Good Read

I read this editorial in Glamour today and I was inspired. Just wanted to pass it along!

Do Something Heroic (It’s Actually Easy)
You know how satisfying it is to check an item off your to-do list? Imagine how much better it would be to cross something off a to-do-good list of easy ways to improve – and possibly save – another person’s life. It’s amazingly simple to be a hero; some of these ideas don’t even involve leaving your desk chair.

Click to feed the hungry.
Click a button at hungersite.com and corporate sponsors will donate a cup of food to people in need around the world.

Save lives with Silly String.
When Marcelle Shriver learned that her son Todd, 29, and his fellow soldiers in Iraq were squirting Silly String to detect nearly invisible bomb wire strung across building entrances – a common death trap – she launched a drive to collect the stuff at her church. Since December, Shriver has sent more than 30,000 cans to the war zone. “Todd says he and his buddies never go anywhere without it,” she says. Mail $4 or a can – via ground shipping – to her at St. Luke’s Church, 55 Warwick Road, Stratford, NJ 08084.

Make a girl feel special.
Donate your gently worn cocktail (or bridesmaid!) dresses to a local program that gives them to girls who can’t afford one for the prom. Find a program near you at glassslipperproject.org/yostate.htm

Comfort a battered woman.
When they flee from their abusers, women often leave their personal belongings behind, so they’re in need of basics like clothes and toiletries. Call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-7233 to find a local shelter where you can drop off these staples.

Lift someone out of poverty.
“People in impoverished areas – who literally don’t have money to put sugar in their tea – can do amazing things with small loans,” says Jessica Flannery, an MBA student at Stanford University who co-founded kiva.org to help the world’s working poor achieve economic independence. Putting up $25 (it takes just four clicks) can help fund a Tanzanian woman’s hair salon or enable her craft business (and you’ll eventually get your money back). Check the site to read people’s stories and see exactly how much money they need to achieve their goals.

Donate your old cell phone, do the world good.
Phones4charity.org sells used phones to refurbishing plants and hands 80 percent of the money to more than 500 charities, including the American Red Cross and the AIDS Healthcare Foundation. To date, they’ve handed out $1 million.

Rescue a new mom.
Ninety-nine percent of the 585,000 women who die each year from pregnancy and childbirth complications live in developing countries, where the leading cause of maternal death is hemorrhaging. But groundbreaking work by the Women;s Global Health Imperative has shown that a simple bodysuit wrapped around a women’s legs and waist during birth can help slow a hemorrhage – and save a life. Give toward a $250 suit that could save 50 lives at lifewraps.org.

Try a random act of heroism.
Every Monday, doonenicething.com posts ways to brighten someone’s day – from donating frequent flyer miles to soldiers on leave to sending school supplies to schools in the Katrina zone. Lots of them take 10 minutes or less. Check it out right now!