“Finally, Good News”
The world had opened before Maggie Doyne. She was 18, just graduated from Mendham New Jersey High School, and her backpack was all loaded for a trip “off to see the world.” High in the Nepalese Himalayas, Maggie befriended a six-year-old girl in need of – everything. She became determined to break the cycle of poverty first for this girl’s family – then for others. And so the revolution began.
Today, Maggie Doyne’s BlinkNow Foundation runs and operates the Kopila Valley School, a children’s home, women’s center, and an expanded new 400-student campus, erected with astoundingly inventive environmentally sustainable features that are being emulated worldwide.
Who says 18 is too young to begin changing the world?
Want to Pitch In? Visit www.blinknow.org. Read the BlinkNow story; consider donating cash, books, school supplies….and perhaps have your son, daughter, parents join Maggie’s team over in Nepal for a life-uplifting experience. Why not?
The Hidden Revolution is erupting all around us. You feel it, benefit from it, and odds are you don’t know who’s involved. While the mayhem mongers seize media headlines, quiet legions of dedicated individuals and inventive organizations are transforming our world for the better. Their creativity is astounding, and their achievements seem unimaginable. For example, take the contributors profiled below…
Tom Johnson – Founder, Africa Surgery, Inc.
Tom leads me through the whitewashed basement, sorting through shoes, electric sewing machines, eyeglasses, medical supplies, water distillers, fabric, bicycles, soccer balls, and mounds of clothing. For six months of the year, he’s here, in Morristown, New Jersey’s Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Church, diligently collecting these vital donations into a huge container load. Then, the next six months he returns with these necessities to poverty-stricken communities throughout Sierra Leone distributing them to where they save lives, heal, and help launch micro businesses. That’s Tom’s minor miracle.
Tom’s primary miracle is overseeing Africa Surgery, Inc. which brings in scores of physicians, nurses and surgeons, to the Hospital of Makeni and other medical outposts, where they provide free treatment for thousands of suffering folks. Malaria, OBGYN issues, hernias, cleft palates, burns, broken bones, typhoid, hernias, major wounds, clubfeet… healing comes to the medically-bereft Sierra Leoneans.
Twenty years ago, Tom was a beekeeper who joined the Peace Corps, and witnessed first-hand the desperate need for medical supplies and doctors. After completing his Peace Corps term, Tom stayed, rolled up his sleeves and engineered ways to deliver tools and treatments to the people he had come to love so dearly. Today, he is known throughout the rural villages as “The Old White Man on the Bicycle.”
Want to Pitch In? Visit www.Africasurgery.org. Learn more. Discover how to make a tax-deductible donation, and check out the list of items to donate.
Help! Who You Gonna Call? – 211
When you and your family’s back are pushed to the wall because of hunger, mental health problems, homelessness, cut off electricity…. When you need free tax assistance, unemployment aid, cybercrime solutions, addiction help for self or family members…or you want to report human trafficking or fraud… The answer is YES, help is here. In all fifty of the United States, you can just grab a phone, punch in 211 – and you will be connected to a real person – no annoying robos – a community resource specialist who has the knowledge and ability to find solutions. They can link you with over 6,600 community programs and services (and that’s just in my state.) And they don’t just “patch you through” and move on. These trained volunteers take pride in getting to the root problem. They work with the individual in need until that caller finds practical answers.
Last year 211 brought solid assistance to over 18 million individuals. They provided benefit for 2.4 million people facing food insecurity. The generosity of the United States’ people and their government is legendary. Our land is filled with helping hands – and 211 is the group that effectively links them with those reaching out in need.
(P.S. If you only speak Azerbaijani, don’t worry. 211 reps handle 180 languages.)
Want to Pitch In? Visit your state’s website e.g. www.nj211.org for www.nh211.org, learn more; make a tax deductible donation, and consider becoming a volunteer.