#3: Warby Parker

"Eyewear with a Purpose"

Here is Warby Parker's Story!

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We believe that everyone has the right to see. Unfortunately, millions of people around the world today don’t have access to proper vision care. To help address this problem, Warby Parker partners with renowned non-profits, such as VisionSpring.org, to deliver one pair of glasses to someone in need for every pair that we sell. In doing so, we enable you to share the gift of vision with someone who can’t see today and give them the opportunity to read, to work and to live a fuller life.

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Shameless plug, my sister, Meg, and my sweet friend, Kate both have Warby's!

"When you buy a pair, you give a pair!"

Visit their site at www.warbyparker.com
*Note: This non-profit is Hipster-Friendly! (:



#2: North Way East End Christian Community!

My beautiful church family!
Take a look at this link! (:
http://vimeo.com/37117607

Non-Profits That I Love! #1: Sseko Sandals

Over the next couple of posts, I will be posting some of my favorite non-profits out there!

Number 1: May I present Sseko Sandals! 
My sister, Meg, had the opportunity to visit this great organization during her travels to Kampala, Uganda!

Here is their story!
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If you happen to find yourself in Kampala, Uganda, make your way to the Old Taxi Park. From there, grab a taxi van to Matuga. Jump off at the end of the line, and hop on a boda boda to the Cornerstone Leadership Academy. After a (bumpy) ride along a dirt road, you will find yourself in the company of some of the most intelligent and committed young women in Uganda.
These women are graduates of the Cornerstone Leadership Academy and employees of Sseko Designs.


Sseko \say-ko\ Designs was created to help these bright young women continue their education. The Ugandan school system is designed with a nine month gap between secondary school and university. These nine months are intended to allow time for students to earn money for tuition before continuing on to university. However, in an impoverished and male dominated society, many of these young women struggle to find fair work during this time.

Sseko Designs hires recent secondary school graduates for this nine month period to live and work together, while earning money that will go directly towards their university education. These women will not make sandals forever. They will go on to be doctors, lawyers, politicians, writers and teachers that will bring change and unification to a country divided and ravished by a 22 year-long war.

Sseko Designs is a not-just-for-profit enterprise that recognizes the power of business and responsible consumerism to support sustainable economic development, which in turn affects a country's educational, justice, and health care systems. The goal of Sseko Designs is two-fold: provide university tuition for these promising young women through a sustainable monthly income, while also contributing to the overall economic development of Uganda.

Although consumerism makes many empty promises, responsible and proactive consumerism has the ability to change lives. Like the lives of Mercy, Mary and Rebbecca.

Every sandal has a story. This story has only just begun, but with your help, it will be a story of hope, success and change.
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These sandals are so neat!  They are simply made of a rubber and leather bottom with your choice of colored fabric that you can create into numerous styles.
Visit their website here!
http://www.ssekodesigns.com/

Sparing Bagels

Yesterday morning started off like any other morning. I woke up early, devos, went running, got ready for class. The Sun was extra bright, life's pretty good at this point! Ran into my friend, Steph Mangold, who told me they evacuated the whole Cathedral of Learning (for the 4th time this week), so classes were cancelled for the morning!! To celebrate, I decided to grab a Chocolate-Chip Bagel with Hazelnut Cream Cheese from Panera Bread (I'm such a girl!). As I was walking home, thinking about the endless possibilities of spending my morning (reading the Word, eating my awesome bagel out in the Sun on my roof), I also asked God to open my eyes and ears to what He wanted me to see and hear, out of the whims of excitement from my free morning. As I rounded the corner on Atwood, the homeless man that sits by the mailbox almost every day, caught my attention. He has a long, gray beard, and sits at the corner wrapped in old blankets and a sleeping bag, rain or shine, whether it's 80 degrees like today or 8 degrees. He never heckles or make eye contact. His presence there, though, screams that is in need and helpless. "Give him your bagel", I hear deep inside me, the Spirit prompts me. It took me a while for this message to even come to my conscience out of my morning plans. I wish I could have ended this story in victory, to tell you that I knelt down beside him--regardless of whether I think if he is REALLY in need, whether he can find help and food elsewhere, whether he's just too lazy or not to get a job, or whether I support Obama-care or not--I wish I could to tell you that I gave him my bagel with a smile on my face, ask him if I could pray for him, and share the Gospel with him if he's never known Jesus.

But I didn't. I kept walking. I clenched my bagel bag tightly and walked home, up to my roof, and ate it in the Sun.

This makes me flashback to something I had the opportunity to witness in Valparaiso, Chile. Pontificial Catolica, the university I attended, is in the heart of the city. Naturally, there are a lot of homeless people in the city, just like in any city, even our city. The homeless in Valpo are even more marginalized and visible there. They often suffer physically or mentally, with missing teeth, dirty faces, dirty clothes, and missing limbs. Okay--maybe they are pretty similar. I try to keep loose dollars on me to give to people freely. If they are at a point in their life where they are on the streets, begging, they must be in need. I would try and practice this while in Chile as well, having loose change on me to bless another.

There was one day that will always resonate with me. As I was waiting to catch a bus home from class, I saw a guy, my age, knelt down and eye-level in front of a homeless man that I would pass practically every day to and from class. The homeless man was sitting up, engaged, listening intently to this guy with a smile on his face. The guy my age had a Bible propped on his knee, gesturing excitedly to the homeless man, clearly sharing the Good News. This homeless man wasn't receiving money or food from the world, but Everlasting Life!

It's so evident in Scripture how Jesus feels about our attitudes toward the poor.  He tells the rich young man, in love, that he lacked one thing: "go, sell all you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me." -Mark 10:21 (ESV)  This isn't a suggestion or room for opinion--it's a command.

Seeing this guy really challenged me. The Lord gave the opportunity to present the Gospel to a girls' orphanage there through a VBS involving the salvation bracelets with different-colored beads to represent each part of the Story. I loved every second of it, but I also realized that I was in my comfort zone. Here was a guy, probably a few blocks from his own university, by his friends and peers, knelt before the lowest of us (who, when we stand before God, will be before us), in his hometown, by his home school, and near his home friends. Such guts!!

Praying for greater boldness in my own city of Pittsburgh. Challenged, without condemnation, but definitely challenged!

Currently Reading...

Reclaiming our Prodigal Sons & Daughters: A Practical Approach for Connecting with Youth in Conflict.  By Scott Larson & Larry Brendtro who dedicated their book "to the children we have parented & to the children we have re-parented".

My Pastor gave me this book to read, and said that it is one of the best books he's read on working with today's youth.  Wow!  I'm so pumped to get reading!
Thanks, Pastor B!

Wholeheartedness

Two things that I've read about recently: the endemic contagiaty of the Lukewarm versus Wholeheartedness.  For me, I've recently wrestled through a lot of living wholeheartedly in the present, and instead, looking to the future, too far.  Certainly, there is a time & place for planning in order to see a good work carried out, but it also must not rob the beauty of the present.  "Cancer is a bad day", a man by the name of Bob Goff once said.  It's almost scary at how quickly little naggings can rob the presence of grace in living in the moment, a walk which I think Jesus meant, in part, when he said that his yoke is easy & his burden is light.  Have you ever woken up on the wrong side of the bed?  The taste in your mouth is extra bitter, & you're just hit with a ton of life-bricks.  I once heard a devotional led by one of my mentors & camp director, Scott Steltzer.  He taught me how to do "Heart Checks" in the morning, where you confront & call out the little torpedoes, waiting to destroy your day, in writing them down and casting them down.  They have no place in my day.  Oftentimes, my heart checks are met with Scripture in my morning devotionals specifically & directly.  To live & rest easy, knowing that the Lord knows the BEST ways for me, can shape life out of lukewarm complacancy or unwarranted worry.  He renews us day by day!

But He knows the way that I take;
when He has tested me,
I will come forth as gold.
-Job 23:10 (NIV)

The Glory of Sabbath

I loved every second of my Spring Break last week.  I realized how important rest coupled, not simply with doing things that I enjoy, like shopping and watching movies and getting icecream, but also the need and delight in spending time with God.  I'll be taking a Sabbath from Blog-Writing for a week.  Can't wait to share with you when I get back!
Peace.

A Poem by Amy Carmichael

When stormy winds against us break
Establiksh & reinforce our will;
O hear us for Thine own name's sake;
Hold us in strength & hold us still.

Still as the faithful mountains stand
Through the long silent years of stress,
So would we wait at Thy right hand,
In quietness & steadfastness.

But not of us this strength, O Lord,
& not of us this constancy;
Our trust is Thine eternal Word,
Thy presence our security.

You Can Heal My Heart



"You Can Heal My Heart" by Kassi Hemerka!

You can buy my sweet mentor & friend's beautiful album on iTunes for $9.90!

She has the voice of an angel who blesses so many through leading worship at North Way's Oakland campus! Go K! (:

Strawberry Banana Overnight Oats

I love oatmeal.  I eat it for breakfast practically every day.  This healthy snack will stick to your bones and keep you fueled up for a long day!  Labor, especially in the Lord, can be hard without the proper equipping, both physically and spiritually.  But take heart at this verse God showed me today:

Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. -1Corinthians 15:58

These words are sweeter than any baked good out there. (:  Be encouraged by how near God is with you in your work for Him!

For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. -Hebrews 10:36

Ingredients you will need:

½ cup rolled oats (not quick cooking)

½ cup plain Greek yogurt

2/3 cup milk

1 tablespoon chia seeds

2 to 2 ½ tablespoons strawberry jam

1 small banana, mashed

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl or jar, cover with a lid or plastic wrap, and allow the mixture to sit in the refrigerator overnight. In the morning, stir in the mix-ins of your choosing.

I found this recipe at www.pepperlynn.com Her recipes are fabulous! Check them out for sure.

Thinking of Tanzania

About one year ago today, my sister, Meg, spent 6 months in Arusha, Tanzania!  To celebrate all that the Lord did in and through her, here's a link to her Arusha blog.  She has such a gift of words and wisdom, and God's hand was upon her words and experiences!  Praise God.

http://megancarey.tumblr.com/