“More Blessed Than Stressed” proudly features individuals, companies and organizations that are working to make a difference in the lives of others. Each story is personally selected by us and offers a condensed description, plus a website link to follow and learn more. We simply applaud the efforts of many and want to share the “good vibes” we find out there! Since inspiration comes in all shapes and sizes from many locations, we continue to update our list and invite you to visit often.
United Nations Millennium Development Goals
In September of 2010, the UN Summit on the Millennium Development Goals adopted a global action plan to achieve the eight anti-poverty goals by their 2015 target date with major new commitments for women’s and children’s health, plus other initiatives against poverty, hunger and disease.
For more information: www.un.org/millenniumgoals
Playing for Change: Connecting the World Through Music
In August of 2001, Whitney Kroenke and Mark Johnson began working together on an idea for a documentary film that would be called “Playing For Change.” Mark wanted to travel around the country with a mobile recording studio and capture moments on the street that would normally “slip though the cracks” of society. They discovered extraordinary musicians and wanted to connect them to each other by starting a song in one location and let each musician add their part of the song. The project seemed bigger than just one country, so they continued to travel around the world and meet new musicians and grow the songs. On one trip, they met a man named Pokie Klass in a township of South Africa who shared a dream of opening a music school in his community. Whitney and Mark wanted to help him realize his dream and that’s how the Playing For Change Foundation was born. The following year, they broke ground for the first music school on the exact spot where they first spoke to Pokie about his dream! They continue to journey around the world, make new friends, hear new music and create opportunities to inspire youth. In 2010, a global movement supported by Yoko Ono and music lovers around the world joined to launch a Power to the People campaign with the song, “Imagine.” The goal is to continue to advance John Lennon’s vision of peace by engaging artists and audiences to contribute to music education programs worldwide.
To learn more: www.playingforchange.org
Lacy’s House
In the state of Oregon, Mike and Lacy Bryant began their quest in 2009 to help homeless veterans begin to put their lives back together. Community based organizations provide counseling and job opportunities, plus medical treatment and help to secure benefits that are due. Many fundraisers are planned for the coming year to help pay the mortgage on Lacy’s House, plus they are looking for donations of time, materials and home furnishings. Recently featured on NBC’s Today Show, Lacy’s House was praised for their work to help homeless veterans who have served for our freedom.
For more information: www.lacyshouse.com
Bread for the World Institute
Bread for the World is a collective Christian voice urging our nation’s decision makers to end hunger at home and abroad. By changing policies, programs, and conditions that allow hunger and poverty to persist, they provide help and opportunity far beyond the communities where they live. Bread for the World members write personal letters and emails and meet with members of Congress. Working through churches, campuses, and other organizations, they engage more people in advocacy. Each year, Bread for the World invites churches across the country to take up a nationwide Offering of Letters to Congress on an issue that is important to hungry and poor people. As a non-profit, Bread for the World works in a bipartisan way. Their network of thousands of individual members, churches, and denominations ensures Bread’s presence in all U.S. congressional districts.
To learn more: www.bread.org
Souls4Souls, Inc.
In the aftermath of the 2004 tsunami that hit Southeast Asia, Wayne Elsey, the Founder and CEO of Soles4Souls Inc., felt compelled to do something. Seeing a single shoe wash up on a beach on TV triggered an idea to call some other executives in the footwear industry, which eventually lead to the donation of a quarter of a million shoes to victims in devastated countries. A year later when Katrina hit, the same group of friends sent over a million pairs of shoes down to the gulf coast communities affected by the hurricane. Wayne decided to start a non-profit and one year later Soles4Souls was born. The organization’s motto is: “changing the world one pair at a time.”
For more information: www.soles4souls.org