Maryrose Lyons blogging since 2003...

3 Good Causes

July 12, 2007 at 12:04 pm

1. Senior Bloggers - I initially dreamed this one up in May and got very disheartened by the lack of interest from state bodies who you’d think would have access to the kind of people I was trying to reach. Happy to report that this time round, in July, I’m getting a much better response.

UPDATE ON 15 AUGUST – despite numerous attempts to recruit 8 seniors interested in learning how to blog – I have failed.  Thanks to all who helped me in promoting this.  I will not try again.  Obviously Irish elders are too busy camping out in Spain or Portugal to be bothered with blogging.

I’m looking for 8 over 65 year olds who know how to send an email – and who have lots to say!

The uber-stylish and with super fast broadband, Dylan Hotel are giving me a room on 21 August to run a blogging workshop. We’ll spend some time looking at blogs and how they’re written. We’ll learn how to write a post (and if you can send an email you can write a post – same thing really, just different language). And we’ll get everyone in the group set up with their own blog. The idea is to get silver bloggers blogging because we need to hear what they’ve got to say.

If you are interested in taking part in this, or you know someone who would be interested, please contact me and let me know. This is all free by the way.

2. Give 3 hours a day to a Seniors Cyber Cafe. Over the course of my investigations into finding silver surfers yesterday I spoke to Derek O’Shaughnessy of St Annes Church on Dawson Street. They have a cyber cafe for seniors – the whole set up, computers, broadband, etc. But they have no teacher. If you are interested in hanging out at the cyber cafe and answering such questions as “how do I book flights online?” or “how do I send an email?” then Derek wants to hear from you. It’s only a 3 hour time commitment – from 12 – 3pm and you’d be doing a very good deed. Contact Derek on 087 130 3472.

3. And how about this – Social Networking around loans to farmers and entrepreneurs from developing countries? Kiva.org allows you to load up money you want to donate. Browse the projects, check the repayment terms, and donate. Manage your overseas aid portfolio. Network with others who have invested and share stories about what projects have worked and generated a return on the investment. You can take your money back out, or, leave it there, grow it and keep reinvesting.

I love this idea. It certainly hits the mark in terms of the trends charities face of people wanting to see where their money goes to. And it neatly avoids the administration costs that many charities incur.

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