Awesome actions for this week

One thing I love writing about is that we all have the power to take action in making the world a better place.

Every year Mike and I take a two week vacation. Usually it is planned around visiting one of our parents (two if we're lucky). The past couple of summers we have been able to spend awesome time with all of our parents, and this year we decided to prioritize us and our marriage and are headed to southern California for food and beach.

As we count down the days before we leave, I wanted to share some ideas of how we can all be a voice for the voiceless this week. Some of these ideas are repeats and others are fresh from that turning wheel in my head!

Meatless Monday! Celebrate it! Tell friends who are not vegan or veg all about it and offer them ways (or meal invites!) to enjoy the day.

Walk a dog at a shelter. Yep, no matter what their tomorrow looks like, you can brighten their today with a nice walk and maybe some cuddling.

Play time with a cat in a shelter. Same idea as with the dog minus the walk.

Send a note to your favorite charity with a $25 donation. Tell them why you love them and why you are donating. This will have a huge ripple affect with those who work there. I promise it.

Have a quiet date night with your beloved. Or your best friend. As voices for the voiceless, we have to take care of ourselves.

Write an email to a politician who represents you on any level or your local police chief. Tell them what you think about animal cruelty or anything else important to you. I add the police chief because in Colorado several family dogs have been shot by police and I want our chief to know that we would like his employees to have better training and high expectations.

These are just a start and I hope you have time to do at least one.

With all of us doing actions like these we can rock the world!

Thanks for reading!

Make a February donation

Being gay and vegan, we have several different kinds of non-profits that we donate money to. Some are making the world a better place for animals, some for LGBTQ folk, and some for people with HIV or AIDS. All of them love getting donations in February.

Most non-profits get tons of donations in the last couple of months of the year. This make sense for people giving money, as they are feeling a little more generous and/or making donations for tax purposes. For the groups making the world a better place for all living beings, a donation in December is great. The same donation earlier in the year, when giving is low and needs remain the same (and for most groups we support the need is always rising), means even more.

As much as we try to be a voice for the voiceless every day, and as many actions as we might take to support animals being tortured and humans being discriminated against, there are many groups out there that are rocking it for the voiceless. Some of them are linked from our blog. Check them out. Look to see if it might be a convenient time to donate to one of these groups, or a group local to you making a difference.

Then donate. Give them the much needed funds they need to continue to rock it for the voiceless.

And don't think for a second that your donation of $10 or $25 is too small to make a difference. It all adds up, and every donation is important to the organizations out there making the world a better place for all living beings.

Give to those who are making change

My day job is as a fundraiser. I was born to fundraise. I love it. This month I have been working on my yearend campaign, asking people to consider making a financial gift before the end of the year.

As you know, there are hundreds of amazing groups out there making a difference for animals, for the poor, for those persecuted, for the environment, etc.

They ALL rely on people like us to continue their amazing work.

It isn't cheap to do an undercover investigation.

Or to run a soup kitchen.

Or to feed hundreds of animals in a sanctuary or shelter.

You get the idea.

Organizations all over will be sending our year end appeals asking for a donation. Every bit helps, believe me.

Will you join Mike and I in helping these great organizations by sending them or check or going to their website and making an online donation?

There are a lot to choose from, both nationally and in your own area. Check them out. Talk about it as a family. If you have any questions about how your money will spent, give the organization a call.

You can make a difference.

Thanks for reading. And we would love to know who you are donating to! In future posts we will highlight some of the groups we'll be donating to. If you have a Facebook account, you can click to our account from our main page here to see a list of groups we have donated to.