Tag Archives: Comment-Love

Money & Stewardship

June Comment Love: New Mom and Baby Kit

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Mother and ChildI’m not sure how much money was raised through Comment Love in the month of June, I do think it was close to $30, which is worth an applause for you. If you don’t know what Comment Love is, basically it’s an opportunity for you to raise (out of my pocket) $0.25 for every comment you make at Trying to Follow. Each month we’ll decide on a charity to give the money to and every comment will earn a quarter toward that cause (up to $40 normally).

Since June involved a new Mom and Baby in my life, I thought I should spread the joy and excitement to another mom and baby through World Visions Gift Catalog. Here’s what your comments are donating to:

Many mothers in countries like Angola, Romania, and East Timor lack the basic supplies they need to properly care for their newborns. Your gift will give a child a safer and healthier start in life — and help his or her mother breathe easier. You’ll provide essentials such as a bassinet, diapers and diaper pins, a blanket, a storage container for clean water, a baby bathtub, and soap. Pregnant women attending prenatal classes will also be trained in hygiene and how to properly use these supplies.

The donation was a little more then what we raised, but I figure it’s worth it. I’m definitely thinking in baby mode now, which might influence future posts, and donations as well. Please continue to comment, and encourage conversation on all the topics we discuss here.

I had a poll going for were to donate and it was a dead tie between Kiva and World Vision, so will let it be the deciding factor for July. Vote Now:
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May Comment Love: Kiva Loan to Westland Academy

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Below is the women and the academy that we helped provide a loan for, from your comments!
The donation for this month is up to you as well! I’m planning on donating to an organization that work’s with children, as I’ll have one of my own soon, and it’s important to remember there are those who might not have the same opportunities if we don’t spread our resources. Read about Margaret and feel free to subscribe to updates from her! Then don’t forget to vote on were this month’s donation should go.

Margaret Juma is a 55-year-old entrepreneur who lives with her husband and six children in Rongo, Kenya. She trained as a community health worker to provide home-based care to people living with HIV/AIDS in her area.

Margaret (pictured with the children) is a proprietor of Westland Academy, initially started in 1998 as a nursery school with 40 children. Since then, the school has grown to 156 children. The school takes children from nursery level to primary level (now in class 6). Out of the 156 children, 63 are orphans, some of whom Margaret has taken into her home.

Owing to increased enrollment in her school, Margaret requires US $ 1200 to renovate classrooms that are in poor shape.

Subscribe to Updates from Margaret!

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Month One of Comment Love: $29.00

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Well, the first month of comment love has come to a close with a grand total of $29. The goal of comment love is to encourage conversation about the topics discussed on the site by ‘incentivizing’ every comment with a donation to a charity. This month’s comment love money will be going to Kiva, which was Jamie’s choice (our top commenter this month). I’m gonna let her pick out the person to donate too and then I’ll post a link, picture and bio to the person we donated too and you can check in on the loan progress and the impact your comments have made.

I’m going to continue the Comment Love project. We’ll donate somewhere else next month (I’ve got babies on the mind so maybe something related to babies would be good). This coming month it’s up to you to raise the bar and comment a little more so we can make an even bigger impact in the world around us.

Continue the conversation.

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Comment Love: Encouraging the Conversation

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Let me start by saying I have been truly blessed to have people regularly stop by and read my thoughts. It’s been encouraging to me in a great many ways unique to the way writing and blogs can produce conversation. Here, I can share deep thoughts I’ve been reflecting on and not only have the opportunity to be listened to, but also to engage in a conversation that challenges my thinking and spurs me on to being a better person.

In an effort to encourage the conversation even further, and to bless you and others through the conversation, I’ve implemented something called Comment Love. Some Random Dude, gave me the idea and I thought it was a neat way to both encourage further conversation and support some good causes at the same time. Here’s the run down of Comment Love:

  • Each comment in the May is worth $0.25 that will be given away at the end of the month.
  • The comments should be thoughtful and engage in the conversation (no trying to run up the numbers).
  • The limit will be $50 (Sorry, the pockets aren’t that deep), but if it’s a success I might try again next month.
  • I haven’t decided which organization to give to yet, so I’ll let the top commenters decide at the end of the month (Anyone gonna give Jamie a run for her money?). Here’s the options I had in mind: Kiva, Invisible Children, or IJM

There’s no catch or anything fancy here, just a chance to spread the love a little and encourage the conversation. I have made a few other changes to the blog recently also. Here’s a brief explanation…

  • New Design– A while ago I mentioned wanting to change my blog to a dark background to save energy. This was a great design I’ve been hoping to use that recently became available.
  • Gravatars– I’ve added an icon/image/gravatar feature, that’s your little profile picture next to your comments. If you haven’t done so already, sign up for one at gravatar.com. It’s extremely easy and only takes a minute to enter your email and upload your image. (If you don’t, I might end up figuring out how to choose one for you myself 😉
  • Share This- For those who like passing on blog posts, this link should make it easy. If you do any social bookmarking it’s got everything listed, and if you want to email someone it’s easy as pie, just enter their email address!
  • WordPress 2.1– Not that most of you care, but I upgraded to 2.1, it’s nice.
  • Asides- This is going to be a collection of mini random posts that will only be available on the bog, not through the rss or email subscriptions. Stay tuned.

If you haven’t done so already, be sure to subscribe to the blog posts or comments so you can easily keep updated on the conversation.