Sunday, January 24, 2010

2010 Charities

In 2010, I'm planning on supporting two great charities: Kiva and Wine to Water. I chose these two charities for a couple of reasons:
  1. They make great presents: Kiva's gift certificates and Wine to Water wine.
  2. They help two cause passions of mine: Microfinance and clean water.
  3. They are legit: Backed by the Skoll Foundation and CNN.
  4. They have an educational value to them: Getting younger generations involved in microfinance and clean water issues.
  5. They believe in social media: Kiva's Blog, Wine to Water's Facebook and Twitter.
Now you know why I love them, but let me tell you a little bit about each of them, so you can love them too!

Kiva's mission is to connect people through lending for the sake of alleviating poverty. Imagine creating an online stock portfolio, but instead of investing in large multinational corporations your investing in people. You can check out entrepreneurs' profiles on Kiva, choose who you want invest in. Your investing in human being, who is striving towards economic independence and thus improving the lives of not only themselves, but their family and community. With a 98% return on loans, you can reinvest that money into another individual within 6-12 months.

Wine to Water is focused on providing clean water to needy people around the world. Over 1 billion people in the world today lack access to adequate water and sanitation. The first miracle Jesus performed was turning water into wine. Being Christ-like, Wine to Water prays that those who have plenty of water can help provide someone who is less fortunate with the gift of clean water. This can be done by buying Wine to Water wine or hosting a Wine to Water fundraiser.

Who are you supporting in 2010?

Friday, January 22, 2010

Where I'm At

I've never been one for New Year's Resolutions, but I am one for constant improvement. I've broken my goals down into three categories: mind (career development), body (physically and the fun stuff of life), and soul. Here they are, call them what you'd like.

Mind:
  1. Improve my "professionalism," my dress, organizational skills, and manner.
  2. Improve my writing skills. I'm going to practice this by blogging more here.
  3. Start thinking about grad schools. Take a couple courses here and there and find out what I like (and how I'm going to pay for it.)
  4. Grow my "freelance business" / non-profit idea more. Don't know about this? Ask me about it sometime.
  5. Invest in something, a house, a car, the stock market, etc.
Body:
  1. Work out consistently.
  2. Go camping more or do more weekend get-a-ways.
  3. Actually sign up for roller derby.
  4. Start brewing my own beer.
  5. Eat healthier and locally, build my chicken coop and learn what foods are grown in the Pacific Northwest and in what season.
Soul:
  1. Pray more (with authority).
  2. Build more community in my middle school small group. Hang out with them outside of Wednesday nights.
  3. Work on forgiving those who've hurt me. Not because they need it, but because I need it.
  4. Have a better attitude towards things I don't agree with 100% (be humble basically).
  5. Invite more friends to church and develop my spiritual gift more (and don't let it freak me out so much...)
Better late than never. What are you doing to improve your life in 2010?