Feel Good Friday - One Warm Coat

It's raining in California, which is great news for the state but not so great if you don't have the proper attire. Today's Feel Good Friday highlights One Warm Coat, a San Francisco based organization whose mission is in their name.

Nearly 15% of people in the US live in poverty and for people struggling to get by, a warm winter coat is often considered an extra expense. To address this problem, people in San Francisco held a coat drive in 1992 and One Warm Coat was born. Their mission, as stated on their website, is "to provide anyone in need with a warm coat, free of charge.

They facilitate this goal by providing instructions and materials for anyone who wants to hold a coat drive, and partnering with organizations to get them the needed coats.

Since their inception the coat drives have expanded to all 50 states and 10 countries and they've collected over 4,000,000,000 coats! Yes, you counted the zeros correctly, 4 million coats.

There are a number of ways you can help: host a coat drive, donate a coat, donate cash, volunteer and spread the word on social media by liking their Facebook page or following them on Twitter @onewarmcoat

If you're short on time but want to support the work One Warm Coat is doing, text "COAT" to 80100 to give a $5 donation - enough to provide 10 coats. If you're not in a rush, why not spend some time cleaning out your coat closet to see if you've got any coats you can donate. What else are you going to do on a rainy day?

Feel Good Friday - KIOO Project

Happy Feel Good Friday! It's a new year and no doubt you took some photos during this holiday season to document your experience and create a memory for your future self. Today we're going to talk about an organization that teaches photography to vulnerable children around the world.

The KIOO Project was founded by photographer Babita Patel after a trip to Haiti brought her in contact with children who had never seen photographs of themselves before. The mission, as stated on their website is a simple one, "to teach photography to children from communities with limited creative resources."

Right now KIOO Project offers workshops in Kenya, India and Haiti and their vision is "for every child to develop self-confidence by discovering who they are through photography."

You can hear and see how this is affecting the children by watching this video of students in Kenya or this video of students in Haiti. In their workshop in India, girls were taught about photography during the first week of the program. They then developed leadership and presentation skills by teaching photography the boys who came in the second week of the program.

If you like the work KIOO Project is doing you can support them by buying some of the student photos, straight up donating money, or liking their Facebook page and following them on Twitter @kiooproject.

Now get out there and do something with those photos of yours!

Feel Good Friday - New Year's Manifesto

Happy Feel Good Friday!

The start of a new year is a great time to reflect on the previous 12 months and to set goals for the future. Many people do this in the form of New Year's resolutions but I'm recommending writing a manifesto!

Wikipedia defines a manifesto as "a published verbal declaration of the intentions, motives, or views of the issuer, be it an individual, group, political party or government" and links to a ton of examples
as only Wikipedia can.

January 1st is a great time to declare your intentions and it's easy to get started. This article from the Huffington Post gives details on what to consider when writing a manifesto and breaks it down to five simple steps:

1. Get inspired.
2. Make notes.
3. Write a rough draft.
4. Put it away, then proofread.
5. Live it.

If you're too busy at the gym to write an original manifesto, there are plenty already out there that can provide you with some inspiration. One of my favorites comes from a company called Holstee whose mission is "to help people live a reflective and intentional life" and I've included the picture below.

Happy writing and happy new year!