8/27/10

Updates
  • George's long-time friend Steve Fowler passed away on August 18th after a long battle with ALS.  Check out the beautiful music he made in his short life on CDs such as Drifting on Intricate Currents (2000) and The Last Blue Sky (1999) available on Amazon.com or donate to his ALS foundation on http://www.als.net/.

8/25/10

Things You Can Do
  • Browse the Kiva website for opportunities to make micro loans with as little as $25.  www.kiva.org
  • Let us know if you find any charity watchdogs that will help us make informed decisions when we donate.
  • If you receive a telemarketing call asking for a donation to a police or fire fund, ask them to take you off their list.  These calls are outsourced to a vendor who takes a significant cut of the donation.  If you would like to donate a police or fire fund, contact the police or fire department directly.
August Dinner Party Topics 2010
  • Big Brothers Big Sisters helps children realize their potential and build their futures, and nurture children and strengthen communities. Michelle shared her experience as a Big Sister.  Over the past 14 years she has shared her live with 3 little sisters.  http://www.bbbs.org/  Thank you for sharing this with us, Michelle.
  • Solving Haiti’s Housing Problems with Old Tires, Bottles was an article in the Wall Street Journal about an Architect Michael Reynolds who is working with local Haitians in Port-au-Prince to construct housing out of used tires and bottles salvaged from the area. http://blogs.wsj.com/developments/2010/07/20/solving-haitis-housing-problem-with-old-tires-bottles  It was very inspiring to see the resiliance of these people and how much of a difference can be made with little creativity and resourcefulness.  Thank you for sharing this with us, Michelle.
  • Catalina Island Conservancy protects, helps promote Understanding, renews the land and makes possible its use for personal renewal, and provides an infrastructure for exploration in Catalina’s wild nature. http://www.catalinaconservancy.org/  Having grown up on the island, Valerie shared her perspective and mixed feelings about the conservancy and the work they've done over the years with mixed results.  She also had interesting insights on lessons learned in the early years of wildlife and forest management at Yellowstone.  Thank you for sharing this with us, Valerie.
  • ALS Therapy Development Institute (ALS TDI) works to develop effective therapeutics that stop ALS as soon as possible.  http://www.als.net/  ALS (aka "Lou Gehrig's Disease"), a disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord and impairs voluntary muscle action.  Impairment is progressive and the patient may become totally paralyzed.  George talked about a friend of ours, Steve Fowler who was diagnosed with it 13 years ago, lost all ability to move and communicate a few years ago, and passed away on 8/19/10.  Steve started his own foundation several years ago to raise funds for research in the treatment and cure of ALS and has raised over $106,000.  Thank you for sharing this with us, George.
  • Kiva works to connect people, through lending, for the sake of alleviating poverty.  Kiva empowers individuals to lend to an entrepreneur across the globe. By combining microfinance with the internet, Kiva is creating a global community of people connected through lending.  http://www.kiva.org/  We discussed ideas for loans including a women in Peru who prepares potatoes for distribution and a taxi driver in Peru who needs money to repair his van to stay in business.  Thank you for sharing this with us, Sandi.
  • Charity Watchdogs rate charities based on financial performance, tax-deductibility status and how efficiently it is spending your dollars.  The most reputable (American Institute of Philanthropy) cost money to join.  We will do further research and bring updates to next month’s dinner.  Thank you for sharing this with us, Kathy.