PLEASE READ AND SHARE! Make a Resolution for the good of others this year! It's Simple!

Happy New Year! It's that time of year guys! Time to make a resolution! This year make one you're not going to dread keeping up with. Drink one less coffee a week or a month and give that money to a charity! Volunteer at a local shelter or Boys and Girls Club. We come up with all these outlandish goals this time of year every year and often don't follow through with them. This one is easy and it will make your year better knowing that you bettered someone is need's life!

You can even incorporate your personal resolution into helping someone else. Let's say you want to lose 5 lbs or 50 lbs or perhaps just be more physically active join http://www.teamintraining.org/ in the fight against cancer! Their coaches will help you towards your fitness goal. "If crossing the finish line after running or walking 26.2 miles or 13.1 miles, cycling 100 miles, completing a triathlon or hiking adventure while helping cure deadly diseases are things you've always wanted to accomplish, The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team In Training ^® will make them happen." How cool is that? Free training in return for raising money and awareness about cancer and cancer research sounds like a pretty sweet deal on both ends. Maybe another charity like AIDS Walk hits closer to home. Join them in the fight against HIV & AIDS. You don't even have to walk. You can just donate. Or let's say you want to QUIT SMOKING for real this time! If you donate half of the money you spend on cigarettes a month, you'll be healthier, still be saving money and happy that you're helping others!

You can even visit http://www.change.org/petitions to sign a petition at no charge to stand up against something you believe is wrong or you can start your own! Maybe you'd rather help your favorite celebrity in raising money towards their foundation like http://www.crowdrise.com/sophiabush, a smart, talented, actress raising money and awareness to save the Gulf.

The point is simple we need to be less selfish. So let's make that a resolution! Next time you walk into a coffee shop and spend $12 think about the smile you could have put on a child's face with that money, literally visit http://www.operationsmile.org/ to help give these chance to smile. Their Mission:

"The goal of every medical mission is to fulfill a child's greatest wish: the chance to be normal.

Our unique and successful medical mission model is the foundation for providing safe surgeries for children around the world and building a long-term sustainable solution.

We mobilize medical volunteers across the globe to treat children with cleft lips, cleft palates, and other facial deformities, and leave a legacy of trained medical professionals, surgical equipment and professional partnerships to help carry on the work after our team of medical volunteers has left."

My very good friend Fabienne Claude of Fab C Productions, does several charity events a year to raise money for Operation Smile as well as other wonderful foundations. Contact her today to find out how you can help! It doesn't have to be money. You can even donate your time. http://www.facebook.com/fabcproductions. She also works with http://www.soles4souls.org/ organizing fashion shows to raise money and shoes for this great organization that donates shoes to adults and children in need. Find out how you can Donate shoes, host a shoe drive, or provide disaster relief to help shoe charity.

Another thing to think about, other than resolutions. Let's say a friend's birthday is coming up. Why not spend a few less dollars on their materialistic gift and instead donate those dollars to a great cause? Print out the confirmation and include it in their card so they you did it in their honor. Asking them what charity they prefer might even be a cooler idea. Or buy them one less $8 cocktail and know that you put a smile on a child's face that so deserved it and wouldn't have it otherwise. Besides your friend doesn't need to make a bigger fool of them self on their day ;) You'll both be happier knowing that you did something wonderful for someone else.


Happy New Year everyone! Even if you just donate once this year or 10 hours of your time I hope you do it because helping others it was life should be about :) I've given you some resources now you just have to do it!

http://www.charitynavigator.org/ Will help you find a charity you can trust!

Charity Navigator, America's premier independent charity evaluator, works to advance a more efficient and responsive philanthropic marketplace by evaluating the financial health of over 5,500 of America's largest charities.

http://www.jessicashopeproject.org/ Jessica’s Hope Project is a newly founded 501 c 3 non-profit organization that focuses on sending fitness-oriented care packages overseas to all branches to the military in many different parts of the world. It started with a simple email to the CEO of 24 Hour Fitness. We are now trying to raise money to cover the shipping of care packages overseas to our deployed military. To date we have sent over 200 boxes to our troops and raised over $3700.

http://www.jimmyv.org/ "The V Foundation takes great pride in its fiscal responsibility and is proud to announce that it gives 100 percent of all new direct cash donations to cancer research and related programs."

http://kaboom.org/ "Did you know that $46 can buy two basketball nets? Help us realize our vision of a playground within walking distance of every child." Help kids have fun while leading an active lifestyle. Did you know nearly 1 in 3 children is overweight or obese?