Out of Town for a bit

Got to leave town for a bit. The trusty MDY5 staff will be taking care of the emails and such whilst I am away. I will attempt to update from the road – but honestly I don’t know if I will be able to do it at the end of the day – I will try!! No promises.

But here is the deal – Moving Difference is about you all going out there and making a difference in the world one hour at a time. And you are doing a great job, so I need to get out there and get some hours in too!!

Keep up the good work and I will catch you for sure in August!!!

Peace and Love.

Emails and life

This past five days have been a whirlwind for me. A good friend lost her mom, there has been tons of emails about Moving Difference achievements and then there has been the real life of violence here in the United States and even in other parts of the world.

Somewhere in the middle of all that, most of us are struggling to pay the bills, to be healthy, to have a job that we enjoy or at least can work at with expectations of decent wage. It is life.

It is hard to balance in the mind such small short things with such great loss of life daily. I haven’t been able to sit down at this computer and put my thoughts on paper because I don’t know how to in moments, followed by moments of complete anger and pain at the world, followed by moments of sadness for all.

There is no one answer to all the problems in the world. Sadly love and peace isn’t an answer just like war and anger isn’t an answer.  It is back to balance of everything. We can’t be a great world if we can’t respect each other and live in harmony. It isn’t us vs. them, cause we are all one people. Always.

So what do we do? We keep going  forward, we know our neighbors, we reach out to our fellow humans and we make an impact. We keep moving forward toward equality, towards a peaceful existence, towards a better future for all.

In that spirit, I ask that you think about doing an extra hour of Moving Difference this summer with a human touch. Meet your neighbors, talk to the mail person, strike up a conversation with a complete stranger, listen, connect, reply and more than anything acknowledge people. Don’t let fear rule the day, simply say hi, smile, or stop and said something nice. You might get a reply and you might not, but you aren’t doing it for a reply, you are doing to for the world and that is bigger than both of us.

I am off to do my extra hour right now, holding a sign on the busy corner I know, it simply says “Have a great Tuesday!!”

BTW – you are amazing people, all of you, MDY5 hit over 250k in completed hours on Sunday. Thanks!

 

 

 

Fourth of July!

For most of the world, Fourth of July is just a Monday.  Another Monday of this hot long summer. A Monday.

Some people in America celebrate Fourth of July with a BBQ and backyard picnics, some travel with friends and relatives, some travel by themselves, some still have to go to work and pay the bills like the rest of the world.

Happy Fourth of July – even if it is a boring Monday morning!!

Second Saturday

It is the second Saturday of MDY5 and things are clipping along. Things are more than great, awesome is an understatement.

And it is all because of wonderful people like yourselves taking an hour and ding something good for someone else. It is quite a gift as time is precious.

It is nice to see that good with all the bad that is happening in the world, that people are making the difference to overcome, to be the good.

Walking a family dog for a cancer patient, or cleaning the tub for an elderly person or cleaning out your closet to give to the local charity store doesn’t seem life changing and news worthy but it is because you are doing it.

It would be nice to see the New York Times headlines said Nothing bad to report today but we have these projects that need some people to come and help at. Thanks!

But we don’t live in that world, we haven’t for a long time. I will hope for it though, and maybe we will some day. After all,7.5 billion people should be able to figure this out.

Keep plugging away at your hour a week, we will be here for you all summer if you need ideas and of course to report your hours too! (Quick note on that: if you are reporting your hours, please put “Reporting Hours” in the subject line and please give a detailed description of what you did and how many hours so we can log it properly. Thanks!)

You are amazing and wonderful people keep up the good work!!!

 

The Common Question-Weekend Edition

Quick note – On the weekends – we are just going to post once because most of you happy people are out doing your hour and then some making the world a better place. (And it is better to have you out there doing your hour than reading a silly post that you can read at work on Monday!)

On a daily basis, the common question of why to do Moving Difference comes up. Basically it is a two parts – why are we doing it and why should you do it.

To answer the first part of why we do it – for us, it is simple. Moving Difference is one of the many ways that we give back to the world. We can’t afford to cut a check to every worthy charity on earth, we can’t help every worthy cause in the world. We can’t do this by ourselves. We struggled for years to attempt to try to do it all and we still struggle in this attempt. We are humans after all. Moving Difference allows us the opportunity to give back in a greater sense of it all, as in we all are giving back together. United to making an impact and striving forward in many areas to making a moving difference. Plus we do our own MDY hours outside of working on Moving Difference. We have cleaned parks, walked dogs, worked at a food bank, amongst the thousand of other things. We are happy to do it and love doing it, it is our passion.

To answer the second part of why you should do it. Well, we have heard lots of good reasons and a few reasons of “Mom & Dad are making us” but all in all it is a personal reason to give back that fuels it. Moving Difference doesn’t exist with you, period. By doing Moving Difference and doing your hour a week over the summer, well, it is back to the simple reasoning that you too can’t afford to help every worthy charity and cause in the world, no one human can, but a bunch of us can together. The world is a very small place and life is very short, so your reasons to do Moving Difference might overlap with someone’s else or might not. That doesn’t matter, what matters is that you do something that gives back to your community, your neighborhood, our world. Doing is the key, you doing whatever your heart’s desire to help give back, well, welcome to being a part of Moving Difference.

Remember there is always free cheese in a mousetrap, good luck with your Moving Difference hours this weekend, see you on Monday!

Rusty on Panic….

“Sometimes the heart knows things that the mind can never explain.”

Opening email this morning caused a bit of a heart stopper. I was rusty on panic until I saw the inbox say “122,854 new messages.” I felt that whole lump in the throat, my hands go cold and my heart basically stop as my brain was trying to figure out if it was real or not.

Panic was and is an understatement. We are working hard to reply back to all those emails today (or this week) so please bear with us as we try to answer them as fast as we can.

 

This is probably a good time to bring up that this many emails is a good thing and while I was surprised by the number for just one day, I expect even more in the coming days and weeks. This means Moving Difference is doing what it always set out to do – being a moving difference in this world.

So please write if you have a question or if you are reporting your hours or if you wanted to humble brag about what you are doing for your hour this week. Just know that we might have a few emails in front of you, but we are coming!!!

And if you are wondering about how many hours were done in the first day, I will email you later…ha!Ha!

Happy Wednesday y’all!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

And so it begins…MDY5

And so it begins. MDY5 has officially kicked off!

Share the MDY5 love! Tell your friends and family!

83,334 people doing an hour a week over the summer of 2016 means 1 million hours of giving back to our communities. 

Check out the tabs above, follow us on Twitter andd Facebook. Be part of an amazing summer of giving back. It all starts with you.

And thanks!

The world is an awesome, amazing place because you are in it,                                               don’t ever forget that. – Jeny, founder of Moving Difference

 

Tomorrow is just a day away…

Moving Difference Year 5 kicks off tomorrow.

I am still as nervous as I was 5 years ago, this year seems almost unreal.

Our goal for Year 5 is 1 million volunteer hours from June 21, 2016 to September 21,2016

One perfect summer of giving back. We are sticking to our founding roots, so all the details are below and of course on the website here too.

Time to read thru and start planning your MDY5 goal, join us starting tomorrow!

The Goal: One Amazing Summer 2016!! Goal of 1 million hours of giving forward time and talents to your/our communities!!!

The Plan: From June 21, 2016 to September 21, 2016, with our friends and family & your friends and family, we become a Moving Difference. On September 21, 2016, no matter where in the world we are, we all watch that sunset together.

What is a Moving Difference? Glad you ask. It is spending at least an hour a week all summer long getting out there and moving to help someone or something in your community. It is picking up trash at the park, it is reading books to sick kids, it is handing water out to the homeless, it is gathering a group of friends to paint over graffiti, it is finally cleaning out that monster of a closet and get those clothes to charity, it is volunteering with your group or church, it is planting some flowers for an older neighbor, it is making dinner for a shut-in, it is walking dogs at the shelter, it is a garage sale with proceeds going to charity, it is anything and everything that gets you out moving and helping your community in any form or fashion.

How do I do Moving Difference?       Easy!

•              Join the Moving Difference on Facebook. This is your way to connect with people like you wanting to be a Moving Difference. It will have tips, suggestions and fun items for the entire summer. There is  a Moving Difference Facebook Page (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Moving-Difference/457038127655525)

•              Pick something that you want to do in your community to help out. Commit to doing it at least an hour a week or 12 hours over this summer. You can do the same thing all summer or 12 different things. The choice of what to do is completely yours! (If you need help picking something, just ask!)

•              Then DO IT!! Get out there and become that Moving Difference. Even invite some of your friends and family to join you when you do the Moving Difference activity.

•              And of course, when you have done it – come back to the Moving Difference on Facebook, Twitter or email us and tell us what you did! This way everybody’s hours get logged and we can all inspire each other to get out there. You can even post an “action” photo!!

•              Aren’t on Facebook? That’s cool, you can follow Moving Difference on twitter (@movingdifferenc) or be part of the action with https://movingdifference.wordpress.com or even email us at movingdifference@yahoo.com.

What’s the result? If everything goes as planned, together we will have done 1 million hours of Moving Difference (or maybe more depending on how many people get involved!)- Think about it – 1 million hours of actually helping our communities, preventing just another “boring” summer, getting out there are moving ourselves (despite the hot and sticky) and we will have enjoyed one amazing summer together and one perfect sunset!! That is pretty cool!!

Can I invite my friends and families get involved in the Moving Difference? YES and please!!  Everybody is welcomed to be a Moving Difference. Please help us to help get the word out on this awesome project!! This project is truly about sharing the experience of getting out there and moving and being part of the world.

What about this sunset thing?  It is a sweet way to end being part of Moving Difference and the Summer 2016! This will be an once-in-a-lifetime sunset!  No matter where in the world you are, stopping and enjoying the sunset of September 21, 2016. It’s the last day of summer and the perfect way to reflect on an amazing project that we all did together.

Other stuff to know: It seems simple because it is. This isn’t a corporate ad trick, bleeding hearts pleas or anything like that. It is just humans, in our own little way trying to do our little part and make the world a better place. We aren’t asking for the moon or your money, we are inviting you to spend some of your time to be a difference with us by moving. An hour a week for twelve weeks means 83,334 people like you and us can easily do a million hours!! And we know life happens, so if you can’t do one week, do it the next – just keep moving and just keep being a difference.

And one other thing: We know that money is tight, times are tough for many people and we appreciate you simply taking the time. Whatever you do as part of Moving Difference over this summer, THANKS!