Doctors without Borders

Made a Donation to Doctors without Borders - Medecins sans frontieres.

They provide direct public health in emergency assistance.

On any given day, more than 22,000 doctors, nurses, logisticians, water-and-sanitation experts, administrators, and other qualified professionals working with MSF can be found providing medical care around the world. 

Random Act of Kindness

Just left a glass of icewater in my mailbox for the mailman. It's HOT today.

Arboretum - More than Trees.

Renewed my membership in the Los Angeles Arboretum.  The arboretum is one of the best collective resources around, and its presence makes the world a better place.

From the web site:

Our mission is to cultivate our natural, horticultural and historic resources for learning, enjoyment and inspiration. We strive to reflect Southern California's distinct climate, community and opennes to new ideas.  The Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanic Garden is a rich historical site that includes Native American, Rancho Period, and late 19th century treasures. In addition to concerts and tours, we offer activities and events that cater to every audience.

It is the Arboretum’s vision to serve as a contemporary and compelling public resource that builds upon its traditional strengths in botanical collections, horticultural information, and history.  As a 21st Century public garden, the Arboretum will serve as an educational resource for environmental stewardship, the history of our region, the study of plants, and a place of learning and respite for the people of Southern California.

I get more than my memberships worth from the arboretum, because it is close to my house and I go often, and bring people. Its a beautiful place to be. So much to see. Lots of movies get filmed there, often see that too. A good friend of mine goes every week with her 5 year old son, and they have been going since he was born. My father and I went there often, and places will always remind me of him.

Usually making the world a better place makes ones life a better place, and sometimes its more obvious than others. 

Humane Society and SPCA

Currently looking for a place to crash  and persons to love.

I am making a donation today to my local Humane Society  & SPCA for their summer fund drive.  Summer has a big burden on the shelter, more animals are born and the weather is more severe. And less money comes in because people are on holiday.

This is one of the non-profits/charities that I donate to that I actually use their services, when I have found lost or sick animals.

Epilepsy and Kiva

I was out of the country for a week, I met with collaborators at the International League Against Epilepsy meeting.  We are working on the genetics of epilepsy, hoping that will lead to better treatment and cures.

Today I used up lots of Kiva credit and made 20 loans, to Julia's and people in Honduras.
www.kiva.org.

Jayden's Lemonade Stand for Peace

I just donated to Jayden's Pink Lemonade Stand for Peace. She set it up to oppose the hate message of the Westboro Baptist Church and has almost raised $20,000.  Not bad for a lemonade stand.

Kiva Loans to Julia's

Made two Kiva loans today to Julia's.

Julia is from the city of Luque. She has requested a loan to invest in the purchase of ingredients for her restaurant like drinks, snacks, etc, so that she can offer a greater variety of products to her customers. She is thankful.

The other Julia was in Kongowea, Kenya.

Kiva loans to Armenia

I had a meeting today about a science project I'm working on on the genetics of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in Armenia.  So I decided to make two Kiva loans to Armenia.

Stepan is 50 years old. He lives in the village of Verin Ptghni, which is in the Kotayk region of Armenia. Stepan is married and he has two sons and a daughter. For many years, Stepan has had his own production business. He is a shoemaker. He works in their house in a small and comfortable workshop where he has all the needed tools and materials for shoe repairing. Stepan has many loyal customers who, from all the large variety of shoemakers in their district, prefer and trust exactly Stepan. He is also engaged in agriculture; he cultivates some vegetables but not for sale – it is for his family’s needs.

Nor Horizon knows Stepan as a very responsible and serious person since he has taken out loans several times and he has paid them back successfully. This time, Stepan wants to cooperate with Kiva lenders and he asks for a loan of 300,000 Armenian drams to buy raw materials for his shoe production.

Vaghtang is 44 years old and lives with his wife and son in Kapan. Although Vaghtang has a higher education, graduating from Yerevan State Polytechnic Institute, he has never worked. His wife works as a teacher at the school. In the village where Vaghtang and his family live he has a private piece of land. They also keep a hundred chickens. Vaghtang cultivates vegetables and fruits and sells the gathered harvest at the Kapan wholesale market. Besides agriculture and farming, Vaghatang is engaged in carpentry works, making wooden parquetry, boxes, etc. 

Vaghtang plans to repair the barn for his chickens and needs a loan of 300,000 Armenian drams. It is the first, but hopefully not the last, time that he wishes to have a deal with Kiva lenders.

Haitian Education Society

 My sister sits as a local Board Secretary for the Haitian Education Society (HES). I helped sponsor the school in Jacmel, and through the efforts of HES the school was expanded up to grade 6. This year had the first grade 6 grads!

Made a few KIVA.org loans today,

mostly to Julia's.  Using up kiva credit.

Empowering people to follow their passions.

Snacks for vets

Brought soup to the Vets today.

I bring cup-o-soup flats to the volunteer office at the Veterans Hospital so they can give them out to the veterans who need something while they wait for doctors appointments. I started doing this 5-6 years ago when I was told that vets often ended up in jail for stealing food from the PX. So I became the soup lady and bring in a hundred or so a month (costs me about $25), and I even a tax write-off. 

Its absolutely nothing like writing a blank check for your life for your country. But today I got cheered on, and some of the guys who cheered me on were missing limbs. 

I'm glad I"m appreciated. Just saying it seemed the wrong person was being thanked.