Feed Your Good Dog

Positive Thoughts | Positive Actions | Positive Results

TGIFYGDF…Thank Goodness It’s Feed Your Good Dog Friday!

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THIS SUNDAY, DECEMBER 13, 7PM LOCAL TIME, LIGHT A CANDLE AND HELP ENSURE THAT THE LIGHT OF A BELOVED CHILD MAY ALWAYS SHINE.

This Sunday, December 13 is National Children’s Memorial Day and Worldwide Candle Lighting.

Please light a candle to remember all children who have died. Candles are lit at 7 pm local time around the world. This is believed to be the largest mass candle lighting in the world, and it creates a virtual 24-hour wave of light as it moves from time zone to time zone. Hundreds of formal candle lighting events are held and thousands of informal candle lightings are conducted in homes as families gather in quiet remembrance of children who have died, but will never be forgotten.

Following is from the organizer’s press release and includes other ways to participate in this event. For more information including the location of services both in the U.S. and around the world, visit The Compassionate Friends or call 877-969-0010.

Tens of thousands of families around the world, grieving the loss of a child, will join together Sunday, December 13 for The Compassionate Friends thirteenth annual Worldwide Candle Lighting.

More than 500 services open to the public will be held in the United States including all 50 states, plus Washington DC and Puerto Rico.

The Worldwide Candle Lighting is sponsored by The Compassionate Friends, the world’s largest self-help bereavement organization for families grieving the death of a child. The organization has more than 625 chapters blanketing the United States. The Worldwide Candle Lighting was started by a small group of Internet visionaries who recognized that a day should exist to honor the memories of all children who have died. The observance has grown every year and is now believed to be the world’s largest mass candle lighting. The candle lighting is officially held for an hour at 7 p.m. local time around the world, creating a virtual wave of light. Tens of thousands, unable to attend services held throughout the day, will light candles for that hour wherever they may be, whether alone or with friends and family.

Persons interested in participating in the Worldwide Candle Lighting, but who may not be able to attend an organized event have two additional alternatives. They can join in the Online Support Community (chats) on The Compassionate Friends national website. They also can join in a virtual candle lighting being held at 7 p.m. PST in Second Life, an online virtual community with more than 6 million members.

As in the past, chapters of many allied organizations are expected to participate in this year’s event including MADD, MISS, SHARE, Parents of Murdered Children, and BPUSA. U.S. services are also being sponsored by local bereavement groups, churches, hospices, hospitals, funeral homes, schools, and many individuals.

In addition, bereaved family members, relatives, and friends are invited to post a memorial message December 13 in a Remembrance Book on TCF’s national website. Last year several thousand messages, some in foreign languages, were received during the Worldwide Candle Lighting day from throughout the United States and dozens of countries abroad.

Please show your support this December 13 for families and friends who have experienced the death of a child, and light a candle to help ensure that the light of their loved one will always shine!

And, remember…Feed Your Good Dog, so your good dog always wins!
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Wednesday Wide Smile

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TEENS EDUCATE FELLOW NEW YORKERS ABOUT THE EFFICIENCY OF CFL BULBS TO POSITIVELY IMPACT ENVIRONMENT AND ECONOMY.

After viewing Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth in March, 2006, Avery Hairston, a then 14 year old high school freshman, couldn’t stop thinking about the issues facing the environment. Soon after he saw the movie, he ran across a Starbucks ad in The New York Times that said if every person who received the newspaper switched one light bulb to a compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulb, it would be the equivalent of taking 89,000 cars off the road.*

From left to right: Avery Hairston, Peter Ginsberg, Brendan Harvey, Peter Chapin, Taiki Kasuga, Jack Schlossberg, Izzy Rattner, Will Pagano, Daniel Bernstein, Stephen Todres, Flo Koenigsberger

Inspired by the documentary, armed with the information from the Starbucks ad, and with help from parents, friends and sponsors, Avery founded RelightNY, a program that runs on the idea that together, everyone can have a big impact by doing something small.

Avery decided he wanted to make a positive impact on the environment despite how overwhelmed he felt at the concept of global warming; so, he broke it down into something as simple as changing out a lightbulb!

Earlier this year, Avery was nominated by Julie Moriarty, Director of Curriculum
Children for Children, for the 2009 Heart of Green Local Hero Award. Following is an excerpt from Ms. Moriarty’s letter of nomination:

Avery and his Relight team quickly began educating fellow New Yorkers about their energy use one apartment at a time and to ask their neighbors to switch from incandescent bulbs to CFL bulbs. Then, they figured if they donate CFL bulbs to community members, they would draw attention to the environmental issues and at the same time, help families save money on their electric bills. In the past two years, they have raised enough money to donate 30,000 bulbs to low-income housing in each of the 5 boroughs of New York City.

Recently, Avery realized that New York City schools are filled with our littlest volunteers and could be mobilized one classroom at a time. He teamed with the Children for Children Foundation to offer a K-12 curriculum to educate students on the power of switching to CFL bulbs and the impact they can have on the earth’s environment. Kids throughout the NYC area are now able to get together with their friends and form Relight teams, and search online for a building that they can volunteer to “adopt.” Armed with the right information, they can help convince all New Yorkers to make the switch.

The greatest success, Hairston said, has been the simplest one — enabling people to make big changes in their lives through the quick changing of a light bulb.

RelightNY is a great example of individual responsibility, and collective action. It gives groups the power to self organize and achieve seemingly unachievable tasks.

And, remember…Feed Your Good Dog, so your good dog always wins!
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*Source: Blog post entitled Teens Inspiring Action, dated March 19, 2007, written by Bob Jeffrey, Chairman and CEO, JWT Worldwide

TGIFYGDF…Thank Goodness It’s Feed Your Good Dog Friday!

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TEN WAYS TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN SOMEONE ELSE’S LIFE AND FEED YOUR OWN SPIRIT AT THE SAME TIME (continued from TGIFYGDF dated November 6 and November 27)

Acts of kindness and altruism can reduce stress in our lives according to a recent WebMD Feature article entitled The Science of Good Deeds, The ‘helper’s high’ could help you live a longer, healthier life., written by Jeanie Lerche Davis and reviewed by Louise Chang, MD.

Following are good deed ideas (21 through 30) that make performing acts of kindness and “feeding your good dog” easy as pie. Check out number 29…it doesn’t get much easier than that with the potential of huge positive impact on another person’s life. Source: 50 good deeds for 50 days, By Daniela Payne

21. Help someone who looks lost with directions. Most people are intimidated and feel vulnerable when they’re lost, offering to help them find their destination will relieve them.

22. Donate blood. One single donation can help up to 4 people – that should be inspiring enough. Check out the Canadian Blood Services website for more information.

23. Donate your used clothes and housewares to charity. By doing so, you can help people meet basic human needs. Your old sweaters will keep someone warm during the winter and your old housewares can help someone furnish their new apartment.

24. Around Christmas time, find a holiday angel program in your community. You can donate basic things like toothpaste, towels, sheets and pyjamas for a family in need to open on Christmas morning.

25. Take a CPR class. You never know when you might be in a position to put those life-saving skills into practice.

26. Help an elderly person off the bus or cross the road by offering to take their arm or carry their packages.

27. By joining a bone marrow registry such as One Match stem cell and marrow network (in Canada), you could be giving someone a lifesaving gift.

28. Offer to babysit a friend’s kids one night so she and her partner can enjoy a romantic evening out. You friend will certainly be grateful for the night off.

29. Bring your old magazines to a hospital waiting room to make patients’ waits a little less nerve racking.

30. Write a letter or e-mail to a good friend or family member to let them know how much you value them. Can you imagine opening a letter of that sort? Go on, start the trend.

And, remember…Feed Your Good Dog, so your good dog always wins!
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Wednesday Wide Smile

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THE VOLUNTEERS OF STORY COUNTY, AMES IOWA ARE AT IT AGAIN…DOING GOOD WORK!

On October 31, November 9, and November 21 Story County volunteers made their neighbors’ homes warmer, their neighborhoods cleaner, and the Thanksgiving holiday brighter for others, and had fun doing it all!

OCTOBER 31, 2009  Volunteers line tape around windows before applying plastic, blow dry the plastic to tighten it across windows and make draft dodgers to keep the cold out of homes, among other things, during the 2009 Story County Winter Weatherization Challenge. More than 150 volunteers weatherized 53 homes.

Winter Weatherization Challenge volunteer_story   Winter Weatherization Challenge volunteer_story

Winter Weatherization Challenge volunteer_story   Winter Weatherization Challenge volunteer_story

NOVEMBER 9, 2009  AmeZone volunteers pick up trash after an ISU football game. Members of AmeZone ride in the trailer to the tailgating fields after the game and show it can be great fun to be part of any volunteer effort.

AmeZone Trash Pickup volunteer_story   AmeZone Trash Pickup volunteer_story

AmeZone Trash Pickup volunteer_story   AmeZone Trash Pickup volunteer_story

NOVEMBER 21, 2009  Volunteers gather at the Volunteer Center of Story County to participate in Story County’s Family Volunteer Day project Volunteers planted tulip bulbs in the pots and then donated them to Meals on Wheels recipients and residents of a local nursing home

Family Volunteer Day 2009 volunteer_story   Family Volunteer Day 2009 volunteer_story

Family Volunteer Day 2009 volunteer_story   Family Volunteer Day 2009 volunteer_story

And, remember…Feed Your Good Dog, so your good dog always wins!
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