My friends and I were nattering nineteen to the dozen over supper, catching up on news and gossip when Charlotte suddenly turned to me and said, poker face “I’ve a new man in my life.” I looked questioningly at her, surprised, and then across at Don, leaning back in his chair thoughtfully twirling a glass of wine.  “Yes. I hardly see her anymore” he confirmed.

“Ah” I replied a little cautiously “Go on then. Tell me. Who is he?” I looked encouragingly at Charlotte

“Oh he’s amazing. Someone very special…I’d love you to meet him. Oh dear, but I don’t think you’ll have the time. I’ll be busy too. Oh!” She agitatedly looped up a stray strand of hair “So silly. I’m doing flowers for Carla’s party tomorrow, so ‘fraid I can’t take you. But you would…you’d love him. You’d be quite smitten. Maybe…”She tailed off

“Charlotte! Who is he? The suspense is killing!”

“Paula! Paula, Paula, Paula…” she screwed her eyes up, tight

“Yes, yes. Go on.”

“He’s eighty-five. Sooo, so, sooo wonderful!” she paused, lost in thought “The things he knows…about farming, thatching and cleaving chestnut. You should see it. The cottage, his workshop – oh, his workshop! I saw it by mistake…the tools – like a museum collection. His garden, full of dahlias, kept as it was by Betty. It mustn’t be lost. His skills, his talent and knowledge, I mean. He might be the last. Certainly around here…I couldn’t bear that.” With a worried frown she looks across at me, then smiles.  “He lives down on the marsh. He did a huge amount of work with Christopher Lloyd…you know? Great Dixter?  You must meet him. Go tomorrow. I’ll give him a ring. Introduce you on the phone. Maybe you’ll be able to do something.”

“Yes please. How exciting. Oh, but I was going to plant bulbs on Morna’s grave. No…it’ll be fine. I’ve time to do everything. After all that’s what I’m here for. Remembering, feeling, finding. I’d really love to meet him. Seize the opportunity.” I give her a squeeze “And lord knows when I’ll next be up here!”

The next morning introductions are made over the phone. A time arranged “One o’clock” I’m told, as they still have dinner at mid-day “Just as we always have”. Don and I poured over the map find the farm “Look at the church in Ruckinge. It’s exquisite, 12^th century.”

The day was picture perfect.  Cold with clear blue skies and far horizons splashed with autumn colour.  The drive down to Romney Marsh was alive with memories I didn’t know I had. Distant stirrings of my first visit to England; never-before-seen snow , rose gardens, my grandparents, damp wool, soft leather and pipe tobacco. My parents  - young and laughing.  Tea with a great-aunt, polished oak panelling, shortbread and rich fruit cake…

Passing the simple, yet quite beautiful church at Ruckinge I turned down onto the Marsh and before long was knocking on the door of Deryk’s farmhouse.

I spent an afternoon that I hope will live forever in my memory. We walked across the open landscape of the Marsh and as Deryk pointed out the cast-up field systems cultivated in Romans times we discussed the virtues of farming ancient and modern. The Romney or ‘Kent’ sheep and red Sussex cattle used to graze the acres of his farm – now no longer pure bred the sheep are crossed with Charolais and the Sussex with Aberdeen Angus. I point out the mile-upon-mile of cleft chestnut fencing and intricate sheep handling pens…Deryk, it transpires, made them all. In Deryk’s youth cattle from hop farms used to graze the marsh during summer months…returning home in winter to be housed in yards; the muck they produced was valuable and much-needed for the hop gardens.

cleft oak teaching thatching frame

We cross back over to his farmyard where he shows me his chestnut wood store, his threshing machine, his thatching frames used for teaching apprentices, and yes, even his workshop! Twenty five years ago Deryk handed the farm over to his sons and took up long straw thatching, a very different method to our West Country thatch.  Around the yard I notice all the bullock handling systems, gates and crushes are made from sturdy cleft chestnut…I’m amazed, thrilled (I hate the feel of metal) and, Deryk assures me, they are strong and safe, never causing injury to an animal or handler. We continue, talking no stop. Crossing into his garden, we pass beautifully laid out vegetable beds lined with dahlias and walk along cinder paths past an ancient orchard still used to produce cider.  Turning a corner, I was stunned by the sight of a perfect tiny cottage.

Deryk's tiny timber framed and thatched cottage with tiny cottage garden

“Ah, yes” says Deryk modestly but with a twinkle in his eye “I wanted to see if I could build a framed building as they used to. Completely out of cleft and pegged oak …thatched. So I decided to make it for my grandchildren.” I’ve never wanted to return to my childhood more than at that moment…and to be one of Deryk’s descendents! Inside was just as enchanting…a kitchen, a sitting room, dining room and an upstairs with two wee bedrooms! All the furniture Deryk had made out of the elm from the farm.

Deryk in front of the cottage he built

Back in the kitchen eating a tea of Deryk’s homemade bread (with wheat from the thatching straw) spread thickly with comb honey (from a bee’s nest in the chimney!), yellow rock buns and raspberry jam turnovers I’m replete in every way. Cradling my cup of hot milky tea I turn to Deryk “Thank you. Thank you so much for having me here. I can’t tell you how privileged I feel to have met you. I just wish I could have met Betty too.” (Betty is Deryk’s much missed wife who died very suddenly eight years ago) “If ever you have an urge to come to the Westcountry, well…I’d be honoured if you’d visit us.”

cleft chestnut bullock gates

I left with the sun was sinking beneath the marsh, leaving a silhouette of gnarled trees filigreed against the skyline.  As I nibbled on a walnut from the farm’s ancient orchard, I knew, with certainty, I would return.

setting sun

We look forward to hearing Anita Zobens, of Cotton Mill Threadworks speak to us about threads on Nov 26, 2009.

Also, take this opportunity to ask questions about your quilting problems. It could be a simple thread or needle problem and Anita is just the one to advise.

Be sure to arrive before 7:30 so you can sign in and be seated before Anita is scheduled to begin.

Threads will be available for purchase.

We are nowadays, more frequently hearing stories of disciplinary or other action being taken on individuals, or groups of individuals, by their employers because of comments or content posted on one of the many popular social media websites in use.

There was a story a few weeks ago about a young woman who was asked to leave her employment after posting derogatory comments about her boss onto the FaceBook site, forgetting that she had previously added him as a friend, meaning he would be able to see everything she had written. Then just this weeks, reports of a woman in Canada losing her sick-pay, being paid for depression, because she posted pictures of herself on the internet, again on FaceBook, looking happy. Her medical insurance company came to the conclusion that from looking at these pictures, she was no longer depressed. In a world where more and more people are fully aware of the technology available, and how we use it, it’s not very surprising that more and more people are being subjected to online vetting. It’s well known that when applying for a lot of jobs, HR departments will often perform an internet search to see just who you really are, delving into FaceBook, MySpace, and anywhere else you may have an online presence. These are both real world examples of just what an impact social networking can have on our professional identities.

I think there is another matter though, and it is all to do with workplace productivity. It’s something that I have thought about a couple of times before, but today witnessed something which really got the message across to me. I have been sat in a meeting room in a project planning brief. The room had about 40 people contained within it, all sat in groups of 2, 3, or 4 discussing different aspects of an upcoming project. The chance to have influential people from IT, people from Marketing, people from HR, all in the same room, on the same day has been a wonderful chance to really make some decent progress. However, every time I glanced up across the room, almost every screen I could see either had FaceBook, Twitter, YouTube, or another social networking site open. If we take it that there were 40 people in the room for 6 hours each, that’s a total of 240 total man hours. I would love to know just how many of these hours were spent off task, rather than devoted to work. I myself found it so strange, that I immediately opened up Twitter and began to give a running commentary of the events as they unfolded – from the cleaner bursting in, to the lunchtime menu.

At a first glance, this would seem like a very unprofessional attitude and using such sites during company time could even be considered time theft. However, I find myself much more productive if I can send off the odd tweet, or update my FaceBook status. Now I’m not saying I agree with people who sit all day on these sites – but it was a strange experience watching a room of professional people, working hard and making good progress, at the same time as being in contact with colleagues, friends, and family, all over the world. Technology is a wonderful thing, but we should be careful to prevent it from consuming our time.

Yes, yes, I know, I have a crush on Mr. Schiff. But seriously – have you ever heard a politician manage to get through 30 minutes of questioning without

• Avoiding the subject
• Lying
• Changing the context
• Trying to outsmart his constituents
• Trying to suck up to the crowd

Admittedly, he dropped the ball on cap’n'trade for a fwe minutes. It could be because he didn’t hear the question. Anyways, here are some of the goodies :

Sadly, the people “speaking out in defense of pit bulls” did nothing to lessen the pit bull and pit bull owner stereotype; the residents were a group of breeders, and their dogs were featured on the news wearing spiked collars, being restrained on thick logging chains. A comment from below the news story reads: “I hear all these people tell how safe their pit bulls are, and then see that one’s using a heavy chain for a leash! Give me a break!!”

Previous alert for Genesee County: http://stopbsl.com/2009/11/09/2488/

Although the Flint City Council president does not expect a pit bull ban to be proposed, that doesn’t mean some other type of BSL isn’t a possibility.

Next city council meetings: November 23 and December 14

Contact info for Flint City Council:

City Council Office, Rm 310 City Hall, Flint, MI  48502
810-766-7418
Fax: (810) 766-7032

Delrico J. Loyd – 1st Ward
President
810-766-7418 ext. 3160
dloyd@cityofflint.com

Jackie Foster Poplar – 2nd Ward
810-766-7418 ext. 3162 

Bryant W. Nolden – 3rd Ward
810-766-7418 ext. 3159

Joshua M. Freeman – 4th Ward
810-766-7418 ext. 3161

Bernard Lawler – 5th Ward
810-766-7418 ext. 3164

Sheldon Neeley- 6th Ward
810-766-7418 ext. 3165
sneeley@cityofflint.com 

Dale K. Weighill – 7th Ward
810-766-7418 ext. 3163

Michael J. Sarginson – 8th Ward
810-766-7418 ext. 3167

Scott Kincaid – 9th Ward
810-766-7418

http://www.uppermichiganssource.com/news/story.aspx?id=380765

Pit bull debate continues as communities deal with dangerous dogs

Sunday, November 22, 2009 at 7:09 p.m.

A group of Genesee County residents is speaking out in defense of pit bulls.

They want to make sure this area doesn’t follow the lead of other communities across the state, and ban the breed.

Flint City Council President Delrico Loyd says there has been casual talk among city leaders about what to do about dangerous dogs, but he doesn’t expect a ban on any specific breeds.

For the full story, click on the video icon above.

I am so excited to tell you about my amazing Saturday – I had the privilege of spending the day with some Advocates including Trevor Dick. We had a great time learning about opportunities, networking and being challenged. My heart was ministered to in such a beautiful way as Trevor shared his story and his God-given musical talent. Trevor’s challenge was to pray for God to open the eyes of our hearts, to find our God-given gift and to use it to honour Him! He has more in store for us that we can possibly imagine. Jeremiah 29:11 says, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

If you haven’t had the opportunity to see Trevor perform – I highly encourage you to find a date in your area and go. He is gearing up for the 2009 Glory & Peace Christmas Tour which will see him in London, Guelph, Port Perry, Burlington, Belleville, Parry Sound, Sudbury, Ottawa and Kitchener. For specific date information visit – flyingbow.com. You won’t be disappointed.

To find out how Trevor may be able to perform in your church through our Advocate Church Engagement program, talk to your Advocate Representative.

ผ่านไปแล้วสำหรับ งานพบปะกันของพวกเรา รุ่นที่ 25 ถาปัด ศิลปากร  เมื่อวันศุกร์ที่ 20 พย. 2552  งานนีมีจุดเริ่มต้น จากเมลล์ที่ได้รับจากอ้น กำหนดวันและสถานที่ไว้ ที่ร้าน Waterside Resort & Restaurant ย่านถนน เอกมัย รามอินทรา  แล้วพวกเราก็ช่วยกัน ตามคนอื่นๆที่อาจตกสำรวจ หรือยังไม่มีคำตอบ จนรู้สึกว่าคึกคักว่าทุกครั้ง

มาถึงเวลานัด  ผมไปถึงประมาณ ทุ่มเศษ พวกเราส่วนหนึ่งที่ไปถึงก่อนหน้าแล้ว คือ อ้น จ๊อบ หยด ย่า  จากนั้น ก็ทยอยกันมา เรื่อย โดยก๊วก มาเป็นคนสุดท้าย  ประมาณ สองทุ่ม  สรุปว่าเพื่อนๆที่มากัน มีรายนามดังนี้ครับ

อ้น อ้า อ้วน อู้ ย่า หยด จ๊อบ ติ๊ก ป๋าย  เจ๋ง  เคี้ยง  โข่ง  ปอง+อองตวน รวมเป็น 13+1

บรรยากาศ ครึกครื้นมากกกกก เพราะไม่ใช่แค่ว่า โต๊ะเราอยู่ข้างเวทีเท่านั้น แต่วันนั้นน่าจะเป็นวันดี เพราะลูกค้าในร้าน นัดกันเกิด ที่เรารู้ก็เพราะว่า จะมีกองทัพกลองฉิ่งฉาบ ตระเวณไปร้องเพลงวันเกิด กันทั่วทั้งร้านโต๊ะโน้นที โต๊ะนี้ที  แล้วพวกเราก็ต้องแข่งกันตะเบงคอเหี่ยวๆแก่ๆของเราคุยแข่งกับเสียงกลอง เป็นระยะๆ

วันนั้น เรื่องที่คุยกันเท่าที่จับความได้ ก็ประมาณว่า ลูกใครเรียนที่ไหน หรือจะเข้ามหาลัยไหนสาขาไหน  อ้าบอกว่าลูกสองคนเรียนถาปัด จุฬาทั้งคู่  ย่าบอกว่าลูกจะเรียนหมอ  ลูกอ้นกำลังคิดว่าจะเรียนถาปัดที่ไหนดี

เรื่องต่อมาก็คงเป็นเรื่องที่เพื่อนคนดังของเรา คุณอาจารย์ เชี่ยว ชอบช่วย แห่ง บ้านไม่บาน ไปเป็นพรีเซ็นเตอร์ โฆษณา คอนโดเมืองทอง กับสีทาบ้าน เพื่อนๆอยากเจอ โดยเฉพาะ อ้าที่แจ้งไว้ก่อนแล้วว่าอยากคุยด้วยมาก  แต่อาจารย์เชี่ยว ชอบช่วย ไม่มา พวกเราก็ได้แต่ กล่าวขวัญกันตามสมควร

เรื่องถัดมาก็เป็นเรื่องที่ ปองคุยให้ฟังเกี่ยวกับการทำงานด้านอนุรักษ์ ให้สมาคมสถาปนิกสยาม และยังได้ชวน ก๊วกไปช่วย งานสมาคมในหลายเรื่อง เท่าที่จำได้ก็มีเรื่องกำลังจัดทำ ระบบฐานข้อมูลวัสดุก่อสร้าง เรื่องการประสานงานกับหน่วยราชการต่างๆ และรวมทั้งสถาบันการศึกษาด้านสถาปัตย์อีกหลายๆแห่ง  เลยรู้ว่าก๊วกได้มีโอกาสเจอรุ่นพี่ รุ่นน้องและเพื่อนๆเรา หลายๆคนอยู่บ่อยๆ จากการทำงานในฐานะต่างๆ

อีกเรื่องที่คุยกันคือ ความคิดที่ว่าพวกเราน่าจะได้ มีโอกาสเจอกัน ในบรรยากาศอื่นๆ นอกจากการมาเจอกันแล้วนั่งดื่ม  วันก่อน เคยได้ส่งอีเมลล์มาฝากเรื่องนี้ไว้ด้วยว่า เราน่าจะหากิจกรรมที่ได้ใช้ความรู้ของเราไปทำประโยชน์กับคนอื่นๆบ้าง  เรื่องนี้คงต้องคุยกันต่อๆไป

วันนั้นตอนหลังก็ค่อยๆทยอยแยกย้ายกันไป จนกลุ่มสุดท้ายประมาณ เที่ยงคืนเศษ ก่อนกลับได้กะประมาณว่า อาจเจอกันสักต้นปีหน้า  ฝากเพื่อนๆช่วยกันคิดด้วยว่า จะเจอกันแบบไหน จะนั่งทานกันแบบนี้ หรือมีไอเดียอื่นๆที่แตกต่างออกไป ลองเสนอกันดูครับ

สุดท้ายครับ วันนั้นได้เก็บเงินเพิ่มอีก คนละ 500บาท สรุปตอนนี้หลังจากหักค่าอาหารมื้อนั้นแล้ว เรายังคงมีเงินเหลืออยู่  7570 บาท

Our recent guest from IPPBM, Putrajaya holding a program at our resort.

For generations, most people never sought specialized knowledge after completing school. What they learned about business, managing, selling, or their profession was acquired on an accidental hit-or-miss basis.

Now that’s changed. Today there are seminars, workshops, short courses, and conferences where you can learn the latest techniques and knowledge about anything you need to know. These sources of specialized knowledge have three advantages over conventional education. They are taught by experts, not be people whose only qualification is a degree. Second, the subject matter relates directly to your needs. Irrelevant information is avoided. And third, you’ll acquire as much useful information from other attendees as you do from the instructors. Specialized learning meetings attract only sharp people eager to make more money and enjoy greater success.

My Consultancy–Asif J. Mir - Management Consultant–transforms organizations where people have the freedom to be creative, a place that brings out the best in everybody–an open, fair place where people have a sense that what they do matters. For details please visit www.asifjmir.com, and my Lectures.

I just like the video

Brittney Lane Don\’t Care – Meeting of Important People

Wer ein Meeting durchführt, sollte die Ergebnisse der Sitzung festhalten und zwar schriftlich. So ein Ergebnisprotokoll hat eine klar definierte Form. Es hat folgenden Aufbau: Wer macht was und bis wann!

Diese drei W (wer, was, wann) – mehr braucht es nicht. Die Vorteile liegen auf der Hand: Jeder weiß, was er zu machen und wann das Ergebnis vorzuliegen hat. Ausreden gibt es keine. Außerdem gibt es keine Missverständnisse nach der Art: Ach, ich dachte du kümmerst dich darum.

Zu Beginn des nächsten Meetings wird dann das Ergebnisprotokoll der jüngsten Sitzung vorgelegt und verglichen: Was ist erledigt, was steht aus und warum. Zudem motiviert es die Meetingteilnehmer, wenn sie einen Punkt im Ergebnisprotokoll abgearbeitet haben.

Probieren sie es aus – es lohnt sich.

My name is Tracy and I am an event planner with food allergies. This means I can eat virtually none of the food served at the million dollar events I plan and attend. This is my story.

At the age of 30, I began experiencing menopausal symptoms – severe mood swings, lethargy and depression as well as sinus and breathing problems. These symptoms impacted my relationships and quality of life. I visited numerous doctors who found nothing wrong. After four years, I finally found an ENT who located the source of my illness – food allergies. The diagnosis was simple, and one I could manage through a careful diet.

After going on a yeast-free diet, which meant eliminating yeast, sugar, vinegar, dairy, fruit, white flour and processed foods, I not only lost 25 lbs., my illnesses went away. I felt better than I had in years.

Despite changing how I ate at home, I soon found that managing my diet was nearly impossible when traveling for the events I planned. From airports to hotels, restaurants, caterers and event facilities, there is a prevalence and reliance on processed foods. In fact, there are very few companies within the hospitality industry that know how to or want to accommodate people with dietary restrictions, including five-star resorts where many of my events are held. That includes restrictions due to personal or religious beliefs, as well as medical conditions like diabetes, celiac disease or food allergies.

In January 2009, I entered the Institute for Integrative Nutrition. I read about this professional training program in a national women’s health magazine and thought it would be a great resource for my own wellbeing and diet management.

What I learned is that my dietary needs are not unique.

There are 11 million people in the US with food allergies, 23.6 million Americans living with diabetes and millions more fighting celiac disease, obesity and heart disease. In fact, food related disease is the #1 preventable disease in America.

As I studied the connection between food and health, I was inspired to create my company, Xpialidocious with the mission of “Making the World Healthier One Event at a Time.”

I want to do everything I can to ensure individuals who have dietary restrictions and attend events can enjoy delicious meals without difficulty. I want to improve the health of my communities through education, training and partnerships with chefs, event planners, caterers, convention facilites and hotels. And, to serve the communities in which I work, I also want to partner with local farmers, food coops and CSAs to ensure the hospitality industry provides the best local, fresh food available.

By helping others host and plan healthier gatherings, I aim to create a more sustainable world.

Talk to you soon!

Tracy

I am currently reading “Twelve Quakers and Faith”. I like it and want to read more in the series.

Apparently it is Pamphlet 8, makes it sound like some arcane government document from the 1950’s.  Pamphlet is good, pamphlet means short, it is only 36 pages long.  This means it was cheap (£2.50 plus £1 postatage from the Quaker bookshop) and it is easy to read if you have kids running around.

Having said it is short and easy to read is perhaps doing it a disservice. Many of the ideas take time to digest and I rather think the point is to read and consider each point of view rather than race to the end like an express train.

I read it in a oner and raced to the end like an express train. Oh well.

When reading about other peoples personal experiences, I find I am always comparing them to mine, do I agree with their views? Is their world viewpoint the same as mine?  Do they use language I like or does it turn me off? I’m not necessarily sure this is a good thing, but it is what I do.

Personally I find too much mention of God, Jesus and long quotes from the bible just don’t do it for me. I turn off. I feel like I am being preached at.

So as always I found myself comparing my views to those in the book and unusually, I found myself agreeing with  “1″.

“so much of my belief was cultural as much as theological; implicit in it was church architecture, music and literature.”

This is true for me, I was brought up in the Church of Scotland. I love church music, the architecture. When I first heard of Quakers, I dismissed them out of hand as there was “no music”.

I now realise that I can enjoy religious music in all it’s forms but this does not have to be an integral part of meeting for worship. Anyway the whole Quaker idea is that your whole life speaks, not just the bit you do in church, so I can still enjoy religious music.  All this is a wordy way of saying is that my early belief was as much cultural as it was religious.

It was a great relief to become a Quaker and not have to say things like “he descended into hell…”

I agree. How can you recite the Apostles Creed if you don’t believe in it? Surely that is the worst form of hypocrisy? I have never taken Communion as I do not believe I am eating the body of Christ. I also fail to see how doing so would make me a better person.

I was a regular attender at a meeting in England. One week, a lady explained how she had been at a Church of England church. They were having communion and she had not taken part. She had been encouraged to go forward to the altar for a blessing. Again she had refused. I felt such relief when I heard this.  Here was a woman who I admired and seemed to share my same uneasiness at taking part in communion. Maybe my views aren’t so heretical after all.

In meeting, not all vocal ministry is directed specifically at me. So when someone speaks and it doesn’t hold any meaning for me, I remember the relief I felt when, one sunday the ministry did speak to me and I hope that someone else in the meeting is gaining the same benefit from the ministry that had no meaning for me. For me, that is the essence of how a Quaker meeting works.

Anyway, I have enjoyed reading this booklet and I will probably consider some of the other views in more depth. After all, how else do you learn?

We are very excited to announce the lineup of speakers for the second Spark Club meeting Thursday December 3 at CoHabitat. The speakers have been chosen because they can speak about social entrepreneurship, innovation or how they have worked to bring about change in their community. Our speakers will be Tyler Sharp, Julie McCullough-Kim and Salah Boukadoum. Read on for their bios.

Tyler during a recent trip to Pakistan

Tyler Sharp

Tyler Sharp is a photographer, writer and videographer. After studying photography & video in Los Angeles, he left for Africa and since has travelled extensively shooting photo essays, writing stories and filming for various TV shows and organizations.

His work has been shown in Los Angeles, Dallas and Houston. When Tyler is not travelling on assignment, he lives in Dallas Tx. His photographic sketchbook can be found on Flickr.

Tyler is currently working on My-Stroke.com to help stroke survivors create a network of peers and find a place to learn how to get active.

Julie is the owner of The Make Shop

Julie McCullough Kim

Julie McCullough Kim, a self-taught designer, created the Enju Store. She is also the founder and shop-gal of Make Shop * Studio and the Urban Street Bazaar as well as co-founder and executive producer of The Pin Show (PINS LLC), an independent fashion event in Dallas, TX.

Julie’s mission is to bring affordable design to the masses without sacrificing quality or ethics, all the while impacting our local economy. Through her other efforts she hopes to assist other independent fashion designers to pursue these same practices.

Salah is a serial entrepreneur now running Soap Hope

Salah Boukadoum

Dallas-based Salah Boukadoum has launched and sold a series of businesses during his 15-year career as an entrepreneur.  Most recently he was CEO of Atrana Solutions, a 60-person technology venture, until its sale in 2005 to a publicly traded corporation. Salah’s current social venture, Soap Hope, is a for-profit Internet retailer with a deeply integrated anti-poverty mission, including investment of 100% of its profits into sustainable microfinance programs. Prior to founding his first company, Salah was an internationally-touring classical pianist; his experiences as he traveled in Africa sparked a lifelong interest in tackling the issue of poverty.  Salah’s current personal mission is to recruit 1,000 businesses to emulate Soap Hope’s social business model, called Good Returns, to create dramatic positive change in our world.

CPR Mouth Guards will be available at the next Scout meeting.  Cost $3.00.  Needed for completing the personal 1st aid kit required for all scouts. Also great for personal use at home, in the car, or in your wallet or purse.