Are you fueling with love?

Regardless of what work you are doing – campaigning for political change, providing services to your local community, educating others, or anything else – would it look different, would it feel different, would it operate differently if love was the central message?

To Mama With Love

I’m incredibly inspired to participate in this year’s To Mama With Love campaign from Epic Change. My mother taught me many things, and I feel like with every year she teaches me more – whether she knows it or not. She’s taught me a lot about love, relationships, and our interactions with the world; and she’s also taught me about things that many may not think have anything to do with love, but they do.

The biggest lesson: Everyone has something to give.

I can’t think of a lesson, an outlook on life, and a guiding principle for my work that is more about love than this one. When working with communities, trying to enable change, looking for opportunities to spark collaboration, love seems like a strange thing to think about for many people. When you approach any of those activities, any of the work we do in this sector, with the idea that truly everyone has something to contribute, the way you speak, the way you interact, and the way you lead changes – and changes into something powerful and contagious.

I see this lesson in the work of 350.org. I see this lesson in the local councils of London trying to open up their data and their leadership. I see this work in public maps like Open Green Map. I see it in so many places, and it’s working. We are starting a movement that has love at the very foundation. And that’s what gives me hope that we will be successful.

Join me in sharing the love

I’ve created a heartspace for my mother and for some of the things she’s taught me:

But To Mama With Love isn’t just about my mama, it’s about 4 special women making great impact around the world. This year, TMWL is raising funds that will support the work of 4 passionate women who truly believe that everyone has something to give:

“Mama Lucy” Kamptoni sold chickens in her Tanzanian village & turned her income into a primary school that now serves over 400 children. Her students consistently score at the top of over 120 schools in the Arusha district of Tanzania. Mama Lucy is an Epic Change fellow, and has been an invited speaker at the European Summit for Global Transformation.

Recently named one of TIME’s 100 most influential people and Newsweek’s 150 Women Who Shake the World, Suraya Pakzad is an outspoken Afghan activist on behalf of the rights of women and girls. She originally founded the Voice of Women Organization (VWO) to educate girls in Kabul in secret schools under the Taliban, and has since expanded to support and assist underprivileged women and children throughout Afghanistan.

At 19, New Jersey native Maggie Doyne used her life savings from babysitting to start Kopila Valley children’s home in Nepal, which has grown to a home for over 40 children, and a school serving over 200 students. Now, at just 23 years old, Maggie’s work has been featured in the New York Times, and her remarkable story has earned her the DoSomething & CosmoGirl awards.

Renu Shah Bagaria is the founder of Koseli, a center for children in Kathmandu, Nepal, who, due to their economic circumstances and the country’s recent civil war, live in the city’s streets and slums. Koseli, which means “gift”, provides education, food and tender loving care for over 75 young students, and, in the evenings, hosts an adult education program for local women.

And now I hope you’ll join me!

To Mama With Love is an open, community campaign. There are many ways that you can contribute:

• What has your mother taught you? Please share the stories, insights, and lessons on the heartspace wall.
• If you can, please consider donating so that we can raise funds in honor of our mothers to support these inspiring women making great impact around the world.
• Build your own heartspace, share the campaign, and share your love!

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To Mama With Love is a collaborative online art project that honors moms across the globe and raises funds to invest in remarkable women who are transforming our world. Scheduled for May 3-8, 2011, the site invites participants to create socially shareable “heartspaces” that include words, videos, photos & investments in honor of mamas they love. Learn more!

I’m so thankful!

I really am. I’m thankful for so many things especially at this time when we have just moved, and so many things seem to be changing and yet staying the same.  One thing I’m thankful for every day, beyond my family and friends, is the rich and open discussion we are cultivating on the web. Whether it’s on listservs, forums, blogs, facebook, twitter or anywhere else – there are so many people looking to foster open dialogue on issues important to and impacting the work of changemakers, activists and innovators around the world. I’m so thankful to be part of the community and hope I can continue to contribute in small ways every day. Thank you all for joining me!

Join EpicThanks

Participating in this Epic effort couldn’t be easier:

• Blog about that for which you are grateful and include a link back to EpicThanks.org.
• Tweet about that for which you are grateful using the hashtag #EpicThanks
• Create a personalized thank you note at http://www.EpicThanks.org by clicking “create a thank you note” in the upper right hand corner of the page.
• Dress up your avatar with some Epic Thanks love at http://twibbon.com/join/EpicThanks
• Follow and contribute to the in the EpicThanks interviews on Twitter via #EpicThanks

The event is founded by Epic Change, a nonprofit, volunteer-run organization I love that amplifies the voices and impact of grassroots changemakers who need to be heard. With this annual celebration of gratitude and all their work, Epic Change seeks to raise visibility and funds, and to cultivate a deep sense of global gratitude for these remarkable souls who create hope in our world.

I really hope you’ll join me in sharing your Epic Thanks!

For Mother’s Day, Epic Change wants to help Mama Lucy realize another dream – to build a home on campus where in-need children will live. Towards that end, Epic Change has created an online collaborative art project to honor moms across the globe called To Mama With Love. The call-to-action is to create a “heartspace” for a mom you love consisting of words, photos and video.

As Stacey Monk, the founder and CEO of Epic Change, explains:

With www.ToMamaWithLove.org, we hope to build this home out of the love we share for moms across the globe.  Just imagine.
According to the LA Times, this year Americans alone will spend $14.6 billion on Mother’s Day.  Imagine if the gifts we gave made the world a better place for children & mamas everywhere.

Here’s mine:

Happy Mother’s Day, mom! (For more love to my mom, check out my Ada Lovelace Day post, too!)

What I Like:

The elements of this campaign that I like are the same ones that Epic Change always gets right:

1. Time sensitive: Mother’s Day is this Sunday in the US and this campaign creates an easy to understand timeline for participation + real impact
2. Real Impact: The changes and impact are always real, visible, and important, and Stacey and all those involved do a great, consistent job of sharing the stories of the kids (and Mama Lucy) benefiting.
3. From the Heart: Just like Tweetsgiving, and everything that Mama Lucy is doing in Tanzania, the To Mama with Love campaign is all from the heart. It’s honest and simple and creates great ways for people to share love and passion for each other (opposed to all those campaigns built on fear or anger).
4. Real People: Just like the element of real impact, this campaign and Tweetsgiving both succeed because they are created by, benefit, and involve real people, being themselves.  At the end of the day, we are humans. We don’t need to pretend we aren’t.

How You Can Share:

• Visit http://www.tomamawithlove.org/ to see the heartspaces already popping up on the map from around the world
• Use #tomamawithlove in Twitter
• Create a heartspace and share your story! (You can see the one Stacey made here.)
• Join the streaming conversation! You can connect with others via voice or video on Friday – find out more here!

Thanks so much, Mama Lucy, for all the hard work and dedication you have devoted to the kids and community.  And thank you, to my mom, for all your love!

Learn more and show your gratitude!

Scheduled for November 24 – 26, 2009, the 48-hour event created by Epic Change will encourage participants to express their thanks using online tools and at live events. In honor of the people and things that make them grateful, guests will be invited to give to a common cause at events held across the globe.

Why TweetsGiving?

Last year, funds from TweetsGiving helped build a classroom in Tanzania.  This year, the Epic Change team are working on building a technology lab there.  Earlier this month, we interviewed Avi Kaplan from Epic Change, and asked him what they were up to in Africa:

What are you up to right now in Africa?

We just spent three weeks at Shepherd’s Junior near Arusha, Tanzania setting up a technology lab and wireless internet at the school. Together with our fabulous volunteers Melissa & AJ Leon of theLacProject, we taught the students and teachers about computers and social media. The students of Class Five at the school are now on Twitter and Tumblr and you can follow them all by clicking their pictures in this blog post. The internet has opened up the world for these students and their teachers are increasingly using the web in their curriculum.

For more details from our recent work here, including video, photos and more in-depth coverage of all about the work we’ve been up to in Tanzania on the “I <3 Epic Change” Blog created by theLacProject and in a recent article in the Huffington Post.

(Read the rest of the interview here.)

Get Involved

• Attend a gratitude party
• Spread gratitude on the web
• Host a gratitude party
• Join the TweetsGiving Community

I recently had the opportunity to connect with Avi Kaplan, the Community and Events Director at Epic Change, to discuss the upcoming TweetsGiving campaign and events.  Avi is just back from Tanzania where he and other Epic Change team members were working with the students in the classroom built with last year’s TweetsGiving proceeds.

Find out more in the interview below!

What is Epic Change?
Epic Change is a US nonprofit dedicated to helping social entrepreneurs harness the power of their stories to create change in their communities. We are a very heartful organization and a lot of what we do is thanks to an incredible group of volunteers.

What is TweetsGiving?
TweetsGiving is a global celebration of gratitude and giving on November 24-26. Participants will share what they are grateful for through Twitter and other online media and attend gratitude parties around the world. People donate to a shared cause in honor of that for which they are most grateful. Where do the funds go? Funds raised will go to support the work of Mama Lucy Kampton (@MamaLucy), a ChangeMaker who has transformed her community in Arusha, Tanzania through her school Shepherd’s Junior.

What was last year’s celebration like and how do you think it’ll be different this year?
TweetsGiving last year was overwhelming because we put the program together so quickly and really didn’t know what kind of response we would get. Once the tweets of gratitude started to flow in we new we had identified a very powerful emotional chord with people. The tone of the messages and the level of participation we saw were hopeful and inspiring. The addition of gratitude parties this year is significant. A different kind of reflection is accomplished face-to-face than you can achieve behind a computer screen. I expect the parties to be lively gatherings and for people to form new relationships and to come with open hearts ready to share.

How can people get involved?
You can find an event to attend on our website TweetsGiving.org, volunteer to host a gratitude party (it’s not too late!), and join the Epic Change Community online to receive continued updates on the project.

What are you up to right now in Africa?
We just spent three weeks at Shepherd’s Junior near Arusha, Tanzania setting up a technology lab and wireless internet at the school. Together with our fabulous volunteers Melissa & AJ Leon of theLacProject, we taught the students and teachers about computers and social media. The students of Class Five at the school are now on Twitter and Tumblr and you can follow them all by clicking their pictures in this blog post. The internet has opened up the world for these students and their teachers are increasingly using the web in their curriculum.

For more details from our recent work here, including video, photos and more in-depth coverage of all about the work we’ve been up to in Tanzania on the “I <3 Epic Change” Blog created by theLacProject and in a recent article in the Huffington Post.

I hope you’ll join us for TweetsGiving and I’m really excited for what’s next at Epic Change.

About Avi
After over a year working as a volunteer, Avi is excited to join Epic Change as the Community and Events Director. He is a South Florida native and currently lives in Washington DC. He’s interested in using technology to organize for social change and is a recent Harvard graduate. You can find him on twitter (@MeshugAvi)or by email (Avi@EpicChange.org).