Posts for November, 2012
Setting an Example for Ourselves and the World
Today's post is written by Barbara Bush, Honorary Chair of The Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy. Find more information on twitter @BarbaraBushFdt and Facebook Barbara Bush Foundation.
Americans reacted with shock and sadness when they learned of the Taliban’s attempted assassination of young Malala Yousafzai, a brave, visionary 14-year-old Pakistani girl whose only so-called offense was to advocate for the education of girls and women in her home country. The outrage is justified and has resulted in Malala becoming the central figure in an international demand for the educational rights of women and girls.
Today's post is written by Lori Jean Mantooth, Director of Training Programs at Points of Light.
I was active in Tennessee 4-H Youth Development for most of my life. It was fun, I learned new things and occasionally we got to take trips to exciting places like Daytona Beach, Washington, D.C., and Martin, Tenn.
One of my main 4-H activities was food and nutrition judging. Our four-person team would evaluate menus for nutritional value, judge home-canned goods like green beans and tomatoes, compare unit prices on groceries and determine which homemade loaf of bread was the best. (Sounds fun, right? It really was.) If we judged all those things better than the other teams from around the district, we won top honors for the year. My sophomore year, we actually won the state contest.
Happy Friday! What a busy week we've had between Make A Difference Day, the largest day of service last weekend, and supporting Hurricane Sandy relief efforts however we can. We hope all are regaining power and staying safe up north. We are working with our HandsOn Network Volunteer Action Centers and partners activated across the northeast to help coordinate the volunteer response. We are currently supporting the American Red Cross and 211 operations throughout the region. Visit our HandsOn Network disaster page to register your interest to volunteer.
Here are the volunteer news from the week, including some great recaps from Make a Difference Day:
Veterans Day is an important day for me and one that changed my life. Three years ago, I was at a Veterans Day banquet watching my sister receive an award for her volunteer efforts with "Hats of Hope," an organization she started to make hats for cancer patients. I saw her doing something really incredible and was inspired to make a difference. That day, I looked around the room at the brave men and women willing to sacrifice so much for me, and realized that I wanted to give back. I remembered hearing about dialysis patients needing to control body temperature and that's how my Girl Scout Gold Award Lap Pals project was born and my passion for veterans was inspired.