The Nannette Heron Foundation- Your Help Needed!

Ever since my mother passed away on September 11th, I've been wanting to set up a foundation and/or charity in her name. Not really knowing a lot about the appropriate laws and financial regulations, this is something that has been on the back burner, but never too far from my thoughts. I thought that I'd write up some of my thoughts on my idea and see what good advice I get on how I can move forward with this. I would like to at least get this kicked off with some phase running before September 11, 2011 (the 10th Anniversary of her death). What follows is very high level and I would certainly welcome help in filling the details.

Background

My mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. She underwent chemotheraphy and radiation treatment and even had a Mastectomy, but the cancer returned and spread. She died in her home in the Las Vegas area sometime between when the first and second planes struck the World Trade Center, so my mother's death will always be tied to September Eleventh. She was only 55 when she passed away.

What the Nannette Heron Foundation/Charity Will Strive to Do

Given the nature of her death, you can understand that I would like to raise money for cancer research and to be able to wipe out Breast cancer. But my mother was so much more that the cancer and that is why I wanted to also make the foundation/charity multi-faceted to reflect more of the person that she was and remains in my memory and in the memories of those that knew and loved her.

Cancer

Because my mother died of Cancer (and her mother as well), I'd like to see money raised for research, hospice care, and treatment. Giving donations to the Race for the Cure, American Cancer Society, and other possible Cancer organization. We had a very good experience with a hospice organization in the Las Vegas area and I believe that dealing with Cancer is hard enough for family and loved ones and would like to see more done to alleviate the pain and suffering that they go through as a result of dealing with terminal situations. Even when it isn't terminal, it still is a lot of stress and not easy to deal with.

Alzheimers

My mother was always fogetting where she put things and we found out that she had early Alzheimer's Disease. If the Cancer hadn't gotten her, is is likely that her memory would have further detteriorated. I'd like to see donations made for research, care, treatment of Alzeheimers

Nursing

My mother was a nurse and she loved working in the NICU (Neo-natial Intensive Care Unit), taking care of the babies that were born prematurely. She worked in several doctors offices and practices before she finally got her first nursing degree. She started studying to be a nurse at time in her life when most people already had established careers and most peple wouldn't dare to start another profession. Looking back this was really an extension fo what she had done much of her working life and was a lifelong goal. I'd like to see donations made for NICU research and care as well as a scholarship program for people studying nursing at the University of Michigan and Hurley Medical School (she received degrees from both institutions). I'd further like to see money applied for the betterment of nursing as a profession and for those working in nursing.

Orphanages & Foster Care

My mother loved kids and babies. You'd see her face just brighten up when she held a baby or when she was talking to little kids. She had a special talent or quality in this area. I'd like to see some money raised for orphanages and foster care, so that more kids can get a better start in life and have a family that loves them.

Animals

Anyone that knew my mother, knew what an animal lover she was. I just have to chuckle when I think of all the pets she talked my dad into having, when I know that he felt tied down with all the responsiblitly that goes along with taking care of a lot of pets. He always gave in because he loved her that much and she was so determined. I'd like to see some money raised to go to animal shelters and promoting the adoption of animals. I'd also like to see that money goes to ensuing the ethical treatment of animals.

How It Could Work

I can imagine having a website where people can make donations, primarily through Paypal and possibly credit cards. I'd like to see a Nobel Prise style endowment, so that the Foundation can continue long after I'm gone. Because I'm living in Germany, while much of my family lives in America, I see the need for some sort of international set-up. I'd like to make is possible for people to be able to give no matter where they are.

I want to keep administrative cost as low as possible. At the moment I'm not a rich man, nor do most of my family have a lot of money buring a hole in any of our pockets, so I'd like to set up something that gives as much bang for the buck as possible. I'm also raising my family and need to be able to have time for them and to earn a living substancial enough to be able to support them, so I want to keep the financial administration and time required as low as possible.

In talking to a fanancial advisor a few months ago, he suggested linking to other charities and foundations as a way of leveraging what they've already put into place and so that I didn't need to build everything from scratch. There are some charites that I respect and would like to work with them to help realize my dream of setting this up and making it successful. At the end of the day I want to raise money for causes that were close to my mom's heart and help to perserve her memory along the way.

Do you have any ideas on how I can pull this off or do you know of someone that I can get in contact with about this? Feel free to put your comments after the article or you can write me at systems.overload.timeATgooglemail.com.

Photo Credit: A glowing Nannette Heron with grandchildren, Caitlin, Jakob, and Dallas taken in 1999.

Social Media: The Big Lump of Clay

Every day you hear more and more about "Social Media". You hear more about what people and companies are doing with Social Media. A lof of the artilces and stories that you see and hear tend to focus on Twitter and Facebook, or how the use of this medium if growing. A recent search for "Social Media" at the American, British, and German versions of job search giant Monster revealed 50, 15, and 7 pages of jobs for those key words, this only goes to show that Social Media is starting to emerge, become more known and in demand. Almost without exception when I mention Social Media, I get a lot of blank faces or people will mention one or two famous Social Media sites, but to those of us that know anything about it how do you explain it to people with limited or no knowledge of it?


I originally wanted to call this article, "Social Media: The Clean Sheet of Paper And a Big Lump of Clay" but soon realized that the title was too long and ackward. Because I see how Social Media can be many things to many people, much like you create all kinds of things based on what you write or draw on a blank sheet of paper or you can mold a lump of clay into an endless possibility of things (artistic and otherwise), I liked the idea of referencing both of those objects. Another thing that I like about the clean sheet of paper and the lump of clay is that there is a certain amount of effort to make something out of either one, they don't just change into something. Upon further consideration I liked the term "amorphous" because Social Media is currently morphing into something yet to be fully comprehended or determined. According to Merrriam Webster.com, Amorphous is having no definate form (shapeless), being without definite character or nature (unclassifiable), lacking organization or unity, and having no real or apparent crystaline form. All of these things fit Social Media pretty well I believe.

Definition of Social Media?

So, do you have a good definition of "Social Media"? I would argue that you can come up with thousands, if not millions of definitions of what is it. What I think that we can agree on is that it is "social", meaning that it is meant to be shared between people and that "media" is a form of communication. In the last century we've tended to think of media as being broadcast (television and radio) and print (newspapers and magazines) and that is basis for what is sometimes called the old media. There are a limited number of "distributors" based on some barriers of entry (the largest being cost). As the web has developed and become more accepted, we find the explosion of more and more possibilities for user generated content with very little barriers of entry. There are tons of articles about how more and more people are getting their information from the internet from sources that didn't exist 20 years ago and the landscape of the "old media" is drastically changing. Social Media is allowing companies, organizations, and people to get their "message" out and it is allowing them to make all kinds of relationships and to communicate in ways that weren't possible even 10 years ago.

Social Media: More Than Facebook And Twitter

Occasionally I've heard people referring to Social Media by saying "Oh, we'll just do some Twittering" as if that is really how they think that Social Media should be used. If peoples' rush to join the party, they more often than not don't really think about what they want to accomplish or what Social Media can do. While Facebook and Twitter are very big in the whole Social Media landscape and some amazing things are happening with both, Social Media is so much more than either of them. A prerequisite to "doing" Social Media should be to think about what you want to do and where you want to go. If you know those things you can then start to think about how you can use Social Media to take you there. Social Media can drive what you're doing, if you give enough thought to how you want to use it.

The Sky Is Not The Limit

There is something exciting about a clean sheet of paper or a lump of clay that you can mold into what you want or where the possibilities are limitless and only limited by your imagination. I hate to use the cliche about "the sky is the limit" but even that is not truly a limit as man has built planes and rockets has gone into space! How do you define Social Media and what does it mean to you?


Articles That You Might Want to Read...

What is Social Media?

Follow Me on Twitter

Do you Want People To Follow You on Twitter?

Are You Doing Social Media?

Wikipedia entry on Social Media

Photo Credit: Dirty Hands courtesy of jzlomek

April Edition of The Family Life Blog Carnival

Welcome to the April 2010 edition of the Family Life Blog Carnival. This is the first edition of the Family Life Blog Carnival for 2010. We've decided to put the Better Life Blog Carnival on hold for a while so that we're hosting only the Family Life and Productivity And GTD Blog Carnivals (with the Holiday Spirit being published from around Thanksgiving through Christmas). We're very pleased with the number of submissions that we received for this edition. Thank you to everyone that submitted articles (those that were selected for this edition as well as those that weren't). We have a variety of topics in this edition, all with the intent of making your family life better. Even if you're a family of one or a couple of with no kids, you're likely to find something useful.

Relationships

Cat Erickson presents Are Men and Women Really From Different Planets? posted at World Redress.

Emma presents Grandparents… a helping hand or a real handful? posted at Baby-Log.

Dina-Marie Oswald presents Date Your Man: Part 2 « Dimes2Vines posted at Dimes2Vines, saying, "After 25 years of marriage and 10 children, my husband and I still love each other. Here are some of the things I do to let him know he is still my #1!"

Pets

Debbie Foster presents Dog Training Support That Works For Both You and Your Dog posted at Pet Prattle and Products.

Debbie Foster presents Pets and Seniors posted at Pet Prattle and Products.

Education & Learning

Anthony Stewart presents Top 50 Blogs for Accountants posted at Online Accounting Colleges.

Money & Saving

Debt kid presents 7 Ways to Motivate Yourself to Save When All You Want to Do Is Spend posted at DebtKid.

Debt kid presents 9 Rules To Get Out Of Debt posted at DebtKid.

Florine Church presents The Psychology of Spending Money: 25 Tricks You Need to Know posted at Career Overview.

Billeater.com presents How To Save Cash on Summer Camp posted at Billeater.

Fun Projects

RichardUP presents Make your own Wanted Poster for Family Fun posted at Online Poster Printing Blog.

Travel

Mia Taylor presents 100 Amazing Buildings Every Architecture Buff Should See posted at Construction Management Degrees, saying, "The buildings listed in the article are arranged chronologically by date of completion, stand as pillars of human artistic and engineering innovation and remain must-sees for anyone who enjoys studying, photographing, or simply soaking in the wonder that the greatest works of architecture inherently contain."

Other

Shakira Dawn presents 5 Excellent iPhone Apps for New Moms posted at Online RN to MSN Programs, saying, "Here is a list of five excellent iPhone apps for new moms that will surely help them lighten their workload, and bring a smile to their faces."

Isabella Smith presents Top 100 Online Tools for the DIY Homeowner posted at Construction Management Degrees, saying, "The following websites offer up some excellent tools and resources on everything from personal finances to improvement projects and even craft patterns for home décor in order to inspire and educate homeowners interested in doing as much as they can for themselves."

MyMaria presents weekly menu planning posted at Menu Planning, saying, "I've found that weekly menu planning is one of the best ways to save money and ensure a family meal every night."


We hope that you've enjoyed this edition the Family Life Blog Carnival. You can submit your blog article(s) to the next edition of the Family Life Blog Carnival using our carnival submission form. Links to past posts and the dates of future scheduled editions can be found on our blog carnival index page. starts. Don't forget about the other blog carnivals run here (The Carnival of Productivity And GTD, and coming around Thanksgiving, HolidaySpirit Blog Carnival), as well as the normal articles appearing here and our other blog.

Photo Credit: happy family courtesy of jayofboy.

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