charity

6 posts

Tools and Ideas to Make Giving Easier and More Effective

I complain an awful lot, but I do have much to be grateful for in my life. And though I’ve been cranky for a good part of the year, there has been one thing that has worked to pull me out of my funk and make me count my blessings. That is charity work and giving. But choosing a charity to give my hard earned dollars and efforts has at times made me just downright Grinchy.

My husband belongs to a motorcycle club that supported, for many years, a fundraising event called Ride Across Maryland, which raised money for various charity organizations dedicated to research, awareness, treatment, education, etc. for the cause of breast cancer. The club in its final year of taking part of the event raised almost $40,000. Continue reading

QOTD: Let’s Spend Some Money

In the Tuesday Open Thread, BaldwinP started a conversation about a South by Southwest publicity stunt, where homeless people were hired to wear a t-shirt proclaiming “I’m a wireless hotspot!” The participants were paid $20 a day, plus they kept all monies paid by wireless hotspot users.

Predictably, Crasstalkers had opinions about this event. Although the operation seemed beneficent on the surface, some commenters opined that the setup ended up dehumanizing the homeless people who participated. Continue reading

Buy A Book, Help Japan – Quakebook

In just over a week, a group of professional and citizen journalists collaborated via Twitter to source, edit and publish a book of first-person accounts of the March 11th earthquake and tsunami in Japan. The goal: to sell the book and donate all monies to the Japanese Red Cross earthquake and tsunami relief efforts.

A former British journalist residing in Japan who blogs under the pseudonym Our Man in Abiko (check it out – he’s a very funny fellow) wanted to do something for the hundreds of thousands of people that have been affected by this event, from those directly in the earthquake zone, the path of the tsunami, in the evacuation area around the nuclear power plant in Fukushima, to those in many other areas of Japan, whose lives have been disrupted by rolling power blackouts, poor road conditions, food and water supply difficulties, and more. Our Man thought up 2:46: Aftershocks: Stories from the Japan Earthquake, and spread word on Twitter via the hashtag #quakebook. He gathered stories from around the country about people’s experiences of people in the thick of the disaster and its aftermath.


Contributions to the bookessays, artwork and photographspoured in from writers, artists, and photographers all over Japan, as well as elsewhere in Asia and North America and Europe. In addition to narratives by the journalists and people who braved the disaster, the book contains writing created specifically for 2:46 by authors William Gibson, Barry Eisler, Jake Adelstein and artist/musician Yoko Ono.

The primary goal,” Our Man in Abiko says, “is to raise awareness, and in doing so raise money to donate to the Japanese Red Cross Society to help the thousands of homeless, hungry and cold survivors of the earthquake and tsunami.” The collection reflects the fear and confusion caused by Japan’s unprecedented disaster. “But #quakebook isn’t all gloom and doom. By the time you finish reading it, you’ll have a sense of hope, and even optimism.”

2:46 is now available as a Kindle ebook here. (The Kindle app is free for use on your computer, iPhone, Droid.) Amazon has graciously agreed to waive their standard ebook fees, so 100% of the $9.99 purchase price of 2:46 will go directly to the JRC. Digital versions for other ebook readers and hardbound editions are currently in the works. The book is currently being translated into Japanese, Spanish, Portuguese, Greek, German and French-language versions.

Please support the Japan Red Cross and buy a copy today. For updates and press coverage of the book, please visit the Quakebook blog, the official Twitter account, or join the Facebook group.