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The GoodLetter Thursday, December 26, 2002
GoodThings, Inc. :: Stories, actions, ideas, and greeting cards that connect us.
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This Week's Feature
FAVORITE GOODTHINGS 2002: An Encore (Part 1)
by the GoodThings Team
With the announcement of our annual list of ideas, actions, and organizations creating a better world, we offer a much-needed reminder of all the inspiring "goodthings" that happened during a tumultuous 2002.
Note: Our Favorite GoodThings 2002 honorees were originally announced as a list of twenty in the December 12, 2002 GoodLetter. The following are the first ten honorees on the list, along with the descriptions that currently appear on the GoodThings Web site at www.goodthings.com/2002favorites
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Dear GoodLetter readers,
Did you miss the announcement in our December 12 GoodLetter of the Favorite GoodThings 2002 honorees? Thanks to all of you who sent in your nominations for our second annual campaign. Thanks also to those of you who have already clicked through to our Web site to learn more about this year's honorees. We hope you'll consider getting involved with or lending your support to these ideas, actions, and organizations that are helping to make a better world. We think the Favorite GoodThings 2002 list is chock full this year of worthy honorees, each representing an issue or an idea that we hold dear and that we believe reflects not only the spirit of GoodThings and The GoodLetter but also humanity at its best.
Check out the first 10 Favorite GoodThings 2002 categories, honorees, and descriptions below (we'll publish the second ten next week), and be sure to click the links to Web resources on each of them. You can also visit our Web site to see them all at once, all in one place: www.goodthings.com/2002favorites
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Favorite Way to Make Waves
Oceana
The world's oceans -- with their mystery and majesty -- capture our collective imagination as few other things can. But in a year when stories of overfishing and a massive oil spill off of the coast of Spain reminded us of the fragility of the oceans and the threatened wildlife their waters support, it's refreshing to remember the groups working tirelessly to increase awareness of the issues facing the oceans and what's being done to protect them. Oceana, a new and multi-faceted non-profit organization, offers ways to engage people in the effort to keep the oceans healthy. The group's Web site uses personal testimonials, uplifting success stories, and interactive tools to make people of all degrees of dampness passionate about becoming ocean stewards.
:: Learn more about Oceana
Favorite Glimpses of Hope
The Promises Film Project
Seeds of Peace
The eyes of the world are forever on the Middle East. And while most of us are pondering how the region's volatility will affect our own lives, some of us are actually try to bring an end to it. The producers behind the Promises Project followed seven teenagers on both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and were able to illustrate in a powerful, award-winning film the common bonds between these youth whom history would have become mortal enemies. Similarly, a humble summer camp in the woods of Maine has brought children from opposite sides of the world's intractable conflicts together in a supportive, nurturing context to help them realize the human possibilities afforded by peace. Seeds of Peace -- like the Promises Film Project -- celebrates the triumph of people over politics.
:: Learn more about the Promises Project
:: Learn more about Seeds of Peace
[more]
[still more]
Favorite Grassroots Poverty Solution
Women's Bean Project
This year, we learned about this inspiring non-profit business based in Denver, Colorado, that since 1989 has helped empower women who lack education, job skills, and the support to break the cycle of poverty. Women in the program are responsible for all aspects of the production of a line of gourmet soups and unique gift baskets featuring the work of Indonesian women. Project participants also run a successful catering business. Like other grassroots poverty eradication projects throughout the world, Denver's Women's Bean Project gives the women it helps a new lease on life. It distinguishes itself by fostering global connections that make the world feel smaller.
:: Learn more about the Women's Bean Project
Favorite Inspiration Behind a Cause
Women of Means
Everywhere, homelessness ravages families, affecting the lives of innocent children in tragic ways. In many cases, parents have jobs but simply don't earn enough to afford housing and medical care. Boston's Women of Means is the extraordinary brainchild of physician Dr. Roseanna Means. The group offers free medical care to homeless women in an effort to provide a much-needed boost toward self-sufficiency.
In July of this year, GoodThings published a GoodLetter about Women of Means. In response to the piece, we heard from reader Celeste Wilson who described how inspired she'd been by the organization's mission. She shared her plans to develop a new non-profit in the Denver area. The so-called Box Foundation collects new items to be distributed to the homeless, encouraging people to fill boxes with the extras -- the tubes of toothpaste, the bars of soaps, the t-shirts -- in their lives to share with those less fortunate. We will follow the progress the Box Foundation and wish Celeste the best of luck.
:: Learn more about Women of Means
[more]
[still more]
Favorite Beacon in the Smog
Grist Magazine
Grist bills itself as "gloom and doom with a sense of humor." This acclaimed environmental e-magazine has also been called a "beacon in the smog" (hence, this category), reporting a wide range of environmental news and features coverage with the kind of wit that makes it impossible for even an environmental skeptic to zone out. The Daily Grist e-mail reaches loyal subscribers around the world and is the flagship publication of a site that prides itself on its objective independence. Earlier this year, the magazine's subscribers proved their love during a successful, first-ever pledge drive. Grist helps people who care about the planet learn not to take themselves quite so seriously.
:: Learn more about Grist Magazine
Favorite Way to Raise Awareness
AIDSchannel
AIDSchannel rises above the monumental clinical challenges posed by the AIDS pandemic and presents it as an issue faced by real human beings around the world every day. Based in London and part of the OneWorld.net online network, AIDSchannel is rich with stories about how the crisis is being addressed through educational and cultural channels that humanize the forgotten millions struggled with the disease. AIDSchannel promotes action-oriented projects that are going on throughout the world to increase awareness of the battle against HIV/AIDS. Significantly, the Web portal keeps a strong focus on the front lines in Africa.
:: Learn more about AIDSchannel
Favorite World View
OneWorld.net
OneWorld.net is the parent Web site to AIDSchannel, but it's too good and too important on its own not to recognize it as one of this year's favorite. OneWorld occupies the recurring "Favorite World View" category perfectly: it provides information on the Internet in at least nine languages and in major social justice subject areas. In addition to HIV/AIDS issues, it covers developing-world debt relief and global education concerns, as well as efforts to bridge widening international technological gaps and broaden the horizons of children. OneWorld.net is a remarkable, topical resource for people who are looking for ways to become a part of campaigns to raise human voices against the world's injustice.
:: Learn more about OneWorld.net
Favorite Peace Effort
War Child
Fueled by the alarming statistics on the number of innocent children killed or injured in the wars raging in the world (as many as four million in the past decade alone), War Child was formed in 1993 by two filmmakers who were bewildered by the devastation they had witnessed in the former Yugoslavia and set out by sheer force of will to provide humanitarian aid. Since then, the organization has mobilized other grassroots aid efforts in war-torn areas throughout the globe to feed, clothe, teach, and treat children whose lives are brutally changed by acts of war. With offices in the UK, Canada, and the Netherlands, War Child taps resources in the entertainment community to lend creativity to its efforts to change the lives of children.
:: Learn more about War Child
Favorite Celebration of Democracy
The Orion Society's New Patriotism Book Series
Since when did patriotism refer only to ardent nationalism and flag-waving? The writers featured in this collection of essays published by the non-profit Orion Society reminded us in compelling ways that love for one's country is so more than ideology. The truest American patriots, Terry Tempest Williams, Barry Lopez, Richard Nelson, and Wendell Berry contend, are those who love and defend the land itself. Divisive symbols mean nothing to them, only a 'profound love for the earth underfoot.' In a year when civil liberties were put at risk and anti-American fervor was palpable, the New Patriotism series helped bring the flag back down to Earth.
:: Learn more about the Orion Society's New Patriotism book series
Favorite Recipe for Fighting Hunger
World Hunger Year
For over a quarter of a century, the New York-based World Hunger Year has been a dedicated leader in the fight against hunger. WHY invests in self-reliance and supports US and international programs that improve access to jobs, education, health care, agricultural, and entrepreneurial opportunities for those most at risk for hunger. WHY uses its contacts in the realms of government, media, and humanitarian assistance to bolster on-the-ground grassroots programs. WHY's annual Hungerthons bring hunger and poverty issues to the attention of six million people a year. The group was co-founded by late folksinger and activist Harry Chapin, who once issued the call: "The question is not 'Is the world changing?' but rather 'Who is changing it?'"
:: Learn more about World Hunger Year
[more]
Again, look for the full descriptions of the remaining ten Favorite GoodThings 2002 honorees in next week's GoodLetter. Thanks again for making The GoodLetter one of your personal Favorite GoodThings for 2002.
Peace,
:: GOODTHINGS
Seattle, Washington USA
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TALK ABOUT IT
Thoughts on the Favorite GoodThings 2002 honorees? Which ones inspire you the most? Of course, many ideas, actions, and organizations didn't make this year's list. Which positive pacesetters would you nominate for next year? E-mail us at editor@goodthings.com --
don't forget to tell us your name, where you're from, and if we can use your words in a future GoodLetter or on our Web
site.)
LEARN MORE ABOUT IT
:: Each of the Favorite GoodThings 2002 honorees is helping change the world. Please remember to click the links above to get information about what they're all doing and how you can get involved.
DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT
:: Please support our Favorite GoodThings 2002 honorees this holiday season and into a positive and constructive 2003!
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