PositiveFeelingsRule » country

Outside the Box, Inside the Cubicle

dailygood.org — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 07:00:00 +0000

There are certain kinds of creative, off beat ideas that are simply obvious when you hear them. Tarak Shah and Sabina Nieto came up with one. With the economic downturn, every office building in the country probably has unrecognized resources: vacant cubicles. No doubt many are utilized as storage spaces for disabled copy machines, extra office supplies and the like, but here’s an inspired possibility: how about the vacant cubicle as art gallery? Now after you read that last sentence, didn’t you immediately smile?

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Outside the Box, Inside the Cubicle

The Little Red Wagon

dailygood.org — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 07:00:00 +0000

“Some boys like to play baseball, some boys like to play football. He likes to do charity work,” explains Zach Bonner’s mom, chuckling. In 2004, six-year-old Zach went door to door with his little red wagon to collect water for the victims of Hurricane Charlie. Inspired by helping others, he started his own charity, aptly named, The Little Red Wagon Foundation. Since then, Bonner has raised thousands of dollars to purchase school supplies, food, and support services for homeless children in Florida and Louisiana. Today, the twelve-year-old is walking across the country to raise even more funds for the homeless. “It takes a lot of hard work, but it’s a lot of fun,” he remarks. Wise beyond his years.

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The Little Red Wagon

Bono

quotationspage.com — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 00:00:00 +0000

“There’s the country of America, which you have to defend, but there’s also the idea of America. America is more than just a country, it’s an idea. An idea that’s supposed to be contagious.”

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Bono

Stopping Bullets with Jobs

dailygood.org — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 07:00:00 +0000

“Nothing stops a bullet like a job,” says the motto of Homeboy Industries, the largest gang-intervention program in the country. For the past 20 years, Rev. Gregory Boyle, a Jesuit priest who started Homeboy, has counseled more than 12,000 gang members who pass through Homeboy each year to learn job skills and attend therapy sessions on everything from alcohol abuse to anger management. Since leaving his position at the Dolores Mission Church in Los Angeles to focus on Homeboy, Boyle has hired ex-gang members to work and run landscaping and plumbing businesses, a child-care center, and even a bakery visited by Prince Charles’ business advisors! Though it hasn’t been easy, running Homeboy has been an continual practice of humility and compassion. “I don’t save people,” Boyle says. “I point them in the right direction. I say, ‘There’s that door. I think if you walked through it, you’d be happier.”

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Stopping Bullets with Jobs

Monday is the New Sunday

dailygood.org — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 07:00:00 +0000

During the school year, Mondays in Peach County are for trips to grandma’s house and hanging out at the neighborhood community center. Don’t bother showing up for school. The doors are locked and the lights are off. The rural Georgian community is one of more than 120 school districts across the country where students attend school for just four days a week, a cost-saving tactic gaining popularity among cash-strapped districts struggling to make ends meet. “It was that or lay off 39 teachers the week before school started,” said Superintendent Susan Clark. The results? Test scores went up. So did attendance. And the graduation rate will be more than 80 percent for the first time in years. “Teachers tell me they’re more focused because they’ve had time to prepare. They don’t have kids sleeping in class on Tuesday.” Clark explains. “Everything has taken on a laser-light focus.”

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Monday is the New Sunday

A Trash-Free Year

dailygood.org — Wed, 26 May 2010 07:00:00 +0000

“Any time I throw something away, I think of you.” It sounds like an insult, but to Amy and Adam Korst, it’s a typical compliment. Since July 2009, the young couple have been on a quest to answer the question: “Is it possible for a couple to live an entire year without placing trash in a landfill, in a country that produces more waste each year than any other country in the world?” According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the average American produces 4.6 pounds of garbage every day. By this July, the Korsts will have kept one ton of garbage out of the landfill. And they still enjoy comfortable 21st century lifestyles: buying groceries, enjoying restaurants, and working as a teacher and photojournalist. “It’s a typical misconception that in order to be an environmentalist, you have to give up everything you love,” Amy explains. “I want people to feel like they can do something for the environment and not lose their creature comforts, and live a completely normal life.”

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A Trash-Free Year

George Santayana

quotationspage.com — Sun, 16 May 2010 00:00:00 +0000

“A man’s feet should be planted in his country, but his eyes should survey the world.”

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George Santayana

Former Cambodian Boy Soldier Defuses His Past

dailygood.org — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 07:00:00 +0000

He’s the little guy trying to make his country safe, according to photo displays at tourist museums. His method is simple. Aki Ra walks from landmine to landmine, defusing bombs not unlike those he had activated as a child soldier during the rise of the Khmer Rouge. In Cambodia, where 300 people a year are still injured by mines set over 3 decades ago, Ra has devoted his life to disarming them. Read how Ra has made a name for himself risking life and limb to make the countryside safer.

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Former Cambodian Boy Soldier Defuses His Past

Brazil Takes the Lead

dailygood.org — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 07:00:00 +0000

No, we’re not talking about soccer. Brazil, a nation known for its cutting-edge soccer skills, is also at the forefront of massive social reform. While many nations are struggling to keep up with the ambitious Millennium Development Goals put forth by the United Nations in 2000, Brazil is unperturbed. The Latin American country has already reduced poverty by a whopping 81 percent, drastically lowered child mortality rates, and stabilized the spread of HIV/AIDS throughout the country! And with so much accomplished, Brazil hopes to help other countries achieve their goals.

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Brazil Takes the Lead

48 States in 48 Weeks

dailygood.org — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 08:00:00 +0000

Some of us get our best ideas in the shower, but they don’t usually change the course of a year of our lives. Not so for Idaho resident Drew Johnson who “had an epiphany one morning in the shower.” The epiphany? To travel around the country volunteering — one state per week for 48 weeks. Since his journey began in South Dakota, he’s done everything from building houses for Habitat for Humanity to working with hospice caretakers to supporting environmental initiatives. But on his trip, which is supported by gifts from strangers, Drew is also promoting a lifestyle that focuses on “STO” — service to others.

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48 States in 48 Weeks