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I'm desperately seeking fulfillment in my life, and I have thousands of ideas on how to go about it, but no souls to bounce them off of...
So, let's brainstorm -
What are some ways to use Creativity/Artistic Expressions to Save the World?
It's the future, y'all.
There is an infinite amount of intelligent, creative, and restless people to conspire with. An infinite amount of wealth, startup funding, materials, resources, experts, experiences, knowledge, skills, abilities, inspiration, heroes, press coverage, happiness, motivation and elixir of life to go around...
All it takes to make a massive impact in the world are the Right ideas!
There are already a few ways that stamping/art/creativity are, at least, improving the world: Operation Write Home, Cards For a Cause, art therapy, etc. I've seen several times where a special stamp set or kit was issued as a fund-raiser for a specific cause. More of these activities could help.
One of the political pundits that my husband watches has an initiative that he sponsors to get desks for children in third-world countries. Maybe doing something to move creativity into the lives of those who currently are in survival mode? Here and/or abroad... Sort of like Tom's Shoes - buy a pair, and he sends a pair to someone who doesn't have any...
I'm not sure exactly how/what would Save The World, but my thought is that if we at least improve our corner of it, it has to make an impact
Our church buys mattress for a local woman's abuse shelter.
We also have operation shoe box at Christmas. The members commit to fill several shoe boxes with toys or supplies for kids. I always take 3 boy and 3 girls from age 7 to 10. I go the dollar tree and fill them with toothpaste and brush, soap, washrags, hair bows for the girls, hair comb and brush etc....I also put in pencil, paper, etc....socks and usually jacks or a paddle ball.
What are some of your ideas? You say you'd have thousands, but no one to bounce them off of. Well, there are lots and lots of us here. Bounce away! :-)!
__________________ I have come to the conclusion that buying craft supplies and actually using them are two separate hobbies. RachelRose Designs by Robin... GALLERY
Ahh, but I want to know how - Operation Write Home + Cards For a Cause + art therapy - can Intersect- with an idea like buying mattresses for homeless women...
i.e.
Building a platform to sell our cards online, and allowing buyers to "Choose Your Price"... Profits from donations go to a (Carefully selected) charity relevant to our community, etc.
OR
Finding a great social entrepreneur startup to promote by "viral marketing" in our local communities... Like leaving random stacks of flyers or business cards or whatever that have hand-made touches and standout from the crowd.
I don't know, I'm just perpetually brainstorming and I really want to hear everyone else's creative solutions to giving back using our talent. Thank you for the ideas, ladies!
:cool:
Personally I would only do this sort of thing on a local level. Where people know of those being helped - it would entice them to contribute or to buy.
Operation Write home is a little different so it works on a larger scale.
I tend to stay away from large charity organizations because so much of the money goes to wages and overhead.
Myself I contribute hand made cards to the nursing home here in my town and they in turn sell them and the money goes to special activities in the home.
If everyone did some little thing in their own area eventually it would be global.
Yeah, bounce away, 'cause I have no ideas beyond what's already been mentioned.
I enjoy making cards for friends or family who would prefer to save money by not buying cards - that helps them. I help a friend make cards for Operation Write Home. And... that's about it!
One of our members donates the proceeds from her card sales to a project where houses are built for women in Africa.
One of our members is using the proceeds from her card sales towards their adoption of a baby from China.
Numerous members host a monthly card group to make cards for their churches to send to ill, hurting, or homebound members.
The Hope You Can Cling To card drive here in October results in thousands of cards sent to MD Anderson's breast cancer unit to bring hope and courage to patients and caregivers.
I love your ideas! Bounce some more off our souls, please.
I donate a basket that has a baker's dozen to our local dog club. I belong to the dog club. It is not for profit. I donate one basket per dog show weekend that is then put in to the raffle.
I believe that least two of the weekly card challenges here result in cards being sent to organizations or people in need of support in one way or another. Check out Teapot Tuesdays and Cards for a Cause in the Challenges section of the forum. If you did both of those, that would be two things each week that truly made a positive impact.
Sealegs, you say you are desperately seeking fulfillment in your life. That sounds like you are looking for something very essential to you. It's hard to be helpful unless one knows more about what you mean by "desperately seeking fulfillment." All I know so far is that you want this fulfilling thing to have something to do with art, and that you want it to have a positive impact on the world. And it seems like you want it to involve a lot of people. But this is still very broad. People post here all the time asking for others to join in and help them through creative or career-related transitions in their lives. Perhaps a bit more detail would make it easier to know how to respond.
__________________ I have come to the conclusion that buying craft supplies and actually using them are two separate hobbies. RachelRose Designs by Robin... GALLERY
I donate cards to soldiers or to breast cancer support causes on a regular basis. When I used to belong to a card swap group, most members would make an extra card to go in with the next box of cards I was sending. I think every little bit helps...
I teach 3rd grade and I do several things:
-I wrote a DonorsChoose.org proposal that got funded and I bought a ton of paper, stamps, inks, envelopes, adhesive, etc. to use with my students. Every two weeks I make a card and precut all the papers. I then show the kids how to make the card and they can choose to make one if they want. At the end of the quarter I have about 100 cards that I bring to our local Ronald McDonald House for the families there to use. I usually make thank you, birthday, and thinking of you cards since that's what the families use the most. It is a great way to show my students that we need to give back in life and use our interests to help others. It's also a way for me to move beyond all the darn testing we do to our kids and get some creativity into their school day.
-I donate a pack of cards to our school auction for them to sell
-Not school related--I ran a card club at our church for several years. We made cards and donated them to the church office to use.
__________________ Kelli Born to stamp...forced to work! My avatar is my 85 pound 'baby'! He's a golden retriever named Tegan.
People often ask me why I make so many Christmas cards all through the year. The reason is to have enough for the card sale I hold in November for friends and family. All of the money I get goes to a local therapeutic riding stable for kids and adults with disabilities. I volunteer there three afternoons a week helping with the lessons, so it is a charity near and dear to my heart, and I get to see the wonderful results.
Like Linda in post #6 above, I think it is great to do something small and local, and also it encourages my friends to buy my cards as they hear my stories about my volunteer work there.
__________________ Susan
My SCS gallery is here should you care to look! Or please visit my blog, Cardmaker's Garret.
Kelli, I am really impressed with your classroom card making projects! Just preparing for making this many cards means lots of "homework" for you. Clearly, you're a teacher that is going above and beyond to make our future generations into compassionate and caring humans. This kind of teaching is just as important as academics. Thank you!
I like the idea of giving cards to places to sell to get money for something for the residents/students/etc...
You want an idea that could go national?
Create a group that makes cards and then members go out to the local hospitals/rehabs and offer them free to patients who obviously are in no position to buy them and who may have no family to get them for them. Easy enough for the site to target them for you. Include a stamp so all they have to do is fill it out. Come back next day to collect and pop in the mailbox. Sometimes a very good thing psychologically for patients is to do something for someone else and that is not related to their illness. People dont stop caring for people just b/c they are sick/injured. Could do it for nursing homes too. If they cant remember when events are...maybe just leave them with them and whatever week is the right time, they will give them to you to mail. Maybe something to give them would be a simple pre-print calendar so they can fill it in with important dates so they wont miss them.
Or you could run a class at a nursing home or senior centers-come in with a large amount of card kits pre made so they dont have to cut, etc-just assemble.
I personally wish this country did more for our seniors-many of whom were productive members of society their whole lives. Many find themselves alone late in life without a lot of money despite saving responsibly b/c of inflation rates. They are just trying to pay rent, get food and meds a lot of the time. Cards may be a luxury for them and they may feel guilty when they get cards. (sadly)
Just a thought but teach kids. They are a delight to work with, push them in a positive direction and have fun all at the same time. It's a small step to creating an impact on the world. Boys are more creative I find then girls. We girls agonize over color while boys already have an idea if you throw a few ideas at them.
Stamp On Purpose?
