Share the table

www.barillaus.com

Sitting down and sharing a meal with your family can be invaluable. Life can get in the way pretty easily in this fast paced, instantaneous-is-still-too-slow world we live in. I grew up on a home where eating together connects you with one another's lives and Sunday dinners with the WHOLE family were a must...though I suppose that comes with the territory when your family is from Italy.

Barilla pasta has started a program in conjunction with Meals On Wheels Association of America called The Barilla Family Dinner Project, where $1 is donated for every visit to their site. Over $14,000 has already been raised for Meals on Wheels to ensure meals for senior citizens.

...plus there's a pretty sweet recipe section from famed chef, Mario Batali.



Every click helps.

Want to join my village?

www.joinmyvillage.com

I have a village... in Malawi. Want to join it? Well, okay, maybe I don't actually HAVE a village in Malawi, but it's pretty awesome to be able to help a specific village. Talk about both sides of the Microphilanthropy coin...

JoinMyVillage.com works with General Mills, who has pledged to donate over $500,000 through web activity on this site. Check it out -- it's pretty fun. You: 1. Choose a village 2. Unlock funds (each action you take is a $1 donation General Mills makes) 3. Invite people to join your village (increases your donations).

Your simple actions make a real difference for these villages. How do you value these next few moments? Check it out and pass along some good karma.

Every click helps.

mother, mother ocean

www.care2.com/click-to-donate/oceans

I've been an avid scuba diver for the past 12+ years and was diving off the coast of Cape Ann this past weekend. Like many of us I have always felt connected to the ocean and for me diving is an incredible way to experience it and it's fascinating inhabitants.

What many don't realize is that 90% of the big marine predator fish are gone, all six species of sea turtle are listed as endangered or critically endangered, and populations of sharks and rays have been decimated worldwide. Partnering with Oceana, our friends at care2.com works with it's sponsors to donate $1 for EVERY CLICK (awesome!) to help preserve our oceans.

In 2009 alone Oceana's effective campaigning helped:

• save sea turtles by prohibiting deadly longline fishing gear in waters where sea turtles forage


• protect the Arctic from industrial fishing


• preserve sharks through legislation to prevent shark finning in the U.S.


• ban the catch of threatened sharks in Spain

If you feel that connection to the waters, take a moment and make a difference.

"In your belly, you hold the treasures few have ever seen" -- J. Buffett

Every click helps.