Helping the Homeless

When I see the homeless on street corners, it tugs at my heartstrings. However, the one time I stopped and offered to give all the groceries I had just purchased to the homeless man, he said to me, "I don't want your food lady. I need cash." So now, every time I see a homeless person, I go home, stick some money in a jar and when it gets full, I donate it to our local homeless shelter.

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Another idea: carry gift certificates for meals at McDonalds in your wallet or glove compartment of your car and offer that. If he's really hungry, he'll take it.

If you know of a place where the homeless (or jobless) convene looking for handouts or work,  go through a drive-thru with a cheap dollar menu (like Taco Bell or Wendy's), and you can feed A LOT of people for twenty bucks!  Drop off the bag of goodies at lunch-time.

Service Projects for Kids

Here is a link to a GREAT website to help your children learn to serve: http://penniesoftime.com/category/service-projects-for-kids/

A Class Challenge ended up as a Great Solution...One Person CAN make a difference!

Look what one 23 year old was able to accomplish!

How YOU can help prevent polluting our oceans:

Trash that makes its way into the oceans decomposes very slowly, littering coastlines, polluting ground water, and harming marine creatures that mistake the trash for food.

Gather your family together and talk about what YOU can do to help this world-wide problem.

How YOU can help prevent pollution of our oceans:

1. Toxic products like paints, automobile oil, polishes, and cleaning products should be stored and disposed of properly. As a matter of fact, it is better to use non-toxic, products for the house as far as possible. Also, never dispose of such products by throwing them into your toilet or sink.
2. Dispose of your trash in a proper manner and try and incorporate the recycling habit as far as possible. (Non-degradable products like tampons, sanitary napkins, and diapers should not be flushed down the toilet, for these can end up damaging the process of sewage treatment, and usually end up as litter on beaches.)
3. Refrain from throwing litter into streams, lakes, rivers, or seas. If you do spot litter on beaches or in water systems, after ascertaining that it is safe, collect them and dispose of them in any nearby waste disposal system.
4. Try using environmentally friendly household products like toiletries, soap-based household cleaning material, and washing powder as far as possible.
5. Try using natural fertilizers and pesticides as far as possible, or if not, do not overuse them or over-water gardens and lawns. This will help in reducing the pollutants that get into water systems due to runoffs.
6. Automobile oil should be re-used as far as possible. Also, it is important to keep your automobile well maintained in order to prevent leakages of toxic fluids like antifreeze and oil.
7.  Actively conserve water by turning the tap off when you do not need running water, such as while brushing teeth. Apart from preventing water shortages, it lessens the amount of water that needs to be treated.
8. Do not use colored bathing bars. They are known to contribute more to water pollution.
9. Avoid buying packaged water as far as possible. The best policy to adopt is to carry a bottle of water when you step out of the house. You can carry one big bottle per person. This has two advantages: you eliminate your contribution to pollution related to plastic bottles, and you save money!
10.  Always screw the caps on bottles before discarding them (turtles, and fish mistake them for food and choke on them - usually causing death).

The above steps may seem to insignificant to ever reducing water pollution. But just imagine: even if 10 families (four members each)committed to eliminating 1 plastic bottle a day, we will have 14,600 fewer plastic bottles a year contributing to pollution. That is quite a number, don't you think? If we all decide to share the responsibility, we can all come together and make a big difference!
Read more at Buzzle: http://www.buzzle.com/articles/ways-to-prevent-water-pollution.html