There will be no activity on here for two to three weeks while this is assessed.  Please subscribe to receive any updates or revisit then.  Hopefully I'll have a number of things accrued to share by then.
Peace to all.

Here are a couple of people doing practical things to assist disadvantaged indigenous children.  At the moment Young and Free are collecting items that many of us take as a given - clothes, toiletries, nappies, shoes, sporting equipment, books, stationery, school bags, basic household items....use your creativity.  You could even make up a pack suitable for a child of a particular age - get together with some friends, pool resources and put some together.

My office decided to direct funds from this month's casual days to theMotor Neurone Disease Association.  MND is a degenerative desease of the nerve cells which control the muscles we use to function - breath, speak, move.  MND progresses quickly and is a death sentence, with survival after diagnosis averaging less than 3 years.  The MNDASA has various ways that it provides support to sufferers and carers.  You may also consider donation to research in this are via the MND Research Institute of Australia.

It's Fair Trade Fortnight.  Your small change will be life changing for someone else.
Tea
Coffee
Chocolate
Bananas
Sugar
Cotton
Artisan products
Sports balls

Fair Trade Association Australia & New Zealand

Mothers' Day, on the second Sunday in May in Australia, has reminded me.  I look at all the pressure retailers place on families for days like this and would love to see it stripped back to basics. It's not to everyone's taste, but consider buying mum something that could mean a whole lot more.   

• Oxfam do Oxfam Unwrapped - buy a goat for $38.  It'll help to give a family a livelihood, or milk.
  A Lutheran long-drop loo - $60 will get a loo somewhere like Sudan and make a massive improvement to santiation, via Australian Lutheran World Service.
• At CARE $20 buys a blackboard to help teach and improve children's education or $125 will train a woman to sew so she can start to support herself.
• UNICEF have a wide range of gifts sorted into categories such as Mums & Babies and Health & Nutrition.
• I've mentioned Kiva in a recent post, but with the Aussie dollar so good against the US dollar less than $25 will get a gift card and mum can choose who she'd like to help.
• Or try a website like charity gifts where there are a number of organisations from whom you can choose gifts.

I'm sure a lot of mums/mams/moms would love it if she got to spend some time with you and had a little fun.