Letter to Dane and Andy for The Foundation Contest

I used to feel so alone in the city. All those gazillions of people and then me, on the outside.  Because how do you meet a new person? I was very stunned by this for many years. And then I realized, you just say, "Hi." They may ignore you. Or you may marry them. And that possibility is worth that one word.  ~ A Burroughs.

Hi, Dane and Andy.

Thanks for this unprecedented opportunity to become Co-CEO Of Dane's Business for a year.

Connecting to like-minded people is an essential part of a good life and that’s what you guys are for me - like minded people.

Focus is so important - everywhere I look I see things that need to be done but now I am ready for me. Just need that focus to fly into the future.

With my extraordinary good fortune of being involved with The Foundation I would gain the knowledge of running a successful software company. I would learn from the best.

Education and learning and teaching are important to me – I would like to learn more about marketing, making webinars, videos and producing and selling quality software that people really want and value.

Winning this contest would mean the world to me as an independent income would bring me freedom – freedom to travel to Bali and help the children in orphanages; freedom to donate money to the Indigenous Literacy Foundation in Australia that helps educate outback children and freedom to learn what I choose.

Grants are being given to buy new homes

PROSPECTIVE homeowners are being offered unprecedented cash grants to build new homes in South Australia.
The first home buyer's grant is $15,000 AUD and the Housing Construction Grant is $8500, Also some house construction companies are offering similar cash bonuses. Read full story...

What are Fair Trade goods?

Fairtrade means alot to farmers all over the world. What you choose to drink and eat can help make a real difference for the Fairtrade farmers and workers in developing countries. Fairtrade means a better future not only for the producers, but the workers, their families and communities in these countries.
Fairtrade products, that have the Fairtrade logo, come from farmers and workers who are justly paid for their work. This means the money you spend on goods can improve an entire community’s day-to-day lives: helping farmers and their communities build better roads, get health care and send their kids to school. Meet the Fairtrade Farmers



Find out more about Fairtrade in Australia.
Find Fairtrade:Find Fairtrade products near you.


Find out more about Fairtrade in the USA.

Good words, Good actions

However many holy words you read,
However many you speak,
What good will they do you
If you do not act on upon them?
Buddha

What good will you do today?




LINKING UP WITH NOBH

The science of happiness

Positive psychology is not just amateur self-help. It is a serious scientific discipline based on solid, empirical research.

The Happiness Institute, in Australia, puts the principles of positive psychology into practice by providing key strategies and action plans, amongst other things, that can help us all live a happier life.
Did you know it has been proven that optimistic people are much less likely to die of heart attacks than pessimists?

Support recycling

Ian Kiernan of Clean Up Australia is urging the Australian government to commit to a timetable to make the container deposit scheme - cash for cans and bottles - become a reality. In South Australia they already have this program and therefore a huge recycling rate of about 88%. In all other states and the Northern Territory the average recycling rate on cans and bottles is only around 35%.
Kiernan, said there was overwhelming public support for a national scheme giving people a financial incentive to recycle.“A national poll commissioned by Clean Up Australia last year found that 87% of Australians want to see a national container refund scheme introduced, and yet the voice of the community is being ignored. Why are our political leaders so reluctant to listen to their constituents? They seem to forget we live in a democracy under which they have been elected to represent the interests of communities.”


''In terms of container deposits, this is the most important decision in decades,'' the director of the Total Environment Centre, Jeff Angel, said. Ben Cubby ENVIRONMENT EDITOR SMH

Our resources are finite. Plastic is made from oil and we are sending unrecycled plastic bottles to landfill and using up the earth's oil reserves.
The Environment Protection and Heritage Council has been considering this issue since 2008.
You can support this campaign at Boomerang Alliance by submitting the online letter to the Environment Minister or you can order 20 or more postcards to mail to the Environment Minister.

Most Helpful Person Award

Dianne Carroll won a competition run by American Express with the support of Oprah, as part of Oprah's Australian tour.

For her ongoing and amazing efforts, Dianne has been awarded a one hundred thousand dollar grant for her charity, Trans-Help, to help truck drivers and their families and given the title "Australia's Most Helpful Person."

Dianne Carroll is the daughter of a truck driver and one of six children. She knows first hand what her mother and siblings lived through with one parent often not at home and on the road. Dianne could see a unique problem where drivers were working away from family and home for long stretches at a time. Families had to deal with many issues including loss, trauma, depression, injury and drivers health issues.
She started the Trans-Help Foundation to help transport drivers and their families in times of need.

Just one of Trans-Helps amazing initiatives is the travelling Health and Support Unit. The "Health and Support Unit has enabled drivers to be checked on the road for high blood pressure, diabetes, cholesterol, obesity, depression, and also a variety of support brochures covering road trauma, cancer etc...
Trans-Help believes this unique program is ensuring the industry a healthier one, whilst also reducing fatalities on our roads." TRUCKERS NEWS QUARTERLY You can check here regulary to find out where the Unit will be next.

Helping Haiti

"Haiti has less than 2 percent tree cover and imports roughly 70 percent of its food." These statistics were from before the 2010 earthquake that devastated Haiti. Yéle Haiti is a grassroots, non-political charitable organization providing aid and assistance to those in the greatest need since 2005.
They are acheiving some great things for this poor nation:
- working with farmers to plant trees and help acheive better yields
- providing food for orphans
- training 76 at risk youth in classical music
- providing tents and water throughout Port-au-Prince
To find out more about this organization, donate or volunteer please check out YÉLE HAITI

generosity and community spirit

A group of well known Sydney restaurant owners have come together under the OzHarvest banner to help their city's homeless people. OzHarvest "is a non-denominational charity that rescues excess food which would otherwise be discarded. This excess food is distributed to charities supporting the vulnerable in Sydney and Canberra."
With 6 vans and 1 truck 5,000 meals are delivered each day.
Matt Moran's Aria Restaurant, Arras, Etch, Harbour Kitchen & Bar Park Hyatt, Icebergs Dining Room and Bar, Lucio's, Neil Perry's Rockpool Bar & Grill and Sean's Panaroma are just some of the Sydney restaurants helping out.

Dear good people everywhere

Come, share your passion to raise the status of women and help end global poverty.

One way to start is to read "Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide." It is a new book by Pulitzer Prize-winning authors Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, and it will move you, just as it horrifies you.
But don't take just my word for it. Let me tell you what others have said of it.
Melinda Gates called it: "Both a brutal awakening and an unmistakable call to action, this book should be read by all."
Tom Brokaw said: "This is a book that will pierce your heart and arouse your conscience. It is a powerful piece of journalism by two masters of the craft who are tireless in their pursuit of one of the most shameful conditions of our time."
Angelina Jolie said: "For female readers it gives a new sense of what it is to be a woman. For husbands sons and fathers, it will infuriate and astound you. You will not want to put it down."
George Clooney, Fareed Zakaria, Greg Mortenson, Anne Rice and Khaled Hosseini also gave praise, but I'll let you see for yourself.
Kristof and WuDunn are master storytellers. Through the stories they tell of women around the world, they help us see that the key to economic progress lies in tapping the potential of half the developing world's resources: women. It turns out the best way to fight poverty and extremism is to educate and empower women and girls!
With "Half the Sky," Kristof and WuDunn are sparking a movement. Please read it, join my hand and join this new movement.
Go to: http://www.halftheskymovement.org/
Hopeful and inspired,

All things Good