Thursday, April 15, 2010

what have you been inspired to do to make the world a better place?

When you received your magic envelope on Celebration Sunday,
what did you decide to do with the money?
What way did you choose to bless the world?
To share, post a comment...

58 comments:

  1. We added $30 to our Bless the World $15 and sent it to Peninsula Interfaith Action. PIA blesses our community every day with its multifaith, multicultural connections and actions. The many PICO affiliates across the nation bless our county as their connections and actions ripple their way to Washington, D.C. Thanks to UUSM for providing the opportunity to provide this small but very heartfelt blessing.
    Caryl and Gordon Hughan

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  2. Gemma is going to bake cookies and cupcakes from ingredients we already have, use her $5 to buy lemonade mix, sell the goodies at her school this week, and give the money to her school which is facing severe cutbacks to all its programs. YAY!

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  3. I would like to use my $40 as seed money to start a Kiva Investment Club at UUSM. Club members would pool our magic envelope money to make micro-loans to entrepreneurs in the developing world, using Kiva.org. Then we would each add to our Investment Club funds with $5 or $10 a month over the coming year -- and watch the good grow and grow!

    Anyone care to join me?? Christy Conklin

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  4. The Leschyn family pooled our gifts and added to them to create a new Kiva account that Aleksy, Erek and Wade will manage. Debby already had her own Kiva account, so this will turn Kiva into a full family affair! We and Debby joined the larger UU investment group, for the purpose of linking accounts in order to show the impact of UU's on the world, it seems to make sense to go with the national group.

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  5. Sarah and I pooled our money ($15 total) and donated it to the Pacifica Education Foundation, which is raising funds to even out inequities in fundraising in the district by raising money for district-wide projects.

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  6. I received $40. I added another $40 and donated it to the Monterey Bay Aquarium Sea Otter Preservation Fund.

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  7. McKenzie took her $20 and I matched her with $30. We funded 2 Kiva loans to women in Africa. We have had an existing Kiva account for 2 years and have made numerous loans, with 100% repayment rate.

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  8. I matched my $15 and sent $30 to the UU Legislative Ministry California. I have been a supporter in the past and I appreciate the work they are doing to promote justice in an otherwise crazy world.

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  9. I added extra money to the $5.00 we were given and became an educational partner to an elementary school student in our partner church in Ulay/Cabighuan, Philippines. The amount will help a young person go to school for a full year.

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  10. I added to my $5 and sent in to charitywater.org, which provides clean drinking water in developing countries. I feel good about it!

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  11. Wayne & I combined our magic money, multiplied it by 5, and sent it to Murder Victims' Families for Reconciliation. Rev. Cathy Harrington, a UU minister who lost her daughter to murder in 2004, is on their board. We support the power of nonviolence ("ahimsa") for social transformation.
    http://www.mvfr.org/

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  12. David and I added 40$ to the $10 were given by the anonymous UUSM donor and sent this to the Yu Family Foundation. Jin Cheng Yu was killed last Tuesday in Oakland by two men who were "angry at life". The Yu family issues a statement that their "hearts go out to the families of the two young men." And that "True justice is no more violence." We are heartened by their amazing response which makes us feel that good can come out of bad.

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  13. Update: Gemma turned her $5 into $44 by doing a bakesale this morning -- funds will benefit the art, music, and Spanish Immersion programs at her school!
    Christy Conklin

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  14. Jon Carroll in the SF Chronicle has written about the "Untied" way (not to be confused with the United Way).

    Carroll says, "The Untied Way is not a charity so much as an idea. It gives money directly to people to spend in self-identified need areas. It has no central offices, no fundraisers, no celebrity spokespeople and no guidelines. It has only a plan."

    He usually offers this idea around Christmas, suggesting that people take some money out of an ATM. "Then go to an area of your community where you're pretty certain to be asked for money. Every time you are asked for money, give that person a $20 bill. Repeat until the money runs out. It's as simple as that."

    I combined the $10 from the magic envelope with some of my own and participated in the Untied Way as I walked the streets of San Francisco, last Friday.

    Charles Du Mond

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  15. Susan and I pooled our gifts ($10 total) to add to the contribution we'll be making as part of the special collection for BUILD UU Philippines on Partner Church Sunday, May 30. This reliable and stable source of funding is critical to the future of the UU faith in the Philippines. -Carol & Susan

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  16. I immediately gave my $20 that evening to my book club for our Kiva account. About 1 year ago, after we read and discussed "Three Cups of Tea" my wonderful book club of moms in Pacifica decided to stop meeting in restaurants for our monthly meetings and instead to meet in each other's homes and pool the money we would have spent and open a Kiva account together. So far we have made 31 loans over the last year with 100% repayment rate from the low-income entrepreneurs we have helped around the world. The Sunday of the magic money we made several loans to the Ukraine and eastern Europe in honor of the book we just read - "The Zookeepers Wife" - a true story of a family that saved many Jews in Poland during WWII.

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  17. Teagan and Noreen put our $10 into the Humane Society collection box at Dolly's Shop in Carlmont Village.

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  18. Grace Wilson used her $20 to buy 3 reams of paper for her school, which is facing severe budget cuts and just recently told the kids they couldn't print more than 2 pages in the computer lab as they work on research papers because the school is literally out of paper.

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  19. Ann Mason and Reeba Lynn combined their $15 dollars and added $105 to sponsor an elementary school student in Ulay Cabighuan at our UU Partner Church. We have just been notified that the student we are sponsoring is Jeramae Lopez, a 4th grader. As an education partner we have committed to sponsoring her education through high school. It is very exciting!

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  20. It took the Meadow family a little while to decide what to do and it turned out to be for good reason. The boys each used their own money to double their gifts; Jack is donating $20.00 to Saving Haiti's School - a charity club started by the his 3rd grade class - and Will is donating $30.00 to UCDavis Oiled Wildlife Rescue to help with the oil spill. Together, Paul and I increased our $10 tenfold and are sending a Home Depot Card, to folks who lost everything in the Nashville flood. Sometimes waiting is good thing. Thank you for the opportunity to spread some magic.

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  21. I took the $20 from my magic envelope, multiplied it by 5 and sent it to the Clinton Foundation for Haiti Relief. I think we forget their remains a huge amount of suffering all over the country of Haiti.
    Thank you so much for the opportunity to pay it forward. Kate Bond

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  22. Leah and I added $30 to our gift and chose to give the gift of sight to two Tibetians through Seva Canada, whose mission is to "To restore sight and prevent blindness in the developing world." In Tibet, a cataract operation can be performed for $50 and so we made our gift $100. In some places, the gift of sight can be restored for as little as $25, and Seva also provides screenings to prevent impaired vision in children. Seva (pronounced say-va) is a Sanskrit word for service. http://www.seva.ca/

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  23. I added some of my cash to my $250 envelope and sent it to Masterworks Chorale who are loosing $35,000 in support from CSM next year due to budget cuts. Many community choirs are closing because of lack of funds. It's important for there to be excellent music available to us locally.

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  24. $50 to Second Harvest so people can eat.
    Victor Berdoulay

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  25. $50 ($20 UUSM) to help patients with Parkinson's.
    John Berdoulay

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  26. $50 to my friend Megan's Mission Trip.
    Isabelle Berdoulay

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  27. $50 to help women learn to knit (Rwanda Knits) to provide for their family.
    Christina Berdoulay

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  28. Kathy donated her money to the scholarship fund for the children of Cabiguhan.
    Kathy van Leuwen

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  29. Ellie donated her money to the SPCA of San Mateo.
    Ellie Young

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  30. Gemma is going to bake cookies and cupcakes from ingredients we already have, use her $5 to buy lemonade mix, sell the goodies at her school this week, and give the money to her school which is facing severe cutbacks to all its programs. YAY!

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  31. UU fund to support Marriage Equality.
    Isabelle Watson

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  32. $20 went to the church collection.

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  33. I matched the $10 and gave $20 to UUSM in the collection plate.

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  34. Matched and gave to for kids foundation.

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  35. Donation to American Cancer Society to find a "cure for cancer".
    Sam Watson

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  36. UUSM new building fund.

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  37. Steve got $5 and Eleanor got $40, so we combined our magic money and doubled it and gave a contribution to Samaritan House.
    Eleanor Lewis and Steve Davis

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  38. A friend started an organization to help one of the Lost Boys of Sudan re-build his village. We donated $40 to the organization to help pay for teachers and supplies for the school.

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  39. Casey Roepke donated her $5 to UNICEF.

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  40. A donation was made to Oxfam America to plant a vegetable garden.

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  41. $40 to Partners in Health (PIH).

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  42. A donation was made to FINCA International (loans to provide start up capital to families).

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  43. Andrew, Robin and Mary pooled their money and donated to the Children's Hospital of Kaiser, Santa Clara.

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  44. My son, Ethan and I pooled the money we received ($50 total) and donated it to the Family Emergency Fund, a fund at Ethan's public school (Ocean Shore School) to help families (who are members of the school community) with urgent needs
    Laura Bull

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  45. I purchased six pairs of socks to be given to homeless street people in San Francisco by the Night Ministry.

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  46. Spent $10 on food for Food Bank. Special pick up by the Half Moon Bay, Post Office Staff.

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  47. Donation to provide a scholarship for a child this summer.

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  48. Teagan Boram and Noreen Ford gave their $10 to the Humane Society.

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  49. Leah and I pooled our $70 and then added $30 and we donated the gift of sight to two Tibetans through Seva Canada, a non-profit that provides cataract surgery and education throughout the world.
    Andrea and Leah Rosenfeld

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  50. Nichole Colaianni and Colaine Roepke pooled their money and donated it to Pancreatic Cancer Research.

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  51. $100 to Southwest Indian Releif Council, Mesa, Arizona. "Food Emergency" for Navaho elders.
    Jerome Motto

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  52. Kyra Roepke donated her $5 to Peninsula Humane Society.

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  53. My $100 magic money goes back into UUSM collection basket. I hope UUSM has long time presence in this area, and I feel that, for a couple of years, we must show ourselves we can bring in enough at least to cover our budgets - to show ourselves we are able to afford new digs.
    Rae

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  54. Sara and I pooled our money ($15 total) and donated it to the Pacifica Education Foundation, which is raising funds to even out inequities in fundraising in the district by raising monehy for district-wide projects.

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  55. I started a Kiva loan, and will put the money back in to the collection plate. We received $15, we added $10 to make a $25 Kiva loan, and will put the $15 back in the collection plate.

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  56. We added some money and gave $50 to Kiva for a coop to expand their grocery store. And $50 to a coop for education that provides books and computers to schools in Guatemala but in a self-sustaining "trust" manner.
    The Stephens Family

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  57. Our combined contribution was $15, given to Home and Hope.

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  58. I am giving my 10 dollars to my uncle Paul to help him study and protect reptiles and amphibians.

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