liveglocal.

"Oh man, every time I hear about a new non-profit starting up, 25% of me just wants to tell the do-gooders to pull their heads out of their asses and link up to something that's already being done rather than reinventing the wheel every single time." -Anonymous dude, telling it like it is.

Usually, that's my first reaction to brand new non-profits too-- like, cool job guy, way to make it look like you are such a saint among men when really you could be more effective finding another fistula/illiteracy/gang/ingrown toenail prevention group and joining forces with them. Which is why I'm so excited that some cool people started LiveGLOCAL because it's not only an original setup, but something brand new in the areas they work in. Let me expound on how proud I am of these people by listing a few of my favorite things in the world, ever:

1. Books and being able to read them

2. Kiddos

3. Organic coffee
4. Documenting life via photography

LiveGLOCAL, in a nutshell, does the following: support local coffee growers in Laos by purchasing beans for resale, and the One Bag One Book campaign donates a book to schoolkids for every bag purchased. In turn, they are seeking to expand the base of non-profit involvement by using the coffee as a fundraiser base, so everyone wins: kiddos get books, more direct trade coffee gets sold, and talented people like Pavel* get to move to Laos to take pictures and keep the train moving.

I would highly recommend you go to the website and watch the video of Tyson explaining his vision and be inspired. It's incredibly moving to hear a teacher telling him how thankful she is for their help, and that she had never been helped by anyone like that before. The launch party last weekend was a beautiful collection of a couple hundred successful and passionate people, who are also some of my most favorite people alive, and I'm genuinely excited about the project because they aren't reinventing the wheel-- they're inventing a lot of it for the first time, and it's going to be so exciting to see how far this could go.

http://www.liveglocal.com/

*Photos courtesy of Pavel Verbovski, Esq.

why you should buy coffee from my friend lauren

Sometimes you meet people who you just know are going to change the world. One of the biggest personalities I have ever met belongs to Lauren Sancken, a funny, fiercely intelligent Seattlite my mom and I met on a bus in Bosnia a few years ago (here we are getting our whirling dervish on). By the time we made it to Mostar, we'd realized that we were actually all family members who had just forgotten about each other, and I've had the privilege of being honorary sisters with this amazing girl who is blasting through law school before taking over politics as we know it. Below is a letter from Lauren explaining her latest project. I'm SO proud of this girl, and I hope you can support her as well! She can be reached for coffee orders at sancken@gmail.com.

"This January, myself and two friends, Anthony John and Dr. Christopher Dodd, established a U.S.-based non-profit organization, "Primary Health Care Nicaragua," to support the ongoing efforts of Atención Primaria en Salud Nicaragua (APS). In addition to helping to train and support more than 160 community-based health workers, APS facilities broad public health and micro-economic projects that permanently alleviate many causes of avoidable suffering. For fundraising, we have launched MARAVILLA coffee. Maravilla is an organic Nicaraguan coffee, the product of a collaboration between Nicaraguan coffee growers, Seattle-based Caffè Appassionato, and Primary Health Care Nicaragua. A 12-oz bag may be purchased for $10, and $7 goes directly to APS.

Maravilla can be purchased at Caffè Appassionato (Fisherman's Terminal and Colman Dock), or directly from me! I'm happy to send coffee to distant places, though a postage fee would apply. More information about APS can be found below, and please don't hesitate to contact me with any questions. In addition, all donations of any kind are appreciated.

Thank you very much for your support.
Sincerely, Lauren"

APS is a Nicaraguan non-governmental organization that has been working with the Nicaraguan Ministry of Health to fight disease and promote development in some of the most isolated communities throughout the country. APS funding has been drastically cut in these tough economic times, and our goal is to raise $25,000 by June 2010, and to help APS become a financially solvent organization by January 2011. If you would like to learn more about the work of APS Nicaragua, please visit our website at www.apsnicaragua.org

meet alex.

Alex wears a lot of hats-- UW business school grad, violinist extraordinaire, thoughtful observer of the world-- but she impresses me more every time I am fortunate enough to spend time with her. Recently, she turned down an offer from the Gates Foundation (who does that?! has it ever happened before?!) to raise her own salary and work for Mars Hill Church in the UDistrict. She's following her passion of serving college kids, even at the cost of sacrificing something that she (like many others) has dreamed of doing. And she's humble about it, too, which is why I want to brag about her. If you have a heart for UW and/or ministering to college kids, and have a few cents to spare, let me know. I'll send you Alex's way.

There's more: she's also helping start up a brand-new microcredit organization in Ghana called Lumana Credit (http://lumana.org/), which provides loans along with skills training for underserved people, giving them the tools to pull themselves out of poverty. Please take a look; it's pretty exciting to be on the ground floor of a sustainable development project. If helping support a college ministry isn't your thing, but helping rebuild economic viability for families in Africa is, this would be a really good place to start.














postscript: the delicious coffee in our hands is from All City Coffee in Georgetown, hands down the best coffee in Seattle. They serve Caffe Vita, have bypassed Fair Trade by trading directly with farmers (ensuring even better prices for the growers), roast locally, and their doppio espresso with a dash of simple syrup MIGHT be the closest thing to ambrosia that mankind has discovered... Go there. Be transformed.