Hire Heroes USA

Week 22: Hire Heroes USA

Hi! Hope you are having a lovely long weekend and welcome back to another week of GIVE52. In honor of Memorial Day, this week, in addition to giving thanks to those who have died in the armed forces, I’d love to do a little something to help our veterans who are still here today.

Hire Heroes USA is on a mission to make sure veterans and military spouses can gain employment. Their only goal is to get people jobs after serving our country and empower them to succeed in the civilian workforce.

They provide “free, expert career coaching and job sourcing to hundreds of transitioning U.S. military members, veterans and military spouses each week.”

They help active military, veterans and their spouses with job training, resume building, interviewing and other skills to help with job searches. They match veterans with an ex-military staff member who mentors them and guides them through the process.

On top of that, they even have a database of veteran-friendly companies and a board to display current openings. Since 2007, they have helped more than 16,000 veterans and military spouses move into new careers and generated nearly a $200 million economic impact.

I hope your weekend was a ton of fun. Living on the beach, I wish I could bottle up the Memorial Day barbecue and bon fire smell and send it through this email.

All the best and more,

Jodi

The Fistula Foundation

Week 21: The Fistula Foundation

This week's organization is the Fistula Foundation. It was founded as an all volunteer organization to support the pioneering Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital in Ethiopia. Their mission to fight fistula globally and to provide women with free and safe surgeries.

I know that a few years ago, I was completely unaware of what a fistula even is. So, let’s start here: a fistula is an obstetric injury caused by childbirth leaving a woman incontinent of urine or feces or both. To add to this trauma, a woman with fistula is then often rejected by her husband and pushed out of her village. Obstetric fistula most commonly occurs among women who live in poor countries and women who give birth without access to medical care.

The Fistula Foundation believes that “no woman should have to suffer a life of shame and isolation for trying to bring a child into the world”.

The Fistula Foundation issues grants on an invitation-only basis to “treatment facilities that are known, trusted and have access to qualified fistula surgeons who can provide the best care possible to women”.

The goal is to provide women with free and safe obstetric fistula repair surgery.

This surgery can give a woman her life back after severe trauma, both physically and socially. I am so delighted this week to play a small part in making these surgeries possible.

We are halfway through the year, and still going strong!
I hope your week is lovely, and also that this year truly is shaping up to be one of generosity. I cherish and love being a part of this community, and am so excited to keep up our terrific momentum.

All the best and more,
Jodi

Wikipedia

Week 20: Wikipedia

Okay, I know this one might sound weird. This week's GIVE52 organization is Wikipedia. I don't know about you, but Wiki has been an amazing resource for me and I constantly find myself using it. You can get deep into a topic and follow links until your brain explodes with incredible and fascinating new information. BUT, despite all the value, I have never given them a cent. Until today.

If you are unaware, or live under a rock with no internet access, Wikipedia is a “free online encyclopedia with the aim to allow anyone to edit articles. Wikipedia is the largest and most popular general reference work on the Internet.”

From the founder of Wikipedia, Jimmy Wales: "Wikipedia is something special. It is like a library or a public park. It is like a temple for the mind. It is a place we can all go to think, to learn, to share our knowledge with others. "

I realized how crazy it was that I had never donated, despite their campaigns after reading this post by Sasha Dichter.

In it he talks about the fact that about "199 out of 200 people use this incredible free resource and never bother to give a penny." He made a point that often we ignore the banner asking us to give, because we think that giving just a little is insignificant or even embarrassing.

“Our problem, you see, isn’t lack of resources. Our problem is bystanding. Our problem is that even the best of us default to “nothing” most of the time.

What a great time to participate more.

Because everything (yes everything) is so much more than nothing.

And if we simply decided now that we’d give something to every organization, club, course, group that has touched us a little this year, we will save ourselves the mental burden of deciding each time, we will feel a whole lot better in the process, and we will ultimately transform ourselves from passive takers to active members of our communities.”
— Sasha Dichter

And that, my friends, is exactly what GIVE52 is all about.
Have a tremendous week!


Love,
Jodi