Sevenly // Feed My Starving Children

This week Sevenly (one of my all time favourite world-changing organisations!) is partnering with Feed My Starving Children to change the lives of starving children.

Sevenly operates by creating weekly cause campaigns where customers could purchase products that gave $7 to a weekly charity. Sevenly has successfully unlocked not only a way to crowd-fund for causes, but to drive massive social awareness as well. Their chosen cause this week, Feed My Starving Children, strives to eliminate starvation in children throughout the world by helping to instill compassion in people to hear and respond to the cries of those in need. Feed My Starving Children is a non-profit Christian organization committed to feeding God’s children hungry in body and spirit. The approach is simple: children and adults hand-pack meals specifically formulated for malnourished children, and we ship the meals to nearly 70 countries around the world. Click here to learn more about FMSC and how you can become involved.

Sevenly shares this story (along with this week's 1min campaign video) on their site:

"At three years old Shaimie weighed only 11 pounds. Having 8 children, her parents struggled to provide nutritious meals for everyone. Because of the lack of food, Shaimie was constantly sick and unable to walk, stand or even sit up. When she turned three, she still wasn’t able to speak, due to slow brain development caused by malnutrition. The life-threatening starvation that Shaimie experienced is just one example of the hunger crisis in the Philippines. Something needs to be done to save lives like Shaimie's.

THE SOLUTION
Thanks to the meals provided by Feed My Starving Children, Shaimie is still alive today and healthy again. This week, we want to help completely eliminate malnutrition from the island of Marinduque in the Philippines! With your support, we will rally together to feed and nourish as many starving children as possible!"


So make a HUGE difference to starving and malnourished children today! You can give through Sevenly by buying some of their incredible products (which donates and creates an opportunity to spread awareness by using the item as a talking point), you can donate directly to FMSC, volunteer with them, or simply share this cause via word of mouth, email or social networks. The bottom line is: we all have the power to make a difference in the fight to save children from starvation and eliminate world hunger!

Blessings!

Ronell x

A Lovely Soul

I read this tonight and just had to share! Doubly blessed by the character of the old man and of this woman!

Blessings!

Ronell x



A Lovely Soul

Our house was directly across the street from the clinic entrance of Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. We lived downstairs and rented the upstairs rooms to out patients at the clinic. One summer evening as I was fixing supper, there was a knock at the door. I opened it to see a truly awful looking man. “Why, he’s hardly taller than my eight-year-old,” I thought as I stared at the stooped, shriveled body. But the appalling thing was his face, lopsided from swelling, red and raw. Yet his voice was pleasant as he said, “Good evening. I’ve come to see if you’ve a room for just one night. I came for a treatment this morning from the eastern shore, and there’s no bus ’til morning.” He told me he’d been hunting for a room since noon but with no success, no one seemed to have a room. “I guess it’s my face… I know it looks terrible, but my doctor says with a few more treatments…” For a moment I hesitated, but his next words convinced me: “I could sleep in this rocking chair on the porch. My bus leaves early in the morning.” I told him we would find him a bed, but to rest on the porch. I went inside and finished getting supper. When we were ready, I asked the old man if he would join us. “No thank you. I have plenty.” And he held up a brown paper bag. When I had finished the dishes, I went out on the porch to talk with him a few minutes. It didn’t take a long time to see that this old man had an oversized heart crowded into that tiny body. He told me he fished for a living to support his daughter, her five children, and her husband, who was hopelessly crippled from a back injury. He didn’t tell it by way of complaint; in fact, every other sentence was preface with a thanks to God for a blessing. He was grateful that no pain accompanied his disease, which was apparently a form of skin cancer. He thanked God for giving him the strength to keep going. At bedtime, we put a camp cot in the children’s room for him. When I got up in the morning, the bed linens were neatly folded and the little man was out on the porch. He refused breakfast, but just before he left for his bus, haltingly, as if asking a great favor, he said, Could I please come back and stay the next time I have a treatment? I won’t put you out a bit. I can sleep fine in a chair.” He paused a moment and then added, “Your children made me feel at home. Grownups are bothered by my face, but children don’t seem to mind.” I told him he was welcome to come again. And on his next trip he arrived a little after seven in the morning. As a gift, he brought a big fish and a quart of the largest oysters I had ever seen. He said he had shucked them that morning before he left so that they’d be nice and fresh. I knew his bus left at 4:00 a.m. and I wondered what time he had to get up in order to do this for us. In the years he came to stay overnight with us there was never a time that he did not bring us fish or oysters or vegetables from his garden. Other times we received packages in the mail, always by special delivery; fish and oysters packed in a box of fresh young spinach or kale, every leaf carefully washed. Knowing that he must walk three miles to mail these, and knowing how little money he had made the gifts doubly precious. When I received these little remembrances, I often thought of a comment our next-door neighbor made after he left that first morning. “Did you keep that awful looking man last night? I turned him away! You can lose roomers by putting up such people!” Maybe we did lose roomers once or twice. But oh! If only they could have known him, perhaps their illnesses would have been easier to bear. I know our family always will be grateful to have known him; from him we learned what it was to accept the bad without complaint and the good with gratitude to God. Recently I was visiting a friend, who has a greenhouse, as she showed me her flowers, we came to the most beautiful one of all, a golden chrysanthemum, bursting with blooms. But to my great surprise, it was growing in an old dented, rusty bucket. I thought to myself, “If this were my plant, I’d put it in the loveliest container I had!” My friend changed my mind. “I ran short of pots,” she explained, and knowing how beautiful this one would be, I thought it wouldn’t mind starting out in this old pail. It’s just for a little while, till I can put it out in the garden.” She must have wondered why I laughed so delightedly, but I was imagining just such a scene in heaven. “Here’s an especially beautiful one,” God might have said when he came to the soul of the sweet old fisherman. “He won’t mind starting in this small body.” All this happened long ago – and now, in God’s garden, how tall this lovely soul must stand. - Author Unknown 

Wipe Out Waste // TerraCycle

I was reading the back of a pack of Johnson's baby wipes today and discovered that they are running a scheme in conjunction with TerraCycle called 'Wipe Out Waste'. 

TerraCycle is a highly-awarded, international upcycling and recycling company that collects difficult-to-recycle packaging and products and repurposes the material into affordable, innovative products. TerraCycle is widely considered the world’s leader in the collection and reuse of non-recyclable, post-consumer waste.

TerraCycle works with more than 100 major brands in the U.S. and 22 countries overseas to collect used packaging and products that would otherwise be destined for landfills. It repurposes that waste into new, innovative materials and products that are available online and through major retailers.

Each unit of Baby Wipes Packaging that you send is worth 2 TerraCycle Points, each TerraCycle point can be redeemed for a payment of £0.01 to the charity or school of your choice, helping to ‘Wipe Out Waste®’ while contributing to your cause (see below for more on Terracycle points).

Terracycle has great resources and ideas for people to get involved with! 

Incentives and Contests

TerraCycle provides opportunities for Brigade participants to gain extra rewards for outsmarting waste.The opportunities range from TerraCycle collection competitions, to monthly sweepstakes, and special promotions offered by our sponsors. We will be continually adding more options for gaining extra rewards, so be sure to check back often.

To find out more, click here.

Points Programme

For each qualified piece of waste you send to TerraCycle, we award your location’s account with 2 TerraCycle points. Those two points can still be redeemed for a £0.02 payment to the charity or school of your choice, or you can select from a range of charitable gifts.

To find out more, click here.

Do-It-Yourself Upcycling Projects

We’ve created simple step-by-step instructions to walk you through some easy upcycling projects. Use pens and yogurt pots to create a herb garden, learn how to turn food wrappers into a fancy gift bow or a napkin ring. The TerraCycle Design Junkies will show you how.

To find out more, click here.

So help to change the world, one empty baby wipe packet at a time! (also see their other options for recycling/upcycling your household waste: http://www.terracycle.co.uk/en-UK/)

Blessings!

Ronell x

Amazing Teacher and Father

Oh my word this man is an inspiration! Please take the time to watch and be touched inspired by someone who loves so deeply and goes so far beyond the extra mile!

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10201121146883732&set=vb.1021022489&type=2&theater

Blessings!

Ronell x

Start A Community Garden {Mandela Day} 28 / 67 ways to change the world

As promised on Mandela Day 2013 (19.07.13), this is part of my series on their 67 suggested ways of changing the world. This one comes under the category of 'Help Out for Good Health:

28. Start a community garden to encourage healthy eating in your community.

I have a few friends now who have vegetable patches and fruit trees in their gardens who regularly cook and bake using these ingredients! I envy them 1) because I wish I had the patience to grow my own fruit and vegetables and 2) because I wish I had the patience/motivation to bake (note to self: increase patience outside of the classroom!!). Either way, the food they grow themselves is so much fresher than the stuff we buy (and to mention has way less chemicals to contend with!). So, whether you start growing your own and sharing with friends and neighbours, you set up a growing scheme at school, or you petition for a community garden, set yourself to help enable others (and yourself) to eat more healthily!

Here are some tips on how to start a community garden: http://tlc.howstuffworks.com/home/community-garden.htm

Blessings!

Ronell x

{photo credit: http://tlc.howstuffworks.com/home/community-garden.htm}

Syria: Children of War

Living in Syria, Ruth just draws what she sees. Bloodshed. Fighting. Persecution. At 13 years old, she’s seen things no child should see. But as part of a trauma counselling programme led by Open Doors, her drawing is helping her to find hope in Jesus. Please give today to protect persecuted children like Ruth, who suffer more because of their faith.

You can become a Secret Child Sponsor for £18 a month and help give a persecuted child protection, provision and a Christian education. Not just for today but for tomorrow and the years to come.

For their safety, you won’t know the child your support is reaching or even where they live. But you will receive a welcome pack, regular updates and a fridge magnet to help you pray for persecuted children around the world.

Yes, I’d like to become a Secret Child Sponsor for £18 a month

Give today and your donation will help another child like Ruth who faces violence or discrimination because of their faith.

Yes, I’d like to give a gift of hope to a persecuted child today

You can also support organisations like Syrian Arab Red Crescent, the world’s largest humanitarian and development network, with millions of volunteers in 187 member National Societies. They continue  ‘saving lives and changing minds’ by focusing their work in three key areas: 1) disaster response and recovery, 2) development and 3) promoting social inclusion and peace. - See more at: http://www.ifrc.org/en/what-we-do/#sthash.n24LyncU.dpuf

Blessings!

Ronell x

Bake Sale {Mandela Day} 27 / 67 ways to change the world

One month to go until my initial 365 day challenge is complete! :)

As promised on Mandela Day 2013 (19.07.13), this is part of my series on their 67 suggested ways of changing the world. This one comes under the category of 'Help Out for Good Health:

27. Bake something for a support group of your choice.


I love the idea of baking and I love eating baked goods, but I just don't seem to get round to actually baking! Some of my friends are phenomenal bakers though, so they spoil me :) Recently, my church (regeneration church) had to fundraise for our latest mission trip. One of my friends suggested a bake sale as one of the fundraising methods and it really worked! He didn't just do a one off, but instead, he coordinated a group of people who are actually good at baking and asked them to take turns to bake for a bi-weekly bake sale after church. It was a great success and he raised lots of money! So, choose a charity or organisation and start baking (or if you're a non-baker, rope your friends in to bake for/with you!).

Blessings!

Ronell x



{photo credit: http://fimrc.sa.utoronto.ca/events-2012/bake-sales/}