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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.

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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.

Epic Change has worked to raise money for a school in Arusha, Tanzania called the Shepherds Junior School. They have done this through various campaigns like TweetsGiving, To Mama With Love and even more recently were able to bring two of the star students, Gideon and Leah, from the first graduating class of 7th graders all the way to America to tell their story across the country.

The school itself, Shepherds Junior School, was started by a woman named Mama Lucy, the most inspiring woman I have ever had the pleasure to meet. Sloane connected me to Stacey, Stacey to Mama Lucy, and then Mama and I had a brief email exchange before deciding that I was coming to live in Arusha for two months to work at the school. Even luckier than just being connected to this incredible woman was that my college thought it was a great idea too and awarded me the Davis International Fellowship, which came with a hefty grant, that made it possible for me to go. My favorite perk of the fellowship has been telling my story at different events and presentations on campus this year.

Each interview goes a little bit differently because there is so much that I want to say. My favorite questions are along the lines of, “What surprised you most about being there?” or “What is the most important thing you left with?”, “Did the experience change your thinking about the future?”

And my responses go like this:

They have some of the best smiles I have ever seen, you know those smiles you can see in their eyes. They truly hung on my every word and would spend break times coming up to me and asking more and more questions about anything. “What is the deepest lake in America?” or “Is there HIV/AIDS in America?” and “What is your favorite food in Tanzania/America and why?” to “How does the rain fall?” and “How does water become a cloud?” – without me even prompting them. I’ll be honest, the questions about the deepest lake in America or how many national parks we have I actually had to look up and come back with the answers another day. The have an undying thirst for knowledge, unlike I’ve ever seen it before.

In terms of changing my thinking about my future and the world’s future it comes down to one word, HOPE. It can be easy to feel defeated by many news stories and through studying climate change and listening to seemingly endless debates in politics that leave us with no real answers or solutions but seeing and working with the people at the school and the children there inspired me and gave me hope. It reminded me that people are stronger than we think and often times deserve more credit. The teachers at that school give up almost all of their time, even weekends, to teach and help those kids. Many of them go home in the afternoon when school gets out and will go to visit children in their village that don’t get to go to school and will tutor them, for free, from home. Knowing that there are people that committed to the future help me to believe that the future is going to be a good place. Those children at Shepherds Junior School, dreaming of becoming astronauts, doctors or teachers, I believe that they can do it. I know that if those children succeed, they will honestly make our world a far better place than we ever could have expected.

For my future, I now feel that I, myself, can make a difference. One person alone can be powerful, and change making. One person can start a school from nothing. One person can inspire hundreds or thousands of more people.

I am now one of the many inspired by Mama Lucy, Stacey Monk and Sloane Berrent. And that’s why this year I am thankful for the places I have been, the things that I have seen and most importantly the PEOPLE that I have met.

Asante sana,
Addy

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

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.

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.

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!

• @willashalit: Social entrepreneur, Fair Trade activist, artist, merchant, mom, knitter, traveler. http://www.fairwindstrading.com

• @danicakombol: Everywhere Communicator, Catalyst, Pie Baker, Partner in Social Media Marketing Firm, Everywhere, Guinness Record Holder for #beatcancer. http://www.beeverywhere.tv

Who are these inspiring women? Let’s see…

• @anandaleeke: Yoga + Creativity + Internet Geek = Ananda Leeke. Innerpreneur. Author. Artist. Coach. Yoga Teacher. Her next book is @DigitalSisterhd, a memoir (12/11). http://www.anandaleeke.com
  

• @prtini: Social Media • President of Geben Communication • #pr20chat co-moderator • Love reading, nachos, wine, sports & my iPhone • heather@gebencommunication.com. http://gebencommunication.com
  

• @JohnicaReed: Travel tastemaker, writer & twentysomething entrepreneur with a passion for curated experiences. Bringing you destination inspiration from around the globe. http://johnicareed.com
  

• @msciocia: Professional Ghost Tweeter. http://www.lauraciocia.com

And the partners that helped make this possible:

• @BeEverywhere: We blend digital, social, experiential, and traditional marketing tactics and solve problems for our clients. Social Media Guinness Record holder #beatcancer
  http://www.BeEverywhere.Tv

• @CBHaitiFund: At the request of President Obama, we are partnering to help the Haitian people reclaim their country and rebuild their lives. http://www.clintonbushhaitifund.org
  

• Heart of Haiti
  

• @brittont13: Digital Coordinator and Social Media Specialist living in Atlanta GA. Passionate about food, fashion, and fun!

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

I wanted to share another campaign I recently worked on. In partnership with JESS3, Samsung, The Dan Marino Foundation, I joined the team as a digital strategist. The campaign was two-part. The first was to support the first annual WalkAbout Autism in Miami, Florida hosted by The Dan Marino Foundation. The Dan Marino Foundation, was established in 1992 by Marino and his wife, Claire, after their son, Michael, was diagnosed with autism. The foundation has distributed over $22 million to research, services and treatment programs serving children with neurodevelopment disabilities.

The Dan Marino Center, which opened in 1995 along with the Miami Children’s Hospital, is an integrated neurodevelopmental center specializing in the diagnosis and treatment of children at risk for developmental and psychological problems. The center saw more than 48,000 children last year alone.

This was the first one, but have you ever been to an event and from the moment it starts everyone knows it will happen again? That was this event. Everyone there from current and former NFL players to the 7,500+ people who showed up, everyone was talking about next year. That is a pretty amazing and powerful thing to have happen. Their goal was $500,000, partially raised by sponsors and the other by donations from walkers. Why WalkAbout Autism? From The Dan Marino Foundation:

WalkAbout means, A “rite of passage” during which Australian Aborigines would undergo a journey during adolescence, live in the wilderness tracing paths that their ceremonial ancestors took, and imitate their heroic deeds. The Dan Marino Foundation WalkAbout Autism is a “rite of passage” for our children and adults with autism and their families. It is a reflection of where we have been and where we are going – the pathway to a better future for all of our heroes with autism.

I didn’t know at first I would be going to the Walk itself. I was assisting Dan Marino and his Foundation on digital strategy for fundraising and spreading the word. Yes, I even helped secure Dan his own verified Twitter account –> @DanMarino and work with @DanMarinoFdtn on their tweets and also their Facebook page. After a few weeks of working with everyone, they were like, come support the Walk. I’m so thrilled to have been able to take part in such a significant and powerful day.

I have all my photos up on Flickr here, but also wanted to share a few below. Stay tuned for my next post about the Team Up For Autism, the second part of this campaign!

If you want to support The Dan Marino Foundation and the amazing work they do, please make a donation. They are trailblazers in supporting kids and families with autism and I can’t say enough about their integrity and passion to this cause.

I still think about Haiti often. Of course there are new world problems every day and it’s easy to forget what is past. One of the greatest gifts we have in today’s world, in my opinion, is that the world is smaller because of innovation in travel and technology. A great tragedy is that means our attentions are often thrown from one direction to the next. From Hurricane Katrina to political upheavel in Egypt.

For the past two years, almost all of the gifts I buy from friends and family support women in developing countries. Often I’ve been there to buy the items in person, but otherwise I look for products through stores or online that will support women.

Heart of Haiti is a collection of one-of-a-kind art made from recycled materials and sold at Macy’s. Macy’s (in partnership with Fairwinds Trading and Brand-Aid) launched the collection in October to help provide opportunities for struggling Haitian artists to earn a sustainable, life-saving income.

Heart of Haiti operates on the concept “Trade, Not Aid.” Rather than assistance from a one-time charity donation it provides on-going economic support. Macy’s created a platform that allows Haitian artists to design beautiful, handmade home decor for public consumption. The proceeds directly benefit the artists and their families, significantly increasing the standard of living for their shattered communities.

In the aftermath of the earthquake, Haitians were left with despair, destruction, and a lack of opportunity. This collection truly is helping the people of Haiti rebuild their lives, enabling them to repair homes, pay school fees, and feed and help their families.

I worked with Macy’s last year on a campaign for their Culinary Council and still have a relationship with them. The team is truly committed to a number of campaigns like this and it’s part of who they are and their DNA. It’s exciting to see companies like Macy’s support women in Haiti. It’s these kind of companies that I love working with because they look to what they do best and work on building partnerships that matter and focus on their key strengths. That’s a win-win.

Quick Facts about Heart of Haiti:

• The Heart of Haiti collection has led to employment of 450 artists in Haiti providing financial benefits for an estimated 4,000 to 5,000 people in the country
• Each item is one-of-a kind, designed and handmade by a Haitian master artisan from raw materials such as recycled oil drums, wrought iron, papier mache and stone.
• The collection showcases 40 different home decor items including quilts, metalwork, ceramics, and paintings. Accessories include vases, candle holders, serving trays, picture frames, mirrors, coasters, necklaces, clutch purses and more.
• Heart of Haiti products are available at 25 Macy’s stores around the country and on Macys.com (Most items fall in the range from $25-$60)

Stay connected! Twitter: @HeartofHaiti and Facebook: Heart of Haiti and Flickr.

I’ve been reading a lot of reports and releases this past week about how corportations performed in 2010 with employee giving. Employee giving, and company matching, is growing every year and it’s a crucial component for many nonprofit development and fundraising departments. Many people call company match programs “free money” in that all you have to do is tell your company that you made a donation and they’ll match it up to a certain percentage or in some cases to 100%.

One company I wanted to highlight in particular is Microsoft. I have friends and colleagues who work there (and also worked with Microsoft Windows Phone 7 myself this past summer) and I’ve always been very impressed by how they talk about the commitment to giving at all levels within the company. That shows in their latest release that employees raised $96 million during 2010 for charity, more than any other year in the company’s history and a 9.2% increase over 2009. A few statistics:

• 62.5 percent of U.S. employees participated in the company’s Giving Campaign
• 34,887 U.S. employees gave either time or money (or both) in 2010
• U.S. employees volunteered 353,541 hours in 2010
• More than 16,000 organizations received donations of time or money from Microsoft’s U.S. employees
• Giving was up $8.1 million over 2009 despite economically challenging times

Source: Microsoft

Microsoft’s commitment to corporate social responsibility is so strong and a part of the DNA of the company. The co-chairs of the 2010 Giving campaign posted a blog post on the Microsoft site discussing what made 2010′s campaign a success.

A few other highlights:

• Employees raised more than $2.76 million for the United Way of King County. That money is helping their new Parent-Child Home Program, which ensures that children from low income, struggling families enter school with an equal chance.
• A smaller organization, Summit Assistant Dogs, received about $118,000 from employees – roughly one-third of their operating budget – enabling them to hire an additional full-time employee and train more dogs for people with disabilities.
• Donations made to Jolkona, a nonprofit organization providing effective ways to channel small-scale gifts to high-impact projects around the world, include enough money to feed 550 children in Uganda for two weeks each, educate 30 girls in Afghanistan, provide 12 artificial limbs in Bangladesh, and save 31 children from diarrhea in India.

What an incredible year for giving at Microsoft. I’m actively looking for other examples of corporate giving and also examples of what makes a strong CSR campaign. If you have any links to share, please leave them in the comments!

I talk a lot about cause-filled living and what it means to incorporate cause into your life everyday. Often when asked why I am the way I am, or why I care so much, I answer that it started small and has grown to be a big part of who I am and that I would be this way no matter where I lived or what I did because it’s who I am on the inside.

Kevin Spacey gives an amazing answer to a question in the video above to “What is the ultimate prize?” While it is from Inside The Actor’s Studio, it rings true for any profession and any ambitions that we have inside of us.

There is no prize out there for how it feels to make others feel good, or to be a good neighbor or a good friend or a global citizen. There might be prizes and accolades. There might be the power of influence. But what it really comes down to is what type of person are you?

Do you help those in need? Do you help yourself and love yourself when you are in need? When you look at your ambitions and what legacy you want to leave, are your motives pure? Are your parents proud of the person you’ve become? Are you proud of the person you’ve become?

It’s never too late to be the person you want to be.

It’s never too late to realize that the true prize of looking around and supporting your peers to be the best they can be. Believe that you have something to give to this world and cultivate that and believe in it.

As a reminder, here is an exercise. Write down on a post-it note a strong and powerful statement about yourself. Next, put that note on a mirror in your house. Every time you look in the mirror you’ll see your reminder to yourself and take a moment to not just see your writing, but to feel it and to become it.

There is no prize out there. There is only the prize within.

Dangling Feet, Kerala; Courtesy of Taylor Davidson on Flickr

Shocking: The floods in Pakistan are affecting more than six times the number of people affected by the Haiti earthquake. I’ve been looking for ways to give back to help Pakistan. Where to give, where to donate, where to direct people and I came across a few great lists and posts, especially one from The Women’s Conference blog. There is a lot of dialogue about why more people haven’t stepped up to help Pakistan, especially this article from the BBC which points to everything from the media portrayal of Pakistan to threats of terrorism. But let’s be honest, people hurting need the help of those who have the ability to help. Those who are displaced have nothing. Think about what hardship they are certainly experiencing and then please consider taking a moment to donate what you can or help spread the word.

The flooding – which has now affected 20 million people, 8 million of whom need urgent aid washed away infrastructure and has since destroyed much of the country’s farming industry – which employs almost half of the country’s workers.

Pakistan needs our help. Here’s a few ways as to how:

UNICEF: 6 million children have been affected by the floods. Help UNICEF provide them with water, food and medical services.

Red Cross: Red Cross is on the ground, providing relief supplies, mobilizing relief workers and providing financial resources to those in need.

Save the Children: Save the Children is rushing essential supplies to children and their families.

Oxfam: Oxfam is providing hygiene, household and clean up kits to families in Pakistan.

Here are two ways to donate via texting:

• Text “swat” to 50555 — this sends a $10 donation to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees that will go toward providing tents, food, clothing, and clean water. (Reply with “yes” to confirm the gift.)
• Text FLOODS to 864233 — this helps get relief DIRECTLY to the CHILDREN of Pakistan by sending a $10 donation to UNICEF.

Find more ways to contribute on Yahoo and also on Tonic.