Feel Good Friday - Everytown for Gun Safety

While I don't like starting these posts with bad news, there has already been a deadly school shooting this year and it's only January. That's why it's time to focus another Feel Good Friday on a group that's working to end gun violence, Everytown for Gun Safety.

As summarized in their Twitter bio, "Everytown for Gun Safety is a movement of Americans working together to end gun violence and build safer communities." It started in 2006 when a group of Mayors from 15 U.S. cities created Mayors Against Illegal Guns. In 2013 this group joined forces with Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, a group created in response to the Newtown shooting. Everytown now includes over 1,000 current and former Mayors and over 4 million supporters across the United States.

If you need information on why this issue is important you can read details here. Some statistics posted state that "every day 96 Americans are killed by gun violence" making Americans "25 times more likely to be murdered with a gun than people in other developed countries."

Everytown has some very specific areas of focus to reduce gun violence including: closing the loopholes on background checks and making sure the database is complete, strengthening gun laws to reduce deadly violence against women, educating parents about safe gun storage and advocating for strong federal trafficking laws to stop the trade in illegal guns. They also have resources to connect and empower survivors of gun violence

With wins such as a Colorado law that requires background checks for gun sales and convincing Facebook to crack down on illegal gun sales on their site, Everytown is proving that change is possible.

To support the work they're doing check out these "7 Actions You Can Take to Prevent Gun Violence", which includes my faves liking their Facebook page and following them on Twitter @Everytown. Let's do what we can to reduce gun violence so I can go back to posting about animal welfare organizations and what's new in the world of recycling.

Feel Good Friday - Build Change

Like many of my Feel Good Friday subjects over the last year, I learned about today's organization from a conversation at work and I want to pass it on!

"Build Change trains homeowners, local builders, engineers and government officials to construct or retrofit disaster-resistant buildings in areas vulnerable to earthquakes and typhoons."

Founded in 2004 by Dr. Elizabeth Hausler, the mission of Build Change is "to greatly reduce deaths, injuries and economic losses caused by housing and school collapses due to earthquakes and typhoons in emerging nations." Locations with current projects include Colombia, Guatemala, Haiti, Indonesia, Nepal and the Philippines.

An important aspect of the work being done is that the reconstruction and retrofitting process is driven by homeowners. Build Change involves homeowners in the design of their new homes, trains them how to purchase high quality building materials and provides technical assistance to homeowners so they can oversee construction of their homes. You can watch this 5 minute video for details or keep on reading.

Build Change has a six-step approach to safe homes:

1. Learn first - forensic engineering studies to determine why specific buildings collapse
2. Research and design for earthquake-resistant houses - those that are culturally appropriate and preferred by homeowners, as well as low cost and locally sustainable
3. Build local capacity - training local masons, carpenters, engineers and homeowners, including programs to train women to become builders
4. Stimulate local demand - making new homes affordable and easy to implement and creating simple building codes and inspection systems for governments to enforce
5. Facilitate access to capital - supplementing grants and financing from relief agencies
6. Measure change - documenting changes made on the houses and testing skill development of people trained

In the last 14 years, they have enhanced the safety of over 250,000 people and 50,000 buildings, trained more than 27,000 people in safe construction techniques and created over 12,000 jobs. If you'd like to put a face to a number, you can read success stories of the people who were directly impacted here.

Now that you know the effect Build Change has, you can support their work by volunteering your time, donating your money and/or becoming a social media fan by liking their Facebook page and following them on Twitter @BuildChange.

Feel Good Friday - Hope for Haiti

Oh how we're in need of a Feel Good Friday. After some recent, disparaging remarks made about the country of Haiti, I want to share the story of an organization that's working directly with Haitians to make positive changes.

Hope for Haiti was founded 28 years ago by JoAnne Kuehner with a simple mission, "We work to improve the quality of life for the Haitian people, particularly children." As explained on the website, their model is a holistic approach that "connects, heals, and empowers rural communities on the road to sustainable, long-term development." You can watch the short video, Rethink Haiti, to see the people Hope for Haiti is helping.

Their programs focus on five key areas for development: education, nutrition and healthcare, clean water, infrastructure and economy. They partner with local organizations to support work already being done to increase the success rates. Examples include providing financial support for schools, advanced medical training for Haitian medical professionals, and installing and maintaining solar-powered Ultraviolet water purification systems.

The impact of the work is impressive! Hope for Haiti has distributed $100,000,000 in cash and in-kind donations for program support. This money has been used to train 137 teachers, provide 45,000 books to students and build 12 classrooms. They've hired a full-time, Haitian clean water technician to maintain their 13 clean water sites and trained 38 men and women in traditional and modern culinary practices, 70% of whom are applying their skills in the community.

You can read the impact section of the website for even more stories. With 95% of revenues from donations going directly to the core programs you know that if you donate, you'll be helping the people of Haiti. You can also get involved by purchasing jewelry or cookbooks at their online store.

As always, like their Facebook page and follow them on Twitter @HopeforHaitiFL to give Hope for Haiti some social media love.