Whole Planet Foundation

I love shopping at Whole Foods and was at their store on W. Alabama yesterday. I picked up a small card that talked about their Whole Planet Foundation...it said, "The Whole Planet Foundation Fights Poverty by empowering those who are in it." Sounds good to me.

From their website:

Whole Planet Foundation was formed with the entrepreneurial spirit of Whole Foods Market in partnership with Professor Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank, co-recipients of 2006 Nobel Peace Prize. Yunus, founder of Bangladesh's Grameen Bank, is a pioneer of microcredit, a tool to empower the poor. In Professor Yunus's own words: "Microcredit ignites the tiny economic engines of the rejected underclass of society. Once a large number of tiny engines start working, the stage can be set for bigger things." We are also partnering with Fundación Adelante, Pro Mujer and other microfinance institutions implementing microcredit programs.

What

Microloans are small loans - usually $200 or less - requiring no collateral or contract. They are offered to the poorest of the poor, with a focus on women, wanting to finance self-employment projects that will generate income. Whole Planet Foundation is focusing efforts on the villages and rural communities that supply our stores with products such as tropical fruit, vegetables, tea, and coffee. Giving the poor in these communities access to credit through microloans will enable them to escape the vicious cycle of poverty by allowing them to use their own energy and creativity to help themselves.

For more info, go to www.wholeplanetfoundation.org.

Don't Buy "Healing the Addicted Brain: The Revolutionary, Science-Based Alcoholism and Addiction Recovery Program" Until You Read This

Product Description
"New, scientifically-based approaches that recognize the biological basis of addiction have brought major advances in the treatment of addiction. Dr. Urschel is at the forefront of this treatment paradigm." --Dr. Larry Hanselka, Psychologist

The Proven Scientific Approach to Conquering Addiction and Defeating the Disease

Healing the Addicted Brain is a breakthrough work that focuses on treating drug and alcohol addiction as a biological disease—based on the Recovery Science program that has helped thousands of patients defeat their addictions over the past 10 years. It combines the best behavioral addiction treatments with the latest scientific research into brain functions, providing tools and strategies designed to overcome the biological factors that cause addictive behavior along with proven treatments and medications.

Using this scientific approach, you will learn to conquer the physical factors that keep people tied to drug and alcohol addiction. The proven fact is addiction is not a moral failing or an issue of not having enough willpower. It is a disease of the brain that can and must be treated like other chronic medical illnesses —such as diabetes, hypertension, or asthma—in order to defeat the disease.

This revolutionary program can triple the success rate of patients, from 20-30% to 90%

There Is Hope.

By understanding addiction and using 21st-century breakthroughs, for the first time drug and alcohol addiction can be, and will be, defeated.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Healing the Addicted Brain, April 21, 2009
By J. Wilson "helpful friend" (Dallas Texas USA)

"This book Healing the Addicted Brain was an excellent help to me in understanding what addiction is and how i can get help for my best friend who is struggling with Alcoholism. Before finding this book, I just did not know what to do, but Dr Urschel explains the important issues in how to get great addiction treatment very clearly. The book is easy to understand and to read. It has a lot of great exercises to help me understand the concepts better. It is even linked to an addiction website www.enterhealth.com which provides great information on other topics. After reading it, I bought several more copies to give to some of my other friends and their families that are dealing with the same issues. Really good book. I highly recommend it. It is about time that we had some real, effective information available to help me with my friend."

The last time I checked, Amazon still had some of these books in store; however, being that it's number 12 on their best seller list, it may not be in stock long. Better go get one now or you may have to wait and who wants to wait?

It's a good idea to click Healing the Addicted Brain now and go get one.

Volunteer Match

For non-profits that need volunteers, Volunteer Match offers a way to connect with volunteers.

Check them out at Volunteermatch.org.

Cell Phone Recycling

T-Mobile will take ANY cell phone and recycle it!

From their website, www.t-mobile.com/handsetrecycling:

Recycle your old phone to protect the environment and support charities.
Give your old wireless phone new meaning with T-Mobile's Handset Recycling Program. The program promotes the recycling and reuse of old wireless devices that might otherwise end up in landfills or incinerators--and 100% of the net proceeds from handset recycling now benefit the charitable efforts of the T-Mobile Huddle Up program.
Learn more about T-Mobile Huddle Up.

Prison Ministries

This is it --> Prison Ministry.Net is an International Directory of 4,014 Prison Ministries!

Of the 4,014 prison ministries, of course most are in the U.S. -- 3,481.

I'm really glad to find this site. I had no idea there were that many prison ministries; it's really very heart warming to see.

I highly recommend reading about the Board of Directors who it looks like were all former inmates. Very impressive. But, I must warn you, you'll need your kleenex.

Prison Reform

I am finding it very difficult to find successful prison reform, which saddens me greatly. What I am looking for are programs that are working. What I have found is information about what will work, but not anywhere where it IS working aside from prison ministries which do not address key elements for reform, but do have a great impact.

I am not totally discouraged, because knowing what will work is part of the process.

What will work? It seems that education, job training, drug treatment and mental health treatment will work in prison and in poor neighborhoods.

The problems are: prisons produce and exacerbate a large population of mental illness, the continued and growing use of drugs, gang activity and violence. And the problem is not just with the prisoners, it's also with the guards and prison employees. Of course there are exceptions, but the entire community should not be overlooked.

Part of the solution is eliminating criminal activity before prison especially in the low income neighborhoods which are mostly Afican-American and Hispanic.

Prison ministries are effective for some prisoners and I applaud them. But, what about the mentally ill and those who are on drugs or who refuse prison ministry help?

Although I applaud prison ministries, it's just not enough. A new paradigm is needed to stop the insanity of solitary confinement, incarcerating the mentally ill, cowering to gangs and on and on.

Ok, enough soap box. I'll do a special post on current prison ministries and the few prison related organizations that shed light and do some good.

Wokai

I found out about this microfinance organization through The Hashoo Foundation. Wokai specifically works in rural China.

From their About Us Page:

Wokai's team works on the ground to evaluate and monitor Field Partners who distribute contributions and collect repayments from recipients in rural China. The process is quite involved, but it's the only way we can ensure that all contributions are having the desired impact in rural China.

(1) The first step is visiting, evaluating, and training our Field Partners. Our Investment Committee must approve all new partnerships.

(2) Our Field Partners screen and select recipients in their local communities, then post their profiles on our website.

(3) Contributors (like you!) browse through their profiles, and make tax deductible donations to fund their loans. These tax deductions are valid in the United States of America, per our 501(c)3 status.

(4) Wokai distributes this money to our Field Partner for allocation to recipients.

(5) Field Partners collect loan repayments from recipients, and send updates to Wokai about their progress.

(6) Once the loan is fully repaid, you may reinvest your contribution to fund a different recipient's loan.

(7) This cycle continues for three loan terms. Afterwards, your contribution will be used as long term loan capital at Wokai's Field Partner.

Want to learn more about the process? Visit our Help Center.