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See Jane Advocate bio picture

Welcome to See Jane Advocate

Having babies doesn't mean you stopped caring about the world...It just means you need quicker, easier and cheaper ways to do it! This blog exists to help busy moms impact the world by providing quick, accessible, attainable methods of advocacy that you can do in just a few minutes a day. 

I hope you find some ideas to inspire you! Thanks for visiting!

The Real F-Word

Friday, August 3, 2012

It’s happening again. 18 million people in the Sahel region of Africa are facing a desperate shortage of food.

This video is from October, 2011. But it could be from right now…because it’s all happening again:

It doesn’t have to be this way…

Click HERE to sign ONE.org’s petition asking President Obama to include more countries to the New Alliance (the next phase in the G8 and African Alliance plan to achieve global food security and lift 50 million people out of poverty in the next 10 years).

*For more information about the New Alliance and what it means for global hunger, please refer to this excellent article by World Vision: President Obama Announces New Food Security and Nutrition Initiative

Posted in Advocacy

by Courtney Christenson

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Tell Congress: Renew the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

For the last several weeks, the world news has been saying that things have gotten better in Burma. Since Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi was recently elected to parliament (which definitely warrants celebration) President Obama has begun negotiations to normalize U.S. relations with the Burmese government.

But things are FAR from ok in Burma. I recently received an email update from United to End Genocide (formerly The Save Darfur Coalition) that said this:

Hundreds of political prisoners are still behind bars and the Burmese military continues to commit atrocious human rights violations predominantly in Burma’s ethnic areas. Right now the army is attacking villages in Kachin State, displacing people from their homes and destroying houses and crops. It is no coincidence that this area is rich in natural resources which foreign businesses can’t wait to exploit. The people of Burma need your help.

The Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act prohibits products made in Burma from being imported into the United States and will prevent hundreds of millions of dollars from getting into the hands of Burma’s military. The sanctions are set to lift in July and Congress MUST renew the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act to keep sanctions in place until the Burmese government can show a lot more progress toward a permanent end to human rights abuses.

Please tell your representative not to lift economic sanctions until innocent Burmese women, children and men are not in danger at the hands of their own military.

If the sanctions are lifted, it will reward the Burmese military and its cronies. It would be devastating for the people of Burma because sanctions are the only leverage the United States has to encourage the major changes that still need to take place. Please email your representative right now and help us speak out for the people of Burma.

I filled out the form and sent the email and it took about 30 seconds. This is a great chance to speak on behalf of those who have no voice and no platform. You’ve got both…so take 30 seconds to be an advocate.

For more information about the current situation in Burma, please see the United to End Genocide Burma informational page.

Posted in Advocacy

by Courtney Christenson

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Be The Match- Part 1

Friday, May 25, 2012

Ok, so this post is a little different. It’s not quite advocacy or human rights and it has nothing to do with socioeconomic or ethical issues. BUT…it does offer you the chance to save a life. And it will take you roughly 10 minutes-ish. Maybe 15.

Be The Match is a Bone Marrow Donor Registry. Every year, tens of thousands of people die from cancers of the blood including leukemia, lymphoma, sickle cell and other life-threatening diseases. Many of them would survive if they could receive a bone marrow transplant, but finding a donor who is a genetic match is extremely difficult to do. People with these diseases depend on the Be The Match to find a donor who is a genetic match and can save their life by donating their bone marrow…But even with a registry of millions, many patients cannot find a match. Donors with diverse racial or ethnic backgrounds are especially needed. Check out the video for more info (And don’t mind the hipsters…they get to the point pretty quickly):

By registering with Be The Match, you could very potentially save someone’s life. Someone’s sick child, a failing parent or a dying spouse.

All you have to do it visit the website, fill out the form (it took me about 5-10 minutes) and wait for them to send you a tissue sample collection kit (not as weird or scary as it sounds).

All the kit includes is 4 cotton swabs that you swab your inner cheek with. I documented my experience with it so it would be less foreign for you. They walk you thru exactly how to swab your cheek and send it back. That part took me about 3 minutes and Gary and I laughed the whole way thru it because of how awkward the photos were going to be. I’ve included them for your viewing pleasure.

But seriously. CRAZY easy. And how cool if you actually get to save someone’s life?!?!? I hope I do. For more information about all of this, why it’s needed, what the marrow donation process is like etc. check out the FAQ Page.

Thanks in advance for registering and sharing the need…particularly to those family and friends who are Black, Asian or of mixed race!!! Now…go REGISTER…And register your spouse of significant other while you’re at it!

Posted in Practical Ways to Make an Impact

by Courtney Christenson

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Be The Match- Part 2 (for all you pregnant ladies!)

Friday, May 25, 2012

My last post was about Be The Match, a bone marrow registry that gives you the chance to potentially save a life by donating your bone marrow to someone who is suffering from a blood cancer or blood disease.

I explained how donors and recipients need to be a specific genetic match, how that match is difficult to make and that the best way to help is to join the registry and send in a tissue sample (collected from your inner cheek by a cotton swab) so you can be matched to someone in need.

BUT…There is a another way you can potentially help. But only if you’re pregnant (or someday plan to be pregnant). Yeah…you read that right!

Turns out the other GREAT place to harvest blood-creating cells (which is what your bone marrow does) is umbilical cord blood. Over the last several years we’ve heard a lot about the benefits of storing your baby’s umbilical cord blood, but many people (like us) were deterred from doing so because of the cost and the uncertainty that we would actually ever need it. But it turns out that discarding it is not the only other option! You can donate your baby’s umbilical cord blood to a public cord blood bank where it will be tested and put on the registry to potentially save a life.

I was shocked to learn that 21% of all marrow transplant recipients receive blood from a public cord blood bank. Crazy. Your baby could save a life just by being born! Nuts, right?

So, if you’re pregnant and don’t have plans to keep and store your baby’s umbilical cord blood, I would STRONGLY suggest that you donate it! Why not save a life instead of throwing that amazing stuff in the trash?!?

Here’s instructions on exactly how to donate your umbilical cord blood. You don’t actually have to do much of anything…your doctor and the hospital takes care of most of it once you request it! For more information, check out their cord blood donation FAQs.

One more way that being pregnant is miraculous and life giving! Way to go ladies!

Posted in Practical Ways to Make an Impact

by Courtney Christenson

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Apple + Conflict-Free Minerals from Congo

Saturday, May 19, 2012

The Enough Project fights to end genocide and crimes against humanity with a particular focus on Africa. One of their primary areas of concern is Congo…home of the world’s deadliest conflict since World War II. Nearly SIX MILLION (6,000,000,000) people have been killed and hundreds of thousands of women have been raped in the last 15 years. Congo’s conflicts are complex and there is no simple fix for peace but the ongoing violence is largely fueled by the illicit trade in conflict minerals (gold, tin, tungsten and tantalum) that are used by electronics companies and are found in abundance in Congo. Armed groups use rape as a weapon of war, destabilizing communities while procuring hundreds of millions of dollars per year off the minerals trade.

The Enough Project has recognized that where Apple goes, the world market will follow. So they are petitioning Apple to lead towards the most ethical stance possible when dealing with conflict minerals.

Apple has taken some good steps: They are doing everything possible to trace and identify the suppliers that smelt the minerals (a key step in the supply chain) and they recently required their suppliers to purchase certified conflict-free minerals when they are available on the world market.

There are 2 steps we believe Apple should take next:

1. Ensure that its conflict-free products are not also “Congo-free”. By ensuring that the minerals are still sourced in Congo, it will break the cycle of slavery by creating demand for ethically mined minerals from the Congo. This ethical sourcing in the Congo is a step that Motorola Solutions, Intel, and HP have already taken.

2. Help governments, industry and civil society create a credible certification system so that all companies can source responsibly from eastern Congo.

By taking these steps, Apple would help stop a war in Africa (instead of funding warlords) while also satisfying growing consumer demand that they contribute towards a solution for sustainable peace in eastern Congo.

Join us in asking Apple to push for even greater reform and accountability. We know that if they improve their performance other companies will soon follow their example: SIGN THE PETITION

Posted in Advocacy, Learn

by Courtney Christenson

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Stamp Out Hunger

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Hunger is such an overwhelming issue that often times we try to either ignore it or at least only acknowledge it in far away places and extremely foreign places like Somlia and Ehtiopia.

But the fact is that there are an crazy number of people in our own country that are also dealing with hunger and most of them are children.

I truly appreciate the work of shelters and food banks for providing privately funded food resources to those in need but every time I decide I want to donate food, I get too busy, or forget, or it sits on my to-do list FOR-EV-ER until the food I meant to donate has expired.

So, welcome to the easiest food drive EVER.

Stamp Out Hunger is the largest single day food drive in the country. This is it’s 20th year and they are hoping to collect at least 70 million pounds of food to match the last 8 year’s donations. The National Association of Letter Carriers has partners with the USPS, Feed America and Campbell’s Soup to put this thing together and DAMN if they have not made is easy.

It’s THIS Saturday May 12, 2012 and all you have to do is put a bag of non-perishable food items out by your mailbox for your letter carrier (think canned or boxed…pasta, rice, cereal, canned veggies, soup, juice, etc).

Seriously. That’s it. You probably already have enough surplus food in your pantry to make a donation!!! SO freakin’ easy.

Quick…Go put it on your calendar before you forget.

Oh, and PS…This is also a great opportunity to teach your kids about poverty and hunger. Explain the problem gently in words they understand, then empower them to do something about it! Let your kids raid your pantry and pack the bag with you, or take a special shopping trip to the grocery store and let your kids decide what you buy to give away. Sheesh…talk about a win/win/win situation, right?

Posted in Involve Your Kids, Practical Ways to Make an Impact

by Courtney Christenson

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Only fair trade Jewelry

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

I’ve had an idea for a while that I’ve been hesitating to do simply out of selfishness.

The idea came to me about about a year and half ago while making my first Christmas gift guide. I was searching for fair trade gift ideas for men and all I was finding was jewelery, jewelry and more jewelry. In frustration I exclaimed (to no-one in particular): “Why would anyone ever buy slave-tainted jewelry when affordable, fairly traded jewelery that rebuilds communities in developing countries is so readily available?”

I felt like I should do something about that, but when I thought about all the adorable, crazy cheap jewelery that I love from Forever21 and Nordstrom Rack I decided I just wasn’t willing to give that up.

Yeah. I’m THAT awesome…I didn’t want to sacrifice my access to hoards of bad quality jewelery that is a completely unnecessary part of my life in order to support awesome organizations that help to rebuild lives. WOW, Court.

Well, I’ve finally decided to get over myself. Here it is…my new commitment: From now on I will only ever buy myself jewelery that is fairly traded or that is made and sold for the purpose of building up impoverished communities.

I desperately want to add a timeline onto this (like “for 1 year”) and may have typed one and deleted it several times before publishing this. But the fact is that this is probably the world’s smallest, vainest sacrifice ever made and that’s not going to change because jewelry is never going to become a necessity.

In the name of research, I looked up a couple of companies in hopes of finding some really awesome pieces that are more modern/trendy and less beaded/tribal looking (which is fine and lovely…just not totally my thing) and I now have two new obsessions:

1. MADE – I highlighted these guys in my Christmas post, but I’ve rediscovered them and I want everything on their whole site. Seriously.

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. PeopleTree – Look for a full post about this company coming soon. They are ridiculously awesome. But I love their jewelry, love their clothes, love it all.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The only problem with both these companies is that they are UK based, which means that despite their shockingly reasonable prices, the exchange rate and shipping costs do start to add up. Even an £8 bracelet turns into a $30 purchase when everything is said and done, which isn’t CRAZY expensive, but it’s also not cheap. So I guess I’m buying less (which, honestly, is probably a good thing)….Or staying up REALLY late the next few nights looking for companies just like these only State-side so I can pay for stuff in dollars and don’t have to pay so much in shipping.

If anyone wants to join me I’d love to swap sites and organizations!

Posted in Practical Ways to Make an Impact, Shopping for a Cause

by Courtney Christenson

4 comments

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Donate Your Dinner Out

Saturday, February 25, 2012

I don’t know if your family is like ours, but we have a certain meal during the week that we always go out for. In our case it’s Sunday lunch. I just really feel like it should be a day off (especially since we work a lot of Saturdays) so I generally refuse to cook.

Well, the World Food Programme has discovered that this is a pretty normal thing, so they very smartly decided to capitalize on it. With their program called We Feed Back, they are asking individuals and families to “share” their meal out by donating the amount of money they would’ve spent on that meal to feed hungry children instead.

Here’s how it works: They have you put what kind of meal you’re going to “share” and how much it costs into their handy-dandy calculator which then tells you how many children you could feed with your meal. Turns out our delicious Lahaina Pizza from Pizza Port for $15.75 will feed 63 children.

SIXTY-THREE.

So instead of eating our pizza this weekend, we’ll be packing peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and taking them down to the beach for a picnic. Which also creates AWESOME opportunity to talk to my kids about how much they have and how we can share some of our blessings with those who have less.

So…How many kids did you feed? And what did you do instead of going out?

Posted in Involve Your Kids, Practical Ways to Make an Impact

by Courtney Christenson

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Chainstore reaction

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

I found it. The world’s easiest way to become an abolitionist.

Chain Store Reaction is a website dedicated to making it easy for consumers to advocate for slave-free supply chains in large corporations. They’ve done all the leg work and made it impossibly easy to ask companies to discover and eliminate any forced labor in their supply chain and then DO something about it.

They have a ginormous list of companies along with pre-drafted letters (that automatically address themselves to the proper people) demanding SLAVE FREE production of their products. All you do is click on a company, sign your name to the letter and hit send. It LITERALLY takes 10 seconds.

I’m gonna ask you to send 10 (if you can, choose the brands you use most often). That’s less than TWO MINUTES. You have two minutes, right? If I have two minutes, you have two minutes. Go be an abolitionist: Chain Store Reaction

 

Posted in Advocacy

by Courtney Christenson

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Christmas traditions that change the World

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Since the idea of finding ways to make a global difference in your daily life is one of my biggest life principals, it makes sense to me to incorporate those values into our Christmas celebrations. So I wanted to share a few ideas for how to do that.

1. Stocking stuffers of cash to be spent on an online relief gift catalog

This has become one of my favorite parts of Christmas. Two years ago we started replacing stocking stuffers for our families with envelopes of $15 cash to be spent together on the Samaritan’s Purse Gift Catalog or World Relief’s Catalog of Hope. So on Christmas day, in that lull between gifts and lunch, we all get online and everyone spends their $15 (PS. You can do SO much for $15! Did you know you can feed a hungry baby for a WEEK for $9???). It’s a win-win for us because it gives us an activity to do and it’s crazy awesome to see the difference that our Christmas celebration makes for people in developing countries.

2. Make or Give an Operation Christmas Child Online Shoebox

If you aren’t familiar with Operation Christmas Child, I would strongly encourage you to check it out. You can now make and send a shoebox gift online for $35 or pay for a box and send it to someone else to let them fill it and send it. This would be a great way for a family to do something awesome together on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. Elementary aged kids would probably get especially excited to put this box together on the website (they can even upload a photo of themselves and write a note for the receiving child!). I also love this as a gift for families who don’t live near you.

3. Buy just ONE gift that makes a difference

I know it’s late for gifts, but just ONE gift that makes a difference can change someone’s life in a developing country. Here are couple of my favorites that are pretty mainstream so you don’t have to worry about shipping in time for Christmas:

FEED Bags. Fabulous bags (I use mine as a diaper bag!) that provide food, vitamins and other essentials for children in developing countries. You can find them at Whole Foods, Nordstrom, Gap and tons of other retailers.

TOMS (both the shoes and their new eyewear). Since they are super hip these days, they’re pretty easy to find! Here’s where you can find a retailer for their eyewear or a retailer for their footwear. They also offer gift cards!

West Elm has a whole line of products called Handmade in Haiti that are made by Haitian artisans attempting to rebuild their life after the earthquake. The products are RAD and support a great cause. Here’s where you can find the nearest store.

4. Send a Christmas card to your sponsor child (and if you don’t have one, get one!)

This idea started last year when Abreham, our sponsor child in Ethiopia,  sent us a Christmas card with a drawing of an Ethiopian Christmas tree and it looked nothing like ours. Joelle (my oldest) was intrigued, so we sent him a card with a drawing of OUR Christmas tree…and it has now become a tradition. It’s been a great way to get my kiddo involved in something meaningful that is also fun for her (even if she wouldn’t show her face for the photos)! If you don’t yet have a sponsor child, it’s really one of the best things that we’ve done and I would encourage you to find a child to sponsor. We go through Food for the Hungry because we got to see their amazing work first hand in Ethiopia a few years ago, but you could also go through Compassion International or several other great organizations.

Ok, so these things might not change the WHOLE world. I do realize that. But they will deeply effect the life of at least one person in need and at least one person close to you (you, your child, your family, your friends). Establishing globally minded traditions for your families will instill these values in your children and also give your friends and family a meaningful and interactive way to celebrate this Christmas. And who knows? Maybe you’ll inspire them to make a difference for someone else. The point is: Do what you can. Even if it’s a little thing, it can make a big difference to someone else.

I hope these things inspire you to find meaningful traditions that will work for YOUR family. Please let me know if you have any questions! And if you have any ideas to add to this list please share them with us in the comments!!! I hope you all have a very merry and blessed Christmas! Thanks for letting me be here!

Posted in Involve Your Kids, Practical Ways to Make an Impact, Shopping for a Cause

by Courtney Christenson

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