I will work from a center that is loving, forgiving and grateful. I will focus on being mindful of others. I will be generous with what I give and not be concerned with what I get in return.

I may fall short from time to time, my thoughts and behavior may not always be the shining example of what I want to be, but falling short is not a reason to quit. I will not change my self-image because of a few bad thoughts or actions. But I will challenge myself everyday to grow above pettiness and small mindedness to become a better person. When I shoot for the stars and only hit the moon I am still on the right track. Today I choose to shoot for the stars!

The best cause blogs are ones that consistently demonstrate gratitude.  While the authors give without expectation as John describes above, these blogs are often some of the most popular.  You’ll see more blog comments, more Facebook and Twitter followers and more traffic to these blogs.  It’s easy to see why with the following example.

Each month the bloggers at Heroes for Children, a group that helps families of children with cancer, recognizes a volunteer of the month.  But that’s just the beginning.

In a recent post titled Cancer Can’t Stop a Child (My experience at cancer camp) co-founder Jenny Scott said,

For the past six summers, I have been blessed to participate in Camp Discovery, a camp for kids with cancer ages 7-16….Just because these kids are cancer patients does not mean that they don’t have a blast. When I tell people I go to cancer camp, I often hear “oh, how sad.” No, not sad at all….I love Camp Discovery. It’s become a part of me, of who I am. The people have become my family. I have a t-shirt that says, “Until cancer is cured….There’s camp.” I’m so grateful for Camp Discovery and the week I spend with the volunteers and campers each summer.

In fact many of the posts include the words thank you! They thank their volunteers, fundraisers, donors, families, businesses, you name it.  You can tell that they are grateful to be able to serve the many children and families who need assistance.

This latest report from the field:

We continue to asses the structrual damage that the hospital suffered, and in the next few days will be opening the hospital grounds to serve as a triage and treatment center in conjunction with other aid groups.

I emailed ICC directly to find out how to help:

Sandra,

Thank you for writing. We appreciate your support and prayers!

At this time, financial donations are most urgently needed, as shipping items to Haiti requires logistical efforts that are impossible at this time. We will be using the funds to offer immediate relief as well as to help with needed repairs at the hospital. In the next few days, we hope to be able to offer the facility to be used for the relief efforts. We will keep you updated on our website as much as possible! If, in the future, opportunities come up to collect items for the hospital or other relief efforts, we will let you know.

Thank you!

Ann Simmons
Communications & Development Coordinator
International Child Care, USA
3506 Lovers Lane, Suite 8
Kalamazoo, MI 49001
(269) 382-9960
(800) 722-4453

So like most natural disasters the best thing to do is to donate money and/or organize local fundraisers to raise funds rather than try to do supply collections.  Here’s a Donor’s Guide to Global Emergencies from Joanne Fritz, Nonprofit About.com Guide (on Twitter @joannefritz .)

Visit the ICC & Grace Childrens Hospital Website

Here’s a video news segment from local TV

Other organizations that were already in Haiti mobilized immediately to help:

@redcross @MSF_USA @PIH_org @oxfam @oxfamamerica

The Health Care for America blog is advocating its position on the healthcare debate.  With the news on this issue changing every day, or every hour even, the authors are posting several times a day.  The fast and easy web publishing medium of blogging makes this possible.

For example, they were able to post a link to the Senate bill with commentary nearly as soon as it was released.  They’re also posting daily roundups of articles in the news, photos, and videos.

You can see that many of the posts are short and very tightly focused on one narrow aspect of this broad topic.  With blogging you don’t have to be long winded or overly concerned about scholarly writing!  Your writing can be quick, conversational and to the point.  When time is of the essence blogs get information and calls to action out fast.

Zane Safrit is a fellow blogger that often writes about health care.  (Here’s a link to many of his healthcare posts.)

Via Zane’s Twitter stream I found this link to a New York Times article.  It reports that Millions With Chronic Disease Get Little to No Treatment because they are among the nation’s growing ranks of uninsured.

I also recently discovered another passionate blogger who’s right in the heart of helping the uninsured. Brenda Hook works at Good Samaritan Clinic in Fort Smith, Arkansas and writes about providing health care for the uninsured on The Samaritan’s Blog.

I’m really excited about learning more from Brenda.  While I know about the health care problem and have had some limited experience with it, she has a lot of direct experience.  Take yesterday’s post for example.  She explains why most unemployed people do not have COBRA.  I have gone through a layoff where the COBRA was totally unaffordable.  Thankfully it was a short period of unemployment and I didn’t get sick.  But I imagine the thousands of families, especially those with chronic conditions, who go unemployed for months, what a stress that would be.

Many of the events were small networking parties, bringing together people who normally only correspond via the web, specifically the microblogging site Twitter.  I was not able to attend any of the live events, as the closest one to me was two hours away.  But I did participate by making a small donation via the TipJoy online donation system.

(Not familiar with Twitter? Marc Pitman has a great introduction, Twitter for Nonprofits and Fundraising.  If you’re a member, or become one, follow me: @sandrasims)

Here’s a few links to the headlines that this event generated:

Twestival Raises Over $250K and Counting Amanda Rose (@Amanda), the global organizer of Twestival, discusses the results of the fundraiser and next steps.

Toronto Twestival had a rocky start planning, but on event night there were over 450 attendees and raised over $10,000 for charity: water.

L.A.’s Twestival bring hipsters, websters and Tay Zonday Los Angeles Times reports on that city’s event (@twestival_LA)

Twestival-goers meet face-to-face BBC Scotland reports on Edinburgh’s Twestival (@EdTwestival) which attracted about 250 people for live music and socializing, raising over $3500.

London Twestival: Wigs, beer and hotpants at a very real world meet-up the Guardian (@guardiannews) reports on London event

More: View entries tagged twestival via Tweetag or search for Twestival pages on Twitter.

Did you participate in the Twestival?  I’d love to hear your take on it.  Post your comments below.

Kivi Leroux Miller interviewed Liliana Vazquez, Interplast’s Communications and Technology Coordinator, about their blog.  She shares what their goals are with blogging, how they get people to write posts and handle comments.  You can read that interview here: Nonprofit Blogger Q&A with One of My Favorites.

Did you know that…

in the United States:

• Nearly half of all AIDS cases in the U.S. involve people 13 to 24 years of age.
• More than 250,000 are estimated to be HIV positive and not know it.
• And more than 1 million are estimated to be living with AIDS.

around the world:

• There are an estimated 33 million people with AIDS worldwide.
• In 2007, HIV/AIDS killed 2.2 million people
• 8,000 people die every day in Africa from three preventable and treatable diseases- AIDS, malaria and TB.

there are reasons for hope:

• Antiretroviral medication to treat people living with HIV/AIDS costs as little as $140 per patient per year, down from nearly $10,000 a year less than 10 years ago.
• Organizations such as ONE and world aids campaign continue to keep this issue top of mind with the public and governments, in order to advance research, treatment and prevention.