I suppose it doesn’t have the same ring, but keep an open mind as you read down the page.

We are 2 days from kickoff!

The good news keeps filing in, the day’s events are taking shape and most importantly, the city is a buzz with Pay It Backward chirps (it’s chirps, right?).

But wait! There’s more!!

If you haven’t heard by now, we are giving away a handful of “Coffee Hero” cards for Wednesday’s events. Coffee Hero cards are probably my most favourite thing in the world right now. I’ve been begging the folks at Daily Challenge to let me have one, but to no avail. Instead, they’ve let me write a blog post about how 5 people (lucky fives!) can become the “Bee’s Knees” of PIB Day. Thanks.

A Coffee Hero card lets you walk into any Second Cup, this Wednesday, and buy coffee for everyone in sight!

I’m not kidding. This is why I love it - I’ve always wanted to blow the socks off of a bunch of strangers and make a scene while doing it. Now this is your chance. If you are the first - THE FIRST! - to do any one of the following things, we will send you a Coffee Hero card valid for Wednesday’s Pay It Backward day.  I can only hope you’ll record the scene you make… for my sake.  And your Coffee Heroes are….

1. The first person to: Tweet this post
2. The first person to: Snap a picture of our ad in today’s Metro and post to Flickr
3. The first person to: Put a PIB Badge on their website/blog
4. The first person to: Write a blog post about why they love PIB
5. The first person to: Create their own Pay It Backward Facebook Group for their friends to storm a Second Cup location together.

We’re also giving away two totally awesome Pay It Backward Day t-shirts - as seen above on our beautiful model, Samantha Holt. These two shirts go to the following Do-Gooders:

1. The first person to: recruit 2 new members to join www.dailychallenge.org
2. The first person to: to view and share this video with their networks (via Twitter, Facebook, blog, etc)

Ready? Go! (Just be sure to leave us a note in the comments once you’ve accomplished your tasks!)

Background music by U2 - “Mothers of the Disappeared”

“She was an angel…” - Tara McDonald, mother of Tori Stafford

“As a father of a young daughter, I know that everyone in this country has the family in their thoughts and prayers.”
- Prime Minister Stephen Harper, May 22, 2009

With such a tragic end to the abduction of Victoria (Tori) Stafford and six long weeks of  subsequent negative news coverage, I wanted to keep this as positive and empowering as possible under the circumstances  ~  to honour the memory of this beautiful child.

Those arrested on May 20, 2009 for this heinous crime are not even worthy of mention here, and their unconscionable depravity cannot tarnish the memory of this young, innocent soul we have lost at their hands. Despite the profound rage and an ocean of tears shed over this grave injustice, my hope is that we can CELEBRATE TORI’S LIFE rather than focusing on the sad circumstances of her death.

Click Here for the history and time line of the case (April 8th to May 20)

Who Was Tori Stafford? (Taken from news report by Patrick Maloney Sun Media)

“She loved animals of all kinds — cats, dogs, horses.  Her favourite colour was purple and she loved to sing and dance.  She often watched Barbie movies.

She liked school and also attended Sunday school, where days before her abduction she wrote on a heart-shaped piece of paper about the importance of loving your enemies.

Though a bit afraid of the dark, she was a feisty kid.  Artsy and creative but also a tomboy, Tori was a study in contrasts, a kid still figuring out who she was and would become.

Her hand-written “resalushon” list for 2009 included getting A’s, or at least B’s, in school.

By all accounts, Tori was a happy, healthy, typical, normal, well adjusted and loved little girl. What happened to her is every parent’s worst nightmare. We must educate and “street proof” our children to recognize red flags, without making them overly fearful or suspicious of everyone. Tori’s parents did this with both of their kids, but it is not 100% foolproof. Children don’t yet have the life experience and “radar” against false appearances. Unfortunately, evil can disguise itself, to break through that shield, unless we keep street proofing our kids on a regular basis. Tori could have been anyone’s child.

On Easter Sunday, more than a thousand people rallied to hold a candlelight vigil in Woodstock for one of their own. They wore purple ribbon badges, and released dozens of purple balloons - Tori’s favourite colour ~ carrying their love, hope and prayers.

Bad things are not supposed to happen to innocent children in our schools where they should always be safe. Perhaps we need to have a “buddy system” in place at all times. The flag at Tori’s school continues to fly at half-mast, while her classmates are given ongoing grief counseling to help cope with the devastating loss of their friend.

Sympathy cards, lit candles, stuffed animals and other memorials from the community have appeared outside Tori’s home to help heal the sorrow of the family, as well as their own. She was such a bright light in so many lives. One of Tori’s neighbours ~ Emma’s mother ~ has set up a small table on her lawn, with stuffed animals placed in the little chairs, commemorating the many tea parties Tori loved to share with her best friends Emma Baker and Angel Murray.

Tori was last seen wearing a black ‘Hannah Montana’ jacket with a white fur-lined hood, green sweater with pink lettering, black  skirt, black leotards and black shoes ~ popular fashion that any little girl in grade 3 might wear.  When they are found ~ then tagged as evidence ~ we hope it speaks volumes in court on her behalf to convict the accused.

There is an online petition to the Canadian government for changes to the criminal code,  amber alert criteria, as well as increasing the penalties for the abduction, interference or murder of a child.

http://www.petitiononline.com/vict888/petition.html

In remembering Tori, the full scope of our emotions cannot be measured. No amount of rational thought or explanation could ever justify what took place that fateful day.  May it never happen again. The sad reality is that it could.  Collectively, we can channel this energy to do more to save other children ~ by staying vigilant about any and all predators around our communities, reporting suspicious behaviour, supporting the efforts of police against pornographic images on line, communicating better with our children, actively monitoring their use of technology, their friends, safeguarding their activities,  speaking up for all children against neglect and abuse, never forgetting those who have been taken from us, advocating for change in our criminal laws to better protect the innocent while severely punishing the offenders. Our children are the most precious legacy we have ~ and they deserve no less.

Tori was only eight years old.
This July 15th, 2009 would have been her ninth birthday.
Rest in Peace, Sweet Angel.

Who doesn’t love to hear celebrities doing good? They exemplify success, the holy grail of western society, and inevitably become idolized by many people (especially kids). They have an enormous power of influence and can benefit humanity greatly, if they choose. So we love to hear when celebrities do good because when they lead by example, they become positive role models for us all!

Here are our picks for the 6 Most Socially-Conscious Celebrities and why:

Barack Obama, President of the United States of America and all-around great guy. Mr. Obama is #1 on this list for a reason: for walking his talk and passing a huge stimulus plan that promises job creation and focuses on health-care, energy and education.

Sting, music entertainer & activist. We don’t have to tell you why he made this list, but we love him even more for headlining on May 21st, One Night Live in Toronto, the benefit concert for the Women & Babies program at Sunnybrook Hospital. Continue Reading

Daily Challenge Do Gooders aren’t the only ones spreading cheer and kindness around the world. Improv in Toronto is a group of individuals who aim to make people feel good through laughter. Being crazy is their forte!

February 21st marks their 2nd annual Subway Dance Party and everyone is invited. Do you have a little crazy in you? Here is a 6 minute clip of last year’s Subway Dance Party to see if it’s something that you might like to try:

Using social media for social change has become a trend we hope never ends! Twestival is the latest fund-raising event leveraging the power of social networking as a means to Do Good. On Thursday, February 12th, people in over 175 cities who use the popular micro-blogging site, Twitter, will gather to raise money for charity: water.

“We’re thrilled that the Twitter community around the world is coming together to bring clean, safe drinking water to those in need by raising funds and awareness with an event on the scale of Twestival,”  says charity:water. “This is an amazing opportunity to bring the cause and its message to a global community.”

Organized by and for Twitter users, Twestival is an off-line charity event that looks to “Tweet. Meet. Give”. Major cities, including London, Paris, New York, San Francisco, Vancouver, Edinburgh, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Beijing, Sydney, Melbourne and Lima are signed up and ready to go. At the time of this writing, Toronto Twestival 2009 is just one city out of more than 175 cities participating.

Continue Reading

For many of us, high school was hell. Between out-of-control hormones, trying to fit in while developing a unique personality, family issues, bullies, dating, getting good grades… well, life certainly isn’t simple when you’re a teenager. But Challenge Day is a program designed to make it easier on kids by giving them a lifeline. Incredibly, it helps transform enemies into allies!

Check out this highly emotional 15 minute clip from the Emmy Award winning documentary, “Teen Files: Surviving High School” highlighting a typical Challenge Day Program:

Teen Files 15 Minute Preview from Rodrigo Torres on Vimeo.

Tell us your thoughts about the video and the Challenge Day Program in the comment section below.

`Going green’ is usually associated with `being expensive’. Not any longer. Our fellow Do Gooders & friends at Broadplay Inc. have developed an ingenious, environmentally-friendly and über convenient business product: the mobile business card.

No more paper waste or costly printing, easily updated and available anytime or anywhere, BusinessCardByText (www.businesscardbytext.com) is the easiest way a company can improve their corporate social responsibility (CSR). And if you’ve ever had a business, you’ll understand instantly what an opportunity this offers:

• Text is becoming even more popular than talking on the phone!
• Who wants to clutter their desk with a Rolodex or piles of card holders?
• Continue Reading
  

Is your profile pic distorted? Are you worried other Do Gooders may decline your friend request because you look a little twisted? No worries. There’s a very easy solution that will take all of 30 seconds to complete!

Here are step-by-step instructions:

1. Log in to Daily Challenge and select “My Profile” tab.
2. Select the “edit” button to the right of your name.
3. If you want to adjust your current photo, just click on the “Use our crop tool” link.
4. A separate window will pop up. At the bottom, you will see your original pic and a square with serrated edges smack-dab in the middle of it. That’s the crop tool.
5. Hold the left button on your mouse and move the crop tool anywhere over your pic. At the top, you will see the preview of your new profile pic.
6. Once you’ve chosen your preferred cropped portion, click on the “save” button under your original pic.
7. Click “close” to return to your profile.

We hope you and your new profile pic are able to cruise around www.DailyChallenge.org stress-free. Enjoy making Do Gooder friends!

Do you hear that? It’s the sound of Do Gooders around the world uniting to Do One Good, Daily! Every week, dozens of socially conscious people have been joining Daily Challenge. Welcome. Some of you have signed up because a friend sent you (thank you for spreading the word, Do Gooders!), while others joined after hearing about Daily Challenge on the radio.

Well, for all you Do Gooders who missed our President, Darius Bashar, speaking to several radio show hosts about Daily Challenge, here they are for your audio pleasure:

The Ben Mercer Show on CFRB

Holder Tonight on CFRB

Fresh Air on CBC

Did you find Daily Challenge through one of these programs? Either way, we’d love to hear how you found Daily Challenge; please tell us in the comment section below!

We’re very excited to announce that Daily Challenge was featured on the homepage of www.csrwire.com. That was yesterday, Monday January 19, so if you click on the link today, you’ll find their new `pick’ is the new President of the United States of America, Barack Obama. Good thing we took a screen shot to prove it!

The Corporate Social Responsibility Newswire is “the leading source of corporate social responsibility and sustainability news, reports and information.” They are on our side, taking an interest in making the world a better place in their own way, through communicating how companies and agencies are doing good.

They define CSR as: “the integration of business operations and values, whereby the interests of all stakeholders including investors, customers, employees, the community and the environment are reflected in the company’s policies and actions.”

Daily Challenge is extremely proud to be a CSRwire.com pick of the day - especially when succeeded by President Obama! What an honour!