15 Days of Giving

Yes, there are 12 days of Christmas, but why not 15 days of giving?! Check out this list for all the simple actions you can take to help out others in need this year - you'll even find some GREAT gifts for those hard to buys on your list!

December 10th: Kick off this holiday month right by checking out Oxfam Unwrapped - the fab site that lets you buy bikes, chickens, safe water and all sorts of great things for villages in need!

December 11th: Give the gift of your wisdom! That's right, there's are loads of kidlets out there just waiting to hear all the amazing advice you have on clothes, boys, coffee, well pretty much life! Kids.now provides you with everything you need to become a fantastic mentor!

December 12th: Grab a gift card from Just Give for a friend and they can redeem it to donate to a charity of their choice.

December 13th: Bring home a furry friend. Or find a mate for a friend and head to your nearest adoption to centre to bring a little buddy home just in time for the holidays.
December 14th: Buy (Red) Products for everyone! There's cute tees, rings and candles for

your girlfriends, wicked headphones for your beau and even Penguin Classic books for that hard to buy boss - all helping to eliminate AIDS in Africa.

December 15th: Help Abused Women. Mimi + You is a fantastic handmade jewelry company that makes gorgeous and statement necklace pieces - all their proceeds from their Celebrate

Courage line goes to support abused womens' shelter.
December 16th: Find an Elegant Gift with Charity Buzz. Your cousin that loves Lady Gaga -

no problem bid on VIP tickets! Your mom that ohs and ahs over the sexy Ralph Lauren - get her a trip to meet him in person! And the best part is, all the proceeds from these extravagant gifts go

directly to charity!

December 17th: Feed a Hungry Kid in South Africa through the Lunchbox Fund - or get a gift for your family by sponsoring a child for a whole year for only $80!

December 18th: Get Your Colleagues cute office slippers from TOMS. For each pair sold, another pair is sent to a child in a developing country.

December 19th: Keep Mosquitos away. Every 30 seconds a child in Africa dies from Malaria.

Send two mosquito safety nets through World Vision in honor of pretty much anyone on your Christmas list.

December 20th: Become Worldly. With jewelry, skirts, rings, and shoes from all over the world - you can get your girlfriends, mom, or even yourself ;) a fabulous gift from Live Worldly that supports local charities in the artisans' home countries.

December 21st: Support Learning! What about getting your little cousins, nieces and nephews a cool, totally gross gift that their parents' won't hate you for! Check out Elephant Thoughts and all their great eco-friendly gifts for the science nerd in everyone!

December 22nd: Give Cuddles to kids who need it the most. Noah's Ark helps abused children through amazing pet therapy - your donation helps pays for the basics like dog food (they go through 800 pounds a year), new clothing and toys.

December 23rd: Make a Wish come true by buying a wrapped toy and delivering it

straight to the many drop offs for the Chum Christmas Wish.

December 24th: Indulge in the gorgeous handmade jewelry by the female Ugandan artisans of Beads for Life. Not only are the colors and patterns stunning, buteach purchase is helping to end poverty in Ugandan villages.

December 25th: Make this holiday the best. Take a moment today to look around you at all the amazing things life has given you. Great friends, great food, great gifts, great family (even if they're insane!) and okay, great wine. Appreciate what you have, and then vow to make things

better for others - even if it's as simple as these actions - buying a funky gift, clicking and learning more, or making a tiny donation - YOU ARE making a difference!

* A big thank you to GLAMOUR Magazine for giving me the idea for this article - if you get a chance check out this month's "31 Days Giving" Article - it's all American charities, but it's really great!

Show Us your Mo!

It would be pretty hard not to notice the thousands of men walking the streets sporting some ridiculous mustaches. If you don't already know, this month has been crowned "Movember" - a month that encourages men to grow their most outrageous, hideous and hairy mustache in support of research, funding and awareness of prostate cancer. It's a great campaign - that has been catching fire ever since it was created by a group of hard partying Australians in 2003. Last year's Canadian campaign alone raised over 7.8 million dollars for Prostate Cancer Canada - and raised awareness worldwide as male CEOs, NHL players, golfers, newscasters and movie stars alike wore their facial hair with pride.

So we know you've been growing proudly over the last few weeks and we'd love to see your MO! Send us pictures for our blog and we'll send you a free tee! Email us your pics at caitied@getinvolved.ca - or simply attached them to your comments below!

For inspiration check out some 'stache hall-of-famers:

The Spirit of Giving

Looking for something festive to do with your kids this weekend? How about giving them a one of a kind experience where they get to help other children AND charity support charities? Well look no further! Jake's Gigantic Give is happening this weekend (November 27th & 28th) - an event that will turn your whole family into a group of giving santas!

It all starts with a group of volunteers have transformed a massive warehouse into a magical toy shop, where your kids can roam about and find the perfect toy to give away. Once selected, the toy is taken to the gift wrapping centre to be wrapped JUST right. Then - and possibly the most magical part of the give, your kids get to take their gift directly to a representative of the charity they choose to support (among some of the charities at the event are Children’s Aid, Jewish Family and Child Services, Chum City Xmas Wish, Starlight/Starbright, Jean Tweed Centre and Chai Lifeline) - so they get to see the immediate response to giving.

And Jacob's Gigantic Give has pretty much thought of everything to make this experience easy, fun and festive. Adults can either join their children in the store or kick back in Jake’s Lounge where entertainment, food, drinks, giveaways, gifts, surprise guests and much more will be happening throughout each day - while their kids are taken on the giving journey with "kids-at-heart" volunteers.

To learn more please head to the Jacob's Gigantic Give and get into the amazing spirit of giving!

How Will Your Remember?

John Russell Drewery. He had a fantastic moustache, a wicked sense of humor, the best luck at poker, a great ability at telling stories, and an uncanny knack for kicking ass at Scrabble. He was my grandfather. And when he was 18, he left home, and prepared himself to die for his country.

I am lucky enough to have gotten to know my grandfather. He survived his time as an aimer in a Lancaster Bomber in the RAF. He never talked about it, and when I was younger, I always wondered why. He spent two years flying in a plane that has now become an icon of the war, a plane that was first class in a technology that had only been developed a decade before. At 8 (when I still had dreams of be coming a pilot, traveling with my pet unicorn of course), I thought this would have been the most exciting adventure in the world. And when he enrolled in the RAF, a young, handsome, innocent, 17 year old (he lied about his age) - he thought much in the same way I did (without the unicorn I would assume) - as did so many young Canadian men - they thought they were off on an adventure.

Several years ago, my dad and I travelled to Normandy to shoot a documentary and found ourselves on Juno Beach, on a cold, windy and damp day. The beach is huge (massive to be exact), the water is ice cold and dark, and there is an enormous ridge shadowing the beach about 50 yards away - there is no cover, no place to hide, no hope to make it up and over the hulking ridge. And suddenly I knew, I understood - my grandfather's time in the RAF was a huge part of who he was, but he did it so it wouldn't be a huge part of who I am. His experiences in those 3 years, were all so that he could protect me and my generation from every experiencing the same thing. Of course he wouldn't talk about it, he was fighting so we would never have to.

Thank you John. Thank you for my freedom, thank you for wicked sense of humor, thank you for the memories. We miss you.

So use Remembrance Day to remember however and whoever you want. Take a moment today and say thank you.

Check out Much Music Veteran's Week site - a great example of how to harness social media to remember, share, discuss and keep Remembrance Day alive.

Hey What Happened to the UNICEF Halloween Donation Boxes?!

This year, don't worry about having a bowl of change next to your trick-or-treats, UNICEF is doing things a little bit differently now.

I have vague (but very fond) memories of stumbling around in my mushroom costume (that's

right, when other girls were dressing up as princesses and figure skater, I was desperate to be a pizza topping) going around collecting yummy chocolate, and adding to my exceedingly weighty UNICEF box. UNICEF boxes were so popular that kids would not only compete for the most chocolate bars, but also the heaviest orange and black box. And what a great idea it was! Even at 7, bundled up in my green stem and giant mushroom-top hat, I knew that I was doing something good for kids who maybe couldn't go out and trick-or-treat - it was a great way to teach kids about those less fortunate, in a fun, engaging way.

Well it seems UNCIEF has really honed on to the educationally part of Halloween donations - while the Halloween box donations were a great way to get kids involved, the donations of pennies and nickels (plus the complexities and organization involved in getting those weighty donations to their head offices) usually didn't amount to that much. But much in the

way sugar highs pass by November 1st, so to do the excitement and interest in international development.

This year, UNICEF has declared October 31st as National UNICEF day! Instead of the donation boxes, UNICEF provides people with Halloween fundraising tool kits - allowing people to fundraise in their own way. UNICEF provides ideas for fundraising events at work, at school, in your community, or at a party! You can even create a personalized online fundraising page - so instead of your party goers handing over cash, they can go online and donate directly to UNICEF with debit, VISA or Amex.

But don't worry, UNICEF hasn't lost their fun kids' stuff either. There are tons of online tools and helpful ideas to get kids engaged. Teachers can download teaching plans to organize parties, games and lectures all focused around learning about third world countries and how to give back. And kids can learn on their own too - UNICEF provides them with online games about accessing clean water, helping disaster zones and a quiz show on UNCIEF itself.

A great place to stop for last minute party ideas for Saturday and Sunday, or sit down and play a game with your kid while learning about those in need. And for those of you who LOVE Halloween (like myself), start planning your massive fundraising BASH for next year!!

Charity Buzz - How to Do Good and Live Well

While doing some research for our Think Pink Month piece (more to come), I stumbled across one of the most innovative, interesting and fun fundraising sites I have seen in a long while.

The concept is relatively simple - people like auctions and people like donating money (in theory)...what if you could not only donate money - and in fairly large amounts - which also buys you something that is completely unusual, fabulous and frivolous? The answer is CharityBuzz.

CharityBuzz showcases a collection of super rare items being sold on auction, with the proceeds going to the seller's charity of choice. All the items are completely unique trips and experiences, like a tour by Ralph Lauren himself of his world famous car collection, an opportunity to star in a new horror movie, or VIP backstage pass tickets to Lady Gaga - each one of which support a great cause!

These auction items are in some cases ridiculously expensive - a dinner reservation at NY's Rao restaurant is currently going for $7500....and that's just for the table, not the food! - but some of the items are the perfect gift for those tough-to-buys, or the best way to spoil yourself.

With causes and organizations like the Ralph Lauren Pink Pony, the Lollipop Theatre Network, and the World Wildlife Fund it's definitely worth a peek at all the drool-worthy items on sale.

What's Not to LOVE about Ted Talks?

Ted Talk's tagline ran continually through my head as I sat listening yesterday at Tedx Toronto - "ideas worth sharing"......which definitely are the perfect words to encompass all that Ted is about. Because that's what it is - ideas. Ideas from innovators, authors, poets, creators, buisnessmen - all coming together over a love of knowledge.

Speakers are given 20 minutes, just 20 minutes, to inspire you, challenge you and teach you...or sometimes, even turn your world upsidedown.

As I sat in a conference room at MaRS, full of people drinking cans of pop and clutching their Tim Hortons, frantically typing into their blackberries and ipads (yes, this is the universe of nerdom, but cool nerds), trying to keep in touch with the offices they have left for the day to spend at TED. I thought to myself, that this sight proves that knowledge is power. Not in the traditional sense, but that knowledge has power. It has the power to make you think for days, the power to start conversation, the power to change your views, the power to bring people together, and possibly the power to create peace.

Okay, okay, I've gotten a little hyperbolic, but if you've seen a TED talk that's stuck with you, then you know what I am talking about. If you haven't, then see one NOW, at the very least, it will give you something to talk about at your next cocktail party.