Brain Food for Hungry Kids

Have you ever thought about what a hungry child does over the weekends when she isn't at school to receive Title 1-funded breakfast and lunch?  Unfortunately, hunger doesn't disappear over the weekend.  Can you imagine how long those weekends must be?  How can we possibly expect her to make good grades if she is missing meals?  Recently, a story ran on the San Francisco/Oakland CBS affiliate about a great FedEx Backpack program in connection with the Alameda County Food Bank to deliver bags of food to students on

"Strategic" Philanthropy?

What on earth is "strategic" philanthropy? Isn't "philanthropy" just helping people and communities out of the "goodness of our hearts"? Sure it is, but with more than a million registered non-profits in the U.S. alone, and with limited resources, how does a global corporation with a commitment to philanthropy go about picking and choosing which charities to support?

Yin and Yang

“Denial ain't just a river in Egypt” – Mark Twain

A Large Order of Beds, One Anesthesia Machine and a Van, to Go, Please.

When you're in a hurry and need some food immediately, you pull up to a fast food take out window and place a quick order. It's filled on the spot. Direct Relief International (DRI) has a network of effective charitable organizations around the world. They know when urgently needed medical supplies are required immediately, they can "pull up" to the DRI "window" and place an order. DRI then relies on FedEx to provide rapid and reliable transportation services in support of many of their initiatives.

Zebra Crossings

As a kid growing up in New York City I was taught to cross streets at the corner crosswalk and to look both ways. While crosswalks exist in many developing countries – sometimes called Zebra Crossings (think: striping) – the message to use them is not reaching children as it should. On average more than 1,000 young people a day die from road traffic injuries worldwide.