Day 167: Write a Love Letter 03/28/2012
 DIFFICULTY: Medium This year, for Lent, I wanted to do something different. I thought about what I should give up. My favorite TV show? Soda? I finally settled on giving up desert. Going from a cookie a day to no cookies, brownies, ice cream, or any chocolate at all has been pretty difficult, but in a couple of weeks I will be able to have all of the desert that I want. Giving it up for 40 days will not have changed me. I knew I would feel the same at the end as I did at the beginning. That's why, this year, I decided to write "Lent Letters". Love letters to 40 different family members, friends, and classmates. It's giving rather than giving up, and I think this is the true spirit of Lent (and christianity in general)! I can already feel the difference it's making (in me, more than anyone else). I never fully understood the When my friend told me about The World Needs More Love Letters, I was so excited! What a wonderful way to spread the love. These letters can be to friends, family, acquaintances, or even to total strangers. Some write thank yous to waiters and waitresses, some leave encouraging notes for others, but whatever the letter they all end up in someone's hands with the purpose of brightening their day! Before letter writing, I recommend checking out the website. They have a Starterkit with some great information for new letter writers, a Letter Vault filled with letters that have been sent or found, and a map showing how the letters have traveled around the world! You can even subscribe to their email list, which lets you know when a specific person is in need of a letter! Is there a better way to Love, Anonymously? Add Comment Update! and Day 167: Homelessness 03/06/2012
 DIFFICULTY: Medium It's school vacation! That being said, I've had a lot of time to think about Love, Anonymously since I've been home. I miss writing posts and reading other blogs and doing good deeds. My first semester of college was very busy, and unfortunately, this project had to be placed on a back burner. I'm not sure if I'll ever be able to go back to posting everyday, but Love, Anonymously is still very, very important to me! I hope to be able to update every once and awhile. Of course, I still plan to finish all 365 acts of kindness, no matter how long it takes me! Maybe I haven't been able to keep up with my posting here, but that doesn't mean I haven't tried to keep up the Love, Anonymously spirit! At school I volunteer 10 hours a week working with the homeless population. It has been an absolutely incredible experience, and I recommend it to anyone who has the time. Homelessness is not something I saw in my hometown growing up. It wasn't something I understood, although I thought I did. I thought I knew what I was getting myself into when I signed up to volunteer, but I didn't. I didn't expect the prevalence of mental illness or the drug abuse or the prostitution, and I certainly did not expect to meet so many young people, my age or younger, living on the streets of a city that has forgotten they are there. Today's challenge is to have a conversation with a homeless man or woman. Spend a day or a year volunteering at a soup kitchen or a homeless shelter, find a way to strike up a conversation. Be polite, but don't be afraid to ask questions. They have truly incredible stories to share. Day 166: Give Prom! 04/04/2011
 DIFFICULTY: Easy At my high school, almost every single student in the junior class, along with many seniors and sophomores, attends prom. It's a really fun night to spend with your friends after months of stress and planning (mostly done by the girls!) over who to go with, what limo to take, and how to do your hair. After awhile, most parents start to realize that all of this adds up pretty quickly! Unfortunately, because prom can be so expensive, many teenagers across the country are forced to skip this part of their high school experience. That's why I love the work of the Glass Slipper Project. They provide dresses, make-up, jewelry, you name it, so that every kid gets to go! One of the things about prom is that you usually never wear your dress or shoes again, so I love the idea of donating these things to organizations like this so that someone else can have a fun night too! There are many other local organizations that do the same thing as the Glass Slipper Project but are located in an area around you, so keep a look out! UPDATE: On Saturday, my friends and I held a bake sale for the American Cancer Society that raised over $400! At the end of the day, we brought all of our extra baked goods to the police and fire stations in town, thus completing Day 46: More Baked Goods! Day 165: Give Faith 03/27/2011
 DIFFICULTY: Easy Whether or not you believe in God, having faith is an incredibly important part of life . People around the world struggling in abject poverty, forced to fight wars, or battling an illness cling to the idea of a greater meaning, a reason for our existence. For many people, faith provides hope of a better future. Despite the fact that many of us enjoy freedom of religion, there are thousands of people worldwide who don't have that luxury. Religious persecution still exists, and I can't imagine what it'd be like to be afraid for my life because of the things that I believe in, especially something as important as religion. That's why I like The Bible Site. For a simple click of the mouse, you can donate a bible to a persecuted Christian. A bible means different things to different people, but most importantly it can serve as a beacon of hope to people around the world. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to find any click to give sites for other religious texts. However, if you are interested, you can always donate to organizations that end religious persecution, donate a religious text directly, or even simply speak out in support of religious freedom wherever you are! Day 164: Make a Child Smile 03/20/2011
 DIFFICULTY: Medium Now that the college application process is starting to die down and most of the acceptance/rejection letters have already found their ways to waiting applicants, I'm beginning to realize how much I actually enjoyed getting mail. Sure, most of the letters were advertising colleges I'd never heard of, but there's something fun about getting seven letters every day and not knowing what you're going to find in them! What I love about mail is the way that it brings people together, no matter how far apart they are. It's true that the internet does this easy enough, and even more efficiently, but there is something truly wonderful about knowing that someone has taken the time to think of and write out a letter just for you. That's where this next challenge comes in! Make a Child Smile is an organization that provides mailing addresses to good doers like you and me who want to put a smile on the face of a terminally ill child. They feature three kids that are new to their site and also have a list of previous kids that you can send letters to. I think it's a simple, wonderful way to brighten a stranger's day. It's also great for anyone who wants to make a difference but doesn't have the time to make a big commitment to a specific project. You don't have to sign up for anything and you can send one letter or as many as you want! Their FAQ page has a lot of useful information that should be read before sending letters, including some important Dos and Don'ts! Day 163: Bedkits! 03/07/2011
DIFFICULTY: Medium While doing my homework tonight I started to realize that I'm probably going to look something like this next year:  I'm sure that my bed is going to be something I really appreciate when I go to college, but there are children across the globe just like me who don't have a place to rest their heads at night! For me, I'm always thinking about the basic necessities of life when I'm giving: food, water, shelter, clothes. But I often forget that sleep is just as important as a meal, especially for a child who is still growing and developing. The good people at Sleeping Children Around the World provide everything a child could need to get a good night sleep. Each kit includes: Mat/Mattress, Pillow, Sheet, Blanket, Clothes, Towel, School Supplies, and even a Mosquito net if necessary! I love that the kit also includes school supplies and clothing, so even their parents can sleep a little more soundly knowing that their children have these necessities as well. Even more amazing? 100% of each bedkit donation is used for providing the bedkit. So what are you waiting for? Donate here! Day 162: Words 02/22/2011
 DIFFICULTY: Medium After a lot of searching for ways to give back, I've started to realize that certain causes get more attention than others. Of course, getting attention for your cause is the only way to make real progress, but it's hard to ignore the fact that there are many ventures that we simply overlook. I'm a big fan of looking for unique ways to give back and of going beyond the spectrum of who I would normally reach out and help. For instance, I never thought to reach out to children with speech, language, and communication difficulties until I started this project. When you're fighting cancer, or funding education, or ending genocide, it's so easy to forget that to someone, something this small is extremely important! Imagine what life is like for a child who struggles with speech. Communication, especially in this century, is one of the most important aspects of our society. What I love about Adopt a Word is that it's an incredibly unique way to think about donations. Instead of simply sending money in, you get to adopt your own word for a full year. You can read more about what this organization does here, but besides spreading the word, they also do a lot of work helping children, families, and teachers to understand communication difficulties and work to change the lives of these children for the better. I think it's wonderful! Day 161: Helping the Troops 02/02/2011
 DIFFICULTY: Easy The other day, while I was listening to the news, I was pleasantly surprised to hear about something happy! This story happened to combine two of my favorite things, pizza, and giving back. You can read more about it here, but Uno Chicago Grill, Pizza 4 Patriots, and DHL, have teamed up to bring pizza to our troops to celebrate Superbowl Sunday! I absolutely love seeing big American companies, usually accused of being impersonal, doing good deeds like this one. If you want to help Pizza 4 Patriots bring pizza to our soldiers in Afghanistan, you can donate at their site. However, our troops do so much for us on a daily basis, today's challenge includes another way of giving back to them as well! When our soldiers go overseas to fight for our country, they leave behind parents, siblings, friends, spouses, and sometimes, kids. It's always hard for parents to be away from their children, and that's where the organization Dog Tags for Kids comes in. They provide dog tags to soldiers fighting overseas so that they can send them to their kids. It gives the children something of their parent's to have until they're able to return home, which I think is wonderful! They've already sent over 600,000 tags! It's easy to donate, and a little goes a long way, so if you're interested, check it out here. Update! 01/18/2011
I decided to use today to spend some of the birthday money I planned on using to complete Love, Anonymously tasks. So here's what I did today!
Day 160: Dog Toys 01/17/2011
 DIFFICULTY: Medium First of all, happy Martin Luther King Day! In my town, and all across the country, this is a day of giving back. At our local middle school, a bunch of different groups provide opportunities for people to help out right there, for as long as they want! There was a blood drive going on, blanket making, scarf making, hat knitting, card writing, and so much more! One of my favorite things was making dog toys, which is also today's challenge. The dog toys we made were crafted using three long pieces of fabric held together with a rubber band at the end. One person holds the end of the fabric with the rubber band while the other one braids the three pieces together. You then remove the rubber band, tie a knot at each end, as well as knots in the middle, and that's it! I don't know what fabric they used specifically, but I'd guess you could make them with any relatively strong pieces. They're really easy and only take a couple of minutes! However, if you aren't very crafty, you could always buy a couple of dog toys and drop those off at your local shelter. Besides making dog toys, here's what else I did at MLK Day!
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