Cleaning Off My Desk for the New Year

With just a couple weeks before the New Year starts, I wanted to pass along some bits and pieces of Have Fun * Do Good stuff that has come across my desk, but that I haven't found a way to incorporate into a longer post:

Geekers and Gamers Give Toys to Tots
My friend Jonathan Stein sent me this:
A few years ago, the two guys who created the online comic strip, Penny Arcade decided to fight the stereotype of video gamers as violent, nihilistic ne'er-do-wells. They launched an annual fundraiser and gift-collecting drive for the children's hospital in their community (in WA). It was a huge success and it's now become an international drive, with toys and books going to children's hospitals all over. They've got it expertly set up so that you can purchase exactly the toys/books that the hospitals want through Amazon.com and have them shipped directly to the hospital.

Teens as Good Samaritans
The November/December issue of Psychology Today has a brief article called, "The Making of a Good Samaritan", about the benefits of community service requirements in schools. According to a study by the journal, Political Psychology, students who were already "community-minded" were not affected by community service requirements at their school, but students who were more "self-interested" developed a, "willingnes to donate their time to charity as well as a greater political awareness."

Wyclef Jean Brings Aid to Haiti with His Music
Alfred de Montesquiou of the Associated Press wrote an article recently
about how the hip-hop musician, Wyclef Jean, uses his music and his new aid organization, Yéle Haiti, to help deliver aid and food into some of the most dangerous areas of Haiti. Because many of the armed gangs are into his music, they will allow him to enter territory where other aid organizations are not allowed.

Rockin' CD to Benefit Hurricane Katrina Survivors
The Ella Baker Center for Human Rights has produced a CD called,
"Eye of the Storm: Love and Rage from the Bay to the Gulf", to benefit survivors of Hurricane Katrina. CD's are $15 and all of the proceeds will directly aid families and grassroots organization's efforts to help Katrina survivors rebuild their communities. The CD features music and spoken word by Bay Area artists such as Aya de Leon and Michael Franti.

Barack Obama Nominated for a Grammy
If you've been reading my blog for a little bit, you know that Barack Obama's podcasts are one of my favs and that he gives me hope for American politics and government. I was happy to hear that he was nominated for a Grammy for his narration of his book, Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance.

Free Books for Kids!
First Book is a national nonprofit organization whose mission is to give children from low-income families the opportunity to read and own their first new books. Their Book Relief program provides books specifically for children displaced by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita

Save the Chimps
You can "adopt" a chimp that has been rescued from a testing lab through Save the Chimps.
Look how cute these chimps are.

Speaking of Cute
Check out this site, Cute Overload, when you're feeling down (that's where the photo at the top came from). Thanks to Musings of a Social Architect for this link.

A Quote for the New Year
Finally, I would like to close with a quote that I saw in the most recent edition of "Simply Celebrate", an e-newsletter published by Mad Moon Creations.

Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?
-Mary Oliver, poet