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Sanitation Solutions: When the city let them down, Philly rose up — with orange trash cans

Meir Rinde

October 18, 2021 |

WHYY |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

A Philadelphia-based program called I Love Thy Hood's stepped up to help attack the city's dirty streets problem. Fueled entirely by volunteer efforts, the program has placed more than 106 cans on blocks around the city and collected over 100,000 pounds of trash.

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Surprising Data Shows Political Letter-Writing Still Gets Out the Vote

Philip Elliott

October 01, 2021 |

Time Magazine |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States

Vote Forward, an apolitical non-profit organization aimed at turning out voters, coordinated more than 50 partner organizations to boost turnout in the 2020 election through a letter-writing campaign. The letters were largely non-partisan, with letter writers encouraging people to vote rather than asking them to vote for a particular candidate. The low-cost, low-pressure tactic also brought in many first-time volunteers, with over 200,000 people writing letters. Organizers consider the campaign to be very successful, translating to about 126,000 votes in 21 states, or one percentage point nationwide.

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Youths Distribute ARVs During Lockdown to Curb Human Immunodeficiency

Namiganda Jael

September 23, 2021 |

Metro FM 90.8 |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: Uganda, Kampala

Volunteers around Kampala help people living with HIV – who often seek medical care far from their homes due to stigma - get their medications during COVID-19 lockdowns. The volunteers mainly use bicycles to deliver the medications and are assisted in reaching people in need by the patients’ doctors as well as community leaders, like members of parliament, who use social media platforms to advertise the services. A single volunteer, like Opio Kenneth, can deliver medications to five to ten clients a day. Another initiative, with several volunteers, has reached over 4,000 clients since 2020.

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Seniors in Philly are aging in place with the help of community ‘villages'

Nora Macaluso

August 23, 2021 |

The Philadelphia Inquirer (Philadelphia Media Network) |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Penn’s Village is part of a national network of hundreds of “villages” that provide support to seniors so that they can age in place. The staff is small, it is run largely by volunteers, and funded mainly with annual dues paid by the 350 members and ranging from $200 to $600 per household. The lower level offers access to programs and social events and the highest level gives access to services. The broad range of services are things that a neighbor or friend would do, not hands-on care. For example, the Health Pals program pairs volunteers with members who want support at medical appointments.

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Haiti's citizen seismologists helped track its devastating quake in real time

Carolyn Gramling

August 18, 2021 |

Science News |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Haiti

Volunteer citizen seismologists in Haiti are collecting data on earthquakes and aftershocks with equipment provided by researchers to better understand seismic hazards and fault locations in the country.

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Education first

Mike De Socio

August 15, 2021 |

Adirondack Explorer |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Arizona

The Grand Canyon National Park launched a “hike smart” campaign as a way to educate hikers about the risks of traversing in the canyon and to decrease the number of search and rescue incidents. While measuring the success of such preventative measures can be difficult, the number of incidents has remained flat since the campaign was introduced in the 1990s, despite an increase in visitors.

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How saving uneaten food can change lives and help the climate

Laura Paddison

August 11, 2021 |

BBC |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Houston, Texas

Fresh Hub was created by twin high school sisters to address food insecurity and the environmental impact of food waste. Volunteers collect unsold food from grocery stores and bakeries and give it to residents living in “food deserts.” They use a smartphone app and automated messages to alert residents when food is available, which is distributed at community centers. Partnering with Second Servings, a nonprofit already doing similar work, allowed them access to vans, equipment, and important insight. Since 2017, they have led 23 events, kept 15,200 pounds of food out of landfills, and served 1,900 people.

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After 'painfully slow' start, restorative justice program tries to reset

Paul Cuno-Booth

July 17, 2021 |

Sentinel Source (The Keene Sentinel) |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Cheshire County, New Hampshire

The Cheshire County Restorative Justice Program works to take low-level defendants, accused of things like shoplifting or alcohol violations out of court and into an alternative process, sparing them criminal records that would later weigh them down. The program’s goal is to push the legal system toward restorative justice, reimagining its traditional processes.

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'Take what you need—leave what you can' — Stark Co. woman sets up anonymous food pantries for those in need

Courtney Gousman

June 17, 2021 |

WEWS-TV |

Broadcast TV News |

3-5 Minutes

Response Location: United States, Stark County, Ohio

“Take what you need—leave what you can" is the motto etched on the 16 anonymous “Blessing Boxes” set up around Stark County. The wooden cabinets are stocked with non-perishable food, household items, and personal hygiene items. People can access the boxes whenever they need to and can take as much as they would like. The boxes are made and re-stocked several times a week by volunteers. One of the boxes sits outside a local elementary school, not only provided needed supplies to students and their families, but students have also taken responsibility for helping to keep it filled.

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Meet the Activist Archivists Saving the Internet From the Digital Dustbin

Mark Hill

May 12, 2021 |

Discover Magazine |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States

The Internet Archive is a digital library of around 544 billion archived web pages, most of which are found using a bot that crawls the web and saves snapshots. However, a self-described loose collective of volunteer activist archivists, known as the Archive Team,' individually monitors and preserves websites at risk of being abruptly taken down. Using donated bandwidth and hard drive space on the archiving application “Warrior,” they systematically download sites they fear will be deleted. The downloads are saved within the Internet Archive database, which is available to the public.

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