Ending World Hunger One Grain of Rice at a Time

Freerice.com is an ingenious and addicting website where you can test your vocabulary skills (especially useful for the SAT and GRE) and help feed the poor, destitute and starving people of the world. Every time you choose the correct definition of the word, freerice.com donates 20 grains of rice. The website is free and uses small ads on the bottom of the screen to fund the purchase of the rice and the upkeep of the website. Play, learn and help! So, far my top score is 45 (50 is the highest). Let me know if you beat that!

Helping Hands 2007!

'Tis the season for the giving and sharing. As you may know, I lived in Santiago, Chile for 7 months working/volunteering in a children's shelter for abused/neglected girls. VEGlobal is currently hosting its Helping Hands 2007 fundraising drive so please help out my special girls and the rest of the children of VE by pledging as little as $5 and/or forwarding the form email below onto friends and family. With over 200 volunteers in our network, from 32 different countries, many new people are finding out about VEGlobal! We are aiming to raise USD$5, 000.00 by 11:59:59 on December 31st, 2007. The donations can be as little or as big as donors want because every cent counts! Here is a link to our donation page: Helping Hands 2007

Thank you again for all your support and generosity!

Dear Friends, Friends of Friends, Family and Friends of Family, etc.,

As many of you know, I was in Santiago, Chile last year volunteering with VEGlobal to bring new opportunities to 1,000 amazing children in need. With the end of a very exciting year rapidly approaching, we are kicking off our first online push for support "Helping Hands 2007," which is an excellent way for people like you to help the children too!

Read on or go to the official page.

With our current and former volunteers totaling more than 200, from 5 continents and 32 countries, our global presence is great. To cap off an exciting year and build on its momentum, we are reaching out to our global community of family and friends to raise $5,000.00 by 11:59:59 on December 31st. Instead of asking for large donations, we are encouraging everyone involved with VE to forward this email to their friends and family, and to use the link to donate anywhere from $5 to $500 dollars before the New Year's deadline. Every little amount counts, and all it takes is a few mouse clicks to be part of this exciting global movement!

VEGlobal is a non-profit organization that empowers volunteers from around the world to create and implement a variety of innovative and powerful programs in education, recreation and culture to provide new opportunities to children hard hit by the realities of extreme poverty. We organize a global community of volunteers of diverse backgrounds and nationalities in a universal effort to achieve our dream in Chile and bridge the social rifts that perpetuate poverty and child abuse. VE is one of the few organizations that charges no fee to its volunteers, and is funded almost entirely by the generosity of individual donors.
Please use this link to donate any amount from $5 to $500 through PayPal's easy service.

With help from all hands across the globe, our $5,000 is well within reach. When you're done, please forward this email on to your friends and family. We will be tracking our progress on our website.

We are invoking the spirit of giving as 2007 comes to a close. There are lots of great changes going on within VEGlobal, and we are going to lead into 2008 full force, but we need your help to better serve the children!
All the best,
The VEGlobal Team

Have questions? E-mail Morghan at mdill@voluntariosesperanza.org

Employment! Sort of...

Exciting news! I was offered and accepted the position of Sierra Water and Climate Change Program Assistant with the Sierra Nevada Alliance in South Lake Tahoe (northern California). The position seems really interesting and will be good experience for me. The position requires a one year commitment and is described as follows: The Program Assistant will do public presentations throughout the Sierra on climate change and voluntary actions individuals, groups and agencies can take to reduce greenhouse gases and protect Sierra natural resources. The Assistant will also help organize and convene Sierra Environmental Water Caucus meetings, assist in organizing a regional conference on integrated regional water management planning, and help prepare and distribute campaign materials. The Program Assistant will also assist in media outreach, educational event organizing, and program material writing and production.

This is a particularly exciting time for the position, with the recent drought problems in Georgia and California, the state is currently working on a new state water policy that will address the issues of climate change, population growth, the need for protecting native habitats and waterways etc. Here is a link to some more information on the program in which I will be working.

The bad news is I will only be making $1200 a month. I will, however, be making $1200 more a month than volunteering in Chile and I will have health and dental insurance. And I will get to live in the Sierras. I will just think of it as a learning experience in budgeting.

So I hope you all will come and visit me in beautiful Lake Tahoe!

Read Me!

Dear Friends, Family and Random Internet Users Who have Mistakenly Found this Blog Looking up Cat Stevens Lyrics,

As some of you may have noticed, the blog has received a serious makeover. Since returning from my volunteer experience in Santiago, Chile with the non-profit VEGlobal, I have endeavored to find jobs with environmental non-profits as well as utilize my experiences and skills to "do good." I know this sounds overly optimistic, idealistic even "cheesy" (cursi in Spanish...one of my favorite words I learned in Chile) but I have found that even the small things, changing to a more energy-efficient light bulb or teaching a young Chilean girl to read, change the world for the better. Furthermore, these small acts of kindness or conscious serve to instill within us a sense of fulfillment and satisfaction. At the risk of sounding too preachy/pushy (since no one probably reads this but friends and family, those who are offended or put off...ahem Eamonn...will hopefully forgive my endearing idiosyncrasies), I encourage you to consider this path as well and "be the change you want to see in the world." (Shout out to Adrienne H.- You, your blog and your actions really inspired me in this effort!)

But, Marion, you say. How can I do that? In today's world we are constantly bombarded with information from the TV, Internet, radio, advertisements and even the mail (when is the last time you received a real letter?), making it hard to navigate the myriad issues and problems we face. So many issues, so many problems and just as many potential solutions but so little time! Well, I have added some features as you can see in the sidebar (thanks to my fumbling efforts to learn HTML), including a news feed, interesting blogs, books, organizations and websites to help you! While my selections will tend to focus on environmental issues, they are still a great place to start.

In other news, I continue to intern with Orange County Coastkeeper, a local advocacy, environmental education and monitoring non-profit. Today I finished my final round of interviews for a position with the AmeriCorps in the Sierra Nevadas. I interviewed for 5 different positions with 5 different environmental non-profit organizations: Conservation Associate (Friends of the Inyo), Water and Climate Change Program Asst. (Sierra Nevada Alliance), Asst. Programs Coordinator (Tahoe-Baikal Institute), Education & Outreach Specialist (Eastern Sierra Land Trust) and Sierra Nevada Outreach Coordinator (Planning and Conservation Foundation). I will find out by Nov. 20 if I got one of these positions and the cushy $1200/month living stipend. Unfortunately, doing good apparently doesn't pay that well in terms of career choices, at least not in the beginning. More updates on my search for gainful employment coming soon!

Thanks for visiting my blog and I hope you will find it not only a way to stay up to date with my current activities, ideas, thoughts and rambling rants but also as a resource to make a difference in your own special way.

Best of luck!

Wildfires, Riots, Mudslides, Earthquakes...Welcome to the Sunshine State!

Just want to let you all know that although there is a fire near Irvine, my family and I are ok. Many families, unfortunately, are not. If you want to help those families that have lost their homes, visit the Red Cross site. The LA Times and the OC Register also have continual updates if you are want to remain informed.

Since Sunday, there has been a thick, brown blanket of smoke laying above our house and all the surfaces inside and outside are covered with a thin layer of ash. It was a muggy 90 degrees today (why some people were wearing pants and sweatshirts I have no idea) and the heat along with the ash made it hard to breathe. When I got in my car and turned on the air conditioning, ash spewed directly into my face and made me cough for about 5 minutes. The falling ash and the constant news coverage remind me of the Laguna Beach fires in 1993. Voluntary evacuation was recommended for our neighborhood and the scene on my block was like something out of the movies. The ash was falling even thicker than it is now and the fires reached within 1.5 miles of my house. My little brother was riding up and down the street on his tricycle yelling evacuate lending a moment of humor to a very tense situation. Our neighbors camped out in our backyard and we watched the fire inch closer and closer over the distant ridge (back then there was no development on the hills behind our house). Then the fire turned and by morning it was almost completely contained. Air quality was so terrible, though, school was canceled for the day, for the first and only time in my academic career.

The fire are still going full force but the Santa Ana winds are slowing down and hopefully all those thousands of families will be able to return home soon(if they still have one). Even our Governator has been doing a credible job of making sure this does not turn into another Katrina disaster. These fires, however, are a chilling reminder of the fact that fire is a natural part of the local ecosystem, which has been disrupted by the constant development and sprawl in southern California. While a few take the extreme viewpoint to "Let Malibu burn" (Mike Davis, author of Ecology of Fear : Los Angeles and the Imagination of Disaster), I definitely think it is time for Southern Californians to come to terms with our arid climate AND allow for the inevitability of wildfires in future development schemes. To do otherwise would be a serious disservice to the all families who have lost their homes and to all the firefighters, aid workers and pilots who have worked tirelessly throughout this disaster.

A view of the huge plume of smoke over the Santiago Canyon Fire that eventually drifts the 10/15 miles to my house (Photo by Jeb Harris, The Orange County Register)

There is still time to help VEGlobal win $10,000!

Now that you have all created your Razoo.com accounts (if you have not, follow these instructions anyway) VEGlobal is now one of ONLY 34 eligible groups to win $10,000 ($2500 and $1000 for second and third place). ALL YOU NEED TO DO IS GO ONLINE TO http://beta.razoo.com/acts/vote_for_veglobal AND VOTE FOR VEGLOBAL BEFORE OCT.15! You are only two clicks away from helping VEGlobal win $10,000!

VEGlobal is the organization I worked with in Chile and they do amazing work with underprivileged children in Santiago. But they need more money to improve their programs and spread this amazing organization to other cities and countries. You can help them voting for VEGlobal on Razoo.com and remembering to:

BE THE CHANGE!

Help VEGlobal win $10,000

I am not sure if anyone still reads this blog as I have been a complete slacker and have not been posting anything. But if you are reading this, I need YOUR HELP.

As some of you may remember, I traveled to Chile for 7 months to work for VEGlobal, a non-profit organization dedicated to ending inequality and poverty for the children of Chile. It was an amazing experience and I really miss the Chilean girls I worked with at Residencia EntreTodas. I continue to help the organization by writing the newsletter, recruiting etc. Thanks to Adrienne, I found this amazing opportunity to win $10,000 for a small but great organization.

By simply creating an account with Razoo and joining the VEGlobal group, you can help VEGlobal win $10,000! Razoo is an innovative new web platform that is actively engaging individuals and organizations to mobilize a new generation for social change, a mission similar to that of VEGlobal. To celebrate the initial Launch, Razoo is hosting a $10,000 Change Your World contest for organizations to help build a global community for social change! To win VEGlobal must recruit at least 100 members before Oct. 1st.

So how does one help? Simply go to http://beta.razoo.com/member/signup to create your own personal account and then go to http://beta.razoo.com/groups/VEglobal to join the VEGlobal group. We need at least 100 members to join BEFORE OCT. 1st. Then the Razoo community votes on the eligible organizations. In the spirit of VEGlobal's Come Together 2007 Tour, please join other VEGlobal volunteers, alumni, and supporters alike by taking the 5 minutes to help VEGlobal win $10,000!

Thank you for your help!!! If you have any questions, leave a comment here.

Marion Needs Gainful Employment

Hey all, I know its been awhile and thanks to the persistant urging of Eamonn and Stuart I am finally writing an entry! Por fin! Since I returned from Santiago in April I have been back and forth between Montana and Southern California, helping my parents to move things to their new vacation home in Montana. More recently, for the past three weeks we've been constructing a wrap around deck (about 800 square feet) with just myself, my mom and dad as the construction "crew". Needless to say, it was a very long three weeks. On top of that my dog Eowyn ran away for two days! Thankfully, we saw her about 1/4 mile away from the house the 3rd day and I ran over and grabbed her before she could take off again. Fun times. Pics of the deck coming soon!

Now that I am back in SoCal, I am looking for jobs in earnest! I had a wonderful experience working for VEGlobal in Chile and I really would like to translate that into a research/writing job for a non-profit somewhere (US or abroad). So recently I have applied for jobs like Researcher for the Sierra Club and a Development Assistant for the Rainforest Alliance. I am hoping though that maybe you guys can help too! Do any of you have experience with working for non-profits and have any tips or connections that would be useful in my job hunt? Do you know of any useful online job sites? Do you know anyone that could help me out or point me in the right direction? I would really appreciate any sort of help!!! Send me an email at marionjgee@yahoo.com.

Other than that I am still working for VEGlobal as their newsletter editor and sometimes I write for their website and/or promotional material. Check out this link http://voluntariosesperanza.org/newsletter/july_07/newsjuly07.html to see the most recent newsletter I wrote, edited and assembled. I am also trying to knit scarves (and maybe hats and mittens) for all the girls and tias at the hogar I worked at. So far I have made 3 scarves and Jodi and Tryste have contributed two each. I probably won't be able to get them done for the girls until next winter because I want to send all the scarves at one time. If you would like to make a scarf/hat/mittens for the girls, send me an email! The girls will really appreciate it since the winters in Santiago can get very cold and the shelter has no heating and a pretty open floor plan that doesn't trap the heat very well. Lets call it the Knit Chile Project!

I hope you are well! Sorry for the long lapse in entries and I will promise to try to keep it more up to date!

Photos

Although I will be posting some choice photos on this blog, I has also added links on the sidebar to many more photos of my recent travels for those of you bored at work.

Enjoy!

El Calafate, Argentina Nov. 2006

As you can see this date conflicts with the actual date of the post because I am a lazy procrastinator. But I am sure you would rather read more about my travels!

El Calafate is the wannabe Aspen of Patagonia, except there is nowhere to ski, just an extremely large glacier to see (and rumors of good fishing but I didn’t have the time to verify that). Laurie, Calla and I arrived with 3 days to explore the area when really you only need one day to see the amazing Perito Moreno Glacier. While the town has cute Bavarian-esque shops, art galleries, chocolate shops and cafes, it is not enough of a reason to linger in the seemingly ever present wind and dust.

To get to the glacier you need to hire a car or take a tour. Calla and I opted for the tour, which included a boat ride along the southern face and hike around the northern face, with a final stop along the viewing terraces. We saw some glaciers in Torres del Paine but they did not prepare us for the enormity of the Perito Moreno Glacier. As the tour bus descended toward the dock, the glacier field seemed to go on and on, the peaks of the mountains acting as tiny distance markers. Passing small icebergs, the catamaran made its way so close to the glacier face, that I became highly alarmed when a chunk the size of a 5 bedroom Socal track home fell into the water. The tour guide, upon seeing my face, assured me that we were perfectly safe but it didn’t
stop me from worrying especially after seeing An Inconvenient Truth…it seemed only a matter of time until a truly huge chunk fell in. From the trail and the terraces we could better hear the groaning and cracking of the ice as it moved and small pieces would periodically fall off. But this was apparently not often enough for a group of Japanese tourists, who, either ignoring or unable to read the signs that said no shouting in English and Spanish, began screaming at the top of there lungs thereby breaking the peaceful serenity of the moment. As we were leaving, the persistent wind of Patagonia moved the clouds in such a way that there seemed to be a spotlight shining down on various parts of the glacier, the colors of which alternated between white, blue and lavender.

The next day was spent writing postcards, shopping, and trying mate for the first time (a type of tea very popular in Argentina which is drunk through a straw from a carved out, dried pumpkin), while Laurie headed back to Punta Arenas, Chile to catch an earlier flight back. The next day Calla and I left for Punta Arenas via Puerto Natales where, surprisingly enough we met up with Omar, the friendly owner of Kawashkar hostel hustling up some business with the gringos at the bus stop for his hostel. The people I met on my travels, I think, are one of the most memorable aspects of my time in Chile and Argentina, so many friendly, helpful and interesting people, which brings me to my next encounter in Punta Arenas. By this time, I had a nasty cold and all I wanted to do was sleep, which was very easy to do in the Downtown Hostel, a historic building from the early 1900s that included an awesome cast iron stove. The next day our flight did not leave until 3, but the lady owner was kind enough to let us hang out in the living room. When I told her I had a cold, she immediately began to make me a special honey tea, which was surprisingly good and helped my sore throat. While she made that and continued with the household chores, her husband sat down and chatted with me, telling me about the history of the house, running a B&B, his own travels through the United States and how he was the owner of a sporting goods store that was the first to introduce name brands like North Face to Chile. It was quite a pleasant way to end the journey and as the plane cruised by snow capped volcanoes and over sparkling blue fjords, I felt re-energized and ready to get back to work

One of only THREE Patagonian glaciers that is not retreating.

Check back soon for One Day in the Life of a VE Volunteer.

So confused

So my lame excuse for not posting in a coon's age is that I could not figure this new sign in with google accounts dealio they got going on here at e-blogger. But I finally used what little brain cells I had left to get it....ha! I am back from South America and have many tales to tell but at the moment I am searching for jobs (ick), contemplating going back to school (yay the bubble), and trying not to drive my family crazy. The good news is my family has bought a new house in Montana and if I don't have a job by this summer, I would love it you guys would come visit me there! Email me for more details. My brother just got back and will be wanting his computer back to play World of Warcraft. Don't worry more blog entries to come! I have miss all of your comments and emails!!!!
ABRAZOS,
mj