Global Team of 200

There’s never been a better reason to exercise – the UN Foundation is teaming up with an organization called Charity Miles to give people incentive to donate toward a good cause. Simply complete your normal running or walking exercise regimen and while you’re doing it, help a wonderful, deserving charity. This is multi-tasking at it’s best! (via UN Foundation Grants Help You Exercise AND Support a Charity | Biz Mommy L.A.)

Each year, there are millions of women, men and children forced into hard labor with little or no pay, prostitution and other horrific circumstances. (via The U.S. Fund for UNICEF’s End Trafficking Project Seeks to Achieve Zero Exploited Children Around the WorldBiz Mommy L.A. | Biz Mommy L.A.)

Clean, safe water should be a basic right for all human beings, yet an enormous portion of the world’s population doesn’t even know where their next sip of it is coming from. Many mothers are forced to give dirty water to their children just to keep them alive, only to eventually have to watch their babies suffer as a result of the tainted water. (via WaterAid: Giving the Gift of Life to the World’s Poorest CountriesBiz Mommy L.A. | Biz Mommy L.A.)

Empowerment lies not in feeling as if we have achieved control over others, but in understanding that it is our responsibility to help others find opportunities for improvement once we have moved ahead of them in one way or another. 1000 Shillings embodies that philosophy by pairing women in impoverished conditions with a business mentor who can help them change their economic outlook. (via Empowering Impoverished Women 1000 Shillings at a TimeBiz Mommy L.A. | Biz Mommy L.A.)

Giving Tuesday couldn’t have come around at a better time for me. I’ve been spending a lot of time recently trying to teach my daughters about the importance of giving time, love and attention to others, instead of focusing so much on material things. Of course, at 6 and 8 years old, dolls, toys and games are still a big part of their lives, but I want to ramp up the examples of other ways to spend their time that can be fun AND also rewarding. My biggest concern is their obsession with getting gifts and hopping from one fun activity to another. That, by itself, wouldn’t be such a big deal, but it worries me that they don’t seem to have grasped the idea of being grateful in the moment for what they’ve already done. (via Giving Tuesday: The Holiday’s Are Coming and “Giving” Gets a Boost | Biz Mommy L.A.)

You may have heard about her on NPR or you may have read about her in one of the many online news articles that have been written about the brave young Pakistani girl named Malala Yousafzai who took a stand for education. Malala, a 14-year old schoolgirl, was brutally attacked and shot by the Taliban in Pakistan for speaking out in support of access to education for girls in her country. (via Worthy Cause of the Week: Support MALALA DAY on November 10th | Biz Mommy L.A.)

(via Volunteer Opportunities & Worthy Cause of the Week: Trick or Treat for Unicef | Biz Mommy L.A.

I must admit that I was one of those kids who would just as soon skip right over Halloween and head straight for Christmas and the gifts under the tree. However, I can’t say the same thing about my kids. My girls start thinking about their costumes each year the moment they finish trick-or-treating.

Big issues like world hunger and poverty can seem overwhelming when looked at as a whole. However, by starting a conversation which gets people talking and thinking about simple ways they can make a small contribution each day to help chip away at the problem…a grass-roots effort takes hold, and, eventually, a movement is born. (via Volunteer Calendar & Worthy Cause of the Week for October 11th – October 17th | Biz Mommy L.A.)