Volunteer Opportunities

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

October 2, 2009 by Rose Caplan

2009 DRIVE FOR LIFE WALK-A-THON

The Drive for Life Walk-A-Thon was created out of a mutual vision of two people who knew they had to do something to help reverse the alarming trend of teen driving fatalities. Join them on October 10, as they, and other Walk participants, continue to do good work to improve the world.

Date: Saturday, October 10, 2009

Time: 10:00am – 1:00pm

Location: Chastain Park 4505 Stella Dr.

Street: 4505 Stella Dr. Atlanta, GA

City/Town: Atlanta, GA

Who: Teens and Parents

WHAT IT IS…The Drive for Life Walk-A-Thon raises awareness that car accidents are the No. 1 cause of teen deaths in the country; and gives purpose to the loss experienced by families who have lost a teen because of a car accident. These families know that perhaps by raising awareness and through education this way other families may not have to go through what they are.

HOW IT GOT STARTED…The Walk is put on by It Won’t Happen To Me, which was founded by Bill Richardson and Lauren Winborne, based on their experience and reserach regarding teen driving fatalities. Bill and Lauren formed It Won’t Happen to Me as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit foundation with the specific goal to reduce teen driving fatalities. This goal has expanded to changing the mind set of teens and their parents that tragedies like this can happen to anyone. So to meet these goals, and because these deaths are usually caused by inexperience and unsafe driving habits of our young drivers, IWHTM seeks to educate teens and their parents. The Walk is one of their educational events which now has established walks in Atlanta, Georgia and Greater Kansas City, Missouri.

WHO CAN PARTICIPATE…Anyone who has lost a son or daughter in a car crash, and their families and friends, are welcome to participate in the 2009 Drive for Life Walk-A-Thon. If you would like your son or daughter represented along Memory Lane please feel free to email Bill.

All teens, parents of teens (especially those whose teens are preparing to start driving) are encouraged to participate in the Walk for a whole new perspective on the responsibility and the serious nature of teen driving.

POSSIBLE COMMUNITY SERVICE HOURS…If you are a teen check with your school to see if they will give you community service credit for attending the Walk!

See you there!

And, remember…Feed Your Good Dog, so your good dog always wins!
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TGIFYGDF…Thank Goodness It’s Feed Your Good Dog Friday!

September 25, 2009 by Rose Caplan

AARP’s CREATE THE GOOD.ORG MAKES FINDING VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES IN YOUR COMMUNITY THAT FITS YOU AS EASY AS ENTERING YOUR ZIPCODE!

Simply delete the zipcode in the widget below, add yours and hit the enter key, and you’re own your way to creating the good in your community!

Create The Good.org is where good people get connected to opportunities to create good, in whatever way works for them. Nothing could be more simple:

5 minutes? 5 hours? Find good that needs doing that fits you and your community.
Every day, you can find new opportunities to do service in your community that fit your life and interests, and that will connect you to like-minded goodnicks. Only have 5 minutes? Follow Create the Good on Twitter for a daily feed of ideas.

Simple, fun ideas for how to create good.
Find how-to-videos and guides at Create the Good.org to help you create the good in your own way and on your own time. Reform Your Health, Operation Energy Save, Women’s Giving Initiative, or Rx Snapshot – it’s all here. And if it’s not, suggest a topic of your own and Create the Good.org offers to try and make it happen.

Making good even better.
Do you need volunteers? Post your opportunities and they will be seen by one of the largest and most skilled group of volunteers out there. Want to get your organization more involved? Create your own search widget for your site – it is easy (promise) and one of the best ways to spread around the good.

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

September 23, 2009 by Rose Caplan

ANGELS AMONG US

LeAnn and Cameron Jackson at the 2009 Angels Among Us event.

Leann and Cameron Jackson at the Angels Among Us 5K

With a big smile on this face, little Cameron Jackson ran the last 50 yards of the Angels Among Us 5K with his mom, LeAnn; crossing the finish line after the greatest battle of his life. Cameron was diagnosed in February, 2008, with Medulloblastoma. After surgery, he endured months of radiation and chemotherapy along with physical therapy to learn how to walk again. During this time, Cameron would often say “I just want to be able to run and play again!” And, run and play he did at the 2009 Angels Among Us 5K!

Angels Among Us is a celebration of life, strength, courage and commitment. It has become a national event, with thousands coming from all across the country to volunteer, participate, and make a difference.

The event begins with a 5K run through the Duke campus, and then features a wonderful family fun walk through the beautiful Sarah P. Duke Gardens. It has a family-friendly focus with entertainment, food, raffle, souvenirs, activities and prizes for children, and a closing ceremony where the top ten fundraising teams receive an award, and the grand total for the event is announced.

The success of Angels Among Us has continued to grow each year with the help of many committed volunteers, Duke staff, and the teams made up of families and friends of those who have had brain or spinal tumors. At the first event in 1994, a total of $27,000 was raised. This year’s event raised over $1,410,540. Unbelievable!

Take a look at the WTVD-TV/DT Raleigh-Durham, NC ABC News Segment from the 2009 Angels Among Us 5K.

Save the date – April 24, 2010 – to participate in the next Angels Among Us 5K to benefit the Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center at Duke—Angels.

And, remember…Feed Your Good Dog, so your good dog always wins!
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Source: Angels Among Us

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

September 18, 2009 by Rose Caplan

FEED YOUR GOOD DOG, AND HELP PRESERVE YOUR STATE’S PARKS, BY WALKING, RUNNING, HIKING, BIKING, OR PICNICKING AT ONE OF THEM OVER THE WEEKEND

Legislators around the country have been required to trim state funding for State Parks. State Parks need help from their communities now more than ever. “Friends” organizations are working hard to advocate for our State Parks and are creating ways to get us involved in helping to preserve these sites. For example, Friends of Georgia State Parks & Historic Sites sponsors Save My State Parks and invites Georgians to help ensure these sites will be available for generations to come. They want you involved because closure of sites or certain parts thereof is still a very real possibility.

To make it easy for you to be involved, Friends of Georgia State Parks, in partnership with Verizon Wireless will be sponsoring a state-wide day of service. The Georgia State Parks has set aside Saturday, September 26 for My State Parks Day on which admission to all state parks and historic sites will be free! And, you can get involved by showing up, showing your support and getting your hands dirty! Most sites will have a volunteer service project available to anyone who wants to help.

So, help ensure future access to your State’s parks and clear your head, improve your energy, and just all around feel better, by getting outdoors and visiting one of your State’s park this weekend.

And, remember…Feed Your Good Dog, so your good dog always wins!
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TGIFYGDF…Thank Goodness It’s Feed Your Good Dog Friday!

August 21, 2009 by Rose Caplan

Looks like Saturday will be a great day to spend with Cardio Kids at Piedmont Park in Atlanta, Georgia!

Cardio Kids Logo

The Queen of Hearts Foundation, co-founded by Katy Atterbery and Carmen Perez, brings its Cardio Kids program back to the Green Market at Piedmont Park, and invites you and your kids to “a day for Awareness and Heart Health Education dedicated to Children. The Cardio Kids is all about an ECO Play Day to share fun outside. Games and activities to get their hearts pumping and to share information as to why it is so very important for them.”

The event takes place in a market setting at Piedmont Park in Atlanta. Cardio Kids’ tent is set up as a drop by where they will lead activities on the hour.

Destination: Atlanta, GA – Queen of Hearts Foundation’s Cardio Kids tent at the Green Market.
Date: Saturday, August 22, 2009
Time: 9:00am – 1:00pm
Location: Piedmont Park’s Green Market
Address: 1071 Piedmont Ave NE
Atlanta, GA 30309

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

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Wednesday Wide Smile

August 19, 2009 by Rose Caplan

CLEAN AND SAFE DRINKING WATER MADE POSSIBLE BY CHARITY:WATER

Scott Harrison has a special gift. His gift is in his natural ability to successfully promote his clients. Today, Scott’s “client” is a non-profit organization that he founded – charity:water. Charity:water brings clean and safe drinking water to people in 14 developing nations.

In his July 12, 2009 blog post, The New York Times Op-Ed Columnist Nicholas D. Kristof, gives us an idea how Scott uses his “natural gift of promotion” for charity:water to “ensure that every penny from new donors will go to projects in the field.” Kristof tells us that Scott “accomplishes this by cajoling his 500 most committed donors to cover all administrative costs.”

Scott’s journey to charity:water shows us what can happen when one uses their “gift” for good.

Scott graduated from New York University with a communications degree. He spent 10 years in special event planning and promotions, and then started a small upscale event planning and nightclub consultancy business. Kristof says that Scott “spent his nights surrounded by friends in a blur of alcohol… He lived in a luxurious apartment and drove a BMW — but then on a vacation in South America he underwent a spiritual crisis.

‘I realized I was the most selfish, sycophantic and miserable human being,’ he recalled. ‘I was the worst person I knew.’”

Scott decided to see what the opposite of his current life would look like. In August, 2004, he left the event business and all he had worked for in Manhattan to serve for a year as a volunteer photojournalist onboard the Mercy Ship Anastasis in impoverished Liberia, West Africa. – a country with no public electricity, running water or sewage.

There he became familiar with the life-threatening effects of contaminated water and in September 2005, returning home to New York City, he tested the idea behind charity: water by producing a large exhibition of his photographs and videos called mercy. Despite opening in the midst of the Hurricane Katrina disaster, Scott’s mercy. show was a success. Visitors contributed more than $96,000 towards providing medical procedures and freshwater wells in West Africa. Scott returned to West Africa for another 6 month journey in October 2005, before returning to Manhattan in the spring of 2006 to found charity:water.

Over the last 3 years, using his gift, Scott and the charity:water crew have according to Mr. Kristof’s post “raised $10 million (most of that last year alone) from 50,000 individual donors, providing clean water to nearly one million people in Africa and Asia.”

View the following video to see The Idea Camp’s interview with Scott Harrison and learn the details of his incredible journey to charity:water.

The Idea Camp – Scott Harrison from The Idea Camp on Vimeo.

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

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