Myrtus

Open your heart

The Fresh Air Fund has a very important message for you.

Happy Holidays from The Fresh Air Fund

The perfect gift for that special someone who has everything!

You know, that special someone who always says "oh you shouldn't have" or "thanks, but I don't need anything" when you offer them a gift for a special occasion?

Well here's what you can do to make them feel special anyway and still respect their wishes: you honor them!

That's right, you honor them with "gifts that save lives".

Yes, the gift-giving season is upon us again and people are more strapped for money now than ever, but the poor who have always been really poor are in even more dire need of our help now than ever. 

So please be kind and think of them, your generous donations are very much appreciated.

International Medical Corps – Gifts that Save Lives

(click on the link to find out how)

Project 10 to the 100th

Google received over 100,000 ideas for Project 10 to the 100th, which was launched to celebrate Google's 10th anniversary recently.

Good luck to everyone who submitted their ideas for helping others!

Voting Begins:
January 27th, 2009

Don't forget to sign up if you'd like a reminder when the voting period begins.

See previous post here

Help Save the Lives of Malnourished Children With International Medical Corps

Little boy dedicates his Bar Mitzvah to a village in Africa

SignOnSanDiego.com > News > Features -- The power of one

The Torah is full of stories about how one person can make a difference. Moses. Joseph. Noah. Beau.

OK. Maybe not Beau.

Beau Bressler, who is 13 years old with tousled brown hair and a love for Super Smash Bros. video games, is more 21st century than those other guys.

But his story also is about the power of one.

In this case, it's about how one boy turned a religious rite of passage into an enormous act of charity for an African village he's never seen and children he doesn't know.

About a year ago, Beau was in the dining room of his mother's home in La Jolla, with picture windows that frame the azure sea below. He was preparing for his coming of age ceremony in Judaism, called a bar mitzvah (son of the commandment). As part of it, he needed to do a mitzvah project (a good deed).

His mother, best-selling author and life coach Debbie Ford, had a suggestion. Instead of people giving him gifts, how about if he asked them to donate money for a school in Kikoiiro, a rural village in central Uganda?

He was reluctant. “I wasn't sure I wanted to give away all my money,” he admitted.

But the more he thought about it, the more he warmed up to the idea. The typical bar mitzvah gift is money, and Beau couldn't really think of what he'd do with it. Maybe he'd buy a couple more video games, he thought, but that was about all.

“I probably wouldn't do anything useful with it,” he said.

So he agreed. The shiny brown-and-black announcements of his November bar mitzvah were sent out, decorated in an African theme and a drawing of a giraffe. While Ford and Beau's father, San Diego physician Dan Bressler, invited people to the party at the Torrey Pines Hilton, Beau asked guests to donate money for the Children's Academy for the Global Heart via the Just Like My Child Foundation.

Four months after his bar mitzvah, more than $100,000 has been raised with pledges for another $180,000, according to Ford. The campaign continues to be nudged along with help from his mother's newsletter and other publicity efforts.

Make It Right

Brad Pitt's "Make It Right" project helps rebuild New orleans with Dutch floating houses.

Dutch houses for New Orleans

Architect Winy Maas is talking about the homes he has designed for a commission from Hollywood star Brad Pitt, who has a house in New Orleans. The homes are going to be built in the Lower 9th Ward, a district for people on low incomes. There is nothing left of their houses and, up to now, many of them have received no help.

Unsafe
However much the houses designed by Mr Maas look like the original Lower 9th homes, there are important differences:

"Some of the buildings can float, others are on a slope or designed for the disabled. And some have a kink, allowing part of the house to be flooded while the important rooms remain dry."

In his design, Mr Maas had to keep reality in mind. The neighbourhood is near the site of the biggest levee breach of August 2005. The water defences have still not been made better than they were before the disaster. The possibility of new floods had to be borne in mind when designing the houses.

For a good cause

You can support an innovative new school in Southern California. Bid on a trip to The Fairmont Chateau Whistler in B.C., Canada! Just visit their online auction to view their amazing items and packages.