Make Social Change A Reality

I found the blog post shown below on "A Little Bit More", Idealist's blog series highlighting small steps we can take to make the world a better place . It contains a few links to resources that will help you learn more and get started on composting your food. Also, Matthew Reid, one of our volunteer bloggers wrote a post about composting earlier this year. Check out Matt's post and don't forget to leave your comments. Happy composting! A Little Bit More: Live Green, Compost! In my little Washington, DC apartment I had a small kitchen composter that sat in the corner near the garbage. At the end of every day, instead of throwing my food scraps into the trash, I'd toss my leftovers into the composter , sprinkle in a small amount of bokashi , and close the lid. "But doesn't that smell?" Not at all, and as the food decomposed, the composted waste made great fertilizer for my house plants. I also noticed that I was taking out my garbage far less ...

Bilaal Rajan, twelve year old author, fundraiser and UNICEF Children’s Ambassador is going barefoot for National Volunteer Week to raise awareness about global child poverty. What's his goal? “...to inspire one million children to take action and help create a more peaceful and caring world. I want kids to find their passion, get involved and make a difference in the lives of others.” Learn more about this inspiring twelve year old, the Barefoot Campaign, or purchase his manual , Making Change: Tips from an Underage Overachiever , at www.makingchangenow.com . You can also see a video on YouTube about this initiative from Rajan himself. Will you join Rajan and go barefoot this week to help raise awareness for less privileged children around the world? Have other plans to celebrate National Volunteer Week? Feel free to share stories about your National Volunteer Week celebrations in the comments. This post was written by Chanelle Carver , acting Editor for Make Social Change A Rea...

On April 20, 2009, Mayor Bloomberg launched NYC Service - a program to increase volunteer opportunities for the residents of New York City including youth enrolled in K-12 schools. ( press release ). While I no longer live in New York City, I travel to the area for work and social events (or just to hang out with friends and family) so I was wicked excited to hear about this new initiative. While many may have not-so-nice things to say about Mayor Bloomberg 's leadership or policy that should not deter us from recognizing the excellent work he is doing for the community. Even if it wasn't his idea, the city needs his leadership to move it forward. After all, he is mayor! Here's a video of the kick off event in Washington Heights. For more information, call 3-1-1 or visit the NYC.gov website . This post was written by Chanelle Carver , acting Editor for Make Social Change A Reality and Executive Director of the Literacy 'n' Poverty Project .

Naturally, when I saw this title " Lazy Altruism: 6 Super-Easy Ways to Do Good and Help Others ", I was intrigued to read the blog post. After all, it's not too often you see the words lazy and do good in the same sentence. And less often does being lazy result in a positive outcome . Well, not if you're a lazy altruist. After hearing by President Barack Obama's Call to Action for Americans to volunteer more, an Intent.com blogger was inspired to create this short list for "wide-eyed volunteer newbies...to dip your feet into the wonderful world of altruistic love" which include donating your hair and playing Internet trivia. Do you consider "lazy altruism" a method of volunteering? This post was written by Chanelle Carver , acting Editor for Make Social Change A Reality and Executive Director of the Literacy 'n' Poverty Project .