(todo un detalle el “chino” al final del video…

¡No importa dónde vivas, VOTA!

Here’s a snippet of the wisdom this team had to offer at the conference today:

1) Starting a nonprofit is not for everyone, but it is one of the most rewarding things you may find yourself doing in your life. Setting a 501(c)(3) (or an equivalent tax exempt organization in the case of other countries) takes up a significant effort. It’s not only about offering your services: it includes staying compliant in a number of fronts once you file for tax exempt status and once you are approved as a 501(c)(3) (sometimes also referred to as, once you receive your “determination letter”). This is something many people are not as fully aware of going into this world. Being able to keep your doors open involves making sure you do things right (compliance) and you get the necessary funding in the door to be a sustainable (fundraising).

2) Would I do this again? I have no doubt about it… but I would also consider avenues such as Fiscal Sponsorships to help alleviate some of the initial burden. Some groups doing amazing social work have remained as a fiscally sponsored project for their entire lives. Some outgrow this stage and spin off into their own 501(c)(3). I have written about fiscal sponsorship before in this post.

3) Partnering and working with others as a way to help: before embarking on doing your own thing, I highly recommend looking at what others are doing. There is an excellent chance that someone out there is already offering such a service or working on doing so. As commendable as it is to take matters in your own hands, it may help even more people if you consider supporting the work someone else is doing… you would be surprised how much help others need and how much you can multiply your impact by partnering. It’s FAR more than the power of 2!

And… while you are reading this, I guess it doesn’t hurt for me to ask you to support our work at the Diabetes Hands Foundation, as we celebrate five years of TuDiabetes.

In March of 2008, we started TuDiabetes because we saw that too many people with diabetes were feeling isolated instead of benefiting from the shared experience they could have by connecting to other people touched by diabetes.

Today, Diabetes Hands Foundation‘s networks allow members to find support locally and globally. Our more than 23,000 members describe the TuDiabetes family as a lifeline, a source of guidance, a sanctuary, and even a college education! We proudly connect advocates, artists, dreamers, thinkers, and people touched by diabetes of all types so that all of us may live a more expansive life with diabetes.

I sit back and reflect on where we were five years ago and where we are now:

- I have learned to stay flexible, both about my diabetes (not pretending to be perfect) and in the way we do things on TuDiabetes and the Diabetes Hands Foundation (adapting to changing circumstances, challenges, and signals along the way).

- I am more hopeful than ever: I have had the opportunity to talk with (and share the conversations on video) with some of the world’s most brilliant minds working to make our lives better and one day have diabetes be a thing of the past.

- I have witnessed the power of social media beyond socializing: seeing how connected people touched by diabetes now feel better understood and more empowered. Who would have imagined this when MySpace was the big thing?

On our fifth birthday, please help us keep going strong in our mission to improve the lives of people living with diabetes worldwide.

If all members of TuDiabetes donate $5, we will raise more than $100,000. Our goal is less ambitious: we are seeking to raise $20,000 before the end of March. So we ask you to give us 5 dollars, or more if you can.

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Thank you for your support! And here’s to another 5 years!

]]> http://askmanny.com/2012/03/its-the-birthday-of-tudiabetes/feed/ 1 http://askmanny.com/2012/03/alzheimers-complaints-of-a-dutiful-son/ http://askmanny.com/2012/03/alzheimers-complaints-of-a-dutiful-son/#comments Sun, 25 Mar 2012 00:01:45 +0000 askmanny http://askmanny.com/?p=4048 Continue reading →]]> I have been struggling for a little over a year now… well, I may have been struggling for longer than that, but the past 16 or so months have been a particularly uphill struggle. My mom is now 82 (she would kill me if she knew I was sharing her age online… again!).

In late 2010, she moved to the Bay Area, where I live with my family. Since then, we started noticing clear signs that her memory wasn’t completely working the way it used to. When you consider this was someone who had a memory that I almost wished she didn’t have at some points (if you know what I mean), this was a major change for me as her only child.

In 2011, things got to a point where a change was clearly needed: her memory lapses got too scary and potentially dangerous to her and to others. She stopped driving and eventually, we found her a great independent living residence within 20 minutes from us and got her an amazing geriatrics doctor, Dr. Ann Chodos. Since then, her memory hasn’t gotten better but we have learned little bits here and there of how to cope with it.

The excerpt of the documentary Complaints of a Dutiful Daughter below gives some hints of things you can do as a child of a person experiencing clear signs of dementia and/or Alzheimer’s.

Besides this excerpt, you cannot find any more of the movie available online for streaming. Also unfortunately, the documentary can only be ordered here.

For the full infographic, click on the image or visit:
http://www.e-benchmarksstudy.com/reports/eBenchmarks2012Info.pdf

While the 2012 report is unveiled at the coming NTC 2012 conference in San Francisco, read the 2011 report at:
http://www.e-benchmarksstudy.com/

They call themselves the iGenesis Project:

The iGenesis Project believes that in an age of ubiquitous broadband and affordable high-quality recording equipment, there is no need for geography to limit the ability of musicians to work together.

Here they are covering “One For The Vine” from the band’s last album with Steve Hackett:

So I started doing two things:
1) I started going to Kuk Sool Won classes twice per week. This is a Korean martial arts system founded in 1958. The video below shows Master Tom Brewer, our instructor and owner of the Berkeley school we’re going to.

2) I started logging all my meals using a very convenient app called MyFitnessPal. Think of it as WeightWatchers (the app) without the points, focused on calories. For people with diabetes like myself, it also doubles nicely as a carb counting tool. One of the biggest benefits I have found it to have is that you can scan the barcode on nearly ANYTHING you can find in order to save yourself some data entry: only one food item I have scanned in nearly one month has failed to appear on their database.

So far, in 20 days of logging all meals in MyFitnessPal and about 10 classes, I have managed to lose just over 6 pounds. The goal is to lose another 20 in the next few months. I will keep you posted…