Girls In Tech

We like it when companies we know support causes we care about. Not only do our favorite non-profits benefit, but it makes us feel good about supporting these stores for their charitable efforts. Recently Gap, Banana Republic, and Old Navy held a shopping event to support CARE, where 5% of their proceeds went to the organization on 4 days in November (with a 30% off to the customer). While giving back 5% of total purchases to CARE, past Give & Get promotions have generated more than $600,000 for CARE’s work around the world.
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CARE (www.care.org) is a leading humanitarian organization fighting global poverty. Recognizing that women and girls suffer disproportionately from poverty, CARE places special emphasis on empowering them to create permanent social change. Women are at the heart of CARE’s community-based efforts to improve basic education, expand economic opportunity, increase access to health services and protect natural resources in over sixty countries around the world.  Go to their site now to see how they are raising $2.5 million by Dec. 31 to help women and girls bring themselves, their families, and their communities out of poverty, for good!

Tags: CARE, Gap, giving
Posted in All Chapters, San Francisco | No Comments »

A lot of people don’t look forward to Mondays.  It’s usually the start of a long, jam-packed, stressful week — and these days, it’s an even longer week as people work more hours to show their commitment and try to lessen their chances of getting laid off.

At times like these it’s important to bring balance back into our lives.  And I found myself very much looking forward to Monday this week because I had a volunteer appointment with the Homeless Prenatal Program (HPP) in San Francisco.   The charter of HPP is to end family homelessness.  They do this by offering a variety of programs, including helping families find homes, providing drug and family counseling, prenatal and parenting education , family violence prevention, ESL classes, computer classes, and on-the-job-paid internships that prepare formerly homeless mothers for the workforce.   On the day that I volunteered, I distributed food to homeless families. To donate or give the gift of time to HPP, click here.

Now is a great time for us to pitch in, forget our own problems for a little while, and gain perspective and balance by helping those who are struggling with life’s necessities — food, shelter and safety.  There’s no gift like the gift of hope.  And lucky us, there are  so many opportunities for giving.  You can find the cause that resonates most with you through Volunteer Match, or view a calendar of volunteer opportunities at One Brick.  If you’re interested in giving abroad, check out Kiva, the first person-to-person microlending website that allows you to give microloans to the working poor in developing countries.  Today, I loaned money towards a Cambodian woman’s purchase of two cows for breeding and plowing her small plot of land.

A funny thing about volunteering, giving can be extremely rewarding.  My good friend Lisa met her future husband while at a One Brick volunteer outing — they got to know each other while planting flowers in the Golden Gate Park.  A year later I attended their wedding.  Giving and receiving very much go hand in hand.

I hope this blogpost inspires you to give, and I would love to hear about your experiences with volunteering.  Please share your story by adding a comment!

Tags: giving, Homeless Prenatal Program, Kiva, One Brick, Tina Tran, Volunteer, Volunteer Match
Posted in San Francisco | 1 Comment »

As the holidays are fully under way with parties, sending out holiday cards, and exchanging gifts, the same spirit can be found in the world of social networks.

Hi5, one of the world’s largest and fastest growing social networks, launches it’s International Virtual Gifts Store. Initially the store will offer an assortment of 36 virtual gifts representing a variety of the world’s customs and cultures. This will give users a chance to celebrate their culture with their family and friends.

Some of the gifts that will be available are a virtual ‘Rosca’, which is a Mexican cake that is traditionally eaten on January 6th for the celebration of the ‘Three Kings Day’.  Also a dreidel, which is a very popular toy for children celebrating the Jewish holiday Hanukkah. As well as many other ornaments and symbols from a variety of cultures around the world.

This is a great way to highlight and celebrate the diversity of the Hi5 user base. Happy Holidays! Felices Fiestas! Chag Sameach!

Tags: "Lucia Giacomantonio", Adriana Gascoigne, celebrate, culture, dreidel, gifts, giving, hi5, holidays, Los Angeles, Robyn Cohen, rosca, San Francisco, season, social networks, Virtual Currency, Virtual Gifts, Virtual Goods, Virtual Worlds, world
Posted in Los Angeles | 1 Comment »