Week 16
Ask not what the world needs; rather, ask what makes you come alive and go do that, for what the world needs is people who have come alive. ~ Dr. Howard Thurmond
While we are all born with the capacity to live this way, it is unusual to find people with the self-awareness, clarity, confidence, and faith to really do it. We are products of education, cultural training, and parental expectations that tend to push us in pre-determined directions. This week, ask yourself if you are living this related thought by Frederick Buechner: “The vocation for you is the one in which your deep gladness and the world’s deep need meet — something that not only makes you happy but that the world needs to have done.”
More: Read a bio of Howard Thurmond, raised by his grandmother, who had been a slave.
Read the Weekly Green from Week 15 here.
We always love to hear from you! How juicy is this quote for you?
Fresh Start Farm at The Bragg Nature Center is an initiative of the Baltimore City Public School System to engage students in healthy school menu planning through food and health education, hands-on seed-to-table food experiences and vocational training. This is part of a larger mission to relocate Baltimore’s central kitchen from Brooklyn to Baltimore, source school lunch ingredients from Maryland farms, reopen school kitchens and reinforce that student health is critical to student education. Fresh Start Farms is planned to be part of a national model for farm to school programs as well as a sustainable, organic, teaching farm for Baltimore school children. Continued
"VoiCeS , which began in 2004, creates a deeper understanding of the Bay and the efforts to restore it. This professionally-taught, two-part program, meets each week (for eight weeks) and includes field trips and participant-led community projects. You’ll learn about the Bay’s biology, the issues we face, and how you and your community can help its restoration."
Connect to the GOforChange CollectiveX calender to search dates and locations.
I Buy Different is in partnership with The Center For A New American Dream and is geared toward kids and young adults in saving our resources. It is a website that presents valuable information about how what we buy effects the planet. Youth and adults alike don’t like to be told they’re doing something wrong every time a purchase is made. Find out some hard facts on the connections between your computer and a gorilla in The Democratic Republic of Congo. Why should we care? This website makes being aware of our choices fun and engaging, for any age. Instead of presenting information you might not know what to do with I Buy Different includes how to get involved and tell your friends.
Baltimore Civic Works was developed out of Baltimore’s branch of Americorps in 1993. Their mission is to build a future for the cities youth through community service and skill development. From basic literacy instruction to job-training for entry level careers in the field of environmental technology. Hundreds of AmeriCorps members mentor its students by transforming abandoned lots into parks and gardens, and by leading neighborhood clean up, rehab projects, and after school programs.
The city and it’s youth not only benefit from this program but the AmeriCorps members receive a modest living allowance and educational award. Don’t have a GED? You can get one as a member. Sign up today.
You can also get involved by checking out Civic Works Cool Roofs Program. Thanks to a grant from the Maryland Affordable Housing Trust the program has applied living roofs to a number of low-income homes.
Cleaner Greener Baltimore is part of a new initiative by Mayor Sheila Dixon that seeks to educate the citizens of Baltimore on how to keep the city cleaner and greener. The website informs the public on what steps the city has taken and plans to take regarding keeping Baltimore clean, including; recycling measures, trash removal, tree plantings, etc. It also speaks to residents, businesses, students, and commuters and visitors on what steps they can take as well.
Founded in 1986, and the oldest urban outward bound program in the U.S., the Baltimore Outward Bound Center teaches kids how to be community leaders and learn important life skills from our natural environment, whether out in the wilderness or at the heart of an urban center. The programs focus on helping kids cultivate personal and community leadership skills through physical fitness, self-reliance, craftsmanship, and service.
View the dynamic, moving GOforChange: Greening Baltimore video
