The Give Blog

On the Ground: Ohio Innocence Project

Today we feature the Ohio Innocence Project.  Run by our friend Mark at the University of Cincinnati College of Law, OIP has helped eight innocent people win their freedom since OIP was founded in 2003.  One of the cases on the OIP website is described below.

Clarence Elkins was convicted in 1999 of murder and rape and sentenced to life in prison. In 2004, DNA testing conducted by the OIP proved not only that Elkins was innocent, but that a convicted sex offender named Earl Mann was the true perpetrator. Elkins was released in 2005 . . .. The OIP's work on the Ellkins case was featured in news outlets around the world, including Larry King Live, People Magazine and Dateline NBC. A documentary film titled, Conviction:The True Story of Clarence Elkins, featuring several OIP students, won the 2008 Big Sky Documentary Film Festival.

 

Our Conscious Living: Wedding Bands

We previously blogged about our engagement without a ring.  Wedding bands on the other hand were a must for us. I actually really like the tradition of wearing rings for marriage, and I wanted Suja to wear a ring.  To me, it says “she’s taken.”  We decided to buy cheap titanium rings.  We were able to buy them from a regular jeweler, and the two bands cost less than $200 in total.  They have helped set the tone for our lives together.  Also, they’re replaceable in case we ever lose our rings as one of our friends did when he unwittingly flicked his into his car dashboard.  It's a good story.  He found it after ten years when they were selling the car.  He has a great, understanding wife.

 

White Poverty in South Africa

As the world focuses on South Africa for the World Cup, there is a refocus on the poverty there.  We previously blogged on this.  Here is an article about white South Africans also living in poverty.

New York Times— Poverty, and Little Sympathy, in South Africa  By Kerri MacDonald

If there was one thing Finbarr O’Reilly sought to emphasize when he began reporting on white poverty in South Africa, it was that color shouldn’t have a voice in the conversation. “It doesn’t really matter what color it is,” said Mr. O’Reilly, a 39-year-old Canadian photographer for Reuters whose touching 2005 photo of a Niger mother and child was named World Press Photo of the Year. “It’s an issue that really is quite urgent right now in South Africa.” The story has rarely been told. But it has been on his radar since a 1994 backpacking trip through Africa, when he noticed a number of poor white South Africans begging for change at traffic lights. “I started asking around and saying, ‘What’s going on here?’” . . . “It’s not a new phenomenon, but the numbers seem to be more apparent than they were in the past.” Read entire article.

 

Kids Hungry in the Summer

After reading this story, when we see a kid, we now wonder whether that kid has had a meal today.

Burlington FreePress.com—Hunger in the season of plenty  By MELISSA PASANEN

"In the state of Vermont, there are 29,000 kids who eat free or reduced-price breakfast and lunch during the school year," says Marissa Parisi, executive director of the Vermont Campaign to End Childhood Hunger (VTCECH). "But in the summer only 5,000 have access to any sort of meal program." "Summer need is great," Parisi emphasizes. "Many people think of it as a time of plenty, but it can be a time of severe need and hunger, especially for children because they're not in school."  Read the entire article.

 

Winter’s Bone—A Movie about Rural Poverty

We've noticed that not many movies depicting poverty, particularly in America, make it to the big screen.  One of our favorites that did make it is Frozen River.  Here's a description of a new movie involving poverty that has received many awards.

Blogcritics—Movie Review: Winter's Bone - Rural Poverty, Banjos, and Sweet Tea  By Damien Riley

I know people living in poverty. Their income status never prevents them from doing things like picking up a banjo or making sweet tea with family. Human charms like these transcend socio-economic levels as the independent film Winter's Bone reminds us. It also reminds us that rural poverty is such a sad sad thing. Winter's Bone is set in the backlands of the Ozarks. It centers around 17-year-old Ree Dolly, played by newcomer Jennifer Lawrence. She is a pretty, determined girl whose journey threatens thorny characters driven only by self-preservation. As is true of most independent films, most the actors are no-namers (though Lawrence has already finished starring in Jodie Foster's new movie). Winter's Bone was directed by Debra Granik, who has done a list of movies none of which I recognize. I have no doubt, however, this amazing movie will yield more opportunities for her.  Read the entire article.

On the Ground: Girls Athletic Leadership Schools

My friend Tuti told me about Girls Athletic Leadership Schools.  GALS is a school for girls centered around academics and athletics.  I think it’s important for girls (and boys) to have the opportunity to play sports; my three sisters and I gained an immeasurable amount of confidence by playing sports while we were growing up.  Also, as most people are aware, these days, kids are getting less exercise on a daily basis.  Here is some information from GALS website.

While there is a strong tradition and a growing number of single gender schools in the United States, GALS are the only such schools in the nation that predicate their environment on academic excellence and deep personal growth through the distinct lens of health and wellness and athletics. Our curriculum and pedagogy build on the inherent capacity of students to become engaged as lifelong learners through self-expression grounded in mind/body development, utilizing up-to-date technology and best practices in action-based learning. Modern brain research supports the intrinsic connection between the brain and the body. Accordingly, The Girls Athletic Leadership Schools uniquely focus on the seamless integration of academics and physical mastery in a healthy, competitive environment allowing the emphasis of knowledge arrived through the body to develop into lessons of Well-being, Leadership, Courage and Commitment. This is accomplished through a body-centered thematic structureTM where students work in multi-aged, small-group advisories framed around ten themes relating to both physical and character development. The role of movement serves two primary purposes in our schools: To optimize learning potential; and to boost students’ overall physical health and wellness.

 

Our Conscious Living: Seven Months of Conscious Living

We have been “consciously living and giving” for about seven months since the end of November.  We wanted to share how the journey has been so far.  The path that we have taken has been fruitful for our lives.  Now, when we see someone in need or an organization to which we want to contribute, we don’t even have to give it a second thought.  We know we have the money to give.  An example of this happened when we took a trip out west early this summer for vacation.  We were camping, and we needed change for a twenty to pay the ten dollar camping charge.  Yep—it was a good deal to camp—ten dollars versus a hundred or more to stay in a hotel.  We saw a woman in one of the camping spots, and as we moved toward her, we asked whether she had change for a twenty.  The woman seemed not to want to be bothered by us so we walked away.  However, when we walked back past her again after being unsuccessful in finding someone else with change, the woman called us over to give us change.  She was really dirty, with dirt all over her face, and she appeared pregnant.  She also had what appeared to be all of her possessions in her car.  We thanked her after she gave us the change—she had saved us ten dollars—and we went on our way.  We thought about her a lot as we backpacked in a national park the next couple of days, and then, when we returned, she was still there.  We left some money for her near her car.  The woman had gone out of her way to help us, and hopefully we helped her in a small way.  We hope that she is ok.  There are a lot of people out there who need our help—ours and yours.  Our decisions on a daily basis make it an easy choice to be able to help.

  

Billionaires, GDP, and Income Inequality

The Seattle Times—Income Inequality and Philanthropy  By Kristi Helm

The Gates/Buffett billionaire pledge drive provoked some thoughtful analysis as well as barbed commentary. Among the more interesting questions raised was this: why now? Why are wealthy Americans more interested in philanthropy, and if not, why do their peers think they should be? One answer is that they have a lot more money to give away. The United States has seen a rise in income inequality over the past several decades. The sheer number of billionaires has also increased steeply. Take a look at this chart from Gapminder to watch the yellow billionaire balloon shoot to the top. The U.S. has one of the best business environments for people like Buffett and Gates to make their fortunes. Yet when you look at wealth per person, several countries are doing better than the U.S. without many billionaires. Norway's GDP per capita, for example, is $49,000 compared to $43,000 for the U.S., and it has 4 billionaires compared to 415 in the U.S. Read the entire article.

Warren Buffet and Bill Gates' Giving Pledge

Wall Street Journal—Gates, Buffett Goad Peers to Give Billions to Charity  By Robert A. Guth and Shelly Banjo

Warren Buffett and Bill Gates called Wednesday on their billionaire peers to give away half of their wealth. The pronouncement by Messrs. Buffett and Gates stems from a series of dinners the two men held over the past year to discuss the effects of the recession on philanthropy with some of the nation's richest people, including New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, investor Ronald O. Perelman and David Rockefeller, his family's patriarch. The result of the dinners is an invitation, called the Giving Pledge, which asks the nation's billionaires to publicly commit to give at least half of their wealth to philanthropic and charitable groups within their lifetimes or after their deaths.  Read entire article.

     

Using Capitalism to Alleviate Poverty

Forbes.com—Capitalist Do-Gooders Vs. Poverty-Warts and All  By Kerry A. Dolan

“When you’re giving aid, you distribute products that are free. What we do is different.” So begins The New Recruits, a new documentary about using capitalism to alleviate poverty in the developing world. Free market supporters would have you believe that capitalism always triumphs in such situations. The New Recruits shows that it’s not nearly so simple. “I used to be a staunch believer that the market can solve most of the problems. What I’ve realized is that the market is imperfect,” says Joel, a business school graduate from Alabama who spends 10 months with a drip irrigation company in Pakistan. Before he left for Pakistan, Joel told a group gathered in Tuscaloosa, Ala. that “Aid and charity on its own will never solve the problems of poverty.”  That may be true. At the gathering, U.S. Senator Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) tells Joel, “We have wasted trillions of dollars on multilateral organizations.”  But capitalism needs help to quash poverty.  Read the entire article.