The Concept of Giving

Heading into the holiday season (tomorrow being Thanksgiving) I have decided that I can do more to help others; we can all do more. As we gear up for Black Friday and start thinking about our Christmas/Hanukah wish lists, why not think about someone else, or how our gifts can help someone. Isn’t that the idea of the holidays; aren’t they supposed to be about GIVING?

This year give thanks for being as lucky as we all are to have grown up in beautiful homes with beautiful families around us, supporting our every move. Then think before you buy and figure out how you can give a gift that helps that child that wasn’t as lucky or blessed as we all got to be.

For a couple of days know I have known that I was going to write this blog, but just this morning I learned about a new organization doing what I attempt to do with my small following, but on a much larger scale. www.dtj.com or Discover the Journey attempts to educate people about real issues, real problems, and real situations that exist around the world; problems that need real solutions. I came across an initiative they are running called “i am child” (shared it on my new twitter account and on my facebook page), which lists 7 categories of children in the world and the situations that are their lives. It discusses the displaced children, the enslaved children, the orphaned children, the child soldiers, the girl children in the developing world, the street children, and the impoverished children.

See the video here. http://vimeo.com/7226498

There are so many great causes out there and sometimes when I am preoccupying myself with one (fistulas) I can forget about many more (I am only human). We need to forget the outta sight, outta mind idea and bring this to the forefront of our consciousness.

Yesterday I was teaching a class on entrepreneurship at a local middle school and we were working on an activity where the students were given a situation and they had try to come up with a “big idea” to deal with that issue, ranging from homelessness to the lack of access to food and resources. One of the girls, in all innocence and complete lack of knowledge, said to me, “well isn’t it their own fault for being too far away from cities and the resources they need?” To which I replied, “No, some people are simply born into a world that looks much different from the one we live in. Most of the time these people cannot fathom what a city looks like, what having water coming through a tap in their house would be like.”

Just because someone is born in Haiti, or Cambodia, or Senegal does not make him or her any less human; it does not make them any less a person than someone born into privilege in a developed country. I am not better than them because I was born into a comfortable house and family that was able to send me to good school and provide me with water, food, and clothing. These people are not uneducated because they choose to be, they never had access to school and books or were forbidden to learn, they are not living in squalor because they enjoy that type of lifestyle; they have no other choice. We need to remember this idea, each and everyday. What have I done that I get to deserve to live in comfortable house that I don’t even have to pay rent for because my mom is just that amazing. Nothing, I was born this way and it is my mission to help those that were not as lucky as I was.

As we move into the holiday season, keep that in mind. You can donate in someone’s name as a gift (Grassroot Soccer), you can purchase a gift that gives again (like TOMS, and FEED), you can help out a charity by buying a t-shirt or jewelry from them (i.e. Falling Whistles and charity:water), or you can volunteer your time at the homeless shelter, with Habitat for Humanity, or a food kitchen. Think outside the box this holiday season, literally, and give…

TOMS Style Your Sole Event

Every time I log back into my blog, I can’t help but think that it has been way to long since I have written. Again.

Being in home, I have been trying to think outside the box to help people and get involved in things that are interesting to me. My most recent project has to do with TOMS, the shoe company (Shoes for Tomorrow, TOM is not a person!). The more research I do on them, the more interested I become in the work that they are doing. I mean what a simple idea, I sell a shoe, I give a shoe. If only more companies could pick up this philosophy.

Anyways, I have decided to host a TOMS Style Your Sole event, in hopes that we can sell a good amount of shoes and therefore give a lot of shoes. I have found some great partners in this initiative, the guys over at Habatat Art Gallery and Coffee Company (located at 539 Clematis Street in West Palm Beach, FL; corner of Rosemary and Clematis).  I have met with them a few times and I could not be more impressed with their outlook and the work they are doing as well! Sean and Natalie own the Habatat Coffee Company and they are doing their best to teach people about the coffee industry, inform them on the issues and what companies like Starbucks are really doing, and persuading people to switch to fair trade coffee products. Fair trade is an organized social movement and a market based approach created to help producers of different products in developing countries make better trading conditions and promote sustainability.

I am so excited and thankful that they had agreed to host the event and I want help them out by spreading the word about them and their message. We are currently looking for some local artists who want to come out and customize the shoes, unfortunately I couldn’t pay them, but it would be great opportunity to expose their work as well. Of course I want this to be an event that helps as many people as possible while also spreading the word about what different people are doing locally, nationally, and internationally. Remember, “Be the change you wish to see in the world”.” –Gandhi and I am most impressed with those people who are doing what they can to be that change!

I hope many people will come out for the event or at least go purchase a pair of TOMS shoes or stop by the coffee company and art gallery and check it out. The event will be taking place Saturday, December 17, 2011 from 6:00pm to 9:00pm. Come and go as you please…we will have live music, refreshments, and if we get any hits local artists to customize the shoes for those of us who aren’t so artsy. You can email me at kristinanthony@me.com or stop by the Habatat Art Gallery and Coffee Company to place your order and RSVP by 12/07/2011. Show your support for the Habatat Art Gallery by liking them on Facebook!

Looking forward to hearing from you all and seeing you at the event!