Start A Donation Wildfire

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Recently in Eastern Tennessee, residents have been impacted by wildfires that have burned across several counties.  If you are reading this and you live in the Western USA you are no stranger wildfires, especially during drought conditions.  However, the southeast, even with a lack of rainfall is not used to wildfires.  In this blog post I will discuss how a wildfire starts and how you can start a wildfire in the form of donating to your favorite charity.

How does a wildfire start?

There are three key elements that need to be present and under the right combination a fire will start: fuel, ignition source, and oxygen.  Fuels can be anything that burns and the forest contains fuels in the form of leaves, twigs, and trees.  Over time, unless these fuels decompose or are removed from a prescribed burn they tend to accumulate.  In a balanced system, with enough water, smaller fuels would decompose and turn to dirt.  However in times of drought these fuels dry out and accumulate on the forest floor.  Think about starting a fire in your fireplace.  Would you want to start it with a wet paper towel or a piece of dry newspaper?  Next, an ignition source needs to be available to ignite these fuels which can be natural or manmade.  The most common natural spark comes from lightening.  However, manmade ignition includes coals from campfires or discarded cigarette butts to name a few.  The final and third element is oxygen or air.  This is everywhere. With the right amount of wind to an ignited fuel a fire can spread really fast in drought conditions and turn into a wildfire quickly.

Why is Fire Important in the ecosystem?  Fire has been a forest and agricultural practice dating back to the Native Americans who were very effective in using fire to keep the forest healthy.  Really hot fast burning wildfires were used to clear land for farming and slow burning cool fires were used to reduce smaller fuels and undesirable species and allow desirable species (Oak, Hickory, Chestnut etc.) to grow with less competition and more nutrients.  This area becomes prime habitat for hard and soft mast (acorns, nuts, berries etc.) producing species to grow which feed both man and animals that lived in the forest.

How can you start a Donating Wildfire?

In recent times there have been many challenges that have spread across social media.  In the past there was the ice bucket challenge which raised money for ALS.  I think that, similar to the 3 element s that can start a wildfire, by donating one time you could start a Donation Wildfire.  The fuels are your friends and network in Social Media.  The Ignition Source is you, and the Air is the One Donation platform with its 1.5 million Charities in our database.  To start the wildfire you need to make one monetary donation to a charity of your choosing then share the charity that you donated to on Linked In, FaceBook, Twitter, etc.  When you share with your network, challenge every member to donate and share as well.   You do not have to stop with just one charity, try to start several donating wildfires by donating to several of your favorite charities.

Why is this important?

There are millions of charities and non-profits out there that need donations.  You may be the one that opens the door to a member in your network about a particular charity that they never knew about.  You can change the world ONE DONATION AT A TIME.

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Have You Ever Cut Your Grass With Scissors?

 

I know this sounds like a crazy question, and before I travelled to Haiti in 2000 I would have agreed. But there I was, on a tap-tap (Haitian bus transportation), and looked down to see this:

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I witnessed two Haitians, on their hands and knees, cutting grass with scissors outside of the presidential palace. The palace has since been destroyed in the 2010 earthquake but the image was forever branded in my head.

Our church’s mission group travelled to Haiti, which consisted of high school students and adult leaders, to assist in building fish ponds and to teach basic English to a school on the barren mountainside outside of Port-au-Prince.

While travelling outside the city limits, on a tap-tap, I truly had an eye-opening experience. In addition to observing two Haitians cutting grass with scissors, I also witnessed individuals washing their clothes and bathing in pools of filthy water on the side of the road. Then, as we continued our journey, I saw live goats and chickens tied to the front of other tap-taps as we passed each other on the dirt highway. This was a firsthand experience of poverty unlike anything I had ever been exposed to in the United States.

Before meeting a local, I thought to myself; how can anyone live like this?

In my first encounter with a local Haitian, we were welcomed into his home located on the side of a mountain. Enthusiastically, he showed us the inside of his house and talked about how thankful he was to have a tin roof over his head.  This residence, not much bigger than my bedroom, was shared with 5 other members of his family. He was proud of this house and did not dwell on the dozens of holes in the roof. As we ventured back to our compound, our leader reached into his bag and handed over a few t-shirts to this man who had graciously invited us into his home. I will never forget the look on this man’s face as his smile reached ear to ear, happy and thankful for the gift of a couple of t-shirts.

I was only 18 years old but my trip to Haiti changed my life. If an individual, living in poverty, can almost be brought to tears because of a few t-shirts, I need to be more thankful of the many blessings in my life. We are all blessed. We are blessed to have access to the internet. We are blessed to be able to connect to the internet and to be able to read this blog post. We are blessed to live in America.

This holiday season, reflect on how blessed you are. Give thanks for everything that you have; your health, your family, your friends, the roof over your head and the shirt on your back.

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I Voted!

 

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By the time this blog is posted, votes will be cast and unless we have issues similar to 2004 the 45th President of the United States of America will be elected.

In the 2016 Presidential Election did you make a donation and do you know where it went?

Millions of dollars are spent each election year by political parties to promote their candidates. Large amounts of money are spent on campaigns for salaries, headquarters, commercials, leaflets, etc. and half the time the candidate loses.  Once Election Day has passed, the winning candidate will be the voice of the people and the other will probably keep their previous job.  Also, after Election Day both candidates will pay off any remaining bills and unless these candidates are running for election in the future the remaining money is sent to their political party, charities, or other candidates.

Whether your candidate won or lost, was the money that you donated worth it?

Non-profits, like political campaigns, run their own fundraising campaigns to raise as much money as they can.  Similar to a political election these funds are needed to pay for monthly bills which include salaries, offices, marketing, the cause or cure itself, and other daily operations that are often overlooked.  Non-profits do not have the benefit of an Election Day and shut down once the big day has passed.  If the funds are not available some will shut down and others will have to re-evaluate and decrease their spending to make it work.

I would assume that you did not vote blindly in the most recent election.  Whether it was by the candidate, word of mouth, listening to the radio, watching the TV, or researching on the internet you decided who to support.  The next time you decide to make a donation, I encourage you to educate yourself the same way and identify a non-profit or charity to support.  Do your research and ask the tough questions to find out where your money will be spent and what it will be supporting because one donation can make a difference.

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