Thursday, November 24, 2011

Charity This Christmas - Where to Donate?

There is at least one time in a year where people care about charity and more gleefully rummage their pocket to find some money to donate. Yes, the highly advertised season of joy and blessings is just at the corner. Because of this, I am sending an early gift for you guys by listing some of the charities that I am supporting / proposing and hopefully this will help some of you to decide which charity to give this Christmas. And since Christmas is again the season of sharing and helping, I ask you guys to list your charity or non-profit giving in the comment section to help other readers to decide too.

First and foremost, World Vision. You can adopt a child for $30-35 per month. This will not only pay for their school, but also to build their community by building infrastructure and facility.

2. Kiva: A micro-finance type of charity, supporting entrepreneurs all around the world by loaning money.

3. Room to read: building schools and library to educate children. They believe the world change when children are educated!! Amen to that.

4. If water is your thing, charity:water may be a good channel. Committed to bring safe and clean drinking water.

5. The hunger project: their vision is to end a person's  hunger not by giving them fish, but by empowering and teaching them "how to fish"

What about you? Please don't hesitate to share charities that you want to support or call out!!

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Ted Video - David Gallo and Alexander Tsiaras

I think these two cool videos deserve more coverage (although I don't think my blog will boost their number of views that much), but still, I can't help not to share it. Some objects are not easily captured, and most of the time remain foreign to the eyes of the average Joe, but these two experts did some serious undertaking to visualize and capture and made it unknowable to us the mystery lies in the deepest & darkest part of the ocean and also the miracle of a cell's conception.

If there is one feeling that these videos should evoke to us is the feeling of awe and wonder (jaw dropped) of how little we actually have discovered and how many more things remain unfamiliar to our mind. Like what one of the speakers said, "its magic, its miracle, its divinity", something that beyond comprehension of any humans' mind. Enjoy.

David Gallo shows underwater astonishment


Alexander Tsiaras: Conception to Birth - Visualized


Monday, November 7, 2011

Models of Social Entrepreneurship in Ohio

All good things deserve some good publicity, right? Whenever you listen to spectacular concert or watch an Oscar winning movie, you can't help not to open your mouth and spread the word. And they deserve it, good things need good publicity to be heard and known. And this is what I'm doing with some social business or entrepreneurship here in Columbus, OH.

Try to google "social business in Columbus" and you will get a sparse result. Not enough publicity is given to all these great and noble businesses which put social benefits on top of profit, which value employee's welfare more than the company's reputation. So, this post is a short summary of some social businesses or social entrepreneurship that operate in Ohio, and some of the impacts that they have made in their community.

1. Passion works (Athens, OH)
This is a collaboration effort between artist with and without developmental abilities. They truly believe that every humans have the ability to create somethings valuable and people with disabilities are no exception. With this collaboration, they are able to create a beautiful piece of art, and even one of their artwork, Passion Flower, has become the official flower of Athens. I have the privilege to visit Passion Works last year and here is the link.

2. Freshbox Catering (Columbus, OH)
The tagline explains it all, "Feed your appetite, nourish your community". They are committed to provide a healthy great lunch, and to empower the community by its employment system. The workers that Freshbox hires are mainly homeless people who they hold to an extraordinary standard. The tiered level employment system is developed to filter the uncommitted and unwilling thus only allowing those who are motivated enough to go through the three training stages.

3. Pearl Interactive Network (Columbus, OH)
Often disabled veterans, military spouses and people with disabilities are workforce that are being overlooked for their potentials or even worse, being discriminated against. Luckily, Pearl Interactive Network see their potentials and based its business system on tapping into this unique workforce. Some of them are hired as home-based sales person, or customer service representative, or even as market researcher.

4. Eartha Limited (Columbus, OH)
One of the hallmarks of Eartha limited is its emphasis on eco friendly product or service. They help businesses to achieve sustainability by implementing waste control methods. For example, installing energy efficient lighting, recycling all aluminum or plastic bottles or cardboard from a restaurant, even to introducing a beer on tap system to eliminate bottle waste. Some creatives initiatives are also introduced, like converting football food waste into compost for garden, or gallons of used vegetable oil for bio-diesel. In addition to that, they also produce green products like cutlery, plates, to-go box from plant materials (corn, palm leaves, etc).