Category: take action

politics, social justice and ways you can make a difference in the world around you.

!deation conference

After hosting three great idea camps in 2009 (including #icdc & #icpnw) – Charles Lee @charlestlee is planning a new conference event geared specifically towards non-profits and those interested in humanitarian relief.

The initial !deation conference will be held April 5-6 in Long Beach, CA.

The !deation Conference is intentionally formatted to create a rich learning and sharing experience. Each element of the conference facilitates a different mode for engaging the content as well as fellow participants. The hope is that these various experiences will lead to inspiration, encouragement, new explorations, refinement, collaboration, and strategic implementation.

I chatted with Charles a week or so ago for the podcast and he shared some of his vision for !deation.

The conference will be a bit more structured than Idea Camp with key note addresses from folks like Scott Harrison, Eugene Cho, Wade Kawasaki and others.

There will also be smaller workshops to help folks connect with others in their given field.

Should be excellent!

The registration will be capped at 400 attendees – and the early bird special only lasts till Friday – Jan. 15th – so register now!

It’ll be a couple weeks till we publish the full Charles Lee interview on the podcast – but you can hear a snippet of it (dealing with !deation) here:

[audio:http://www.casadeblundell.com/jonathan/wp-content/uploads/ideation-charleslee.mp3|titles=ideation-charleslee]

I truly appreciate Charles’ heart for justice and compassion and wish him the best in all his endeavorers.

Help end modern day slavery (and five ways you can help)

Today is Human Trafficking Awareness Day…

It’s also the just a few days away from the 146th anniversary of the day our 13th Amendment was introduced to Congress — which set out to abolish slavery in the United States.

Yet today — modern day slavery still exists — in so many forms.

Sex trade, immigrant farmers working in Florida, children mining for coltan, chocolate and coffee farmers around the world — and so much more.

I encourage you to do a 5 things today…

1. Change your Twitter/Facebook/MySpace avatar to support One Voice to End Slavery:

2. Join One Voice to End Slavery

3. Visit the Human Trafficking section on Change.org and read at least 5 articles

4. Share the link to at least one story from Change.org on Facebook or Twitter

5. Watch David Bastone talk about human trafficking at Google:

Then let us know what you learn.

What impacted you the most? What did you learn when doing one (or all) of the steps above?

What other steps have you taken to end modern day slavery?

Love is all you need

On December 7th, 2009 at 1:30pm GMT Starbucks invited musicians from all over the world to sing together at the same time to raise awareness for AIDS in Africa. In that one breathtaking moment, musicians from 156 countries played “All You Need is Love” together. Watch now, as musicians from all around the world come together and share a song.

You can still take part by donating your a video of yourself (or you and your friends) singing the song. Starbucks will donate a nickel to the Global Fund to help fight AIDS in Africa for every video that’s submitted.

Find out more http://starbucksloveproject.com/

My favorite point in the video is the boy belting out “All you need is love!” from Israel, around the mid-point in the song.

What’s your favorite point(s)?

(ht @knightopia)

The cost of food

We saw Food, Inc. Friday night. It’s a great eye opening story (much along the lines of Michael Pollan’s other work).

Watch the trailer.

Good Magazine has a great two minute video highlighting some of the ideas Food Inc. brings out in the documentary:

Both Food Inc. and the Good video remind me of one thing, “It’s never quite worth what you give up to get it.”

like style made by slaves
like bribes to throw the race
like women who know their place
like an indian casino or a tank of unleaded
it’s never quite worth what you give up to get
– derek webb

What have you given up (or done) — only to find out later it wasn’t quite worth it?

The local church and foster care

“These kids have been forgotten by many adults and they’re waiting for another adult to forget them… show them that ‘I love you and I want you and the reason I’m going to do it is because Christ loved me and wanted me while I was still a sinner…'”

See 9 others at the Abba Fund.

Laundry Love 2009 re-cap

Laundry Love Red Oak

In 2009 we kicked off our Laundry Love effort in May.

It’s been an amazing eight months and every month we walk away with another great memory and story and several new friends.

If nothing else, I love how Laundry Love helps make friends out of strangers.

On average we help 15-20 individuals and families each month, spending anywhere from $60 – $120 a month.

We’ve stuffed over 2500 quarters into laundry machines, helping over 120 individuals and families.

I just want to say a huge thanks to everyone who’s supported our efforts along the way. Looking forward to even more fun in 2010.

And if you’d like to get involved, we’d love to have you come join us the last Saturday of every month, or you can donate online as well.

Thanks again!

What project did you start in 2009 that you’ll continue on with in 2010?