Gulf Coast Goodness: Part II...

In my previous post, I was (beyond) pleased to bring you some Gulf Coast goodness. A simple, unexpected search had me down in the dumps and I, consequently, felt it important to acknowledge some good in the world.

So while I wanted to continue the thread, further tipping my hat at the thousands of people that continue to pull light from the clouded confines of the coastal South, I re-read my post and have since concluded it's crap. I think I'm going to revert back to my odds-and-ends posting. I'm thinking too much without saying anything.

But I digress...

Here's some great organizations, followed by a brief summary of their work:

100 Homes in 100 Days
An Affordable Housing Initiative leading an effort to rebuild 100 homes in 100 calendar days, in order to address the issue of insufficient housing in Pascagoula, Mississippi.



Hands On Gulf Coast
A disaster response project of the Hands On Network that focuses on an array of volunteer projects. They are working to rebuild and revitalize coastal Mississippi through the deliberate involvement of volunteers in community-based projects that empower residents to create a more promising future for their communities.
Hands On Gulf Coast Blog

Engineers Without Borders
A wonderfully involved organization (similar in structure to Doctors Without Borders, et al.)that designs and implements engineering projects in developing communities around the world. Projects like their Capdau School Playground project, as well as their Rebuilding After Katrina Using Local Resources, tend to fall by the media wayside due to their faceless nature, but need to be recognized.
Americorps is by far one of the largest orgnaizations servicing Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida and Texas. Don't believe me?

Americorps have provided more than 16,000 people of all ages and backgrounds are helping to meet local needs, strengthen communities, and increase civic engagement through 304 national service projects across Mississippi; with an additional 24,000 people and 262 national service projects in Louisiana, more than 100,000 people and 332 national service projects in Texas, 21,000+ people working on 111 national service projects throughout Alabama, and 82,000 people working on 213 projects in Florida.

243,000 people + 1222 projects = the Corporation for National and Community Service providing upwards of $110,500,000 to support Gulf Coast communities through national service initiatives.

Wow.

The Restaurant Opportunities Center of New Orleans
3500 Canal St., New Orleans, Louisiana, 70113, United States
Phone: 504-931-0369

The Restaurant Opportunities Center of New Orleans is a member based organization dedicated to improving work conditions and raising industry standards for all people working in New Orleans’ restaurants. They survey and interview the city’s restaurant workers in order to educate the public and fight for improved industry standards.

The Edible Schoolyard NOLA
With undoubtedly the prettiest logo of them all, ESY NOLA aims to create and sustain an expansive organic garden on the public school campus of Samuel J. Green Charter School in New Orleans. The Edible Schoolyard is integrating organic gardening and fresh seasonal cooking into the school’s curriculum, culture and food programs. It involves students in all aspects of farming the garden—along with preparing, serving and eating the food—as a means of awakening their senses and encouraging awareness and appreciation of the transformative values of nourishment, community, and stewardship of the land.

Don't squeeze the Charmin...

As consumers become more and more numb to typically-blah advertising --even in contextually appropriate settings-- businesses are forced to speed up their hamster wheels in order to grab our attention. With varied statistics it's hard to tell how ad-saturated we really are, but this might give you an idea of what these ad execs are competing against:

The average American is exposed to 247 commercial messages each day. -Consumer Reports Website

Research tells us that the average American consumer is exposed tomore that 600 advertising messages a day in one form or another. -The Business Journal Phoenix

The average American is exposed to about 3000 advertising messages a day, and globally corporations spend over $620 billion each year to make their products seem desirable and to get us to buy them. -Michael Brower, PhD, and Warren Leon, PhD, Union of Concerned Scientists

A conservative estimate has the average American consumer exposed to more than 850 commercial messages a day. -Texas A&M University Digital Library

As a result, socially conscience and devilishly interactive advertising has been begun to break the marketing atmosphere, shattering the mold in order to evoke a consumer emotion far deeper than the buy me.

While more and more attention is being garnered by these organizations, big corporations are beginning to take notice. Check out these innovative advertisements by non-profits, governments, and social organizations, with a few green-washed billboards thrown in (see: McDonald's).

Click for bigger.

Cancer Patient Aid Association ceiling poster campaign:

For Amnesty International:

For The Salvation Army:

For Denver Water's "Use Only What You Need" Campaign:

For The Red Cross (with various other locations):

For the Focus 12 Rehab Center:

For a deforestation campaign (similar to WWF campaign pic below*)

For The World Wildlife Fund:


For Medicine Without Borders (one of my FAVORITES):

For endabuse.org

For a Stop Smoking Campaign in South America:

For a Greenpeace Global Warming campaign (incudes various other cities):

For Mothers Against Drunk Driving:

For the World Wildlife Fund:

*For the World Wildlife Fund:

Award-winning solar-powered billboard for NedBank in South Africa:

For the always-healthy McDonald's:

Cut-Outs for the Bronx Zoo:

For Amnesty International:

For Institute Akatu in Brazil:

For more information, check out adsoftheworld.com