Pay it forward

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It’s a kind of daily life charity; spend some bucks on a good cause: your fellow man. You smile, they smile. Life is so easy….

Walk your talk

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Toms shoes is one of my favorite brands. And that goes further than their easy to go shoes. It’s more about their appealing way of making money combined with making a difference in the world. For every pair purchased namely, Toms will give a pair of shoes to a child in need. The company was founded in 2006 by Blake Mycoskie and has since then given away over 400,000 shoes around the world, as of January 2010.

Today is their One Day Without Shoes:

We are asking people to go the day, part of the day or even just a few minutes, barefoot, to experience a life without shoes firsthand, and to help spread awareness of the impact a simple pair of shoes can bring to a child’s life.

So take off your shoes. Celebrate your feet. Dance or whatever. And stand as well still by how blessed you are. Even just by wearing shoes, what seems so normal…

The power of half

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It all started with one question. Daughter Hannah started questioning why her family lived in such a big house. She kept going on about inequity, insisting that she wanted to do something. “What do you want to do?” her mom Joan responded. “Sell our house?”

That led to the Salwens rethinking how they lived. “If we lived with less, we could offer an opportunity for hundreds or thousands of people to have the opportunity to have a better life,” father Kevin realised.

They stopped taking and started giving back. The Salwens decided to sell their home and bought something for half the price. They committed more than half the proceeds of their home sale ($800,000) to the Hunger Project, to help a village in Ghana.

Father Kevin is excited about the decision they’ve made. “We essentially traded stuff for togetherness and connectedness. I can’t figure out why everybody wouldn’t want that deal. This is the most self-interested thing we have ever done,” he says. “I’m thrilled that we can help others. I’m blown away by how much it has helped us.”

Wow, what a story. It takes a lot of courage to do. What about you? I am not asking you to sell your house, but I am asking you: what could you live without?

Playing for Change

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Music is very dear to me. Whether it’s playing, writing or listening to music, I love how it can give you this sensation of transcending time and space. Like listening to your car radio, where dozens of songs pass you by like audio-wallpaper, and then – that one song – that one song that triggers a vibe, a memory, a happy smile or a wonderful idea. Like you are cruising in your own music video.

And I know that this is deeply rooted in any human being, this love for music, this intuitive sense of a profound connection to nature and mankind. I know Matt does. It’s all in the beat, it’s all in the rhythm. Music always leaves a mark.

And the people behind Playing for Change know that too:

Playing for Change is a multimedia movement created to inspire, connect, and bring peace to the world through music. The idea for this project arose from a common belief that music has the power to break down boundaries and overcome distances between people. No matter whether people come from different geographic, political, economic, spiritual or ideological backgrounds, music has the universal power to transcend and unite us as one human race. And with this truth firmly fixed in our minds, we set out to share it with the world.

This is what they do, see for yourself. I love this video, a global musical quilt rendition of Ben E. King’s  Stand By Me. I know music always will. Thanks, Grandpa Elliott.

Message in a bottle

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A friend of mine brought this video to my attention. It’s from a charity called charity: water aimed at bringing fresh drinking water to every person in the world. I really like these sort of grassroots non-profit commercial crossover movements (or GNPCCM for short). Not commercial in a sense that they’re making a profit like a corporation – again, they’re a non-profit charity and 100% of public donations directly fund water projects. But that they use a commercial, marketing-driven mindset and platform to get their message across and make a change for the better. And I appreciate the “rallying-the-troops” feel of this video, very well done.

Giant leaps and small steps go hand in hand – and every step matters.

New design for the ‘$100 laptop’

One Laptop Per Child Association (OLPC), the non-profit organization behind the $100 laptop has revealed the design for its latest laptop aimed at connecting children in the developing world: the XO-3.

It is a slim-line touchscreen tablet and it’s designed to be thin, sleek, and touch, while continuing to lower power, cost, and material waste. One Laptop per Child (OLPC) said it would be available in 2012 and it would cost well below $100.

XO-3

OLPC’s mission is to create educational opportunities for the world’s poorest children by providing each child with a laptop with content and software designed for collaborative, joyful, self-empowered learning.

I would like to end with a nice quote of Mr Walter de Brouwer, CEO of OLPC Europe:

We are not a laptop company. Manufacturing a laptop is not such a big deal. The bigger appeal for us is deploying them and integrating them with education systems to transform a society.