Unicef works worldwide to provide children with basic needs - clean water, food, an education, etc. Every year, Unicef encourages kids to collect change while trick-or-treating and donate it to help kids around the world.

They've also set up a page where you can create an online fundraising page to "trick-or-treat" those you won't see on Halloween - and this year they've set up functions to "trick-or-treat" on MySpace and Facebook.

While I realize it's still early for Halloween, I wanted to give those interested plenty of time to order boxes should they want to.

For more information or to order boxes, visit http://youth.unicefusa.org/trickortreat/

From their website:

"Knitting a hat for a newborn baby can help save its life. Telling politicians to do their bit could save the lives of millions of newborns each year.

A newborn baby can't regulate its own body temperature. It loses lots of vital body heat through its head which make it more prone to pneumonia - a disease which still kills around 2 million children each year.

Your hat can help us save a life
When you knit a hat and send it to us at Save the Children, we'll send your hat to mothers and babies in developing countries who desperately need your help.

Your voice can help us save millions
Your hat can help to save a baby's life. But these babies need more than just hats - they need you to speak up for them.

We're asking everyone who knits a hat to pin a short message to it. Tell politicians that enough is enough. If they don't act now, millions of children will continue to die needlessly every year.

We've designed a card for you to fill in which you can find on the back page of the knit kit. We'll make sure your message reaches Gordon Brown. You tell him why he must act today to save newborn lives around the world.

Why not recycle your knit kit by passing it on to friends and family? Don't forget to download cards for them to complete and attach to their hats.

Send your hat and message to:
Save the Children
1 St John's Lane,
London EC1M 4AR"

Their website, with links to the "Knit Kit" can be found here: http://www.savethechildren.org.uk/en/5072.htm

All hats must be recieved before the campaign ends on October 21st!

Sometimes, doing good is not about donating time and money. Sometimes it's about providing inspiration and awareness.

With this in mind, Ford Vehicles launched a "Virtual Quilt" as part of their Warriors in Pink site. Visitors can browse the quilt or make their own patch to add. I was scrolling through this morning and it's a beautiful tribute to lives touched by breast cancer.

The quilt can be found here: http://www.fordvehicles.com/warriorsinpink/quilt/

There is also a Warriors in Pink store. 100% of the proceeds go to Susan G. Komen for the Cure. http://www.shopwarriorsinpink.com/default.cfm?fuse=home

I am a Campus Rep for TOMS shoes this semester and I am really excited to spread the word about TOMS!

The idea of TOMS Shoes came about in 2006 when founder Blake Mycoskie befriended the children of an Argentine village and found that they had no shoes to protect their feet. Seeing their cuts and sores and wanting to help them, he imagined a company that would match every pair of shoes sold with a pair given to a child in need.

Upon his return, he launched TOMS Shoes: Shoes for Tomorrow.

Within a year, he went back to that same village in Argentina with 10,000 pairs of shoes to match purchases from caring TOMS customers. Since then, TOMS has hand-delivered an additional 50,000 pairs of shoes to children in South Africa.

For every pair you purchase, TOMS will give a pair to a child in need.

Here’s a video that explains everything straight from Blake’s mouth!



Visit http://www.tomsshoes.com/ to purchase a pair of shoes (or a shirt or hat) online or to find a retailer near you!

If you're a US citizen, you're at least 18 years old and you haven't yet registered to vote, you need to do so soon.

The registration deadline to vote in the upcoming election is as early as October 5 in some states.

Remember, if you've moved since the last election, you need to re-register with your new address in most states.

To register, visit http://www.beavoter.org/congressorg/election/register_vote/ and click on your state.

Responding to the Hunger Challenge we told you about earlier, Tyson Foods has agreed to donated 100 lbs of high-quality protein to Bay Area Food Banks for every comment on their special website, up to 200,000 lbs.

This is an extremely important opportunity for the food banks - high quality proteins are often the harded donations to come by, and expensive to purchase.

Currently, there are less than 1,000 comments on the webpage - and Tyson needs at least 2,000 for the max donation. Take two minutes this weekend and leave a comment on the webpage linked below - Tyson will count even a one-word comment. One comment per person - an email address is needed to verify.

http://hungerrelief.tyson.com/blog/2008/9/25/hunger_in_the_bay_area___and_.aspx

Is 2 minutes of your time worth 100 lbs of food for hungry people? We hope so.

Drop by Cold Stone Creamery tonight for some awesome ice cream, and to help out an awesome cause.

Original post is here: http://community.livejournal.com/foragoodworld/32738.html

Promote public education and much needed awareness of the deadliest form of Gynecologic Cancer called Ovarian Cancer.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PRLog (Press Release) – Aug 27, 2008 – Teal Tuesday, September 23rd, 2008. National Ovarian Cancer Awareness Day.

Khrissy Lupinacci from LI OCEANS Inc (Long Island Ovarian Cancer Education Advocacy Network & Support) launches a Nationwide Public Awareness Campaign calling September 23rd, the 3rd Tuesday of September “ Teal Tuesday”. Our goal is to promote public education and much needed awareness of the deadliest form of Gynecologic Cancer called Ovarian Cancer. Ovarian Cancer claims the lives of over 22,000 women each year, this year alone over 15,000 women will be diagnosed with this deadly disease.

Khrissy Lupinacci (a 6 year survivor of Ovarian Cancer and one of the founding members of LI OCEANS Inc) said, “September is National Ovarian Cancer Awareness month.” “ It is our hope that “ Teal Tuesday ” inspires millions of people to adopt this day to raise awareness of this deadly disease. “ We are in need of soldiers, it will take an army to fight this fight against Ovarian Cancer “ said Khrissy. “ We are in need of heros” our greatest asset in this fight against ovarian cancer is our caring and compassionate community at large.” We hope that individuals, busineses and corporations join us in our plight to save lives. “We ask for national and local partnerships to help execute this initiative and support this campaign, making the 3rd Tuesday of September “ Teal Tuesday”. We hope this campaign inspires individuals to join us in our fight and encourages grassroots activities within their own communities to “ think teal, talk teal, wear teal, save lives!

Saving lives, each and everyone of us has the power to save lives, to date there is not an effective nor 100 % accurate early detection test for Ovarian Cancer. We know that early detection can save lives, however, with the lack of an early screening test and lack of Ovarian Cancer Awareness, we are left with but one vital tool, our voice. Together we can educate one another and create much needed awareness. A Pap test does not detect Ovarian Cancer. You don’t need to be personally affected by Ovarian Cancer to help in the fight to educate, advocate and create awareness, you simply need to care. Educate yourself about the signs and symptons of Ovarian Cancer, call or visit your local or National Ovarian Cancer organization, arm yourself with education and awareness of the signs, symptoms and risk factors of the disease, spread the news.

Sadly the majority, 75 percent of women are diagnosed in the later stages of Ovarian Cancer; the five –year survival is only 30 percent.
LI OCEANS INC believes one is too many; we must educate and advocate so to eradicate this deadly disease. Please join us in saving lives.

We ask locally and nationally that others join us in our plight to create much needed awareness of this ruthless and relentless killer of women. On Tuesday September 23rd, please wear teal! Wear teal in honor of the thousands of beautiful women that are battling the disease, wear teal in memory of the precious lives of those who have lost their battle to this disease. Wear Teal to help raise public awareness of the often overlooked and unrecognized signs and symptoms of this disease. Wear Teal because you care about the thousands of Grandmothers, Mothers, Sisters and Daughters that will be diagnosed with Ovarian Cancer this year. Wear teal for the 22,000 women that will die from Ovarian Cancer this year. Wear teal, help save lives.

Teal Tuesday, the initiative to launch a national public awareness campaign to save hundreds, thousands of women from Ovarian Cancer. On
September 23rd, Teal Tuesday please wear teal; tie teal ribbons or teal balloons within your community, place of business, office or front lawn. Encourage hospitals, businesses, companies, schools, churches, synagogues, restaurants, stores, corporations, government offices, employees and co-workers to wear teal. Contact newspapers, radio, and television. Encourage Members of Congress to participate & adopt this as an annual campaign. “ Our goal is that every woman is educated and made aware of the signs, symptoms and risk factors of Ovarian Cancer.” Said, Khrissy Lupinacci.
# # #

Long Island Ovarian Cancer Education Advocacy Network & Support. Ovarian & Gynecologic Cancer Organization. Not for Profit, volunteer run. New York.

If you wear teal tomorrow, take a picture and post it in the comments below.

Take the Hunger Challenge - Starts Sept. 21!
We love our food in San Francisco - but there are thousands of people going hungry every day in this city. The average family living on food stamps has just $1 per person to spend on each meal. Want to help? Here's how:

Participate: Try spending just $3 per day on food or $21 a week, per person. Try it for a week or for just a meal - then write about your experiences.
Create: Post a recipe that costs $1 per person and share it with the Food Bank to benefit our local community.
Donate: Contribute to the Food Bank. Consider contributing the amount of cash you saved by spending only $21 on food for the week. For every $1 donated, the San Francisco Food Bank can provide $9 worth of food to the hungry.
Advocate: Get your readers to take the challenge, too - and urge them to contact their elected officials about hunger issues.
Fill a Plate: Join your fellow bloggers for a volunteer evening at the Food Bank, so you can help put more food on people's plates.

From http://hungerchallenge.blogspot.com/

Donations in name of the Blogger Hunger Challenge can be made here: https://www.memberconnections.com/olc/pub/LSFB/onlinegiving/showGivingForm.jsp?form_id=1673