give a little love...

... and you'll get a little love of your own.

-noah & the whale

i've recently heard of some awesome opportunities for good. and you know i'm all about a good cause. sometimes, i feel like it's easy to get stuck in a selfish lifestyle and to get caught up in all of the negativity of this world, so i think it's extremely important to be able to take part in causes, whenever we get the chance.

byu hunger banquet

as a member of the club and a cousin of one of the chairs of the event, i may be a little bias, but this is really phenomenal. all of the attendees are divided up in accordance with the world's population, so a majority of the attendees sit on the floor and are served rice and beans for dinner. the next group of attendees, a smaller group, represents the "middle class"... they sit on chairs and are fed pizza and hotdogs. finally, an even smaller group is seated at nice tables and are fed a 3-course meal. cultural speakers and entertainment attend the event, and there's a fair beforehand where ngos have booths and talk about their various causes. 100% of the proceeds go to 2-3 small ngos... what is better than that?! my crazy-talented cousin has been working tirelessly to make the night successful, and the event is really eye-opening and inspirational; i really encourage you to go!

toms' one day without shoes

so i've been a convert for a few years now, and i'm so happy to see the toms craze become more and more prominent. for every pair of shoes purchased, a child in a developing county receives a pair of shoes, so the company uses consumerism for good... such a cool concept! and have you seen their new wedding collection? to die for. anyway, every year, toms holds a day without shoes around the world. the company encourages everyone to go shoeless for the day (or for whatever portion of the day they can), to raise awareness for the cause and gain empathy for those who don't have the luxury of shoes. last year, my darling friend elise and i did a 1.5 mile walk without shoes, and it was amazing how sore our feet were afterwards. check out the toms site and see what you can do on april fifth!

also, did you hear that mister jack johnson donated $50,000 to japanese earthquake/tsunami relief? he was touring in japan when it happened but fortunately was safe, so he's doing his best to give back. what a stud.

i've got a few cool humanitarian-esque projects myself i'm working on. i'll hopefully get them finalized soon, so i can share them with you all!

peace & love.