do something good this weekend!

Check this out - see how abstaining from your coffee addiction for one or two days can get 2 pairs of shoes to someone (or many someones) in need:



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Just realized I forgot to post a lesson on Thursday! That's just the kind of week it's been. I promise two lessons next Thursday...

Happy weekend!

up to know good - donating to the fight against cancer

I have to admit, today is a tough day for me. A good family friend is in surgery right now, with the hopes that a rare form of melanoma can be almost completely removed from his back. It's hard not to reflect back on my family's many struggles with cancer - I lost 2 great aunts to the disease, and my husband lost his mother 3 years ago. It is days like today that I wish I could do more to help families struggling with a cancer diagnosis.

So here are some simple ideas:

• Coinstar will allow you to donate your spare change to several non-profit organizations, including The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.
• Participate in a Race for the Cure in your area. To date, the Susan G. Komen Foundation has raised over 1 billion dollars for breast cancer research - all this has been accomplished in just over 25 years. Several years ago, I participated in a Race for the Cure, and many racers wear the name of a loved one that is currently fighting breast cancer, and unfortunately many wore the names of loved ones that lost their battle. I even saw the name of my 5th grade teacher - one of my favorites - as one of the women fighting her own battle against breast cancer (and I've since heard, a survivor). It's a moving experience.
  
• Interested in participating in a triathlon? Check out Team In Training to train for an event and raise money for cancer research.
  
• For any ebay addicts out there (I'm guilty!) click here to view auctions that donate a portion of their proceeds to the American Cancer Society.
  

These are just some ideas I could come up with right now - if any of you know other ways of helping with the fight against cancer, leave a comment.

Sorry for the somewhat somber sendoff to the weekend. On a lighter note, I offered my photography services to Project Night Night, and it looks like I'm in charge of presenting several totes to homeless children in my area - I'll be sure to write about the experience and (possibly) post some pictures. I'm very excited to get involved! I'm also really really REALLY hoping this June gloom will burn off asap - I have a photo shoot with Kate & Luke this afternoon and it would be nice to see the sun today...

Have a great weekend everyone!

up to know good - giving homeless children a good night's sleep

I'm sort of new to how blogs really work. I started a blog during my really-expensive-yet-total-waste-of-my-time photography class I took in the summer of 2007 (and the catalyst for this blog), and other than updating it and reading a couple of family blogs, I never dove into the blogosphere.

Now that I've jumped in with both feet, though, I continue to be amazed at the grassroots campaigns launched by bloggers to make this world a better place. Bloggers all over the country will acknowledge a child or a family in need, and people in turn respond - in droves. Forgive me for the sentimental nature of this post, but it really does touch my heart to see so much good in the world. Which is why this is my first post (and hopefully not the last) dedicated not to photography, but to just doing good in this world.

I know many of you reading this blog have kids, and I'm sure you all have some sort of bedtime ritual. For my family, its baths, soft PJs, and many books and snuggles. It really is cherished time for us. And it saddens me greatly to think of all the children that have lost their homes, their possessions, their blankies and PJs and books, to this horrible recession we are experiencing. According to the Homelessness Research Institute of the National Alliance to End Homelessness, there are currently 298,000 families that are homeless in the United States - more than at any time since the Great Depression. Many of those homeless are children - without any extra clothes to change into before bed, let alone a blankie or stuffed animal to cuddle or a book to read.

Sad, right? Here's how you can help:

Project Night Night is a non-profit organization that prepares totes for homeless children, complete with blankets, stuffed animals and books. Click here to find out more about how you can donate your kids' gently used or even new stuffed animals, books, and blankets. For those of you wanting to donate in the Bay Area (and in Ohio) there are drop off locations - for me I will be mailing in my daughter's stuffed animals that were buried under piles and piles of other stuffed animals.

Pajama Program is a non-profit organization that donates new PJs and books to children in homeless shelters. There are many chapters across the country - click here to check it out. If you are a part of an organization that would be interested in a drive to collete PJs and books, click here.

I've been inspired by others in the blogging world to do good, and I hope I have inspired you this morning as well.