clay, Columbia, Dixie, Duval, Flagler, Gilchrist, Hamilton, Lafayette, Levy, Madison, Nassau, Putnam, St. Johns, Suwannee and Union.

July Awareness Month

Donate and or Volunteer if you can - here are some ways to help you get started with your passion! And if you don't like this maybe you can help in some other ways!


Whatever you do - just do it with passion - Volunteering is Easy!






Light the Night for Sight


Nighttime Walks

Since 1908, Prevent Blindness America has been the nation's leading volunteer eye health and safety organization with the sole mission of preventing blindness and preserving sight.



Eye Injury Prevention Month

and UV Safety Month


The American Academy of Ophthalmology is the largest national membership association of Eye M.D.s... ophthalmologists and medical doctors who provide comprehensive eye care, including medical, surgical and optical care. More than 90 percent of practicing U.S. Eye M.D.s are Academy members, and the Academy has more than 7,000 international members.



http://www.aao.org/






Keep Volunteering!