Helping the local homeless

Made a donation to

Care Packages for the Homeless Community of Boyle Heights

Ovarian Psycos would like you to help us raise funds to assemble a total of 200 Care Packages which we plan to distribute on our bikes on the morning of December 31st, 2016! The ovas welcome you to join us on your bike while we ride around BH to various homeless camps to distribute the care packages and to connect with this community that is too often outkasted and stigmatized! 

Each Care Package will include the following items:
-2 pairs of socks (preferably wool)
-1 pair of gloves
-A scarf
-Baby wipes
-Chapstick
-Waterless shampoo
-Small first aid kit
-Lotion and body spray
-A beanie
-2 pairs of clean (never used)underwear
-Bottled water
-Snacks and nonperishable food items
-A list of resources in BH for quick and easy shelter

You can help here

Southern Poverty Law Center

I made  donation to the Southern Poverty Law Center. I have been supporting them for decades, they do very good work and are one of the oldest and largest anti-hate group. If you join them you'll start receiving a lot of their literature which is quite informative. They also provide a lot of things for teachers in their Teaching Tolerance program.

https://www.splcenter.org/

kiva

 Made a Kiva loan today - https://www.kiva.org/lend/1160534

A loan to to expand weather, farming information and financing for 500 cocoa farmers through mobile services in Ghana.

A loan to to expand weather, farming information and financing for 500 cocoa farmers through mobile services in Ghana.

Lending for higher education

I made a loan to Jean in Rwanda to help pay for a lap top to go to school in the US.  

Loan to coffee grower in Peru

Made a loan to Peru, to a new microlender.  Adriano, aged 45, is a member of the Cenfrocafe Cooperative and lives in Caserío Cruz de Chalpon, San Ignacio, Peru. Adriano lives with his wife and their two children who are of school age. He wants to use the income from the farm to support his family and to educate his children. Adriano dreams of salvaging his coffee production, which was affected by yellow coffee rust, and buying more hectares of coffee.

With the loan Adriano is going to buy fertilisers so he can ensure good quality in his organic coffee. He has shown himself to be responsible during his eight years as an active member of Norandino and is grateful for the services. With the extra income he wants to reinvest the money into his farm. Adriano plans shortly to buy more hectares of coffee and guarantee a good life for his family.

Scales and support through Amazon Smiles

Just bought a  shipping scale and sent it to my adopted niece. She's building a business and I am helping. I bought it through Amazon, through the 'smiles' program and a portion of the money went to TEAM RUBICON, one of my favourite non-profits. Here I wearing one of their supporting 'I'm in the Tribe' t-shirts.

'Adopted family'

Family isn't always blood.  Over the years I have picked up kids (and adults) who failed the parent lottery and taken on active and consistent roles as a close mentor. A few years ago I picked up twins who are now in University. One spent the summer with me(first time) and is returning to school tomorrow. I just took him on a grand vacation to meet my family in Canada, and show him what family could be. We had many family parties and dinners and we got to spend some time seeing a bit of Alberta including the Rocky mountains.

An adopted niece cat sat.  Family is wonderful and it's not just blood.

kiva

Made 2 kiva loans to new microlenders I hadn't leant to. I think I have 33 left to find. And 4 countries.

Kiva loans to to new field partners

Found 2 loans from field partnerss I haven't lent to yet. Still trying to tick off that box.

I have 33 field partners still to lend to. Since some of them are no longer partners I have actually loaned to :

Field Partners 306 / 253

Likewise  I have 4 countries left to lend to, but

Countries 81 / 78 is my tally.

Two new countries to lend to

Just made two loans, one to Nepal and the other to Lesotho. First time lending to both countries.

New Kitten

I went to the local SPCA yesterday and adopted a new kitten. She's 11 weeks old and adorable. I am hoping she'll play a lot with my other cats.

The Pasadena SPCA has a new cat house that has several communal cat areas. It's very beautiful. And it was nice to see empty cages.  I choose which kitty I wanted a head of time because there was no way I could look into their eyes and decide.  So I went there hoping to bring Harley home. And I did. And she's now curled up beside me.

Kiva

Joined one of my Kiva groups in trying to get a loan funded, also chose a loan from a microlender I haven't loaned to in a while.

Helping Ferel cats

I made a donation today to a wonderful group in British Columbia, Canada that is saving feral cats. They have a very ambitious goal to care for the current cats and reduce future generations by neutering. They are taking in pregnant cats and finding homes for the  kittens. And they put everything online so you can follow them. Lots of live web cams.

http://www.tinykittens.com/cats

Helping delegates get to Philadelphia

I've been donating a lot lately to Sanders delegates to help fund their trip to the convention. Not sure how many I've funded, I've not kept track.  One is supposed to send me postcards.

It's hard not to help encourage and support people who have such passion and are willing to donate time and effort into making things better for everyone.

Kiva loans

Made 3 more kiva loans to microlenders I haven't loaned to yet. Slowly getting through them all.

Two more kiva loans

I made 2 more kiva loans today. Lending to new microlenders. I need to make more money so I can have more money to lend through kiva.

Team Rubicon - One of the best Non-profits.

Just 'fixed' my monthly donation to TEAM RUBICON.
They are such a great organization, win/win.  Vets helping.

I ran into a member last week at the airport in Calgary, Alberta Canada. He was just coming off the Fort Mac Deployment.  I wish I was wearing my 'I'm in the Tribe' shirt.

Kiva loans

Made 4 Kiva loans to microlenders I haven't loaned to yet.  I have leant to 291/256 field partners.

Kiva loan to Juliet

Made a loan to Juliet in Africa today.
Juliet

uliet is a production worker and an Organic and Fair Trade Certified Oil Palm Farmer who lives in Akim-Asuom in the Kwaebibirem District of the Eastern Region of Ghana, West Africa. She is 34 years old and married with three children, all of whom have a basic education. 

Juliet believes organic oil palm is profitable and helps protect the environment. In this regard, she wants to secure a Kiva loan to expand her oil palm field, in order to create more development and also to be able to continue providing for the education of her children and improve her family’s lifestyle.

Wonderful Words

I got a beautiful card from my cousin today. She's actually my 4th cousin. I met her a few years ago when my sister and her sister planned a 'family' gathering in London.  The sisters had met on ancestry.com.  14 of us trucked over from North America and joined other distant cousins into ancestry.

So while I was there I spoke of my hobby business that I started to help friends feed kids. It sells costumes online. I started it about 15 years ago and have hired over 100 people so far.  We sell to religious people also, we make a lot of monks robes.

I like to buy products from local artisans Made in USA.  So when my cousin told me her son could make wooden crosses for me, we went into business.  He has severe schizophrenia and can't work. But I now give him something to do.

the card reads:
Thank you for giving A this work. It makes him feel like he is able to do something worthwhile with his life.

Words are so sweet to hear. We're all in this together.

And the crosses are beautiful.

Stamp out Hunger Food Drive by Letter Carriers

I put together a bag of food for my letter carrier to pick up at my mail box tomorrow. It's Stamp out hunger day.Stamp out Hunger

Kiva Loan

Made a Kiva loan today with one of my Kiva groups. We get together to do this every Monday.

Rescued Cats back in Africa.

Pictures of the 33 'cats' that were rescued. They will live out the rest of their days in comfort. So happy to see. More pics here

I have 2 smaller cats in my house. One came to stay a few years ago, she was living with a young friend who was never home and they lived in a small space. My Binx cat arrived depressed but quickly got over it living here with all the attention. My other cat Kallie is a rescue from the local SPCA. I got her at 3 months. She was very timid. It's been over a year and she is now rather spoiled. She's currently meowing from another room because she wants me to go play with her.

Fires in Alberta

I made another donation to the Canadian Red Cross for the Fires in Alberta.
The fires are growing.
I'm also working on getting other Canadians Abroad folks to donate with me.

https://donate.redcross.ca/ea-action/action?ea.client.id=1951&ea.campaign.id=50610

Feeding refugees.

Made a donation to

PHILOXENIA  

today.  They are feeding refugees.

The name Philoxenia derives from an ancient Greek term referring to the duty of kindness and hospitality shown to guests, foreigners or strangers, and embodies the true generosity of human spirit. We are team Philoxenia, and our mission is to embrace and share this spirit among the growing population of asylum seekers in Europe. We provide hot meals, comfortable spaces and open arms in

stressful environments. We work to provide positive support and inspire a sense of humanity and solidarity that people can carry with them throughout their onward journey.

In 2015, vast numbers of ordinary people have been forced to flee their homes in fear of persecution, violence or death and in search of freedom, justice and dignity. Despite the harsh winter conditions and increased risk of drowning at sea, thousands continue to make the treacherous journey into the EU each day. Government and international aid agencies, though equipped with large scale funding and facilities, are unable to address every need in this volatile environment. We are here to fill the gaps that are left behind. This initiative emerges from the desire to support incoming refugees in some of their daily challenges. We feel that at the end of the day, a simple but warm meal can go a long way. 

Our goal is to provide a warm meal to 1000 people a day. That means, during our first year of operation, we will provide around 356,000 warm meals to asylum seekers throughout the EU. 

Thank you for being kind, the world is so much better because of it.

Fort McMurry Fire

I made a donation today to the Red Cross of Canada to help the people of Fort McMurry, Alberta.  Fire just got most of the town and everyone was evacuated.


Donation link here - Canadian Red Cross - Alberta Fires.   You don't have to be Canadian to donate.

Kiva loan to Madagascar

Made a Kiva loan to Ruffine. My first loan to Madagascar,

Ruffine is a widow, 58 years old, and she had only one son, who is already married. She lives in a busy neighborhood. For a dozen years, she has been selling kitchen utensils at the market: with this business, she has succeeded in meeting family needs. It is also a passion of hers. 

She has been a partner with VAHATRA for nine years. With her previous loan, she had profits she preferred to reinvest as capital. She still wants to take out another loan to purchase kitchen utensils to sell, such as cups, buckets, pots, and tureens. 

Ruffine is thinking about her financial independence. Her goal is to build a house.

Southern Poverty Law Center

I've been donating to the Southern Poverty Law Center for over a decade. They do wonderful work against hate.
 We need less hate in the world.

They also teach tolerance.

We need more of that too.

Sustaining Space

I helped out James in Oregon today with part of a Kiva Zip loan. These loans are for Americans (I think mostly) for their small businesses.  We all need capital.

Pasadena Humane Society

I made a donation to the Pasadena Humane Society today. It's being matched

Political Revolution

Helping get Bernie Sanders elected president.

Feel the burn.

Post Card to Attawapiskat.

I sent a post card today to Attawapiskat.

"The Canadian First Nations community of Attawapiskat declared a state of emergency this month after 11 people tried to kill themselves in a single night, bringing the total number of suicide attempts since September to more than 100."

So sad.  I'm having a day that is hard for me too, But it's never been so hard that I wanted to die.  Just need to look harder for the good in the world


Read the story here

Helping Syrian Refuges with cats

I made a donation to help a few Syrian refuges who have 3 cats.  So brave.

https://www.generosity.com/emergencies-fundraising/syrian-refugee-family-and-three-cats-need-a-home/x/36927

Kiva loans

I made 9 Kiva loans today. Two were for 'dentistry', the last 'activity' I had left to fund. The others were for microlenders I haven't loaned to yet.
 I really should set kiva up to automatically fund loans. I always seem to have a balance. So much to do in life.

Friend of Saxonhouse

I helped fund new thatching for the Saxon House.

Friends of Saxonhouse