The Give Back Solution

by Skog, Susan

• ISBN13: 9781402218156
• ISBN10: 140221815X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-03-01
• Publisher: Sourcebooks Inc

Summary

Reaching out and supporting others brings out the best in all of us. Giving back strengthens America---but the under-appreciated secret is that it lifts us up, too. Part call-to-action, part inspiration, part practical research guide to make-a-difference opportunities, The Give-Back Solution captures the idealism and generosity sweeping our country, even in the face of serious challenges.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. ix
Introduction: The Opportunity of a Lifetime-Become an Agent of Change	p. xi
Answering the Give-Back Call: How You Can Engage	p. 1
Excavate Your Inner Humanitarian	p. 3
Channeling Your Passion: The Many Give-Back Options	p. 21
How to Navigate Volunteering in the Developing World: Taking a Trip with Purpose	p. 35
Ways to Change the World and Change Yourself: How You Can Take on AIDS, Malaria, Deforestation, Illiteracy, and More	p. 51
Channel Your Inner Oprah: Educate the Children	p. 53
Global Health: Deliver Clean Water to Villages, Prevent AIDS, Ease Orphans' Suffering	p. 85
Touch the World: Preserve Endangered Animals and Habitats/Reforest the World	p. 131
Spread the Prosperity: Invest in Entrepreneurs	p. 153
Ease Conflicts: Be the Peace You Want to See in the World	p. 181
Still Other Ways to Engage: Start in Your Own Workplace	p. 195
Into The World---And Back Home Again	p. 219
Ensuring a Safe, Successful Trip	p. 221
Coming Home: Engaging More	p. 231
Conclusion: Let the Developing World Change Ours	p. 239
Connecting	p. 243
Resources	p. 245
Index	p. 253
About the Author	p. 262
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

Excerpts

When she planned her sixth birthday party, Morgan Atwell of Evergreen, Colorado, told her friends to skip the presents. Instead, she urged them to pool their pennies so she could put up a school in the remote mountains of Pakistan and Afghanistan. So far, Atwell, the first-grade activist, has raised more than $700 for school supplies. She's one of legions of kids around the country whose pennies have gone to Pennies for Peace, a swift-growing arm of the Central Asia Institute (www.penniesforpeace.org). CAI's built sixty-four schools in Afghanistan and Pakistan, educating twenty-five thousand students, despite constant turmoil there.

Why would a little girl in the Rocky Mountains feel such a connection to kids living in the mountains of Taliban country? "I don't know. It just comes up in my mind, and it fills my heart with love," Atwell says thoughtfully. But segueing quickly into savvy fundraising mode she asks, "I've heard that a penny buys a pencil. Do you know how much a pencil sharpener is?"

Morgan represents a new uprising: a rush to step into the gap between the developed and developing worlds, to give back all around the globe - and across the United States. They and millions of their counterparts are powering a give-back movement no one saw coming: ordinary people - you, me, your neighbor down the street, and your aunt in Ohio - going head to head with extraordinary third-world poverty, AIDS, malaria, illiteracy, the lack of safe drinking water, and tough challenges here at home - and having the time of our lives in the process.
***

The Give-Back Revolution is a term I use to describe the unprecedented surge of ordinary people choosing to step up and use their travel, time, and talents to make a better world. The world has never seen so many people, across all age groups, volunteering and supporting causes that serve the common good and bring much-needed hope and solutions across the earth. This Give-Back Revolution is bringing out the best in us and changing the face of the world: we are choosing to remain hopeful, connected, and empowered - to take on the world's toughest challenges and transform them with generosity and collective goodwill.

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Excerpted from Give Back Revolution: How You Can Transform the World with Your Time, Talents, and Travel by Susan Skog
All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.