book worth reading

my sister-in-law and her fiance got me the book, "justice in the burbs" for christmas. i finished reading it last nite. good book. good reminder on how we should be living. what i enjoyed about this book was its focus on not only being involved in issues of justice in our community (shelters, non-profit organizations, etc) but it also reminds us that choices we make within our household affect issues of justice. food that we buy, energy that we use, etc. play a role in atrocious working conditions, fair trade, the condition of the environment, and so on. i think this is an important issue to consider and a way to start living justly. it may seem small and like you aren't making a difference but if everyone made changes... you see where i am going.
so anyway, check out the book, it will be worth your time.
-kate

what I found in my christmas stocking...

so ross and i opened our christmas presents last nite. yes, i know it is a bit early but considering i asked ross if we could open presents about 2 weeks ago, 3 days before christmas is pretty good.

anyway... so in my stocking is a FEED bag from Tom's Shoes. Yes, I know, from first read it seems as if Tom's Shoes might only sell shoes but in fact they sell other items as well. one of their newest is the FEED bag. this is what Tom's website has to say about the bag:

The FEED bag is designed to raise awareness and funds for hungry children and to help them get into school and out of hunger. Each FEED bag sold will provide a school year of meals for one child in need and give them the hope of an education and a regular meal. Whether you tote your FEED bag to school, work, play, or shop, remember that your bag helped to FEED and educate one child for one school year.

i was so excited to find this bag in my stocking! just last week i had told ross that i wanted to buy a bag/basket for grocery shopping because it kills me to take home 18 million plastic bags each time we go to the grocery store. so to my surprise i got my grocery bag, but this one is a bonus because with it a child will have food. hunger kills more children worldwide than HIV/AIDS, malaria and TB combined; plus hunger and malnutrition are a significant contributor to the deaths that do occur to those affected by HIV/AIDS, malaria and TB. The impact of malnutrition on disease is incredible- disease cannot be eliminated with treatment alone, hunger and malnutrition must also be addressed to make an impact. so there ya go...

Take the time to visit this site every chance you get. For every vocabulary word you get correct, 20 grains of rice will be donated to address world hunger through the United Nations.
Improved vocabulary for yourself, endless competition for people like me who have to try and beat their score each day, and food for those in need.
-kate

feet need shoes

so i know the subject line is pretty anti-specific. its also a no-brainer. heck, have you ever run out real quick to grab the paper or the mail w/out your shoes and you just barely stub a toe or step on a piece of gravel. WOW that sucks! and imagine that for entire cultures.

i know i'm probably making it way more trivial than it actually is, but as a 'shoe wearer,' a 'shoe critic,' a 'shoe fiend,' i tell you today that they are in fact important.

what's more important though is ones cause and ones passion. i read about a designer with a drive and passion to put shoes on those without. blake, the shoe artists - that's what i'm gonna call him...a shoe artist...or how about a shoe barista? no good? oh well. anyway, blake, the shoe artist took his talent (shoes and design) and mingled it with his passion - destroying poverty in the third world. given some time and organization, up pops TOMS SHOES! check them out! theres a link on our main page. buy a pair, gift a dozen pairs (that's 24 shoes), even gift a dozen pears (a great tasting fruit).

when you purchase TOMS SHOES, you not only get a cool piece of art to wear on your feet, but you also just purchased a pair that goes to the third world. nice!

and as the world gets bigger and bigger...it suddenly becomes flatter and we can all effect a positive change ANYWHERE!

thank you blake, the shoe artist...

-Ross