My husband called his Dad later in the day to see how he was faring. We were happy to hear that one of Dad’s neighbors came over with a snowblower and cleared his sidewalk and driveway.  At the age of 79 and suffering from emphysema, clearing snow from a corner property is not what Dad should be doing on his own.

Dad’s neighborly “snow angel” reminded me that being of service doesn’t have to be through a non-profit organization,  or a community group, or any other coordinated effort.  Each of us can be of service to our fellow human being, if we open our eyes to see the need and open our hearts to fill it.

Here are simple ways we can all be snow angels.

Shovel a neigbor’s sidewalk, clear their steps, chip away any ice build-up.  If you have children, make it a family affair.  Think of the important lessons you will teach them kindness and compassion through your actions and enthusiasm.

If you are going to the grocery store, check if your neighbor needs anything. While you are talking to them, ask if their heat is working and if they have hot water, especially if your neighbor is elderly or in poor health.  Leave your phone number with them, just in case.

If you see someone struggling to push a shoppping cart through a slushy parking lot, give them a hand.  When you are done shopping, or perhaps when leaving work at the end of the day, you might have to brush or scrape your windshield before driving.  Take a moment to do the same for the car next to you.  It only takes two minutes to make someone’s day.

Imagine the possibilities if there were more snow angels, like my father-in-law’s neighbor.

Stop Online Piracy Act.*

I don’t know enough about it, yet. I do know that bloggers are one population that could be seriously impacted.

You may have noticed yesterday that many tech websites were either blacked out or carried links to information about SOPA. The photo above is what wordpress.com (hosts this blog) looked like.

This post, however, is not just about SOPA.

Today, I am thankful to live in a society that allows, encourages, and embraces protest.

There are many countries around the world that would not tolerate such a protest. People are jailed everyday because they marched against a proposed government action. There are societies that would not allow the sharing of information about the potential impact of a new law. There are places, not too far away, where the government controls not only the law, but the dissemination of information about the law. In some places still today, disagreeing with the government is justification for that body to kill its own citizens.

The internet may have gone dark yesterday, but many were enlightened because of it. How great is that?

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*Interested in learning more about SOPA before it goes back before Congress next week? Click HERE to read the actual text of the bill as registered with the Library of Congress.

For additional opinions… THIS link will take you to an Op-Ed piece from Mashable; one man’s opinion on the dangers of SOPA. CNNMoney explains the pros and cons in THIS article, even though their parent company, Time Warner, supports the bill. Although nearly everyone agrees that content rights need to be protected, it is the possibilities of going too far that many are worried about. in THIS November NY Times editorial, the newspaper explains.

What is even more impressive than what Dr. King preached, was how he lived.  He did not just talk about his ideals; his every action was rooted in them. Dr. King was not all talk.  He was action.  Peaceful action, but definite action.

Today, I am thankful for everyday people who demonstrate these same convictions through their daily lives. 

Chances are, we all know someone who, every day, stands in integrity, acts out of compassionate conviction, and lives to serve others.  Most of them are not famous. They are teachers, mail carriers, and truck drivers.   They are stay-at-home parents, entrepreneurs, and artists.  They are white collar and blue collar; light-skinned and dark-skinned.  They can be wealthy, they can be homeless.  Young or old, male or female, conservative or liberal; we can all choose to stand up for the right thing.

None of us will be Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  However, we can strive to live our lives in the same way.  We can choose to act with the courage of our convictions.  We can lead change peacefully.  We can serve.  We can have a dream.  We can make a difference.

We must, now.

Take twelve fine, full-grown months; see that these are thoroughly free from old memories of bitterness, rancor and hate, cleanse them completely from every clinging spite; pick off all specks of pettiness and littleness; in short, see that these months are freed from all the past—have them fresh and clean as when they first came from the great storehouse of Time.

Cut these months into thirty or thirty-one equal parts. Do not attempt to make up the whole batch at one time (so many persons spoil the entire lot this way) but prepare one day at a time.

Into each day put equal parts of faith, patience, courage, work (some people omit this ingredient and so spoil the flavor of the rest), hope, fidelity, liberality, kindness, rest (leaving this out is like leaving the oil out of the salad dressing— don’t do it), prayer, meditation, and one well-selected resolution.

Put in about one teaspoonful of good spirits, a dash of fun, a pinch of folly, a sprinkling of play, and a heaping cupful of good humor.

And, I would add…mix well and share generously.  Happy new year!

This week’s Sunday Service opportunity is to consider doing the same work in your community, but on a different day.

Homeless, poor, elderly and other people need food every day, not just on the holiday.  Your local food pantry needs food all year long.  People to help prepare, serve or deliver food are needed on many more days than just Thanksgiving or Christmas.

This can be a great teaching opportunity for your children.  Make community service a family activity.  Share the importance of a compassionate heart through your example.  Consider the difference your children can make in the world throughout their lives!

If you frequently stop by here, you know the Sunday Service typically is centered around one single charity.  However, every community has multiple organizations seeking assistance.  You can find them easily online, in your local paper, or by asking your local schools or church.

Your help is not needed just on Thanksgiving Day.  Help before the holiday. Help after the holiday.  Just help.

That is exactly what many organizations are counting on this week, as we celebrate and honor our military veterans on 11.11.11.  Be very careful, though, if your kindness, compassion and patriotism are tapped for a financial donation.  There are many legitimate organizations providing great service to our military, veterans and their families.  They can really use your financial support to continue their important work.

Unfortunately, though, many organizations with very legitimate sounding names tug at our red, white and blue heartstrings and then don’t use the money as the donor intended.  This is why it is smart to verify the finances of any organization before donating.  Charity Navigator has done all the research and analysis for us, making it easy to give wisely.

When it comes to our active duty and veteran military, the consistently top-rated charity is the Fisher House Foundation, providing a home away from home for family members of military during hospitalizations.  A few other four-star rated organizations include:

Special Operations Warrior Foundation, providing support and assistance to the U.S. special operations community.

Disabled American Veterans Charitable Service Trust, building better lives for disabled veterans.

American Red Cross, helping people prevent, prepare for, and respond to emergencies.

National Military Family Association, the voice for military families.

On the other hand, the following are the LOWEST rated military organizations listed by Charity Navigator:

Help Hospitalized Veterans; one star (out of four) total, but zero stars for financial responsibility.  Click here for the rating.

The Veterans Fund; one star. Click here for the rating.

Wisconsin Paralyzed Veterans of America; zero stars overall. Click here for the rating.

This week, as we honor our military veterans for their service, give generously – but wisely – to organizations that support them.

Last night, I watched a recording of NBC news anchor Brian Williams’ new show, Rock Center.  The very first segment was about Williston, North Dakota, a town in the middle of an oil-driven economic boom.  Among the success stories, correspondent Harry Smith told the story of three men who were desperately down on their luck.  They heard about the oil boom in western North Dakota and traveled across country with little more than hope in their pocket.

George Green scrounged up enough money to buy a bus ticket from Florida. He sleeps in a friend’s truck and takes his toothbrush, toothpaste and razor to Walmart each morning to wash up for work. Phil Hazleman drove his old beat up van from Wisconsin after his unemployment ran out; he sleeps in his truck, too. Patrick Parker just wants his daughters to be proud of him.  He hitch-hiked from California after losing his job of ten years and being unable to find new work.  The good news is that all three men found good jobs in Williston.

The men weren’t looking for riches, though.  Just some steady work. A way to pay their own way through life. George Green summed it up perfectly;

“I just want to have a decent life, that’s all.”

Today, I am thankful for my decent life, that’s all.

Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it. -William Arthur Ward

Will you join the gratitude movement?

This moving book is about the horrific, oppressive treatment that women and girls endure in many parts of our world.  There are stories about young girls being forced into prostitution or being sold into slavery; girls and women being denied basic human rights, horror stories of genital cutting, and the unbalanced mortality rates among women.

However, there are also stories of hope.  Evidence is provided to support the investment in educating girls.  There are success stories about women whose business ventures are funded by microloans.  There are many women who fought their oppressors, saved their own lives and created a new future for their children.

The oppression and exploitation of girls doesn’t just happen in the far corners of the world.  It occurs right here in the United States, too.  A 2001 University of Pennsylvania study estimated that 325,000 children in the U.S. were actively or at risk of being sexually exploited.  Another study, done in 2006, showed that approximately 3.5% of adolescents exchanged sex or drugs for money; that’s over 421,ooo teens, according the the U.S. Census data.  The exploitation of children and women is not just an “other countries” issue.

Gracehaven

One of the organizations trying to combat this oppression is Gracehaven.  In a perfect alignment of the stars, Gracehaven happens to be one of the charities raising funds through the Columbus Marathon, which my son-in-law is running in this morning.  According to the Run For Gracehaven information page,

Gracehaven is a faith-based non-profit organization started in 2008 for the expressed purpose of providing shelter, security, and rehabilitation to girls under the age of 18 who are victims of commercial sexual exploitation in central Ohio.

Gracehaven is a long-term rehabilitation facility allowing girls to stay as needed until they reach the age of 18. We will then help them transition to the next step in their life. While at Gracehaven, the girls will be able to earn their GED, as well as receive counseling and treatment for the horrible trauma and exploitation they have been forced to endure.

Gracehaven is in the process of purchasing a house situated on 10 acres in an undisclosed location in NW Ohio. Once renovated, the house will be large enough to hold up to 10 girls at a time.

What can you do?

I highly recommend reading Half The Sky. It is a call to action; please answer the call.

Share this list of ways to fight human trafficking.

Protect your daughters while raising them to be strong and independent women.

And, if you would like to financially support the work of Gracehaven, click here for a variety of ways you can do so.

There are many organizations dedicated to the pursuit of peace; cultivating peace within ourselves, having a peaceful relationship with others, offering peaceful resolution to conflict, building peace within a community or culture, or striving towards global peace between nations.

Click HERE to go to the Peace Week site and register.  You will then be sent a confirmation link, which will take you to the remaining speakers’ schedule.  You can listen in live or access recordings of all the 2011 speakers, as well as the 2010 event’s speakers. 

Below is a list of the 2011 Peace Week co-sponsors, a summary of their purpose, and a link to their website as provided by the Peace Week org.  Most of these are non-profit organizations; consider supporting one that inspires you!  At the very least, take some time and consider what you can do to be the possibility of peace in your corner of the world.

The Shift Network aims to empower a global movement of people who are creating an evolutionary shift of consciousness that in turn leads to a more enlightened society, one built on principles of sustainability, peace, health, and prosperity. Now is the time for an upgrade to our planetary operating system. If you are part of this Shift, please join us as we create events, programs, and activities that help us evolve! You can view our big-picture vision for the next three years here: www.vision2012plan.com
 
The Peace Alliance empowers civic engagement toward a culture of peace. We are a grassroots alliance of organizers and advocates throughout the United States taking the work of peacebuilding from the margins of society into the centers of national discourse and policy priorities.
 
Pathways To Peace (PTP) is an international PeaceBuilding, Educational and Consulting organization. “Peace”, as it is defined by Pathways To Peace, is both an innate state of being and a dynamic, evolutionary process. Peace begins with ourselves, living in harmony with one another, the Earth and all Circles of Life. 
 
Since 1983, the Culture of Peace Initiative (CPI) has served as a vehicle for bringing forward the previously unseen and unheard voices working towards Peace. It also serves to unite the strengths of existing individuals and organizations building Cultures of Peace for succeeding generations. 
 
The Summer of Peace 2012 is an innovative initiative designed to accelerate the shift from a culture of violence to a culture of peace through global and local collaborations, best practices, civic engagement and inspirational events. We will focus on creating a series of dynamic events in the summer of 2012 – concerts, conferences, trainings, neighborhood circles, school interventions, civic leadership gatherings, peace pledges and more. ~ website not available
 
PeaceDay.TV offers year round global broadcasting of humanitarian events, their annual featured presentation takes place September 17 – 21, in celebration of the International Day of Peace. It features sustainable solutions, entertainment, music, festivals, celebrities, films, awards, & peace building partners. 
 
TakingITGlobal (TIG) is an international organization, led by youth, and empowered by technology.  TIG brings together young people (aged 13-31) in over 200 countries and territories within international networks to connect to opportunities, and collaborate on concrete projects – addressing global problems and creating positive change. 
 
Hendricks Institute is an International Learning Center that teaches core skills for conscious living and conscious loving. Our work over the past three decades has been to assist people in opening to more creativity, love, and vitality through the power of conscious relationship and whole-person learning. We are passionately committed to creating a worldwide community of people with whom we can explore new heights of love, creativity, and well-being. 
 
The Council for a Parliament of the World’s Religions cultivates harmony among the world’s religious and spiritual communities and fosters their engagement with the world and its guiding institutions in order to achieve a just, peaceful and sustainable world. The Council also organizes and hosts the world’s largest interfaith gathering, the Parliament of the World’s Religions, in a different international city every five years. 
 
Humanity’s Team is a fast-growing spiritual movement “awakening the world to Oneness” within a generation. The movement, with some 60,000 teammates mobilized in more than 150 countries, sees this awakening as essential to world peace. Indeed, on May 20, veteran U.N. envoy Anwarul K. Chowdhury declared on receiving a Humanity’s Team-inspired petition seeking a U.N.-approved Oneness Day, that peace efforts would “go nowhere” until people recognized we are all one.
 
The Alliance for Peacebuilding (AfP) is a coalition of diverse organizations and professionals working together to build sustainable peace and security worldwide. Members of AfP are directly engaged in applied conflict prevention and resolution, providing negotiation and mediation services, training negotiators, facilitating communication to break down barriers, and helping find solutions to the issues and pressures that otherwise drive groups and nations to achieve their objectives through violent force.
 
Peace X Peace lifts and multiplies women’s voices, strengthens women’s capacity to connect across divides, promotes leadership and gender equity, and nurtures our global network of peacebuilders in 120 countries.
 
The International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers represents a global alliance of prayer, education and healing for our Mother Earth, all Her inhabitants, all the children, and for the next seven generations to come.  We are deeply concerned with the unprecedented destruction of our Mother Earth and the destruction of indigenous ways of life. We believe the teachings of our ancestors will light our way through an uncertain future.  We look to further our vision through the realization of projects that protect our diverse cultures: lands, medicines, language and ceremonial ways of prayer and through projects that educate and nurture our children.
 
Times Foundation is a development house set up by the Times of India Group to promote equitable, inclusive and sustainable development, facilitating affirmative interventions for self-development, education, health, women’s empowerment, environment and disaster management.
 
Student Peace Alliance engages our communities and policy makers in building sustainable peace. We advocate for evidence-based legislation and policy that will enhance our capacity to reduce violence and build sustainable peace both domestically and internationally. We practice and promote community peacebuilding efforts that engage people in the day-to-day work of understanding and preventing violence in our homes, communities, and institutions.
 
The National Peace Academy supports, advances and nurtures cultures of peace by conducting research and facilitating learning toward the development of peace systems – local to global – and the development of the full spectrum of the peacebuilder – inner and outer, personal and professional.  In all its operations, internal and external, the National Peace Academy strives to embody and reflect the principles and processes of peace.
 
The Shift Movie: The “movie made by a movement” chronicles a massive worldwide phenomenon in progress, offering seeds of great hope for the future. Millions of individuals, organizations and corporations around the world are waking up and embracing a new outlook with an emphasis on their responsibility to contribute positively to our collective future.

University of Colorado’s Conflict Information Consortium was founded in 1988 as a multi-disciplinary center for research and teaching about conflict and its transformation.
 
International Cities of Peace is an association of Cities of Peace that fosters peace as the consensus value for communities around the world. The organization networks, encourages, documents, and provide resources and information for leaders and organizations working to self-define and work in their communities as Cities of Peace.
 
One the Event is inspired by the 10th anniversary of 9/11 and the passion of Seattle Fire Fighter Erik Lawyer.  With more than 3 million people around the world, we will make a collective shift by choosing love over fear, kindness over anger, and responsibility rather than blame.  In remembrance of the tragedies of September 11th and the wars that followed, we honor all those senselessly lost by rebuilding our relationships with love and kindness, and celebrate our global unity.
 
The Global Peace Initiative of Women (GPIW) was founded to help awaken and mobilize spiritual energies with the goal of aiding in healing and unifying the world community. GPIW facilitates this by seeking to gather together those of great insight, wisdom, compassion and dedication, many of whom are working quietly for the upliftment of the world.
 
Intersections International is a New York based NGO that works at the intersection of communities in conflict. We promote peace through dialogue using direct service programs, advocacy, educational and informational outreach.
 
The Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual Organization seeks to help individuals re-discover and strengthen their inherent worth by encouraging and facilitating a process of spiritual awakening. This leads to an awareness of the importance of thoughts and feelings as the seeds of actions.
 
United Religions Initiative (URI) is an internationally recognized global network connecting more than 500 grassroots groups and organizations, called Cooperation Circles (CCs), around a shared vision of interreligious peace and cooperation for the common good. Our powerful community engages nearly half a million people in social and political action in 78 countries.
 
Praxis Peace Institute is a non-profit, peace-education organization dedicated to deep inquiry, constructive dialogue, creative problem solving, and informed civic participation.
 
YES! connects, inspires and collaborates with change-makers to join forces for a thriving, just and sustainable ways of life for all.   Our three program areas are global leadership Jams, on-going support networks, and resources & communications.  We work at the meeting point of internal, interpersonal, and systemic transformation.
 
Just Vision: Increasing the power and legitimacy of Palestinians and Israelis working for nonviolent solutions to the conflict.
 
We, The World is a Global Collaboration for a Livable Future. We promote solutions for a world that works for all. Our programs and events are designed to Inspire, Inform and Involve increasing numbers of people in the growing global movement that has the transformative consciousness of peace and service to people and the planet at its core. We, The World produces .11 Days of Global Unity, September 11 -21 and the We Campaign.
 
The Compassionate Action Network (CAN) is a network of self-organizing groups who share a common vision for a compassionate world.
 
The Rasur Foundation is implimenting a Ministry for Peace that collaborates with a national Academy for Peace, which trains peace teachers in schools to teach the practice of BePeace in their community. 
 
At World Peace Prayer Society, our mission is simple. To spread the Universal Peace Message and Prayer, May Peace Prevail On Earth, far and wide to embrace the lands and people of this Earth
 
Peace On Earth Film Festival (POEFF) has reviewed over 400 films on peace, nonviolence, social justice and eco-balance over the past 2 years and has offered to the public through the festival, 76 films of the highest quality, mission on peace modalities and excellence of craftsmanship. The festival also offers Filmmaker and Peacemaker Panel discussions. The POEFF also has a well tested curriculum which was successfully piloted through the Chicago Public School (over 1,500 students in the last 6 weeks of 2009/2010 school year).
 
BayNVC’s vision is to create a world where everyone’s needs matter and people have the skills to make peace.
 
The Center for Sacred Studies is dedicated to sustaining indigenous ways of life through cross-cultural practices, ministry and education, and a commitment to peace and unity for all peoples.
 
Earthdance: The world’s largest synchronized global music and dance event for world peace and sustainability uniting over 350 locations in 65 countries on Saturday Sept 18th. The climax of the event is the playing of a spoken word music track, “The Prayer for Peace” at every location at exactly the same time.
 
Empowerment Works! (EW) is dedicated to empowering people, businesses and organizations with the tools, resources and knowledge they need to co-create a healthy, culturally rich, and bio-diverse future. EW achieves this mission via 3 synergistic program areas: 7 Stages to Sustainability (7SS) – Framework & Education 4 Local Solutions; Partners In Empowerment™ (PIE) Collaborative Knowledge Base & Network; The Global Summit™ (TGS) TGS 2010: “Humanity Uniting” Nov 7-10 in SF! Together we can.
 
This small unique Meditation Museum invites visitors to enhance the quality of their thoughts, their lives and the world around them. The museum is specifically designed to bring us back to a knowledge of our true selves and our responsibility to humanity. Our hope is that everyone who experiences the museum finds his or her own authentic meaning for life. 
 
CSRwire is the leading global source of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainability news. Founded in 1999 to advance the movement towards a more economically-just and environmentally-sustainable society and away from single bottom line capitalism, CSRwire has paved the way for new standards of corporate citizenship, earning the international respect of thought leaders, business leaders, academics, philanthropists, activists and the media community. Through innovative techniques and strategic partnerships, CSRwire continues to expand its content, communication technology and distribution channels exponentially.
 
Odyssey Networks is a media organization delivering videos of interfaith news beyond the headlines and inspirational stories of faith in action.

Here are a few inspirations she shared:

Women bring the conditions to create peace…It’s OK to be powerful.  Own it! Use your power for good…More women in positions of leadership, power and authority would change the world for the better…Companies with more women on the board are more profitable…Men are the same as women…except that they’re not.

Tuesday Tidbits are weekly messages I send to my leadership team.  They are generally short & sweet, often focused on leadership or teamwork, always positive and hopefully, motivational.  I hope you find some meaning in them.