DISQUS

Christopher S. Penn's Awaken Your Superhero: Happy Valentine’s Day!

  • susanreynolds · 1 year ago
    One of the newest charitable funds many of you have never heard about is the Frozen Pea Fund. http://frozenpeafund.com

    Set up over a few days in Late December 2007 with the help of the American Cancer Society, it came into being after my friend Connie Reece learned that I not only had invasive breast cancer and had used frozen peas as an ice pack during my biopsy, but my mastectomy was scheduled the same week that I saw the surgeon.

    This cancer was scary and it was fast. So that's how Connie worked to set up the fund, with a widget provided by the ACS that whisks the online donation into their account without us needing to waste moments on counting dollars when we could be talking about cancer and spreading the word.

    This week we received our first corporate donor when ooVoo selected the Frozen Pea Fund to benefit from "my ooVoo day with . ." based on the community focus of our effort. Lest you be misled though, our average contribution is very small time something like $30 average, in keeping with our grassroots beginning where participants were asked to donate five dollars each Friday, this number representing about the cost of two packs of frozen peas.

    If you're thinking of doing something simple that would make a huge difference I can guarantee that your gift through us will keep us encouraged to make the http://frozenpeafund.com the new kind of community sharing project that it can be,

    A click to donate button is on the page to make it painless to reach out and share. Please know how much we appreciate your considering us.
  • Geoff Manning · 1 year ago
    Great thought Chris, now if you could explain this to my wife ;)

    Here is a charity that my wife and I contribute to. It is the Boys and Girls Club of Brockton. They do not accept donations through their website (I am working with them to fix that).

    Here is the link to the main site:
    http://www.bgcbrockton.org/

    And a link to the page with the donation info:
    http://www.bgcbrockton.org/main.asp?id=3
  • Whitney Hoffman · 1 year ago
    Thanks for this post, Chris! I am raising money for a school for autistic children in China-

    http://ldpodcast.chipin.com/ma-chen-autism-scho...

    Thanks for the opportunity to post this here, and I hope people will consider giving. At the end of the month, we'll make our first wire to Ma Chen, and we'll close out the whole campaign in 60 days. Any and all money goes directly to Ma Chen- I pay all transfer fees and costs!

    Whitney
  • Doug Haslam · 1 year ago
    What a great idea Chris!
    I am starting to raise money for the Jimmy Fund as I prepare to ride the Pan Mass Challenge this fall. You can pledge to me here:
    http://www.pmc.org/egifts/giftinfo.asp?EgiftID=DH0159

    Or "Chipin" at DougHaslam.com

    Thanks!
  • Ann Handley · 1 year ago
    I dunno -- I kinda like Valentine's Day. Not because I have trouble remembering to show love the rest of the year and not because I expect overpriced roses.. because I don't... but because it's a nice opp to be a little more mindful and act a little silly. Plus, kids dig it... and I'm a soft touch for my kids. It's not about the money -- it's about attitude.

    That said, I do like the idea of spreading the love to our communities and to the greater good, especially to the organizations we care about. But I see that sort of thing as in addition to.. not instead of. I mean, if I don't have a cheesy heart card for my little girl, well... it won't be pretty. (lol...)
  • John Wall · 1 year ago
    Yes, a letter or a card can go just as far (or even much farther) than some flowers that were $50 less last week and will be $50 less next week...

    My favorite Boston charity is the Franciscan Hospital for Children, the accept donations on their site:
    http://www.franciscanhospital.org
  • Sarah Vela · 1 year ago
    Another wonderful thing to do for Valentine's Day is to donate blood -- doesn't cost you a penny, comes straight from the heart. You and your sweetie can go together!

    Charities I love:
    Amnesty International www.amnesty.org
    Doctors Without Borders www.msf.org
    Oxfam America www.oxfamamerica.org
    Partners In Health www.pih.org
    Heifer International www.heifer.org
  • Beth Kanter · 1 year ago
    Here's mine: http://www.sharingfoundation.org

    But I did a round up of charities doing special V-Day's campaigns - there's many ways to say I Love You with a gift to charity
    http://beth.typepad.com/beths_blog/2008/02/the-...

    You've got to love the mating ring tones that support environmental groups.
  • Sean · 1 year ago
    Good post, Chris.

    John, I also donate to the Fransiscan Children Hostipital. Never checked out their website though.
  • Ben G · 1 year ago
    Cool ideas!

    I love the concept of subverting the consumeristic tendancies of our culture and instead donating to mission driven organizations...excellent!

    This is an extremely worthy local organization providing support and wellness programs for people with cancer, their caregivers and health care professionals:

    http://www.centerforcancer.org