Ideas for Projects

[Yugen]

Just wanted to start a sticky where folks could post ideas for Engaged Projects / Global Day of Service. Please keep in mind those who by virtue of circumstance, or for whatever reason, would like to volunteer online from their homes - ideas in this area are particularly welcome!

Gassho
Yugen

[Yugen]

Here's are two opportunities where all that is required is a laptop:

Amnesty International’s Freedom Writers program chooses three human rights cases each month that deserve your attention. The site gives you information and a sample letter with an address. If you support a particular cause, you can print and send the letter that Amnesty provides, or write your own. If you don’t see anything that moves you, check back each month for updates.

http://www.amnestyusa.org/our-work/c...rs-appeal-case

United Nations Online Volunteer website: opportunities to volunteer online in various UN/NGO/nonprofit subject areas and geographies. I have just started kicking around this website. Lots of good leads here.

http://www.onlinevolunteering.org/en/index.html

Gassho,
Yugen

[Kaishin]

Here's a great one that Dokan had listed in his family's "Metta in Motion" list for those wanting/needing to volunteer out of their homes:

http://www.ebuddies.org/

"e-Buddies is an e-mail pen pal program that pairs people with intellectual and developmental disabilities in one-to-one e-mail friendships with peer volunteers who do not have intellectual or developmental disabilities."

[Jigetsu]

Kaishin, I'm ALL over that one. Thank you for showing me this!

[Seimyo]

I had never heard of this Kaishin. What a great concept and piece to add to ones practice. Thank you.

Gassho,
Chris

Here's a great one that Dokan had listed in his family's "Metta in Motion" list for those wanting/needing to volunteer out of their homes:

http://www.ebuddies.org/

"e-Buddies is an e-mail pen pal program that pairs people with intellectual and developmental disabilities in one-to-one e-mail friendships with peer volunteers who do not have intellectual or developmental disabilities."

[Jigetsu]

Just a heads up, there is a $50 membership fee for eBuddies.

[Yugen]

Paying an upfront fee may not be possible or desirable for some individuals, but the idea of engaging in correspondence with others is a great idea! I have also been looking at Prison Dharma Network and letter writing exchanges with inmates. San Francisco Zen Center and Austin Zen Center have well-established pen pal programs with institutions in their own states. I'm looking into finding ways that Treeleafers can do this from home..... they also have a book program where one can send books on meditation to inmates... another good idea.... have a look at the link below.....

http://www.prisondharmanetwork.org/

I am certain that many countries in the UK and Europe may have similar writing programs for those who are incarcerated.

Gassho
Yugen

[threethirty]

I am planning on spending more time at my local hardware co-op. We take in old computers, refurbish what we can, responsibly recycle what we can't, and give computers to non-profits, the under privileged, and volunteers. We are loosely affiliated with the Free Geek project (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_Geek)

The co-op I go to is http://richmondcomputes.org/

Full Disclosure: I am part of the Governance Board && the longest active member.

There are projects like this in many cities around the world, just find a local nerd and ask

[Kyonin]

Hi all!

This is a small list of things I do and some new ideas that might give you a little something to do if you aren't able to donate money.

I post this because sometimes financial issues arise and we shell ourselves inside our problems and we tend to forget there still needs to fulfill in the world.

Anyway here it goes:

• Teach something you know. This is something I've done for a long time now. I dislike teaching... but people say I'm good at it, so I do it. These days I teach English to kids whose parent's can't afford an English School. My English is not perfect, but passing on what I know is better than not speak English at all.
• Give work and knowledge. If you do something on your work that can benefit people, do so. I am a web designer and have a web hosting service, so I thought of hosting and designing websites for non-profits, writers and activists.
• Prepare meals for those in need. There is a saying here that goes "When there's more people to feed, put more water to the beans".
• Do something for a public place. Not much to say here. Dokan is the living example of this. I do this for the park I go running.
• Never forget the elder. We tend to ignore them, but small things like talking are big for people that have been forgotten.

This is a small list, but it will grow... as soon as I finish waking up.

[Yugen]

Justin,
Thank you - you raise some ideas for projects I hadn't thought of - very neat! Asking local geeks and "those in the know" may yield lots of information regarding local needs and projects....

Kyonin,
My youngest son and I volunteer every Saturday afternoon at the local Hunger Prevention Program/Food Bank by contributing food items and spending an hour or two helping to put together boxes of food for drop-off to folks who are homebound. I am going to add a few hours every other week delivering food packages to homes. Visiting and conversing with folks who are homebound is a lot of fun and lends support to those who are lonely.... your ideas are helping me think about what I do....

Gassho
Yugen

[alan.r]

I don't know if this qualifies, seems like it should, but: animal shelters. Don't forget our animal friends out there we're sharing the world with. At many shelters you can volunteer to do simple things like walk the dogs, even just play with them; many humane society shelters also give on the option of fostering animals and helping to socialize them with either people or other animals.

[Seimyo]

Thank you for mentioning this alan.r. It is a very important effort. Most animal shelters and rescue organizations have been struggling along with all humans in this poor economy.

Gassho,
Chris

[Daido]

Paying an upfront fee may not be possible or desirable for some individuals, but the idea of engaging in correspondence with others is a great idea! I have also been looking at Prison Dharma Network and letter writing exchanges with inmates. San Francisco Zen Center and Austin Zen Center have well-established pen pal programs with institutions in their own states. I'm looking into finding ways that Treeleafers can do this from home..... they also have a book program where one can send books on meditation to inmates.Gassho
Yugen

This seems like a good program worthy of Treeleaf and our bohdisattva path. On the other side while helping those who have made bad decisions we may also want to consider helping those who have made good ones and in some cases ultimate ones like C.O.P.S (Concerns of Police survivors) which is a charity that helps the families that have lost a loved one who has died in the line of duty. Many organizations, especially related to law enforcements often hold charity events such as 10k races, golf tournaments or even a "send in your recycled cell phone" program in which all the proceeds go to the families. Maybe some of these programs would meet treeleaf's charity requirements and could be considered. I am sure our tech savvy members would have old electronics and this option could be considered for any charity of our sangha's choosing.

Gassho,

Daido

[Kaishin]

For those in the US, here is a directory of food banks:

http://feedingamerica.org/foodbank-results.aspx

[Shingen]

I volunteer for a great program called Cops for Cancer here on the Vancouver Island (http://www.cancer.ca). It is also across Canada for us Canucks.

Gassho
Michael

[willow]

Hi there - I've been thinking about projects that Treeleaf members who are housebound might be able to engage in - that isn't laptop/computer focused.

All charities need money and most have regular events - bazars/table top sales/raffles etc where they raise money.

Making items/donating items is one way to contribute. Art/craft based projects are a great way to support charities. Lots of charities encourage people to have tea parties at home to raise money - providing leaflets and collection boxes. Perhaps have a tea party and a sale at the same time.

Another scheme (based in the UK but would think this is an international venture) is 'the box scheme'. This is run byu the Rotary Club \in the UK). The boxes are distributed to be filled with items suitable for young children (toys) teenagers (Toiletry items) adults, etc. It's possible to make the filling of the boxes very personal, (For example, knit a scarf rather than buy one, decorate items, etc). The UK venture distributes thousands of boxes to orphanages, care homes etc in the Baltic states. For some children, this will be the first time they have received a present, or toy.

I find it sobering to be reminded that a bar of soap, or tube of toothpaste is precious for some people who have so little compared to myself.

I am going to pay for any items from a thrift box - as a reminder to myself not to be wasteful - just small reminders - like do I really need an extra fan on in the house - do I really need to send that text, or phone from the mobile when I can make a free landline call.

This would also be a good project to involve friends/family in. See how many volunteers can be organised to fill boxes.

Gassho

Willow

[Yugen]

Hello all,
Please have a look at this article on CNN.... a marvelous concept started in Florida.... many ideas contained within.... you may find it of help. I wonder if we can organize a similar effort?

http://www.cnn.com/2012/07/05/us/cnn...x.html?eref=ft

Gassho
Yugen

[pinoybuddhist]

I'm currently working on several community projects for the same village. Just today we formally launched a feeding program for the local elementary school, which targets 55 malnourished schoolchildren between the ages of 5 and 12 who have been identified as "severely wasted". Yes, that was the term the principal used. Not undernourished, not underweight - severely wasted. I'll put up a video one of these days.

EDIT: Okay, here's the video. Hope this works.
https://plus.google.com/115913884288929529587/videos

Also, for this saturday we're going to relaunch the reading program that I helped start two years ago. Now I just need to look for volunteer readers to read to the kids. We're also gonna be planting in the school's vegetable patch by the end of the month. Hopefully, the harvest will be enough to supplement the feeding program. Then there's the livelihood assistance that I hope will help the parents of the kids as well as the other residents to earn a decent living.

[Dokan]

Hey Rafael,

Lovely. Very rewarding to see tangible results I would imagine. Is this part of a program or just a local effort?

Thanks for sharing,

Gassho,

Dokan

[pinoybuddhist]

It's a joint effort involving the school, the parent-teacher association, the resort I work in (it's located right in the village and the school is just across the street), and the foundation that my dad helped to set up a long time ago. Dad actually started a feeding program in that village around 2004, using funds from the foundation and (knowing him) most probably his own wallet. Stuff happened however, and by the time he died last year, he was the last remaining member of the original board of trustees. The micro-lending program, which was one of its major sources of revenues, had already been stopped years before because the people couldn't pay the loans - after dad's death both feeding and reading programs for the kids were stopped as well. Anyway, my brother and I are going to bring the org back to life.

[pinoybuddhist]

For the GDS, I'm thinking of volunteering to teach some basic yoga poses (for free) for our local community up in the mountain (the one I mentioned in the posts above). I'm not a yoga "master" (there goes that M word again!) or even a licensed teacher. I just know a few basic stuff like surya namaskar A and B, moon salutation, some balance poses, and the corpse pose. And that's all I intend to do - just show them the stuff that I've learned from videos, books, and the occasional yoga class. What do you guys think? Any yogis/yoginis here with some suggestions?

[Seimyo]

Some really great projects appear to be taking shape.

I've also been working on my project the last few weeks and things are looking really promising. We have an alternative high school adjacent to my office that I used to teach at years ago. The students at this school haven't been successful in traditional classrooms and many already have criminal records and broken homes, so this school is designed to meet the special needs of these teens. Several years ago, I played a bit of chess and during that time I got to know a gentlemen who had created an organization that uses chess, martial arts and hip-hop music to illustrate the power that our decisions have. So to tie the whole thing together I'm in the process of implementing a chess program at the high school that will be followed-up some time in October or November by an on-site chess tournament put on by the Hip Hop Chess Federation. My goal is to get chess into the classrooms on a daily basis at our alternative high school. Once this is done, I'd really like to work on getting a chess program into at least one elementary school and have been working a little on getting those materials as well.

This is something that I've wanted to do for a few years now, but only now am putting the energy into.

Here's a picture from an event last weekend in the Bay Area here put on by the Hip Hop Chess Federation called "Rock The Bells". Those who follow hip-hop might recognize RZA from Wu-Tang Clan on the left.
RZA and Hector playing chess at Rock The Bells.jpg

Gassho,
Chris

[Ekai]

For the GDS, I'm thinking of volunteering to teach some basic yoga poses (for free) for our local community up in the mountain (the one I mentioned in the posts above). I'm not a yoga "master" (there goes that M word again!) or even a licensed teacher. I just know a few basic stuff like surya namaskar A and B, moon salutation, some balance poses, and the corpse pose. And that's all I intend to do - just show them the stuff that I've learned from videos, books, and the occasional yoga class. What do you guys think? Any yogis/yoginis here with some suggestions?

Great idea! Maybe add a some supine poses after the balance poses to balance out the body and to prepare them for shavasana.

Gassho,
Ekai

[Ekai]

Some really great projects appear to be taking shape.

I've also been working on my project the last few weeks and things are looking really promising. We have an alternative high school adjacent to my office that I used to teach at years ago. The students at this school haven't been successful in traditional classrooms and many already have criminal records and broken homes, so this school is designed to meet the special needs of these teens. Several years ago, I played a bit of chess and during that time I got to know a gentlemen who had created an organization that uses chess, martial arts and hip-hop music to illustrate the power that our decisions have. So to tie the whole thing together I'm in the process of implementing a chess program at the high school that will be followed-up some time in October or November by an on-site chess tournament put on by the Hip Hop Chess Federation. My goal is to get chess into the classrooms on a daily basis at our alternative high school. Once this is done, I'd really like to work on getting a chess program into at least one elementary school and have been working a little on getting those materials as well.

This is something that I've wanted to do for a few years now, but only now am putting the energy into.

Here's a picture from an event last weekend in the Bay Area here put on by the Hip Hop Chess Federation called "Rock The Bells". Those who follow hip-hop might recognize RZA from Wu-Tang Clan on the left.
RZA and Hector playing chess at Rock The Bells.jpg

Gassho,
Chris

Awesome!

Gassho,
Ekai

[Nenka]

One thing I'm going to do is donate blood--the blood banks around here really need it and I haven't done it since I moved here some five years ago.

Gassho

Jen

[Shingen]

Wonderful ideas, thank you everyone. One thing that has come to me today for a "specific" project is visiting elderly folks and folks who are close to leaving this world.

The reason why I say this is my granny, who has been a major role in my life, is not doing well and the day is getting closer. So I am with her now and knowing my granny is a animal lover like myself, I decided to bring my dog Bodhi into the hospital. I have to say it was amazing to see and feel all the smiles that came upon those sad faces. It made my heart sing to see the joy my little Bodhi was bringing as get got his back scratched.

That moment my little Bodhi showed his calling and I think might be mine. So I have decided that when I get back home, I am going to get involved with the local hospital and hospice to bring Bodhi in to share the experience of just being in the moment with that cute little fur ball.

Gassho
Michael

Sent from my GT-S5660M using Tapatalk 2

[Seimyo]

Great one Michael.

Assisted Animal Therapy is a great way to spread joy to a lot of folks that have spent way-too long in hospitals and care facilities. There are some wonderful organizations out there that will help you get your dog certified to do this. Many facilities allow only certified service animals. Delta Society which is now being called Pet Partners is a well known organization that might be able to help.

Belly rubs for Bodhi.

Gassho.
Chris

[Shingen]

Great one Michael.

Assisted Animal Therapy is a great way to spread joy to a lot of folks that have spent way-too long in hospitals and care facilities. There are some wonderful organizations out there that will help you get your dog certified to do this. Many facilities allow only certified service animals. Delta Society which is now being called Pet Partners is a well known organization that might be able to help.

Belly rubs for Bodhi.

Gassho.
Chris

Thanks Chris ... Yes I will love into certifying Bodhi as he seems to be a natural and connected well with everyone.

Gassho
Michael

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

[pinoybuddhist]

Great idea! Maybe add a some supine poses after the balance poses to balance out the body and to prepare them for shavasana.

Gassho,
Ekai

Good thinking. Well, I only know the bridge pose... then there's the one where it's like a bridge pose but the hands are extended into a backbend.

[Risho]

Blood donation is a good idea... I'm going to look for volunteer opportunities through work as well.

[pinoybuddhist]

I'd love to give blood (I'm a type O). Problem is, I get refused because of my tattoo.

[Jundo]

Just to underline, if I may ...

... it would be good if the projects took all day or most of a day, not just a brief giving, maybe a day's doing you can do together with family and loved ones. Maybe put the blood donation at the end of the day ... so not too tiring!

Really make a day of it!|

Gassho, J

[Yugen]

Jundo wrote: maybe a day's doing you can do together with family and loved ones....

There are family practices and activities that we will be talking more about on the Engaged Projects Forum in preparation for Vesak - for now what a great day it would be to plant trees, maintain and clean a trail, or pick up a park or shoreline! For Global Service I will be taking my eight-year-old son out on a day-long island clean-up on the Maine Island Trail. I really want to share with my son our most basic and important teaching - our connectedness to all sentient beings - trees, mountains, oceans, people, animals. We are all responsible for one another.

Right now I am planning on at least two activities - one will be to spend a day volunteering at the local Hunger Prevention Program, and the other will be to participate in clean-up and maintenance activities on several islands in the midcoast Maine region.

Gassho
Yugen

[Amelia]

Good ideas. Thanks.

[glow]

I pretty much have to work out of my home, so I will be knitting warm winter scarves to donate to our local Senior Center Thrift Shop. Also will look into telephone work for our wonderful, free spay & neuter clinic for low income people & seniors. It's called S.N.A.P., I've worked a bit with them in the past, & think I'm ready to do some on-going work for them again. I will also donate a bit more money than the usual tiny bit that I can afford.

Thank you all for your helpful ideas. This is a great project.

Gassho,

Glow

[glow]

Sorry - should have said free spay & neuter clinic for the PETS of low income people & seniors. LOL.

Glow

[glow]

Sorry - should have said free spay & neuter clinic for the PETS of low income people & seniors.

Glow

[Nindo]

I am planning to join a work bee at my Unitarian community on the 22nd. They also need some help with the website (which I built and maintained for a few years), so will look into the code for them. The following week, they are starting a knitting project (I have no details yet, but I suppose it is for the homeless), so will join that, too.
Other things I'd like to do on the 22nd is a good cleanup around a couple of blocks in the neighbourhood, and take new flowers and some TLC to the ghostbike memorial for Isaak. I liked the idea of blood donation, but I am not eligible in Canada.

[Yugen]

Nindo and Glow, These are great ideas.... please let us know how things go!

Nindo, have you looked into the Unitarian Universalist Buddhist Fellowship? Just curious.

Glow, thanks for sharing your project ideas. We have members who work and practice from home so this is very encouraging to them, and to all of us.

Gassho
Yugen