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Archive for the ‘Giving Back’ Category

Celebrate Epic Thanks This Thanksgiving

November 23rd, 2011, by Sloane Berrent.  5 Comments »

Welcome to the season of Thanksgiving. It wouldn’t be Thanksgiving the past few years without #EpicThanks, a project of Epic Change by my good friends Stacey and Sanjay and their countless amazing friends, volunteers and supporters. Epic Change amplifies the voices and impact of grassroots changemakers and social entrepreneurs. I’ve written about their fundraising projects here, here and here. I thought it was time for another voice to be heard!

Make a donation here:

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This is a guest post written by Adriana Mistick, a junior at Wheaton College. She also happens to be my sister! This past summer she had the incredible opportunity to go volunteer with Mama Lucy at Sheperds Junior School in Arusha, Tanzania. This is her story.

***

Addy and the students from Sheperds Junior School, Summer 2011

I’ve sat down to write about my summer in Tanzania so many times without ever being able to find the words or the descriptions that are just right. I’ve decided now that it was one of those experiences I will never fully be able t explain or attempt to show with photos because what I really want is for everyone to be able to go and experience it for themselves.

It was early this year when I decided I wanted to do something different for the summer. I was about halfway through college at that point and had been lucky enough to take some time off early in college to help me get my head on straight. Now I guess you could say I’m focused. On what, you ask? Water and teaching kids, or teaching anyone I can, about water and our environment. I’m a self-proclaimed “water junkie”. Thinking about my summer and not knowing where to start, my sister Sloane (maybe you guys know her??) was eager to help me find a good match in terms of location and program. The moment I told her what I was thinking she had something perfect in mind but still worked wonders by facebooking, tweeting and emailing a personal ad for her baby sis.

EPIC CHANGE. That’s where Sloane’s mind was from the start and from the moment she first told me about meeting Stacey Monk at a conference and following their progress, that’s where my mind was too.
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One Thing In, One Thing Out.

October 2nd, 2011, by Sloane Berrent.  3 Comments »

One thing in, one thing out.

I don’t know when exactly I adopted this rule. There isn’t one clear moment where I decided this would be guide for what comes into my home. I think it started as a saying, a general guideline, a concept not yet 100% adopted. But somewhere in the last year, it has in fact, become a rule.

It turns out it’s a rule that is talked about a lot online in the big declutter blogs! It makes total sense, I just landed on this one on my own.

When I left Los Angeles in December 2008, it was the first time I gave up one home without moving into another. I had to compress and declutter, then pack and give away all in two weeks. I held a weekend long garage sale and sold as much as I could, then packed as much as I could into my RAV4 and drop it off at Goodwill. The rest, I moved into storage.

I didn’t have a permanent home again until October 1, 2010 (a year ago yesterday). And that home was one that I was building with someone else. And that someone else had a lot less “stuff” that me. I spend hours every few months just going through my stuff to give away more things. Clothes I don’t wear, papers and books I don’t look at, DVDs I don’t watch. My big revelation? It’s EXHAUSTING! Stuff is quite frankly exhausting. The getting it, the keeping it, the organizing it and eventually the giving it away.

In order to free myself of this cycle, I had to free myself of the things themselves.

It’s hard to explain what happens when you free yourself of things. I mean, I still need clothes to wear, still have a “favorite shirt” and still look longingly at things I want to buy. The one thing that has changed is that when one thing comes into the house – one thing must go out.

Here’s how I do it…

I keep a canvas bag under the island in the kitchen, and that’s the “donate pile.” So I do, from time to time, buy things. Just last week I was in Boston and found a great chunky sweater at GAP. I good “winter is coming and I’m going to curl up and read on a Sunday” sweater. I bought it. I came home and the first thing I did (after putting down my keys and overnight bag) was to open my closet doors and give it an honest look. I never wear that longsleeve shirt, I am over those summer sandals and will most likely get a new pair next summer and I inherited that purse in a swap with girlfriends but actually have never worn it. They all went into the donate pile. When the bag is full, I walk it down the street to the Goodwill and drop it off. I’ve never regretted anything I’ve donated, or missed it, or wished I had it back. Life is funny that way, things we are so attached to when suddenly they are gone, they aren’t so important anymore.

It’s not a perfect system but it’s a system that FEELS pretty good once I got into the swing of it. The whole thing makes me pause before buying things because let’s face it, if you love the things you own and you buy something new, in essence, you have to give one thing up.

Do you have a “one thing in, one thing out” rule in your house? I’d love to hear about it! And if you’re interested in finding out more about decluttering and other organizational tips, here are some blog posts I’ve discovered:

15 Great Decluttering Tips
Instructions for decluttering your home (in less than 500 words)
Top 10 Blogs to DeClutter & Simplify Your Life

Check-in for Checkups with Clorox and Children’s Health Fund (CHF)

August 4th, 2011, by Sloane Berrent.  No Comments »

I first met the amazing folks from Children’s Health Fund last sumer when I spoke on a panel about Social Media for Social Good at Fundraising Day NY.

I was incredibly moved by their mission and their stories of success. I helped get the word out about a new mobile clinic in New Orleans last summer and have had them in my sights ever since. I was so honored to have been asked to partner with them for a summer campaign with Clorox to do some good.

Through a new social media-driven campaign, Clorox and CHF are working to encourage healthy habits and help provide health care to disadvantaged children. This is the second year CHF and Clorox are partnering and this year’s program is called Check-in for Checkups. You might have been my tweets or posts this summer or heard me talk about in person. I’m THAT passionate about this campaign. I’ve met the good folks from Clorox and their PR agency who helped put this together and it’s the real deal cause marketing campaign that included a multi-year cash donation and then this extra money donated through the help of YOU and people everywhere who share their summer healthy habits online.

For each check-in that you do, Clorox will donate 10 cents, up to $100,000, to CHF to help support their goal of providing half a million health care visits to children in need across the country. What’s amazing is that now when you check-in with your healthy habit, you are not only helping yourself, but also the lives of others. The more you check-in, the more you give back to disadvantaged children across the country.

This issue is so incredibly important since one in five children in the U.S. live in poverty and millions of children do not have access to regular checkups and timely health care visits when sick. As a result, simple childhood health problems, like ear infections and toothaches, can lead to lifelong health issues.

CHF’s mobile medical clinics go into underserved communities to bring ongoing health care to children at schools, community centers, homeless shelters and other places in the heart of the community. In addition to pediatric primary care providers, the CHF network consists of other dedicated health care professionals including dentists, mental health providers and nutritionists.

They are currently at 125,000+ checkins but are looking for 1 million! It’s super easy to get involved. You can either head over to their microsite and enter what your check-in is or send a tweet with the hashtag #checkinforcheckups.

Some of the healthy habits I’ve used this summer include walking to work every day, drinking 8 glasses of water a day, going to yoga each week, making a commitment to healthier eating habits – yours can be anything – but the best part of sharing those healthy habits is not only making them part of your daily life but helping others in the process.

Get in the habit of your summer healthy habit by checking in every day and spread the word! Join me in helping to support equal access to healthcare for children everywhere.

I process it differently now. Views on my travels in developing countries.

March 12th, 2011, by Sloane Berrent.  No Comments »

Above is a slideshow of my first day in Haiti with the Fairwinds Trading and the #heartofhaiti bloggers. What’s amazing is that each picture tells a story. A photo is really just a moment in time and from the second before to the second after everything changes. It captures how you feel just then.

So when I was thinking about Haiti and the difference in the experience for me versus some of the other women bloggers who haven’t traveled as much to the developing world I couldn’t help but have an important revelation.

I process it differently now. Developing countries have a different affect on me now than before.

I’m still struck from the moment we land at how different the developing world is from the developed. And I’m still in awe at the differences. But certain aspects I see differently. I still see the trash on the streets and the lack of infrastructure (old cars, building falling down) but now I see past that a lot more quickly.

My eyes now focus on the kids playing, the laughter of women gathered on a street corner, the way people are helping each other cross the street and carry heavy loads.

People ask me what draws me to the developing world and what I say is that it sets me straight. It reminds me of what’s important in this world – people. And I simply love experiencing new places, my senses alive and taking in every moment, every sight and every smell. I like testing my internal compass, I like finding a way to connect with people when I don’t speak their language. And I love being able to debunk myths of what traveling to developing countries is like to people when I get back.

When you look at the photos above, I hope you see the life in them. I hope you see the hope, creativity and progress. There’s more than the ruins, you just have to look beyond the obvious. In other words, process it differently.

The Digital Sisterhood In Haiti

March 2nd, 2011, by Sloane Berrent.  3 Comments »

I have returned from the most moving trip to Haiti. It’s really truly amazing what happens when you dive into an experience with your whole heart and soul. I am going through photos and videos and will be posting as much as I can over the next few days.

I want to give a huge shoutout and thank you to my digital sisters that shared in this experience with me. Without them, this trip would not have been the same. We bonded in a way that is hard to describe, in part because we had the opportunity to share with each other and in part because we were all really open to sharing with each other.

I created a Twitter list called Heart of Haiti to keep these digital sisters connected and also to let more people follow along with the goodness they are creating in this world.

Our inspirational leaders!

Who are these inspiring women? Let’s see…

And the partners that helped make this possible:

A special shoutout to the non-Twitterers of the group: Deana, Juliana and Chad. It was amazing to spend this time with you. Thank you for sharing yourselves and making this trip so incredible. Many thanks also to Natalie and Pascale, the program directors in Haiti for Fairwinds, you both were simply amazing. Your passion and dedication to your culture within Haiti was an inspiration. And another hello to Taryn who had planned to join us but couldn’t at the last minute. You were there with us in spirit.

Here’s to creating special bonds with amazing women. Willa said on the trip that so many people have asked her about Haiti and her work in Haiti. She told them, “Come to Haiti and see for yourself.” Until this past weekend, no one had gone. The biggest success of the whole trip? THAT WE WENT. That we made the trip. That we said YES. That we broke through our own barriers and made room in our busy lives as professional women to make this trip come alive. That is the most magical part of all. Thank you to all you incredible, beautiful women for joining me in Haiti. #onelove

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