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In
the coming months, we plan to build this area into
a comprehensive guide to bettering the world through
eating, drinking, shopping, traveling, working, volunteering,
contributing and investing wisely. For now, we're
simply setting forth a few examples of how everyday
acts can have profound impact. And we would love your
feedback.
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Eating: You
can support community-supported
agriculture, local
farmers and farmer's markets, and movements
like sustainable
agriculture, sustainable
cuisine, and slow
food. You can buy organic, get to know
your grocers and your own palate, cook with
joy and love, savor your food, give thanks
for it, and invite friends to join you.
You can eat at the many amazing restaurants
that do so much for the community and at
those that need your help. (A good example
of these can be found at Dining
to Make a Difference, and it would be
great to see guides like this for your town.)
You can attend benefits that showcase the
best of local culture, agriculture and cuisine
for such causes as Windows
of Hope and Share
our Strength. You can give back -- donating
non-perishable goods, contributing to and
volunteering at local soup kitchens, and
more.
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Drinking:
Wine tasting was my first
career and remains a strong love. Since
it's something I partake in whenever possible,
I always aim to do it responsibly…with
all senses alive and alert, with friends
I adore, and in ways that make a difference.
These days, I'm doing more of it downtown
-- hosting toasts at and shopping in
the places that need and deserve it most.
I'm frequenting Vintage
New York as yet another way to support
my home city and state, which I love more
than ever! I encourage everyone who can
to buy wine at auctions that support charity.
(Napa, Sonoma, Hospices de Beaune and Grapes
of Grief, which recently raised $1 million
for WTC relief funds, are all great examples.)
I am amazed by organizations like Roots
of Peace, which defuses landmines and
replaces them with grapevines. And I thank
goodness for brands like Johnnie Walker,
whose Keep
Walking Fund supports Windows
of Hope and other meaningful efforts.
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Shopping: As
consumers, we have the power to vote and
veto several times each day…with our
pocketbooks and purchases!!! Wherever I
am in the world, and especially when I am
at home, I shop to support and celebrate
local food purveyors, craftsmen, clothing
designers and stores of all sorts, from
hardware to software and all stops in between.
This year, we're encouraging everyone who
can to consider downtown NYC as their hometown,
and to support it accordingly. The wine
shops listed in Dining
to Make a Difference do deliver. Downtown
Alliance offers extensive listings of
establishments that are open
for business. Community partnerships
in TriBeCa,
SoHo and Chinatown are doing what they can
to lure visitors back downtown. Plus, there
is great shopping to be done for good causes
online, as at eBay's Auction
for America, via Here
is New York and September
11 Photo Project, and by buying books
like New
York September 11 or From
the Ashes: A Spiritual Response to the Attack
on America that benefit 9.11 funds.
This year, on a tight budget but determined
to make a difference with each gift, I managed
to find hope-laden hearts made by schoolchildren
in New Paltz, proceeds of which benefit
the New
York Arts Recovery Fund. Their
teacher says they learned much from the
project, which furthered them as budding
artists and philanthropists and will also
earn them a pizza party.
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Traveling:
While the very act of traveling is a major
contributor to local, national and global
economies, travel designed specifically
to make a difference carries more power
still. Over the years, eco-tourism, adventure
travel, educational tours with institutes
like The
Smithsonian and humanitarian stints
with organizations like Doctors
without Borders have become increasingly
popular. This year, efforts to bring tourism
back to Manhattan in the aftermath of 9.11
have been nothing short of amazing: NYC
& Company is offering fabulous specials
via its Paint
the Town Red, White & Blue campaign
and innovative Restaurant
Week, CultureFest,
and I
Love New York Culture programs. Delta
Airlines will be contributing 10,000
tickets to the program. And perhaps the
most moving form of tourism to our town
has been the thousands of firefighters who
have flown in from around the country to
support their fellow firefighters -- bearing
funds collected in their boots, bringing
condolence cards from school kids, attending
funerals, cooking in firehouse kitchens
and more.
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Online:
These days, you can go virtually anywhere,
do virtually anything and make real, live,
measurable differences online!!! NetworkForGood,
produced in cooperation with America Online,
Cisco Systems and Yahoo!, is a great guide
to pressing issues and what you can do to
make a difference. Guidestar
guides you to non-profit contributions.
Volunteer
Match helps locate volunteer opportunities
in your locale. Online areas like Ebay's
Auction for America, raise money for
9.11 funds, while places like YoureMyHero.org
collect kids' messages of support for U.S.
servicemen and others. To date, hundreds
of millions of dollars have been raised
online, while hundreds of thousands of supportive
messages have been sent.
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Volunteering
and Contributing: Going forward, I'm
hoping to build Give as you Live into an
engine that can help individuals, organizations
and corporations to identify and act on
(with their time, talents, purchases and
investments) the differences that they are
uniquely poised to make. For example, an
individual who enjoys biking and children
might want to join a Big Brothers/Sisters
program, while an individual who enjoys
biking and health can participated in Aids
and Multiple Sclerosis Bike-a-thons in his/her
locale. An ISP company that specializes
in local access and has an innovative corporate
culture might opt to partner with and wire
a local school -- encouraging their employees
to guest teach classes and mentor youth.
For now, I simply hope that you will look
into your hearts and give where, what and
when you can. |
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Despite recent devastation
and continued uncertainty, I believe we
are living as stronger people in unprecedented
times -- showing faith in the face of fear,
drawing closer to self and others, caring
compassionately about humanity, and thinking
brilliantly out of the box.
May this renewed spirit of
living and giving remain with us always.
And may all the joys
of the season be yours.
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VERGANT:
AN IMPACT FROM EVERY ACT 
GIVE AS YOU LIVE
