Angelina Jolie on Iraq

“Today’s humanitarian crisis in Iraq–and the potential consequences for our national security–are great. Can the United States afford to gamble that 4 million or more poor and displaced people, in the heart of the Middle East, won’t explode in violent desperation, sending the whole region into further disorder?”

–Angelina Jolie, UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador (excerpt from her “Stay to Help in Iraq” op-ed in the Washington Post)

Soul Influence

“Blessed is the influence of one true, loving human soul on another.”
–George Eliot

1st-in-the-Nation Cabinet Position

“Government can give direction, it can provide an impetus, but real change has to come from each and every one of us. I want to move civic engagement to the highest levels of state government, which is where it belongs. Californians’ desire and will to serve are there in abundance. We must do everything we can to harness this incredible resource.”

–Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, creator of a brand-new Governor’s Cabinet position: Secretary of Service and Volunteering.

Karen Baker, executive director of California Volunteers, is California’s first-ever Secretary of Service and Volunteering.  

What motivates people to give?

Motivation is the subject of this month’s Giving Carnival (hosted by A Small Change).

Check out www.asmallchange.net.

Unsung Givers

“To give without any reward, or any notice, has a special quality of its own.”

–Anne Morrow Lindbergh

 

The Anti-Clot

“This is the true joy of life, the being used up for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clot of ailments and grievances, complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy. I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the community, and as long as I live, it is my privilege to do for it what I can.”

–George Bernard Shaw

(Red)Auction Rakes in $42.6 Mil

Contemporary art collectors–including Queen Noor, Martha Stewart, Anna Wintour and Russell Simmons–showed their love today by bidding $42,584,300 on 82 works donated by artists to Bono and Damien Hirst’s The (Red) Auction at Sotheby’s.

All $ raised will go to the The Global Fund to fight AIDS in Africa.

Jean Love

“Love is, above all, the gift of oneself.”

—Jean Anouilh, French playwright

“Be Mine” with Benefits

Express your love and help Save the Children in poor, rural parts of the U.S.

When you make a donation at SavetheChildren.com, you may download & print a pile of valentines or send someone sweet a personalized e-card.  

Pied Pipers of Preparedness

If Franklin D. Roosevelt were alive and living in the San Francisco Bay Area today, he might say we have nothing to fear but lack of preparation.

Luckily, the Red Cross has an antidote to that fear in the form of its Prepare Bay Area initiative designed to get you—or someone who lives with you—ready for the next big disaster.

“Our goal is to train one person in every household,” says Emily White, Emergency Preparedness Education Manager for the American Red Cross Bay Area(ARCBA). “We have lots of great opportunities for volunteers who want to be trained as Red Cross ambassadors.”

Community preparedness specialist Emerson Chen serves the Red Cross through Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA), the national service program designed to fight poverty in America. 

“I heard about the Peace Corps in college and the cool projects people were doing all over the world, but I thought it would be hard to be away from home for two years,” says Chen. “Then I realized that many problems in each corner of the world also exist in the immigrant and impoverished communities in the U.S.”

Chen focuses on seniors and people with disabilities who “often lack the financial and mobile means to obtain all the disaster supplies recommended to the general population” and “have additional needs such as medication, hearing aids and collapsible canes.”

A med school applicant whose personal disaster kit includes Pop Tarts, chicken noodle soup, hand sanitizer and Mandarin Chinese novels, Chen plans to “work with underserved populations in health care—Latinos, Asians, low-income or people with disabilities. I hope to continue to be a Red Cross volunteer and serve in disaster relief as a medical professional.”

Vallejo Police Chaplain Carolyn Millard works with the Red Cross Ready program and Interchurch Disaster Relief Network to map out the best locations for spontaneous shelters, food and clothing distribution centers.

Millard, who also ministers in various correctional facilities, relishes “seeing the fear of disaster dissipate as we prepare our neighborhoods to be ready themselves and to respond to others in the event of a crisis.”

President of the Youth for Chinese Elderly (YCE) Club at Galileo Academy of Science & Technology, Jessica Sen joined the Red Cross when she moved here from China as an 11th grader.

“Disaster is unpredictable, especially earthquakes,” says Sen. “I like helping others get ready, particularly the vulnerable and monolingual elderly group. I’m glad that I can use my skills [in first aid, disaster preparedness, Cantonese and Mandarin] to serve the Asian community.”

Hoping to be the first in her family to attend college, Sen believes that volunteering makes teens more responsible, thoughtful and prepared for the future. “Teenagers are in a transition between childhood and adulthood. We need to find ourselves on the right path,” says Sen, who lives with her grandmother and works a part-time job.

“Spending time on meaningful volunteer activities is better than computer games.,” says Sen. “Fun volunteer events can fill the emptiness of teens and give them self-satisfaction and confidence. Volunteering presents a vision of our community–it helps us to be involved and to develop our citizenship.”

Insurance agent Maria Rivas, who is bilingual in English and Spanish, shares Sen’s sense of civic responsibility. As an AmericaCorps volunteer for the Red Cross, Rivas has driven countless miles to schools and churches to teach first aid, CPR and emergency preparedness.

“People should commit to volunteer and help take the message of emergency preparedness to their families, neighbors and co-workers,” says Rivas. “There are still a lot of people out there that need to hear that they need to start preparing today. It’s sad to say, but many of them do not have the slightest idea where to begin.”

Business continuity expert Patty Peper teaches companies to begin with their employees. “Well-prepared employees are much more likely to be available to fulfill their workplace roles in disaster response and recovery than ill-prepared ones,” says Peper, whose Red Cross employee preparedness classes are offered at no cost to Bay Area businesses. “Promoting employees’ personal preparedness strengthens overall community preparedness, which in turn lessens a disaster’s impact on business recovery.” 

“It’s one thing to increase awareness of the risks all of us living in the Bay Area face from disasters—earthquakes, wildfires, floods or even tsunami,” says Peper. “But the real satisfaction lies in empowering people with the realization that they can take concrete steps to protect themselves, their loved ones and their communities and to speed recovery from even the most devastating disaster.”

–Laura Svienty