The Journey Within

It’s been a while since the subject on Room to Read came up. Now there’s a quick way you can get involved. Simply vote for the project “6000 Girls’ Scholarship in the Developing World“, and if it gets to at least top 25, American Express will sponsor quite a sum into the project! Click here for more details on the project. You can read more about Room to Read at roomtoread.org. The following is the exact email from them on this subject.

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Hey there Room to Read volunteers and members of the Buzz List!

We need your help!  American Express recently launched their 2008 “Members Project,” which asks American Express cardholders to submit project ideas in 5 key areas that will help change the world, and then asks cardholders to vote on the winning projects.  American Express plans to give away $2.5 million to the winning projects, including $1.5 million for first place. What would that mean for Room to Read ? It would mean we would be able to give 6,000 girls access to an education.

Thanks to our former San Diego chapter leaders, we submitted a Room to Grow project for consideration. In case you’re not familiar with this program, our Room to Grow Girls’ Scholarship Program gives thousands of girls access to education through a holistic scholarship that includes:

• Monthly school fees, school uniforms, books, supplies and backpacks
• Academic tutoring as needed
• Developmental support through life skills trainings and field trips
• Parent meetings and workshops
• Transportation (such as a bicycle or bus fare) as needed
• Medical coverage
• Mentorship by women staff members of Room to Read

Now we need you to nominate it!  Anyone (even non-cardholders) can nominate a project once it’s submitted – the more nominations a project gets, the better its chances for making the “Top 25.”  After the nomination period ends on September 1st, American Express will announce the Top 25 projects.  AmEx cardholders will then vote on the Top 5 (announced on September 30th) and then vote again for the winning project.  The winners will be announced on October 14th.  We’re hoping that you will nominate our project!

The instructions to nominate are as follows:

1. If you have an AmEx card, you can log in to nominate our project here
2. If you do not have an AmEx card, you can log in as a guest here
3. Click on Room to Read’s project link or enter “Room to Read” in the search box.
Please note our project is titled “6,000 Girls’ Scholarships in the Developing World.”
4. In case you can’t find it, Room to Read’s project is listed under the “Education”
category and the “Achievement Gap” subcategory.
5. Click on “Nominate this Project!”

Once you’ve nominated our project, we’d ask that you spread the word throughout your
networks by:

• Forwarding this email on to at least 10 friends
• Posting the project on your Facebook or social networking page (if you have one) by
clicking on the appropriate icon at the bottom of our AmEx project page
• You can also click on “More Ways to Get Involved” on the project page if you’re
looking for other ideas about how to rally support

We’ll be sure to let you know if we make the Top 25 so we can encourage everyone to vote for our project.  Just think, if Room to Read were to win the top prize, 6,000 girls across the world could go to school.

Thanks in advance for your help,

The Room to Read Team

Room to Read
info@roomtoread.org
415.561.3331

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Want to exercise everyday? Clean your room by Monday? Or want to stop biting nails? These are a few goals that you can try to achieve by entering into a contract. So if you fail your goals, there will be penalty, depending on your contract. Your friend can benefit, your enemy can benefit, you can wager $100, $1000 etc, as long as it hurts.

It’s not a new concept, but sitckK.com is offering to draw up the contracts for you for free. It’s still up to you, but the economists who came up with this website thinks entering into a legal obligation will really put the pressure on you to achieve your goal. They believe…

… everything has a price, a contract makes sure you honour that price.

You’ll need to nominate a trusted police force though, to make sure you adhere to the terms of the contract. They can be your family, your friends, your enemies, or donate your wager to a charity you like, or even to a charity you hate. So if you believe this is for you, head round to sitckK.com. Who knows, you might be able to stop picking your nose! (seriously, that was one of the suggested goals, I didn’t make that up…)

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I’ve just ordered my first book from BetterWorld.com. It aims to meet the Triple Bottom Line – social impact, environmental impact and economic impact. It also uses carbonfree shipping. It’s not actually carbon free as the book still has to travel the distances and the vehicles that carry it still has to emit those carbon emissions. What it claims to do is to “… buy clean energy credits to reverse deforestation…”. The credits are based on the estimates calculated in Carbonfund.org.

The book I bought is cheaper compared to elsewhere, and the shipping cost is $2.97 flat. It took 1 whole month to arrive. If you are looking to buy a book the next time, try BetterWorld.com. Who knows, if what they claim they’re doing is actually having a positive impact to the environment, we might be able to create a better world after all! If not, you’ve got yourself a bargain anyway. That must be worth waiting for.

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Just a quick post to highlight an interesting wordplay with a charity twist. Unlike wordie, this actually tests your vocabulary and donating rice at the same time for every word you get right. The cause is to end world hunger! How can you say no to that! Please visit freerice.com.

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I have been trying to clock more distance for the Nike Charity Run. I’m glad to say that I’ve met my own target of running at least 40km for the charity. That’s worth $200! I’ll try to do a bit more before December 5th. I really don’t know how someone can actually clock close to 300km within 3 weeks!

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For every 1km you run, Nike will donate $5 to the Make-A-Wish Foundation! The catch? You’ll need an iPod and a Nike+ Sports Kit so that the information will be uploaded onto the Nike+ website. I suppose this could be a sales booster for both Apple (not that they need more sales from the bestselling iPod!) and Nike’s footwear / Sports kit!

Assuming you already own an iPod, for an extra $50, you can get the sports kit and run 10km with it. So you’ve essentially donated your $50 you paid for the sports kit to the Make-A-Wish Foundation! What’s more, you can run anytime you like, anywhere you like. You’re not in some competition. All you need to do is to clock in as many kilometers as you can, and the donation will pile up.

Anymore small prints? Yes. The donation is $5 worth of Nike products. Whether you think this is a philanthropic act on Nike’s part, or just another sales gimmick, the donation could be a real wish to a kid somewhere. It’s only until 5 December 2007, so get your running shoes on, and start running! I’m off…

p/s: Figures quoted are in Singapore dollars. So i’m not sure if this is solely for Singapore. If you’re running elsewhere in the world and manage to clock into the donation, let me know!

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I never realised I was looking, until I found it, only to realise that I have been looking for it all along.

I have been looking for a way to give something back to the society, be it through work, business, or a charitable organisation. I’ve finally stumbled across something which speaks to me on a fundamental level.

I’m not sure if you have thought of what does charity mean. So far, to me, the word “charity” means giving away money to the poor/needy, most of the time with only a vague idea of where that money is going. I don’t like giving just because I pity the person. I would rather give so that the person will be empowered to do something about his/her situation. This thought did not fully materialise until I read about Room to Read.

I’ve recently read a book by John Wood – Leaving Microsoft to change the world. As the title suggest, he left Microsoft and set up Room to Read, an organisation providing children with the opportunity to learn. He started off with an aim to give books to children in Nepal, as their biggest school library has only 20 books, made up of leftovers by travelers, with books like “The Lonely Planet Guide to Mongolia” and romance novels by Danielle Steel. From that small aim, it evolved into building schools and libraries for several countries, on top of the original aim of supplying books to these group of children.

I’m sure there will be more blogging entries to come about this, but why not visit the website for yourself. See if this speaks to you as much as it did to me.

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I heard a story yesterday which I would like to share with you. I met a principal of a school and chatted with him for a while. I asked him what made him choose to start his school when his first choice was becoming a priest!. His story went like this…

“I was crossing the road at the traffic lights and saw a blind man. I thought of leading the blind man across the road but I said to myself, maybe someone else will do it. The next day, I met the same man wanting to cross the road. So I said to myself, maybe he will feel insulted if I help him. And the same blind man appeared again the next day. Right, (I said to myself), if you’re going to help him, help him now. Just because you’re there. You don’t need to come up with any more excuses.

So he helped him cross the road, and founded a school for the disabled. It was not done immediately, but over the past 5 years, his school has been growing. His school now is training teachers to help and identify students with special needs. He went on to say that everyone of us has a choice to change the society for the better. Inspired by an article in Innovations, I’ve adapted a title from an article in there… Everyone is a Changemaker.

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