Nothing Mickey Mouse about it

Do you volunteer? It's an interesting question but not one that is often asked. I volunteer and have for years. I volunteer as a coach in Lacrosse (but also did a year of house league basketball) and it's been both challenging and fun. Other people volunteer at women's shelters or food banks which is also a great thing to do.

Too often we spend our lives shuffling from home to work and back home focused on ourselves. It's sad to see the number of vacant stares I pass on the street in downtown Toronto. Young and old alike who have nothing better to do than to silently float along in the world.

I don't think that is what life should be about. How we interact with the world can have a huge impact on our lives. You can be sullen and withdrawn but you'd miss so much that people have to offer. This is one reason why I volunteer now, to have that interaction with other people. It makes my "unpaid work" (isn't that what volunteering is, doing work for no financial reward?) often more rewarding than most paid work.

In my time coaching Lacrosse I have met some many weird and wonderful people. The kids I have coached often end up more like my own children than children of strangers. I can say that I still talk to them even after I moved to another team. It's that "reward" that has made all those hours getting stressed because some 13 year old kid wasn't listening (they don't listen much better at 19 to be honest) worthwhile.

So the real question shouldn't be "Do you volunteer?" but rather, "Why do you volunteer?". I think everyone should give up some of their time in support of a group/cause/charity that they believe in. Coaching lacrosse is no better or worse than feeding the homeless or picking up garbage on Earth Day. It all counts and if you believe in it then I support it.

Walt Disney Volunteer Offer:
Walt Disney World/Disneyland are offering 1 Free day pass to 1 million people who are volunteers. The good news is that this applies to Canadians as well as Americans. Check out this article http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33070308/ns/travel-family/ for more details. I think it's a great idea and would love to see this spread to other places. Could you imagine "Free Leafs tickets" for volunteers? On second thought maybe some rewards are more punishment :)

There are vacations and then there are Research-cations

I have always had a great fascination with Africa. It was always that great place with wonderful animals (how can you go wrong with Lions, Elephants, Zebras and Giraffes?), big wide-open spaces and intriguing cultures. Most people want to go to Europe or Australia but for me it was Africa.

Well it's been nearly 2 years since I went for the first time and not a day goes by where I don't dream of going back. I have an alert on airfares from Toronto to Johannesbourg, South Africa every week. It is a part of me that I want to expand upon and plan to visit the great continent many more times in my life.

I clearly remember the moment I got "it" with Africa. It was the morning I was awakened by the sound of an elephant bugling. It wasn't scary or loud. It was warm and quiet. I crept out of bed and walked out to see 2 adults and a youngster drinking at the watering hole about 500 feet away. Sitting there in the pre-dawn light watching a family in the morning was when I got Africa. Better yet, it was the moment when Africa got me forever.

That was a vacation. Pure pleasure and well worth the money I spent on it. In the meantime I have looked at many different places to go visit and where I would love to be next. That list includes Okavango Delta, Lalibella in Ethiopia, The Meroe Pyramids of northern Sudan and Cape Town.

Recently I by happenstance came across a group called The Earthwatch Institute. It intrigued me so I decided to check out their website. www.earthwatch.org

What an incredible idea. Earthwatch isn't about vacations. It's about research vacations (I called it Research-cations). You donate an amount and get to travel and stay in a place helping various researchers with their studies. From counting baby turtles in Costa Rica, to photographing Minke Wales in Scotland it has it all.

My two favourite choices obviously involved Africa. I could go to Robben Island (where they held Apartheid era dissidents including Nelson Mandela) and help with the study of Penguins. The other choice is the help with conservation efforts for the Black Rhino in a sanctuary in central Kenya. You stay in a cottage/house with the research team. You make dinner with the researchers. Best of all, you are actually out of the safety of the car and getting involved. I'd love to be there to watch a young penguin chick and add it to the count. I'd love to be able to tag it so they can follow it's development over time. I cannot think of anything that would be more interesting than actually walking in the plateaus of central Kenya with Mt. Kenya in the background and Cheetahs, Rhinos, Lions and Cape Buffalo all around you. It gets my blood pumping just thinking about it.

So when you're looking to go on an adventurous vacation, skip the pricey resort and look at a true adventure. Help out with a Research Team. It would help to make a difference in the world and be an experience you won't soon forget!

The big boys start whining

One of the more interesting headlines I have seen in the paper occurred a couple of weeks ago. I happen to read the Globe & Mail and there on the bottom of the page was a headline that 5 Universities in Canada were attempting to become "research centres of choice" for Government funding.

Now what does this mean? Why it means they are pining for more of our tax money to go to them and less to the other institutions. So who are the Glorious Five? U of T, McGill, Montreal University, U of Alberta and UBC. It's a who's who list of the big Universities in Canada.

So what is wrong with this you think? Well everything! First off research funding from tax payers should be given to those who are most responsible. If it is these 5 Universities then so be it but I think we'd find that places such as University of Waterloo provide far more bang for the research dollar than U of T does at this time.

I have also read where these same Glorious 5 want to become the Graduate Studies schools and leave the Undergrad degrees to everyone else. Smart thinking on their part. I can pay $6500 a year for tuition at LU or Laurier and get my BA. I can pay $20000 and up at U of T and get my MA. Who wins out in the end in that fee structure? Certainly not the undergraduate focused schools.

So what to do to stop this from happening? More to come...

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/five-universities-team-up-to-push-for-the-lions-share-of-research-dollars/article1261964/

Can you promote your Alma Mater without supporting it with cash?

So I was thinking last night about whether I was speaking with a forked tongue when I stated I want to promote LU as a viable place for foreign students to attend and yet I have never donated a single dime after graduation.
Alumni support and donations are a huge factor in the growth of any college and University. Yet in Canada very few graduates give money to their school after they have graduated. This is partly the culture but I think it's something that I should change personally....and so should you.

Laurentian turns 50 years old in 2010 and they are currently running a huge fundraising campaign called "The Next 50" Campaign. I think it's a great goal and something for our school to strive for. The goal is to raise 50 million dollars to help the school continue to grow and become a hub for research and education in Northern Ontario.

Since I graduated in 1999 (egads 10 years ago now!) LU has added a Medical School, an English language Teacher's program and really developed a Graduate level program. Apparently even the old Phys Ed. Centre I spent so much of my time at has drastically changed.

I plan to donate money on an annual basis now. Heck even if it's $20 a year it can go a long way to helping make Laurentian an even better school.

Here is the information on the Next 50 Campaign: http://http://laurentian.ca/Laurentian/Home/Departments/Development+Office/Donation+Form.htm?Laurentian_Lang=en-CA

Most of my friends now are former LU students. If everyone donated $20 a year then we together will have raised about $500 a year. That's for roughly 25 people. I assume LU has 50,000 grads and if everyone donated $20 a year that's a cool million and pretty soon you're talking about real money.

What do you think? Would you donate to your Alma Mater?

Microfinance- A little can go a long way

I've been doing some research on the field of Microfinance-simply it's the lending of small amounts of money to entrepreneurs around the world-and it's history. In Canada (and the rest of the developed world) businesses borrow thousands and millions of dollars every day in order to build their business and grow into better companies. This is what our banking system is designed for and for the most part it works very well (Let's ignore recent events)

Microfinance uses this same principle but on a much smaller base. Instead of loaning $100,000 most microfinance loans are under $5000! This is designed to help the small "mom and pop" businesses in places like Peru, Kenya and Cambodia. All places with a minimal banking system outside of the major cities.

Grameen Foundation is one of the early pioneers for this. Others have followed quickly once Grameen proved that rather than being a charity, it was a viable and profitable business!
visit their website www.grameenfoundation.org for more details

I've found many businesses in the business of microfinance. Kiva is an online business that allows you to lend as little as $25 US. It's all rather ingenious if you ask me and well worth your time to investigate further. www.kiva.org

In Canada there are more than I can count. VanCity Credit Union runs a great website with links to other places (Grameen included) at www.microfinance.ca

I came across MEDA, which appears to be run by the Mennonites and offers you a Promissory with options for 1, 3, 5 and 10 year terms with moderate interest on your investment at maturity. 2% for 1 year is pretty darn good given the current interest rate environment!

Now I can hear your questions, "How safe is Microfinance to invest in? Won't I just lose my money?". Well in some cases it's possible you could have a default and not get your money back. But numerous studies show that Microfinance actually has BETTER rates for payment than loans in the developed world. Kiva gives you all the default and deliquency information right on their website. But like anything, do your homework and make sure you keep up to date on it.

Microfinance is well worth your time. That small little amount you donate can help increase living standards for an entire family in another part of the world.

Calling alumni

I must admit I cannot claim credit for coming up with this idea, I blatently stole it from the Harvard Alumni for Social Action (now renamed Harvard Alumni for Global Action). See their website at http://www.hasa-sasa.org/

So why do this? Because I think it's become critically important for those of us in a position to help, to actually help. But what truly helps? I don't believe that financial aid is the answer. All it has created is a culture of waste-read; Dead Aid by Dambisa Moyo!- and it helps kleptocrats and the big business of aid, but rarely does it help the actual people.

So what to do? Well this is where I hope to gather information on what to do. I'll post regular updates on where we can go and what we can do. My ultimate goal is to form an organization that can raise funds to provide education for young adults in Canada. Education that they can use to improve their home country. More to follow....