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Help From Home Newsletter - May 2010

Gadget Cycle - Gadget Cycle allows you to offer your unwanted gadgets for free, or swap them for something you do want.

Hugs4Hope - Hugs4Hope are a group of crafters that knit, crochet, or sew baby items for preemie and newborn babies, providing hand made items for babies in need in New York, US.

idealist.org - Idealist is building a world where all people can lead free and dignified lives. Unfortunately, sometimes the organizations on their site lose contact with their accounts. Volunteers are required to contact these organizations and remind them about their idealist.org profiles.

TerraCycle - Terracycle recycles the trash you Freepost them and makes products out of them. They will donate a small amount of money to a non-profit organisation or school of your choice for every bit of rubbish they receive. When we mean trash, we literally mean trash. See for yourself!

Lace Campaign - The LACE Campaign is about reminding women to take care of themselves and their health, which includes getting a regular Pap test. Blog, Flikr, Facebook - basically just spread the word!

Needy Stitches - Knit, crochet, sew rugs, beanies, scarves, babies jumpers, bootees, beanies, and toys. All go to benefit the needy, homeless, children etc.

Give A Car - Giveacar.co.uk is not-for-profit company that raises money for charities by accepting donations of unwanted cars from anywhere in the UK. Will collect from your own house!

SITES OMITTED

APS@Home

Charity-Mail

The Web Survey List

Cubs for Kids

Ghosts of Burton

All sites omitted because they have either closed down or are no longer operational.

FEATURED VOLUNTEER ACTION

All Crafts for Charity

All Crafts for Charity was created in the 1990’s by Shelley McCoy as a way to facilitate volunteering to charitable organizations around the world. It is operated through a Wordpress page and a Yahoo Group page. It basically promotes the sewing, crocheting, knitting, quilting, tatting, smocking and other fabric arts for the good of charities all over the world! Free patterns are available as well as free advice and lists of agencies in need of your hand made donations. They mostly specialize in helping premature (preemie) infants and but also promote other charities that may need their help as well.

The Yahoo Group list is a very active one with quite a bewildering volume of posts per month, whilst the Wordpress page contains a list of patterns, thank you notes the group has received as well as a Yearly Calendar listing down the various projects members can contribute to each month.

All in all, this is a marvellous initiative and would suit someone with the appropriate crafting skills who has an interest in helping premature babies and their families.

This action can be found here

VOLUNTEER ACTIONS LISTED

'Do Good' = 210

'Green' = 193

Advocacy = 122

SITES OF INTEREST

Chembakolli

Chembakolli is a place in Southern India and through this website, pupils and students from the UK can interact with school children in Chembakolli, learning about each other's way of life and getting a sense of perspective about how other people live.

Acts of Kindness

The Random Acts of Kindness Foundation is a resource for people committed to spreading kindness. They provide a wide variety of materials on their website, including activity ideas, lesson plans, project plans, teacher’s guide, project planning guide, publicity guide, and workplace resources – all free of charge.

CHARITY GAMES

Play a game and a donation goes to charity at no cost to you.

Knightfall

Guide your Knight to each level's exit by drilling away the blocks he stands on. You can literally spin the game board around to direct your Knight into confrontations with monsters or grab treasure. The more you play, the more goes to charity, which is all paid for by sponsors ads.

10 SECOND FREE DONATION

Click the link below to take you to a webpage that generates cash donations to programs that fund sustainable ventures globally - all at no cost to you. Just click on the red 'Click once to freely donate' button.