I’m so glad you asked!

The month of January seems to saturate the air with hope and promises of fresh starts and new beginnings; a chance to “do it over”, and “try again”. It will do us good to forget how many times we’ve messed up or how many times we’ve tried to start anew. 

New Year’s resolutions rarely work out because we tend to give in to the naysayers. Those people who try and predict your future and tell you all these new and great changes won’t even last a week. Those people who admit defeat before they’ve even begun. 

Well nothing’s more truer than “A new year, a new you.” And even if you slip up, why wait until tomorrow to get back on track? Why not start again as soon as you realize it. 

Now that my little pep talk/rant is over on to the good stuff. Simple ways you can change the world, and it all starts by changing yourself. 

All I ask is 1 hour of your time. That’s it. I wish for nothing more and I expect nothing less. You can just take it one day at a time or a week of a month, it’s up to you.

The 1 hour challenge

How it works: log off facebook, twitter, tumblr, email, skype, the internet in general, turn your phones on silent and go do something different.

What you can do: 

• read to children
• clean your closet and donate stuff you don’t want
• volunteer at an animal shelter, homeless shelter, women’s shelter, etc
• volunteer at your church
• volunteer at a nursing home
• volunteer at a daycare
• volunteer at a rec center
• go to a toy store and buy toys that are fun and on clearance and donate them
• spend time with your family
• expand your mind by reading a book 
• play a board game with someone
• play a game outside that requires physical activity
• talk to your family
• have a deep discussion about (religion, politics, why we are here, if you had a million dollars, ways you can help the community and environment, how your family can make a difference)
• take a group of kids bowling
• join a mentoring group or start one
• talk to your principal about doing an after school (or during school) program for younger children
• go grocery shopping and drop it off at your local soup kitchen
• donate blood
• meditate
• laugh
• be a shoulder to cry on
• go for a hike or bike ride
• help a friend
• volunteer at a help hotline

As you can see from this list, there is a wide range of things you can do. 

Just know that changing the world has to start with you. 

*If you don’t know where to start drop us a line here and we’ll do everything in our power to help!

This blog is all about showing you little things you can do that can make a BIG IMPACT on someone’s life. And who better to impact than the people fighting for our country.

Operation Gratitude annually sends 100,000 care packages filled with snacks, entertainment items and personal letters of appreciation addressed to individually named U.S. Service Members deployed in hostile regions, to their children left behind and to Wounded Warriors recuperating in Transition Units. Our mission is to lift morale, bring a smile to a service member’s face and express to our Armed Forces the appreciation and support of the American people. Each package contains donated product valued at ~$125 and costs the organization $15 to assemble and ship.  For safety and security, assembling of packages occurs at the Army National Guard armory in Van Nuys, California. Since its inception in 2003, Operation Gratitude volunteers have shipped more than 660,000 packages to American Military deployed overseas.

Our soldiers are strong and brave individuals who wake up every morning to serve our nation. These are men and women who are sometimes thousands of miles away from their loved ones months at a time. This can be very hard for them and their families who are expected to get along without them on a daily basis. We may not be able to do a lot to help ease the strain but we can do something. Operation Gratitude is doing its part by sending letters and care packages to our troops who need them the most.

You can send online donations here or send your donations by mail to this address

Remember every little bit helps!

Want to do something that feels a little more personal? Just check out all the ways you can help down below!

Do you love to knit in your spare time? Why not donate your beautiful hats and scarfs to the troops. You can get all the details about what they need, size color etc. here!

Have a gift with words? Use your gift by telling the troops how much you appreciate them with a personal letter or card! Get as creative as you want! Why not get your entire school involved? Make a bunch of cards and send them all together! And you can send letters to Veterans too! All the information can be found here!

So you can’t knit and aren’t very good with words? That’s okay because you can still help! There’s a list of other things that the troops would love to have sent in a care package! And there’s also a special list for our wounded soldiers to let them know they are not forgotten and we appreciate all they have done! Just click here for all the details.

If you have any questions feel free to contact Operations Gratitude at any of the following:

Emails:   Join Our Mailing List
Twitter: www.twitter.com/OpGratitude
Linked In: www.linkedin.com/companies/operation-gratitude
Facebook: www.facebook.com/OperationGratitude

*CHANGE THE WORLD would like to personally thank Operation Gratitude for impacting the lives of so many people. Thank you for showing us that if we band together we can change the world!

1. CHANGE YOUR LIGHT
If every household in the United State replaced one regular lightbulb with one of those new compact fluorescent bulbs, the pollution reduction would be equivalent to removing one million cars from the road.

Don’t like the color of light? Use these bulbs for closets, laundry rooms and other places where it won’t irk you as much.

2. GO VEGETARIAN ONCE A WEEK
One less meat-based meal a week helps the planet and your diet. For example: It requires 2,500 gallons of water to produce one pound of beef. You will also save some trees. For each hamburger that originated from animals raised on rainforest land, approximately 55 square feet of forest have been destroyed.

3. SECOND-HAND DOESN’T MEAN SECOND-BEST
Consider buying items from a second-hand store. Toys, bicycles, roller blades, and other age and size-specific items are quickly outgrown. Second hand stores often sell these items in excellent condition since they are used for such a short period of time, and will generally buy them back when you no longer need them.

4. CHOOSE MATCHES OVER LIGHTERS 
Most lighters are made out of plastic and filled with butane fuel, both petroleum products. Since most lighters are considered “disposable,” over 1.5 billion end up in landfills each year. When choosing matches, pick cardboard over wood. Wood matches come from trees, whereas most cardboard matches are made from recycled paper.

5. CUT DOWN ON JUNK MAIL 
Feel like you need to lose a few pounds? It might be your junk mail that’s weighing you down. The average American receives 40 pounds of junk mail each year, destroying 100 millions trees. There are many services that can help reduce the clutter in your mailbox, saving trees and the precious space on your countertops.

6. GIVE IT AWAY
Before you throw something away, think about if someone else might need it. Either donate to a charitable organization or post it on a web site designed to connect people and things, such as Freecycle.org.

7. PAY BILLS ONLINE
By some estimates, if all households in the U.S. paid their bills online and received electronic statements instead of paper, we’d save 18.5 million trees every year, 2.2 billion tons of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, and 1.7 billion pounds of solid waste.

8. WASH IN COLD OR WARM
If all the households in the U.S. switched from hot-hot cycle to warm-cold, we could save the energy comparable to 100,000 barrels of oil a day.

Only launder when you have a full load.

9.  Unplug unused chargers and appliances

It’s an easy way to cut down on energy and it will also save a few bucks on your electric bill. 40% of all electricity is used to power home appliances while they’re turned off. 

10.  Buy an inexpensive reusable water bottle

 Stop buying plastic disposable bottles. Out of the 50 billion bottles of water being bought each year, 80% end up in a landfill - that’s 40 billion unrecycled water bottles. Also, it’s just a lot more cost and energy effective to use a reusable water bottle.

*Did we miss something? Got any new ideas? Let us know here

Tips and pictures courtesy of : 50 Ways To Help, SimpleMom and Good Life Bottles.

1. Change yourself. If you can’t help yourself how can you expect to help others? 

2. Help out in your community. Change starts in the home. Help out in your  community. Find out ways to help your city (what are the major problems?). Volunteer at your local recreational center, homeless shelter, school, animal shelter, detention center, prison, RedCross, donate your time, money or things you don’t use anymore to your local Salvation Army, Goodwill or any other store with a cause, volunteer at your local fire station, or volunteer at a hospital nearby, you can even lend your neighbor a helping hand, the possibilities are endless.

3. Random acts of kindness. Hold the door open for the person behind you. Say please and thank you, show respect to everyone. Smile. Let someone cut in front of you when you’re driving on the highway, give someone a coupon that you know you won’t use when you’re in that store, say excuse me, tip your waitress, all these things require little to no effort yet can change someone’s entire day around, little things add up to make a huge impact. Plus it makes you feel better about yourself.

4. Group Work. There is no denying that one individual can light the flame to a revolution but the more the merrier right? Gather all your friends one afternoon and do something positive.

5. Join an organization. Can’t find a job? Want to hold off on jumping into the real world yet? Not quite ready for college? Want to make a huge difference? Join Habitat for Humanity and build houses for people in your community. Help set up blood drives with Red Cross all over your city. Also, check out United We Serve for ideas and opportunities. If you haven’t found anything that peeks your interest you can always start your own!

6. The environment needs help too.  Recycle, take shorter showers, walk or ride your bike to the store instead of driving, carpool with friends, and unplug appliances that you aren’t using. You can donate stuff you can’t use to a charity. Try Upcycling, check out DIY tutorials so you can learn how to re-vamp your old things to make them new again, need ideas? Click here. See if you can make something you want out of stuff you already have instead of buying it new. You can let your creativity shine and help the environment!

7. Taking it abroad. Find reputable, well known charities that you can volunteer at overseas.The Peace Corps, which offers a variety of programs, is a great way to help out if you don’t mind the time commitment of 27 months. Other programs can last anywhere from a day to a year depending on the organization and the programs are just about endless. While you’re on spring break or studying abroad for the summer you can always check out children orphanages that could use your time, even if it’s just for a day. *Please note that when volunteering abroad, you should look for a credible volunteer program that has your safety as their number one priority, so make sure you do your research!*

**This post will be updated periodically with any new information.**

Finish this sentence HERE!

Big or small it still counts!

1. Change yourself. If you can’t help yourself how can you expect to help others? 

2. Help out in your community. Change starts in the home. Help out in your  community. Find out ways to help your city (what are the major problems?). Volunteer at your local recreational center, homeless shelter, school, animal shelter, detention center, prison, RedCross, donate your time, money or things you don’t use anymore to your local Salvation Army, Goodwill or any other store with a cause, volunteer at your local fire station, or volunteer at a hospital nearby, you can even lend your neighbor a helping hand, the possibilities are endless.

3. Random acts of kindness. Hold the door open for the person behind you. Say please and thank you, show respect to everyone. Smile. Let someone cut in front of you when you’re driving on the highway, give someone a coupon that you know you won’t use when you’re in that store, say excuse me, tip your waitress, all these things require little to no effort yet can change someone’s entire day around, little things add up to make a huge impact. Plus it makes you feel better about yourself.

4. Group Work. There is no denying that one individual can light the flame to a revolution but the more the merrier right? Gather all your friends one afternoon and do something positive.

5. Join an organization. Can’t find a job? Want to hold off on jumping into the real world yet? Not quite ready for college? Want to make a huge difference? Join Habitat for Humanity and build houses for people in your community. Help set up blood drives with Red Cross all over your city. Also, check out United We Serve for ideas and opportunities. If you haven’t found anything that peeks your interest you can always start your own!

6. The environment needs help too.  Recycle, take shorter showers, walk or ride your bike to the store instead of driving, carpool with friends, and unplug appliances that you aren’t using. You can donate stuff you can’t use to a charity. Try Upcycling, check out DIY tutorials so you can learn how to re-vamp your old things to make them new again, need ideas? Click here. See if you can make something you want out of stuff you already have instead of buying it new. You can let your creativity shine and help the environment!

7. Taking it abroad. Find reputable, well known charities that you can volunteer at overseas.The Peace Corps, which offers a variety of programs, is a great way to help out if you don’t mind the time commitment of 27 months. Other programs can last anywhere from a day to a year depending on the organization and the programs are just about endless. While you’re on spring break or studying abroad for the summer you can always check out children orphanages that could use your time, even if it’s just for a day. *Please note that when volunteering abroad, you should look for a credible volunteer program that has your safety as their number one priority, so make sure you do your research!*

**This post will be updated periodically with any new information.**