Day Thirty: Twitter Talk

So, because of this project, I’ve realized the impact the internet has on society.   Information is passed around so quickly!  It’s great!  And the things we can do with it…it is unimaginable!

I’ve tried to do things that are easy to do in your everyday life for this project.  I’m really trying to stress that making a big difference doesn’t have to be something incredibly time-consuming or noticeable.  It’s the little things that can add up to extraordinary things.

So today, I followed someone on Twitter.

Yes, I know how that sounds.  How could following someone on Twitter possibly be beneficial to the local or world community?  Let me explain.

@St0pChildAbuse, the Twitter handle I started following, has vowed to donate 5 cents to Love Our Children USA for every follower they get.  By clicking one button, I’ve helped a child in need.  And my good deed didn’t end there, but we’ll get into that later.

First, I want to tell you about this cause.  You see,

Three million children are victims of violence or neglect.

This number is 3x greater if you add the cases that haven’t been reported yet.

Every 10 seconds child abuse and neglect is reported.

5 children die every day because of abuse or neglect.

Love Our Children USA believes in stopping abuse and neglect by educating parents and creating programs that empower positive changes in things such as family attitudes and bullying prevention.

To sum it up:

“The goal of Love Our Children USA is keeping children safe and strengthening families.”

This is the last sentence of Love Our Children USA’s mission statement.  To learn more about this cause, go to www.loveourchildrenusa.org.



I wanted to get this cause as much help as I could.  So, once I followed @St0pChildAbuse, I made sure to tweet what I had just done.  I told my friends to retweet and follow this cause.  And I also tweeted some big people on Youtube about it.

As I’ve said in previous posts, I love watching Youtube beauty videos.  But we YouTube beauty gurus know that it’s what’s inside that counts.  I knew that if I asked, someone would help me spread the word about this.

Meghanrosette on Youtube has 169,994 subscribers and 32,380 Twitter followers.  And she retweeted my cause!  Think about it this way.  If only half of her Twitter followers follow @St0pChildAbuse, that’s $809.50 right there.  And think about her followers that also retweeted.  And the followers of the ones that retweeted Megan’s followers!

(**Since posted, Alexxandraaxo, with 14,974 Twitter followers, has also retweeted my cause!**)

I know that that’s a confusing mesh of words, but just trust me.  That’s a lot of people.

So get involved and get everyone you know involved too.

 

We can keep ALL children safe. Together.

Day Twenty-Nine: “Just Because” Flowers

I’ve received flowers a lot in my life.  My best guy friend got me flowers for my birthday.  My boyfriend got me one for our one year anniversary.  My dad got me flowers one year before a Christmas concert.

But, I had no idea how hard it was to find flowers at 6 o’clock in evening in the fall!  Wal-Mart doesn’t sell any of the pretty ones anymore.  They only sell the autumn flowers with the intentional brown steams.

Those are pretty if you are trying to decorate your house.  But not good enough when you are trying to buy flowers for someone you care about.

I had no rhyme or reason to get flowers for my grandma today.  I just wanted to make her smile.  So, I tracked down the prettiest flowers I could, bought a vase, and made a beeline for her house.

I sat in her driveway for about five minutes, cutting the flowers to the perfect size and writing her a short, but sweet message.  Then, I sneaked into her house (It’s okay.  I have my grandma’s permission to sneak into her house!) hoping that she would be sleeping.

Turns out she was taking a nap on the couch.  I tried to be sneaky, tiptoeing into the kitchen, but it was no good.  She woke up and caught me red handed!

I inconspicuously walked to the counter with the flowers, making casual small-talk.

“So, who got you flowers?” my grandma asked.  I tried to dodge the question.

“I don’t know.  What are you up to?”

“Trying to sleep.  I have to work tonight.”  My grandma works night shifts, which was part of the reason I tried to be sneaky about getting the flowers inside the house.

“Oh!  Alright,” I said, making my way to her for a hug. “I love you!  Bye!”

At first, I could see that my grandma was kind of confused.  But as I walked out the door, I could see that she had a giant smile on her face as she looked at HER flowers!

Mission accomplished.

Day Twenty-Eight: Cupcakes and Pediatric Cancer

A few weeks ago, I was talking to my manager about random things- college, movies, favorite foods- and he mentioned to me that he loves carrot cake.  So, since today is payday, I decided to make some carrot cake cupcakes with buttercream frosting!

The first step was finding a good carrot cake cupcake recipe.  When it comes to baking, I don’t trust myself without one.  I headed to pinterest.com and within three minutes I had a fairly effortless recipe with easy -to-track-down ingredients.

I went to Wal-Mart, picked up the ingredients, and raced back home.  I love baking!

I had two problems while making these cupcakes.  For one, I needed three cups of grated carrots.  That means me, the most uncoordinated person you’ve ever met, had to sit down and rub carrots back and forth on really sharp cheese grater.  I did, in fact, grate my finger quite a few times.  Luckily, I had Angry Bird Band-Aids!

The next problem I encounter happened when I was ready to do the frosting.  I had all the ingredients, but instead of sixteen ounces of cream cheese, I only had one eight ounce package.  I called up my mom and she told me to just keep going.  The cupcakes would be fine.

And they were!

So, tomorrow, when I go into work to pick up my paycheck, I’ll drop off these cupcakes for my manager and co-workers.  Hopefully, I’ll make someone’s day!  If there is one thing I’ve learned about being a waitress is that your attitude really makes or breaks your night.  You can make some good money in tips if you are in a good mood!

J

The last thing I wanted to mention today was a video about Pediatric Cancer, http://www.causes.com/causes/789392-powering-the-possible/actions/1672930?utm_campaign=browse.   On this link, it is said that “pediatric cancer is the leading cause of disease-related death for children in the U.S. between the ages of 1-14.”  I know that I did a post on children’s cancer awareness earlier this month, but this issue is a big deal!  Watch the video and you will not only become informed about this kind of cancer, but Dell will donate one dollar to a pediatric cancer research center. Currently, $36,457 has been raised.  The goal is $50,000.

It literally takes 2 minutes and five seconds.  That’s it.

Please watch this video.  Every little bit helps.

Day Twenty-Seven: Bag-2-Bag(:

Today, before work, I gathered all of my plastic bags.

Sixty-three.

That’s the number of plastic bags I have at my house.  Why so many?  Yes, they are very useful, but I think any number over fifty is a little excessive.

I left my house fifteen minutes before I usually do and drove to the grocery store.  This particular grocery store has this barrel in the front entrance:

I stuffed all of the plastic bags into this barrel, and headed to work.  That's it.  I didn't even need the whole fifteen minutes I allowed myself for this positive act- it literally took two minutes to make a big difference.

So, you may be asking, what exactly is this barrel for?  Well first, let me introduce you to the company that provides the barrels: Hilex.

Hilex is the leading manufacturer of plastic bags.  Their goal is to set up a practical environmental program and product line to reduce consumers’ carbon footprints while they shop and to preserve natural resources.

To do this, Hilex set up the Bag-2-Bag program.  Plastic bags, retail bags, dry cleaning bags- they all end up in landfills.  Using the Bag-2-Bag program, the bags will go to a recycling plant to be turned into clean, new bags.

“Hilex wants to better utilize our natural resources and protect our environment. Bag-2-Bag® can help reduce waste and litter on our streets, waterways, and beaches.” –A quote from www.hilexpoly.com

Wanna know how it works?  Check this out:

If you are interested in taking two minutes out of your day to make a difference in the enviroment, gather all of your plastic bags and take them to any Bag-2-Bag location. 

This link, http://www.hilexpoly.com/about-us/our-locations, will take you to a list of Hilex locations. However, you not all locations are listed (like my town’s location!).  Also, you can recycle plastic bags in a lot of different places.  I know that JCPenny also has a recycling program.  AND!  You also have the option to reuse plastic bags if you don't want to recylce" them.

Everyone can make smart descions to help the enviroment. 

And if we work together, we can have a pristine environment for the coming generations!