Ipswich Goes Green this Sunday from 1-5 ~ Sure to be Time Well Spent!

I’ve been busy multi-tasking between the creation of an eco-friendly mini golf hole and organizing materials for my Time Well Spent table. I can see that folks have been coming to my blog in search of Ipswich Goes Green info ~ which is exciting. So, here’s a link to the agenda for the day and a glimpse at what the day will hold:

The mini golf course will wind through the area from behind Ebsco (an old factory converted into business offices for this corporate friend to the community) over the riverwalk and onto the Memorial Green (where a cool project celebrating the building methods of old is also located).

 There will be many eco-conscious exhibitors in the Ebsco lot, including me! I’ll have a table that will include samples of products made from repurposed materials along with handouts and information about Time Well Spent and our mission.

I’m also planning three hands-on, awareness-building projects that will demonstrate the fact that we have choices to make with regard to the products we choose to purchase and the ways we spend our time. Our purchasing power can be put to good use if we take just a few moments to be mindful of the repurcussions of those choices, the impact that each purchase makes, for better or worse relative to our environment and our fellow humans! But, that’s a post for another day!

Christine McCall, my contact at Cradles to Crayons, will have a table as well. I just learned that Cradles to Crayons is in dire need of summer clothes, their supply being heavily tapped into during these difficult economic times, so any efforts to chat with Christine about ways to help would be worthwhile. Though I had planned to take the summer off from DeClutter For Good drives (more about that in this post), I’ll be planning an “emergency drive” to help fit this pressing need…

Looking forward to seeing folks at the Ipswich Goes Green event. Be sure to stop and say hello! N.

Vote for Newburyport Farmer’s Market

Here’s a little cut and paste from another few minutes well spent on the internet…

“Hi, I just voted to help my favorite farmers market win $5,000 in the “Love Your Farmers Market” online contest, sponsored by Care2.com and LocalHarvest.org. Every vote helps promote local food, family farms and sustainable agriculture. Please help Newburyport’s farmers market win by voting today. Thanks!”

Kudos to Newburyport for getting their market up and running with a bang… I’m hoping to find/create a compiled list of local farmer’s markets on the North Shore… In the meantime, go to the link below to vote for Newburyport ~ No offense to other local farmer’s markets, of course! Newburyport is in the running and a vote for Newburyport, to my way of thinking, is a vote for the North Shore.

http://www.care2.com/farmersmarket/27741/?refer=16799.05.1246633181.638795

Pass It On… Nancy

Vote for Cradles to Crayons for $25k Media Makeover

 

Blogging etiquette dictates that we bloggers don’t just cut and paste from other sites… We should add our own comments and perspective, include a snippet from that which we are referencing and encourage the reader to visit the actual site referenced for more info (and a hit on that site). Well, I just don’t always have the time for such. Also, if the underlying intention of that so-called etiquette is more hits on sites, I’m just not that motivated. To me, it’s the message, not the blog hits generated…

With that editorial on the topic, here’s the entire text from an announcement about Cradles to Crayons, the service organization that I make so many donations to, given their role as an efficient provider of clothes and material needs of kids here in Massachusetts. Please take a few minutes this month to vote for Cradles to Crayons and pass the word along… Sounds like time well spent to me!

Vote to help Cradles to Crayons win a social media makeover valued at $25,000. Voting ends July 31st.  Each email address can vote one time. Step 1:  Visit http://communicause.com/1557  Step 2:  Make sure it says Cradles to Crayons in the box that says “My Vote.”  Type your email address in the box that says “My Email” and click “Vote.”  Click “Confirm” on the pop-up. Step 3:  Spread the word!  Click on the “share” link to learn ways to spread the word. Do you have Twitter? ReTweet this! Each time they see a user tweet this message, it counts as an extra vote for our cause. There’s a limit of one vote per Twitter username, so it’s important that you get your followers to ReTweet too! @communicause RT to help Cradles to Crayons win a 25K social media makeover http://ow.ly/4pcs #cause1557

Ipswich Goes Green Day July 12 – including FUN Mini Golf Design Contest

 If a search for info on Ipswich Goes Green has brought you here, go to the front page  on this weblog for the best info on attending the Ipswich Goes Green event…

 

Ipswich Goes Green Mini Golf Hole Design Contest... Illustration by designer Barbara DiLorenzo, wavepaint.com ~ fun and inspiring!

 

 

This from Ipswich Goes Green event organizer, Jason Wertz:

Please check out this link http://www.wavepaint.com/igg/

 

We are holding a design contest for artists, architects, tinkerers and teams with a lot of energy – to create a green miniature golf course for the public to use and enjoy. This will be a part of the Ipswich Goes Green Festival, to be held on July 12th, 2009 (rain or shine). This event is free to the public. We are holding a design contest for artists, architects, tinkerers and teams with a lot of energy – to create a green miniature golf course for the public to use and enjoy. This will be a part of the Ipswich Goes Green Festival, to be held on July 12th, 2009 (rain or shine). This event is free to the public.

 

GRAND PRIZE: Sure it’s all for fun and awareness building but check out the grand prize~ A 2010 CSA share at  Appleton Farms ~ not too shabby!

   

I’ve spoken with Mini Golf Organizer Barbara Lawrence and she is still accepting entries to this artistic expression/awareness building event. Setup for the mini-golf holes will take place on site the morning of the event. So, artsy folk and green beings alike, consider participating in this fun activity. From the flyer of info,

“If you are a local business that has a team of builders, you can use your logo in the design of the hole. Please make sure that the environmental message is not overpowered by a marketing one. We want to celebrate our local businesses, but do not want this art installation to appear too commercial.

All the details are on the flyer – click here.

 

Along with my son, a member of the Ipswich Varsity Golf Team, I’ll be creating a mini golf hole, inspired by the history of Ipswich during this its 375th anniversary year. I’m also planning a Time Well Spent table with some hands-on repurposing projects…

   

Contact Barbara with questions by emailing Barbara@wavepaint.com .

  

Check out her website front page for a look at Ipswichopoly!

  

Learn more about Ipswich 375 by clicking here for the dedicated website including a calendar of events.

  

Contact Jason with Ipswich Goes Green event questions by emailing  jwertz@gmail.com .

   

Cradles to Crayons, a service organization near and dear to my heart,  will be there, too! Hope to see many of the new “green” friends I’ve made this past year.

Agawam Summer Gathering in Ipswich – A Special Ipswich 375th Event

 

Ipswich’s “Agawam Summer Gathering”

Celebrates Native American Culture on June 20^th

Ipswich’s Agawam Summer Gathering will bring together Native and non-Native people from around New England at the Town Hall field at 25 Green St. Prominent Wampanoag, Ponkapoag, Nipmuck and Abenaki speakers and artists will give talks, do crafts for kids, provide music and give dancing demonstrations.

 The day begins at 10 a.m. when Native speakers will provide a rare insight into the history and culture of Native people in this area. Then, there will be a powwow at 1 p.m. Admission is $10 ($5 after 1 p.m.) or free if you have an Ipswich 375th Celebration button. This event is part of the year long Ipswich 375th.

 Ancient Agawam covered a vast area from Gloucester in the east to Andover in the west and from Beverly and Danvers to the south to Newbury in the north. The area was inhabited by people for at least 10,500 years before the arrival of Europeans. Today, Native people live in every community in this area. And, many Americans are part Native.

 The goal of the Agawam Summer Gathering is to promote an understanding of and an appreciation for the Native people who live in this region, where they came from and who they are.

 Advance tickets ($10) are available in Ipswich at Wolf Hollow on Essex Road, River’s Edge on Market Street and Ipswich One-Hour Photo on Hammatt Street. Bring a chair or blanket to sit on. People with a 375^th button and children 5 and under are admitted free.  If it rains, the event will be held at Ipswich High School, 146 High St.

 Contact: Will Maker, 978-356-5753, willemakr@msn.com

Community Service Opportunities for North Shore Teens

If you know of any high school students who would benefit from some time spent on community service this summer, send them my way ~ It’s good for their resume, their self-esteem and their spirit! Even if they’ve done the minimum service required at school, colleges are increasing the amount of consideration given to those with multiple and/or ongoing community service efforts.

        

Unlike monthly DeClutter For Good drives, this summer’s community service projects pertain to research needed for “The Wall.” The Wall is the focal point envisioned for Time Well Spent where, on an ong0ing basis, we will take recycling beyond the curb, finding alternative uses for items that typically make it only as far as the recycling bin or, worse, into the trash can. 
 

Students can choose their project focus based on their own interests. Examples include eyeglasses (given to those in third world countries), medicine bottles (used in Africa for dissemination of HIV medications) hotel-sized toiletries (for homeless women in Boston), cellphones (for victims of abuse on the North Shore), and sneakers (recycled into gym flooring) ~ and that’s just for starters!  You can read more about The Wall by clicking here. 

   

In order to maximize the positive impact of community service such that it makes a meaningful impression and contributes to a lasting sense of stewardship and service, I believe in community service projects that focus on an area of specific interest to each particular young person. Those who take an active role in a project and feel connected to the outcome will learn the true satisfaction that comes with making a difference, being a part of the change.

    

If you want to learn more about community service opportunities for your teen, feel free to get in touch with me and we can discuss the possibilities further. Don’t have a teen of your own? Feel free to share this post with someone who does!

Carpe Diem ! Nancy

DeClutter For Good Update ~ June 2009

Near and dear to my heart is the DeClutter For Good concept at Time Well Spent. You might even think of it as DeClutter ”4″ Good as the benefits are (at least) four-fold:   

  

• DeCluttering your home brings peace and organization to your own life, allowing you and yours to live a better quality of life each day.

 

•  Donating your clutter keeps it out of landfills. What’s more ~ it contributes to efforts to minimize the carbon footprint involved via the creation of products made from repurposed materials as opposed to those made from raw and/or unsustainable materials, the creation of which is fueled by unsustainable energy sources.

 

• By combining our collective clutter and giving it to vetted service organizations, with very little effort, those involved are empowered as they move their extra ”stuff” into the right hands, allowing those service organizations to focus on their important work by helping to meet their material needs.
  

 

• Donating through Time Well Spent adds to quantifiable goals and helps spread the message of mindful awareness of what we do with our stuff in order to improve the quality of our own life, those in need and the environment (that’s the Time Well Spent mission, fyi!).

 

Also cool, note that the above list of benefits can be considered in any order, depending on your own personal priorities and passion… Any way you look at it, it’s a great way to clear the clutter, lift your spirits, and take another step toward your own goals and a promising, empowering vision of a more sustainable and locally-connected future ~ a future that brings together the power of virtual groups with the heart and personal contact of the local community.

   

With all that said, it may seem contradictory that I’ve made the decision to hold off on DeClutter For Good drives for the summer months. While I’d love to continue the mini-drives, my time will be better spent focused on Phase II and, consequently, bringing Time Well Spent closer to launch so that the mini events can grow to the full vision and potential that I have for them.

   

In the meantime, click on the following links for a look back at some key DeClutter For Good results, including information about organizations assisted as well as types and quantities of items decluttered and donated:

   

  

Clothing Drive (September)

Book Drive (October)

Holiday Clutter Drive (November)

Book Drive (January)

Suits and Business Attire (February) 

Prom Gowns (March)

Games/Puzzles/Computer Games (April) 

Baby Stuff Drive (May) 

   

 

Special thanks to all of those who have contributed so far. To those who haven’t yet, stay tuned ~ there will be plenty more opportunities down the road…

 

Phase II ~ Stepping Back and Moving Forward

As I mentioned last month, I’ve largely been following an action-while-planning approach to the pre-launch phase of my social enterprise start-up.(You can read more about action-while-planning by clicking here.)  Here’s why ~ Starting Time Well Spent is not the same as starting a profit-driven business, nor is it the same as running a volunteer event or even a non-profit business for that matter… Though it may be a cliche, it’s out-of-the-box thinking at a time when business as usual simply doesn’t meet all the needs that our times require. Personally, to pursue a career that is focused on the “triple bottom line,” with people and planet before profits, is the only approach to a career that makes sense to me!  

  

I’m driven by my social and environmental mission  and my desire to serve that mission in a financially-self-sustaining business model so that I do not seek out grant funds that, in my opinion, should be reserved only for  those endeavors which can not be sustained by the market. So, I’m carving out some new territory here in the suburbs but I trust it will be time well spent…

  

Likewise, the business itself will embody its name when the Time Well Spent doors officially open. Folks who come in will feel their time and ~ if they are purchasing repurposed and/or eco-friendly products, attending a workshop series, or celebrating a child’s birthday party ~  their money, are well spent because value will be a cornerstone. Other cornerstones will be transparency, sustainability, and community.

 

The “action-while-planning” approach was critically important to moving forward with an untested concept. At this point, it is time to take all that I have learned over the last year of brainstorming, networking and research and put that new-found knowledge together with my passion to serve those in need and the environment and my fellow community members.

    

Had I been motivated by profits or interested in following a traditional (and unsustainable) grant-seeking path, Time Well Spent might already be a brick-and-mortar space today.  Because my intent is focused on promoting lasting change in a model that others may replicate to benefit their own communities, I’m taking my time to insure I am getting it right. 

 

Why? Why else? To inspire one another to live with mindful awareness of the impact of our daily choices on the quality of life for self, those in need and the environment, of course!

 

DeClutter Baby Stuff For Good Drive – May Mission Accomplished

I am pleased to report that we were able to meet and exceed the goal set of 50 baby items for the May DeClutter Baby Stuff for Good drive… Thanks to the generous donation of several folks who shared items after their own yard sales (a great idea!)

Special thanks to one special person who reached out to me through NorthShoreCafe, an online yahoo group connecting freecyclers on the north shore. This wonderful woman donated baby clothes in great condition that she had lovingly used several times while caring for infant foster children over several years. What a fantastic person! It’s one of many “perks” that I’ve already experienced – meeting so many wonderful ~ and wonderfully inspiring ~ people along the way.

My first carload delivered to Cradles to Crayons included items I picked up at the end of a school-wide yard sale at Hamilton-Wenham’s Grammar School Thanks to the women there for letting me sort through all of their “stuff” for items meeting the Cradles to Crayons “good enough for your own child” standard.

Here’s the list of items delivered:

115 TOTAL ITEMS

EQUIPMENT (28)

Car Seats – 2

Car Window Shades – 2

Diaper Pails – 3

Blankets – 5

Pillow – 1

Mosquito Net – 1

Changing Pads – 5

Washcloths – 2

Bibs – 4

Baby Tubs – 2

Booster Chair – 1

TOYS (16)

Leap Frog and Books – 3

Misc Rattles & Small Toys – 8

Activity Pad – 3

Play Tables – 2

CLOTHING (71)

Girls – 31

Boys – 13

Boys Coats – 2

Boots – 3

Sneakers – 1

Slippers – 1

Baby Socks – 20 pair

Not included in the above count (yet), I still have another carload of baby stuff to deliver to Quincy and need to find the time to make the 2-hour round trip – the kind of “problem” I don’t mind solving!

I’ve blogged about Cradles to Crayons frequently, so feel free to search for them using the search tool in the right-hand column if you’d like to learn more about Time Well Spent’s support of Cradles to Crayons. We are so pleased and proud to play a small role in helping them with their good work.

 

 

Cousin Maura is Helping in Honduras Again ~ And Sharing Some Ways You Can Help, Too.

Down and dirty posts these days… Following is the entire contents of Maura’s email received today. I wrote about Maura nearly a year ago with links to her website sharing photos from her 2008 Honduras Mission Trip. Click here to read that post.

Tomorrow (Saturday) is the E-Cycle event to raise money to send me, Anna, Juli and Katie on a mission in Honduras (and I’m panicing!)…   the Yard Sale is on Sunday.

Below is the “Note” I posted on Facebook about how far a few dollars can go in Honduras.

How much can be done for another person/community simply by sacrificing one or two little luxuries now and again.  Imagine the potential!

I’ve also attached a pic or two from my last trip.  More are on my blog:  http://maurachappelle.blogspot.com  so are details on tomorrow’s E-Cycle and the Yard Sale on Sunday.

Maura

 

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collecting old electronics and appliances for money…

E-Cycle fundraiser to go to Honduras (get rid of that dinosaur computer and broken TV) May 16… go to http://maurachappelle.blogspot.com for details
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Support our Relay for Life “Super Friends” team: http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR?team_id=501587&fr_id=16383&pg=team

MOSQUITO NETS = YOUR MORNING COFFEE

i loved this family…

village has Mass only about once a month when Father Craig can make it there…. they don’t have a church, so they move the tables around in their tiny two room school 

this Dad and his little girl were in their Sunday best (even though it was a weekday) and Mom was in the choir

 

In the poorest parts of the world, where effective window screens are lacking, insecticide-treated bed nets are arguably the most cost-effective way to prevent malaria transmission.

Honduras is one of those countries.

Studies show that use of insecticide-treated bed nets can reduce transmission as much as 90% in areas with high coverage rates. Bed nets prevent malaria transmission by creating a protective barrier against mosquitoes at night, when the vast majority of transmissions occur.
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Nets in Honduras range from $2.50 (untreated) to $6.50 (treated with insecticide). That’s the price of a couple of coffee in the morning or a #4 on the menu

Can you skip your Dunkins run for one day and pay for one net to save a life?
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Malaria is a disease caused by the blood parasite Plasmodium, which is transmitted by mosquitoes. Malaria, from the Medieval Italian words mala aria or “bad air,” infects more than 500 million people a year and kills more than a million— one person dies about every 30 seconds.

Malaria is PREVENTABLE

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MOVIES EQUAL ACETAMINOPHEN 

Seen a good movie lately? What’d you pay for tickets?

Average price for two to see a movie (just tickets) would buy a GALLON of acetaminophen in Honduras

For just $15 medical clinics in Honduras can purchase a whole gallon of acetaminophen to treat pain, fever and such

Same amount would be roughly $112 over the counter

How about next time you think of going to the movies you get a film for a buck at Red Box and donate the amount you saved toward Honduran missions?

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MANICURE EQUALS AMOXICILLIN

Ever have an ear infection? Your child suffer from them?

Thankfully you had your doctor down the street for speedy diagnosis and a simple prescription to pick up at CVS

Not everyone is as lucky– in fact, most aren’t. They certainly aren’t in Honduras.

So maybe next time you want to get a manicure you’ll paint your own and donate the money saved to our trip.

40 bottle of amoxicillin is only about $28– how can you beat that price?

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ROUND OF GOLF = MILK FOR 15 CHILDREN

When Anna and I were in Honduras last year we both learned about the lack of milk available to the people…

refrigeration is scarce, as is money… not a good combo for stocking up on healthful drinks

the water supply is iffy at best (we weren’t allowed to drink local water, the mission supplied us with purified water) so simple tap water isn’t plan A when the people are thirst

sadly, Pepsi is everywhere and cheaper by far than the boxed milk that the bodegas would sell… so a poor family would get a 2 liter bottle of that rather than a quart of milk….

so they’re drinking sugar water and caffiene rather than hydrating and calcium filled milk…

when we delivered food to the poorest of the poor most had no teeth with which to eat the meager provisions we brought…

but YOU CAN HELP!

the rough cost for a round of golf with cart and a few perks is $100

same cost at current rates to give a village enough powdered milk to last a month for 15 Honduran children

imagine that… 15 children can get a head start on having a healthy life if you forgo one day of golf and donate that money

something to think about

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WASHER WOMAN’S WAGES = MOVIE ON DEMAND

Last time Anna and I were in Honduras, there was a woman who washed the laundry of the mission house guests every morning.

She washed each item by hand, rinsed, rung them out and hung them to dry. It took her entire morning.

We paid her 2 limpera per item (a pair of socks is one item).

A typical days laundry included:

11 underwear
11 shirts
4 pair socks
3 pair pants
3 pair shorts

Exchange rate at the time was about 18 to 18.5 limpera per $1 American, so 2 limpera was about 12 cents.

Imagine washing a stranger’s underwear by hand for 12 cents?

So for a morning’s work, this washer woman $3.50, maybe $4

$4?! for a morning’s work? 

The cost of a movie on demand was this hard working woman’s daily wages. (of course, we tipped her well, we felt like thieves paying her so little)

Please think of the less fortunate next time you want to order a movie.

Remember, poor doesn’t equal lazy– many many of the most destitute work their tails off every day but the system and economy hold them down