Six Signs of Highly Grateful People

During these days of Thanksgiving, we continue with a mini-series on gratitude from Greater Good:

Here are the Six Habits of Highly Grateful People.  

1. Once in a while, they think about death and loss

2. They take the time to smell the roses

3. They take the good things as gifts, not birthrights

4. They’re grateful to people, not just things

5. They mention the pancakes

6. They thank outside the box

A Global Ethic: Grateful Living

"A Network for Grateful Living provides education and support for the practice of grateful living as a global ethic, inspired by the teachings of Br. David Steindl-Rast and colleagues.  Gratefulness – the full response to a given moment and all it contains – is a universal practice that fosters personal transformation, cross-cultural understanding, interfaith dialogue, intergenerational respect, nonviolent conflict resolution, and ecological sustainability," writes the nonprofit's website.

The Mission:

• To build up and expand our interactive website as the focus for a global community of people whose spiritual practice is grateful living.

• To provide a unifying ethic that demonstrates we are not separate one from another, in an age of globalization that undermines our ethics and sense of worldwide community.

• To offer workshops and retreats that increase people's awareness of gratefulness as a tool for personal healing and compassion towards others, a lifelong practice.

• To partner with other organizations who want to explore how gratefulness can transform and energize their own work and mission.

• To support local groups studying the practice of grateful living.

• To demonstrate the interconnectedness between gratefulness and the healthy flow of resources in a spirit of sufficiency.

• To promote public awareness of gratefulness as a power for change in areas such as ecology, religious tolerance, and intergenerational respect.

Gratitude Projects For Kids

From Greater Good Science, by  Vicki Zakrzewski

Thanksgiving is the perfect holiday to help students cultivate an “attitude of gratitude.” And what’s more, research shows that it’s really good for both them and their teachers!
Among other benefits, gratitude helps kids feel better about school and makes educators feel less emotionally exhausted.
Need some ideas on how to bring gratitude into the classroom? Here are some easy-to-implement activities, many of which can be adapted to fit any grade level.

• Classroom Gratitude Book. Create a gratitude book to send home with a different child each week. Ask each student’s family to add a page of pictures and descriptions of what they’re grateful for. At the end of the year, be sure to celebrate your completed classroom gratitude book!
• Gratitude Photos. Have each student write what he or she is thankful for on a large piece of paper and then take a picture of the child holding up his or her paper. Frame the photo and send it home as a holiday gift.
• Gratitude Collage or Bulletin Board. Have children cut out pictures of things they’re grateful for and then use the pictures to create their own collage or to decorate a classroom gratitude bulletin board.
• Gratitude Paper Chain. Have children write what they’re thankful for on strips of paper and use the strips to make a gratitude chain to hang up in the classroom.
• Gratitude Pairs. Hold a “Special Friends Day” one or two days before Thanksgiving. Ask each student to invite a special person to class for a 45-minute period, such as a grandparent, nanny, neighbor, parent from another classroom, or family friend. Have each pair write and/or draw something they’re thankful for and post it on a bulletin board. Note: Scheduling this activity close to the holiday increases the likelihood of out-of-towners being able to attend.
• Gratitude Spies. Play the “Spying for Gratitude” game. At the beginning of the day, have each child choose the name of another student out of a hat without revealing the name. Each student spends the day “spying” on his or her chosen person and then shares one thing that he or she is grateful for about that person during an end-of-the-day circle.
• Gratitude Quilt. Give each child a 5”x5” blank piece of paper on which to draw something he or she is thankful for. Mount each square on a 6”x6” colored piece of paper and then piece the squares together to create a classroom gratitude quilt.
• Gratitude Graph. Have each child write one thing that he or she is grateful for on a sticky note and then plot it on a classroom gratitude graph. Categories might include people, things, places, actions, animals, etc.
• Gratitude Circle. Begin or end the day sitting in a circle with each person sharing one thing that he or she is grateful for and why. Note: Younger students will need a lot of modeling to explain why they’re grateful for something.
• Gratitude Journals. Have each student create a gratitude journal or decorate the cover of a pre-made one. Once a week, have students write three things they’re grateful for and why. Be sure to limit this activity to once a week, otherwise, according to research, the activity loses its impact.
• Gratitude Surprise Sticky Notes. Give each student one or more sticky notes to write something they’re grateful for about another person in the school community. Then have the students “deliver” the sticky notes by placing them where the person will see it, e.g., a locker, a phone, a cleaning cart.
• Gratitude Letters for the Community. Write letters of gratitude and deliver them to people in the greater school community, e.g., janitor, food staff, school administration. Expand this exercise to include the local community, such as police, fire station, bank, grocery store, hospital, electricians, etc.
• Gratitude Quotes. Give students their own gratitude quote (here’s a great list of quotes) and have them reflect upon and write about what their quote means to them.
• Gratitude Discussions. Use gratitude researchers Jeffrey Froh and Giacomo Bono’s gratitude curriculum to deepen students’ understanding of gratitude. Have students think of something they’re grateful for and then re-frame it as a gift. Then ask students to 1) notice that someone saw they had a need and acted upon it; 2) appreciate the cost incurred by the person extending the gift; and 3) recognize the personal value of the gift they received.
• Gratitude Research and Action. Share and discuss with your students the research that shows the tremendous benefits of practicing gratitude. Here’s a list of findings from the Greater Good gratitude webpage. Ask students to come up with ways they might incorporate more gratitude into their lives. After hearing about the research on gratitude from their teacher, one group of 8th graders from a high-needs school took it upon themselves to form “The Breakfast Club”—a secret club dedicated to performing kind acts for the school staff. After several months of clandestinely delivering Starbucks coffees (donated by Starbucks), pizzas, and other fun treats, the Breakfast Club members revealed their identities at a school assembly—and were hailed with loud roars and cheers!

Awareness of a Whale Shark's Value to the Sea, Not as Oil

Whale Shark. Photo by Brian Skerry

Whale sharks, the gentle giants of the sea breed in the waters near Karachi, Pakistan. But their sustainability is endangered by hunting for meat and oil. Several have also entangled in fishing lines.

Consequently," World Wildlife Fund-Pakistan has launched an effort to raise awareness to protect this rare species. Director of WWF-Pakistan, Rab Nawaz, has said the program has already started to take effect, citing the four-hour long effort made by one fisherman to release a whale shark that had been trapped in his net," Oceans Society reports.

The nonprofit has also started training of fishermen for handling and releasing entrapped turtles and dolphins.

Giving Underprivledged Children Wings

Stoked.org takes underprivledged kids in urban environments and slaps them with a board. It's a "dude..." moment when kids are taken out of their safety zone and mentored to learn how to slap a board on the pavement (skateboarding), on the snow (snowbording) or on the water (surfing).  The Mission Statement  :Our mission is to promote personal development, academic achievement, and healthy living to under-served youth through action sports culture.

Here's Stoked's goal as stated on the website

Resilience

When you fall, you have to get back up. To constantly improve, you must accept that there will be many falls. Through this process, you gain the confidence and ability to overcome any obstacles.

Self-Reliance

The feeling of independence and knowledge that you can create your own path. You trust yourself to make smart decisions, take healthy risks, and believe in your abilities.

Community

You are a part of larger society and have to give back to both the community and the people in it. You don’t compete with others, you compete against yourself to make sure you’re the best for the community. When you rise, we all rise.

On Tuesday, Dec 3, the Los Angeles chapter of Stoked will host a fundraiser.

Fostering Affordable Sustainable Design

Earning the status of a 4-star charity by Charity Navigator, Global Green USA has an energy-conscious

Sustainable Home for New Orleans, post Katrina

mission: To foster a global value shift toward a sustainable and secure future.

Vegetarian Times writes, "Global Green helps ugrade homes, schools, and communities to be more energy--and resource-efficient; and offers technical support and green building tips and advice in post-disaster areas such as New Orleans, New York, and New Jersey."

From the nonprofit's website:  

 The organization was founded to create a new approach to solving the world's most pressing environmental challenges. Global Green merges innovative research, cutting-edge community based projects and targeted advocacy that:

• Educates hundreds of millions of people annually
• Leverages billions of dollars for environmental initiatives
• Implements ground-breaking environmental policy
• Improves the lives of tens of thousands in low-income communities

Peace Corps, A Lasting Legacy"No Greater Service"

The Daily Prism features the Peace Corps in honor of the late United States President John F. Kennedy.

"The Peace Corps has been a leader in international development and citizen diplomacy for more than 50 years across more than 139 countries. In an increasingly interdependent world, we tackle challenges that know no borders—such as climate change, pandemic disease, food security, and gender equality and empowerment. Although times have changed since the Peace Corps' founding in 1961, the agency's mission—to promote world peace and friendship—has not. Today, the Peace Corps is more vital than ever, working in collaboration with partner organizations and using cutting-edge technologies and well-tested best practices to enhance impact," state the Peace Corps website.

"During the 52-year history of the Peace Corps, more than 210,000 Americans have served in a variety of capacities ranging from AIDS education to information technology and environmental preservation in 139 countries. Currently more than 8,000 Peace Corps volunteers work in developing countries to assist local communities."  Boston Globe. Nov. 21, 2013

Musicians On Call For a Song

Last Thursday, Kelly Clarkson, the singer who went on to fame after her American Idol win, raised over  $100,000 during the annual  Musicians On Call (MOC) fundraiser in Nashville.


Since 1999, the nonprofit MOC has performed for over 400,000 hospital patients in an effort to provide them with "just what they need," according to the group's website.


Clarkson told Country Weekly, “When I first learned about MOC, it appealed to me for so many reasons. I love how it creates opportunities for musicians to play for kids and bring music to the families who are spending their time, especially during holidays, in the hospitals away from the comfort of their homes.”

India's Wastepickers & Environmental Justice

"Wastepickers, mostly women, are an informal army of tens of thousands of workers who dig through Delhi’s garbage, gathering plastic, paper, pieces of metal, and shards of glass, recycling every scrap. …. They’re the single largest mitigator of greenhouse gas emissions in the city, more than any new technology," reports Enisia.

As a means of eeking out a living, the wastepickers may benefit the environment, but at their own risk of disease and infection.

An environmental research and action group Chintan, however,  "works for environmental justice in partnership with people and groups from diverse sections of society. Our focus is on ensuring equitable and sustainable production and consumption of materials, and improved disposal of waste. An important part of this is ensuring green jobs, security and dignity for the urban poor, many of whom earn a living as waste recyclers,' states the NGO's website

The Enisia report notes, Last year, the organization was awarded the U.S. State Department’s first-ever Innovation Award for the Empowerment of Women and Girls — a $500,000 cash prize. As part of the promise to spend the money over two years, Chintan has launched several new programs that benefit wastepickers, including getting them work from corporates such as fast food chains, hotels and malls. “The idea is that we go out and get the work and then we train them and monitor quality. We do everything else and just ask them to handle the waste. When they do a good job, they get more and more work,” says Chintan’s director, Bharati Chaturvedi. Because it reduces the amount of trash that is burned in air-polluting incinerators or added to overflowing landfills, this boost for wastepickers is a boost for the environment, too.

Food*Art*Mindfulness*Just Society

C. Coimbra photo

In Nova Scotia, the Pollination Project welcomes interested persons, "through workshops, seminars and residential fellowships, to explore the inherent connections between healthy food, artistic expression, mindful practices and just society. 

"Set in rural Nova Scotia on a biodynamic farm with 250 acres of woods, fields, lake and river, Pollination project is a civil society initiative dedicated to nurturing the fundamental and necessary relationships that exist between ecologically sound land use and food production, physical health and spiritual well-being, creative self expression and sustainable community. Pollination Project is rooted in the creation of living examples that can serve to inspire, educate, and empower individuals and groups to create positive change in their own lives and communities," states the nonprofit's website

Positive Humanitarian Response to Philippine Appeals

• Humanitarian groups are reporting a strong donor response to Philippines appeals, with one expert predicting Typhoon Haiyan giving will be the third-highest by Americans for an overseas disaster, USA Today writes.

Patrick Rooney of Indiana University’s Lilly Family School of Philanthropy said he expect individual donations for Philippines relief to reach $1-billion. Americans gave $1.-billion after the 2010 Haitian earthquake and the $1.8-billion following the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, in inflation-adjusted dollars.

The Salvation Army said its donations accelerated from $300,000 Monday to $1-million Tuesday, and both Oxfam America and Save the Children raised more than $1-million in the first days after the storm struck the Philippines on November 8. Three-quarters of disaster giving typically comes within three to six months of the event.

From Philanthropy Today.http://philanthropy.com/blogs/philanthropytoday/u-s-giving-for-philippines-relief-on-pace-to-hit-1-billion/77937?cid=pt&utm_source=pt&utm_medium=en

A Pathway to Pollination

Photo by C. Coimbra

The Pollinator Pathway is a mile-long, 12-foot wide corridor of pollinator-friendly gardens in the middle of Seattle, WA. 

From the website:
 
The point of this iconic project is to connect two isolated public green spaces...with a corridor of native-pollinator-focused gardens... Twenty Pollinator Pathway gardens are now in place...The project merges landscape, human systems, and design thinking, and encompasses a public project, a large scale visual book, and a certification framework. The project now spans six years of research, teaching and work.

TMI?

As a writer/blogger with a plethora of news feeds, plus social media distractions, I recognize the challenge of silence, too much information, long to do lists, and the overwhelming feelings this brings.  Today's Daily Prism is from the  Greater Good :

We Americans are often overwhelmed and exhausted. Did you know that 235 million people are currently grappling with feelings of time-starvation and moderate to high levels of stress, exhaustion, or burn-out in the United States alone? ¹

While many things factor into this collective exhaustion, I’ve found, in my own life, that much of it stems from the sheer amount of stimulus and the build-up of, well, stuff. Here are several ways I filter out what I’ve come to think of as “junk stimulus.” 

1) First, rid your environment of physical clutter.
2) Now, limit the amount of stuff you let back into your house.
 3) Next, get rid of all unneeded media and audible stimulus.
4) Finally, prune niggling tasks  

Read the entire article "How to Eliminate Junk Stimulus."
 

How & Why Donors Give to International Relief

By Raymund Flandez for Philanthropy Today

International relief organizations are scrambling to get to devastated areas in the central Philippines to join relief and recovery efforts after Friday’s typhoon left 10,000 dead, according to news reports. Many American groups are also raising money to support the survivors of Typhoon Haiyan.

The Chronicle talked with Robert Ottenhoff, president of the Center for Disaster Philanthropy about what is happening and how donors and nonprofits can avoid mistakes.

This is the first big interna­tional disaster since your group was founded in August 2012. What are your thoughts on the donor-solicitation or giving efforts so far?
Donors are not as quick to respond to international disasters as they are to domestic. And their interest is in part driven by media coverage. It was interesting: Several weeks ago, we had a huge storm hit India, and the Indian government did a fantastic job of evacuating a million residents. As a result, there were hardly any deaths. As a result, there was very little media coverage.

So it’ll be interesting to see with the Philippines whether media coverage continues. You know, media coverage in disasters is what drives donations.

It is slower than domestic in part because there are a lot fewer donors who are active in international activities, and those that are don’t primarily consider themselves disaster philanthropists. What we often hear is that donors will say, “We don’t get involved in disasters.” Until donors can draw a direct link to their normal grant programs, it’s a little bit more difficult for them to get involved in disasters unless it happens to be a disaster in their community or an area where they’ve got some direct contact.

So it was easier for donors to make a decision to get involved with Katrina or Sandy or Moore, Okla., because they had some connections to that. It’s harder for most of them to make the connection with the Philippines or Vietnam.

What are relief organizations saying? What are they doing right? Could they do more?
It’s too early to tell. At this point, we know that it has been extremely difficult for the relief organizations to reach the affected areas, and so relief supplies are badly needed.

What is your group doing for the typhoon?
We’ve established a CDP Typhoon Haiyan Recovery Fund.
The goal of our fund is going to be to focus on midterm and long-term needs. One of the things that’s becoming apparent in recent years as we learn more about disaster philanthropy is that almost all of the money is donated within two to three months. And very little comes after 90 days. And yet there are emerging urgent needs. This was apparent in Katrina, Sandy, Haiti, the [Southeast Asian] tsunami, you name it.

In the Philippines, it’s such basic things—hundreds of thousands are going to be left without homes, without farms, without other ways for livelihood. We want to focus our dollars on the long-term recovery needs. So we’re not saying either-or. It ought to be both for donors.


The Center for Disaster Philanthropy is keeping track of international relief organizations’ response to the Haiyan recovery efforts.

I'll Trade a Box of Apples for...

In just two years 125 food swap groups have joined the Food Swap Network since its founding in 2011.

"A food swap is a recurring event where members of a community share homemade, homegrown, or foraged foods with each other. Swaps allow direct trades to take place between attendees, e.g., a loaf of bread for a jar of pickles or a half-dozen backyard eggs. Swap events also include a potluck as an immediate food-sharing (and sometimes item-sampling) component. These events are a delicious way to diversify the homemade foods in your own pantry while getting to know members of your local food community," explains the website.

The organization was founded by a group of persons interested in home arts, food preservation, sustainable options, gardening and farming.

A Food Think Tank

Continuing our Harvest Theme we discovered, Food Tank: The Food Think Tank

From the website:

Food Tank: The Food Think Tank is for the 7 billion people who have to eat every day. We will offer solutions and environmentally sustainable ways of alleviating hunger, obesity, and poverty by creating a network of connections and information for all of us to consume and share.

Food Tank is for farmers and producers, policy makers and government leaders, researchers and scientists, academics and journalists, and the funding and donor communities to collaborate on providing sustainable solutions for our most pressing environmental and social problems.

As much as we need new THINKING on global food system issues, we also need new DOING. Around the world, there are examples of people and organizations that have developed innovative, on-the-ground solutions to the most pressing issues in food and agriculture. Through years of field visits (and years of trying to eat better in our own communities), Food Tank will continue to highlight and promote the best practices.

Foraging "Feral" Fruits in an Urban Environment

November in the United States is about abundance and harvest, but America, in spite of it's ability to grow amazing amounts of edible harvests, still have a population not able to share in that feast.

The Daily Prism features another group, FallingFruit.org, that maps "feral" food sources across the globe.  Check the map out at:  http://fallingfruit.org/.

The resource website states: 

Falling Fruit is a celebration of the overlooked culinary bounty of our city streets. By quantifying this resource on a map, we hope to facilitate intimate connections between people, food, and the natural organisms growing in our neighborhoods. Not just a free lunch! Foraging in the 21st century is an opportunity for urban exploration, to fight the scourge of stained sidewalks, and to reconnect with the botanical origins of food. 

Our map of urban edibles is not the first of its kind, but we aspire to be the most comprehensive, bringing together the maps of foragers from all across the internet. We are also including edible species found in municipal tree inventories - databases of street (and sometimes private) trees used by cities, universities, and other institutions to manage the urban forest. This already amounts to 702 different types of edibles (most, but not all, are plant species) distributed over 606,101 locations. Beyond the cultivated and commonplace to the exotic flavors of foreign plants and the long-forgotten culinary uses of native plants, foraging in your neighborhood is a journey through time and across cultures. 

By The Glean in Your Field-Feed the Hungry

Rotary First Harvest, a Seattle nonprofit group, "...connects farmers, truckers, volunteers and food banks for hunger relief," writes a recent New York Times report.

When up to 33 percent of U.S. grown food is wasted at the harvest level, there is edible resources that goes to waste if not gleaned for harvest

From the Rotary First Harvest website:

.Our Harvest Against Hunger program has been named “one of the most effective AmeriCorps programs in the nation” – and with good reason. HAH is a collaborative program that places AmeriCorp*VISTA members (known as Harvest VISTA) in ten communities around Washington State to develop gleaning and produce recovery programs that support local hunger relief groups.

Harvest VISTA are engaging local communities in myriad produce recovery models – each specifically built to match local resources and opportunities. Over the past four years that Harvest Against Hunger has been active, more than two million pounds of fresh, healthy produce has been recovered by 10,500 volunteers. And that’s just the beginning: Harvest VISTA build programs that are sustainable and scalable. The positive impact of these programs will benefit for years to come.

Connecting Youth With "Unlimited Positive Potential"

The website for Foundations for Happiness is bright, cheery and oh so smile-able. Two Floridians set up the  non-profit organization

 "...that helps youth connect with their unlimited positive potential and become joyful contributors to society.  ​Through creative arts, wellness education, environmentalism and volunteerism opportunities, our charity helps foster psychological development, emotional strength, spiritual growth, and social cultivation," the website reads.

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Volunteers Rise to Battle Polio in Middle East

Fox Providence  reports:

The Syrian Health Ministry is working with international organizations and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent to get vaccine to all areas of Syria, Health Minister Dr. Saad al-Nayef told WHO's regional committee on Monday in Muscat, Oman, the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency reported Tuesday.

But Dr. Bruce Aylward, the World Health Organization's assistant director-general for polio, emergencies and country collaboration, told CNN last week that his organization was not waiting for the confirmation to mount a vaccination campaign.

NBC New says: Vaccination efforts are focusing on more than 2 million children in Syria, as well as in populations in bordering countries — Iraq, Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, the Palestinian territories and Egypt.

Diver Rescues Whale

A diving instructor spend an hour disentangling a right whale from severe entanglement in buoy lines.
From World News:

A New Zealand diving instructor has plunged to the rescue of a southern right whale, entangled in a long line buoy out of Beachcomber Island, Fiji.

Sam Jupe dived 10 metres to free the 12 metre long whale which was completely caught by its tail.

Sam, a Padi Scuba Instructor from Auckland, said he understood the risk he was taking in aiding the whale but is committed to the welfare of marine life.

He was towed behind the whale while he used a blunt knife to cut the distressed mammal free.

The New Zealander spent over an hour in the water before he removed the buoy.

People waited on Beachcomber Island, Fiji as the drama unfolded

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Help for Pets with Cancer

The Riedel & Cody Fund caught our attention by its unique mission: a community of caregivers who provide support for people whose beloved pets are suffering from cancer.

From the website:

Who are our members?

• People whose pets have cancer 
• People who wish to learn more about cancer in pets
• People who are passionate about the important role their companion animals play in their lives
• Veterinarians and other medical specialists who treat cancer in animals
• People who simply want to help

The Riedel & Cody Fund helps our members —

LEARN

• Important next steps to provide care for their pets
• Answers to questions they may have beyond diagnoses and details from their veterinarians
• In-depth information from trusted experts about pet cancer in an easy to read, non-technical style, including the topics of prevention, nutrition and healing
• About treatment options and new cancer therapies for their pets
• Other in-depth information about the types of cancer afflicting their pets
• From participation in online seminars with cancer experts
• From videos that help them make the critical decisions that lie ahead

COMMUNICATE

• With others whose pets have cancer
• In online discussion forums with other pet parents on similar issues

We provide support, resources and treatment funding for people whose pets have cancer. - See more at: http://riedelcody.org/our-story#sthash.VckKaYha.dpuf

Who are our members?

• People whose pets have cancer 
• People who wish to learn more about cancer in pets
• People who are passionate about the important role their companion animals play in their lives
• Veterinarians and other medical specialists who treat cancer in animals
• People who simply want to help

The Riedel & Cody Fund helps our members —

LEARN

• Important next steps to provide care for their pets
• Answers to questions they may have beyond diagnoses and details from their veterinarians
• In-depth information from trusted experts about pet cancer in an easy to read, non-technical style, including the topics of prevention, nutrition and healing
• About treatment options and new cancer therapies for their pets
• Other in-depth information about the types of cancer afflicting their pets
• From participation in online seminars with cancer experts
• From videos that help them make the critical decisions that lie ahead

COMMUNICATE

• With others whose pets have cancer
• In online discussion forums with other pet parents on similar issues

- See more at: http://riedelcody.org/our-story#sthash.VckKaYha.dpuf

caregivers who provide support for people whose beloved pets are suffering with cancer. - See more at: http://riedelcody.org/our-story#sthash.VckKaYha.dpuf

caregivers who provide support for people whose beloved pets are suffering with cancer. - See more at: http://riedelcody.org/our-story#sthash.VckKaYha.dpuf

Billionaires Promise to Give It All Away

Investor Bill Gross, who has been locked in a Twitter battle with fellow billionaire Carl Icahn over

philanthropy, said Wednesday that he and his wife are committed to giving away their entire fortune before they die, Bloomberg writes.

Mr. Gross, a fund manager for Pacific Investment Management Co., or Pimco, told CNBC he is following the example of steel magnate and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, who wrote in 1889 that it was a disgrace for a wealthy person to die with money.

Earlier this week Mr. Icahn called on Mr. Gross in a tweet to join him in signing the Giving Pledge, Bill Gates and Warren Buffett’s campaign urging billionaires to commit half their fortunes to charity. Mr. Gross had previously criticized Mr. Icahn’s push for Apple to buy back stock, tweeting that Mr. Icahn should emulate Bill and Melinda Gates and devote more time to philanthropy instead.

from Philanthropy Today

Girl Trek: Walking With Pride, Honor, Grace

From the website, GirlTrek:  We know that Black women face a health crisis.   We know that we are dying faster and at higher rates than any other group of women in America from preventable diseases like heart disease, stroke and diabetes. These diseases are obesity-related and 4 out of 5 of us are over a healthy weight.  That's real talk.  We also know that we need more than talk.  This year, 15,000 Black women and girls walked with GirlTrek.  This obesity crisis ain't nothing compared to the road we've traveled.  Things change when women walk.  Things changed when Harriet Tubman walked.  Things changed when boycotters in Montgomery walked.  When we walk, things WILL change.   We are inspired!  What would happen if a million of us trekked?  Let's put the "move" back in movement.