Be a part of Christmas on Greenville Avenue and give a gift to a child in need.

The Restaurant Association’s goal is to have 100 restaurants and retailers collect 10,000 toys in 20 days. From now until December 17th, 2009, bring a new and unwrapped toy to one of the participating locations. Toys will be collected on December 17th and delivered to the WFAA studio in Victory Park for a live event from 5-10pm.

Tonight is the Art Conspiracy’s 5th annual fundraiser, this year benefiting Resolana.

The auction benefit will feature 150 Dallas area artists in an empty warehouse, and live music from Telegraph Canyon, The Crash That Took Me, The Boom Boom Box and RTB2. Paul Slavens, KXT Disc Jockey, will host tonight’s fundraiser.

Going to Mom’s house for Thanksgiving? Give thanks by donating the cost of your meal to those less fortunate.

Here a just a few to consider:

Soup Mobile is a non-profit mobile soup kitchen feeding, clothing, and caring for the needy and homeless in the Dallas area.

North Texas Food Bank is a non-profit hunger relief organization that distributes donated, purchased and prepared foods through a network of feeding programs in 13 North Texas counties.

Jonathan’s Place is a “home-style” emergency shelter for abused, abandoned and neglected children and a Foster & Adoptive Family Program located in Dallas.

Old monitors and VHS tapes collecting dust in your garage? Do yourself (and the environment) a favor and drop them off for recycling at the Lakewood Green Living store this Saturday, November 7th, 2009 between 12 and 5pm.

If any of you know me, you know I’m always wearing TOMS shoes. My first pair has the famous quote by Mahatma Gandhi written all over it, “Be the change you wish to see in this world.” TOMS is inspiring and it’s the kind of change I wish to be a part of – even if I am just wearing the shoes for now.

The founder of TOMS shoes, Blake Mycoskie, is coming back to his home roots and speaking at the Dallas County Young Democrats for the “Living Our Values” Speaker Series and Reception.

This is a bit of a late notice but had heard about the lecture only this morning via KERA’s Think program. I caught just the last part of the interview with Dr. Elders and had one of those driveway moments when I reached my destination but stayed in the car to hear the rest of the interview. She is informative and frank on controversial issues like thelegalization of marijuana and condom distribution in schools. Tonight she will speak at SMU for the 2009 Raggio Lecture series and she will address the present and future state of women’s healthcare in America.

Every individual, every group, has an issue they stand and fight for. For filmmaker Libby Spears, she has devoted almost 10 years uncovering the sex traffic industry.

Last weekend over 500 people in Dallas sat in a room together for TEDxSMU and listened to some bright minds. Speaking on behalf of the entire room: It was inspiring.

Throughout the day people we would break for lunch and coffee and you would find yourself in conversations with like-minded individuals who know there is something we can do to change the world if we would just get off our ass and do it. That was my takeaway from last Saturday. It was actually a quote from Jody Williams referenced by speaker Turk Pipton of The Nobelity Project. She said:

“There’s nothing magical about change. If someone wants to change the world, it takes getting up off your ass and caring enough to take the first step to contribute to change on an issue you care about.”

Shop local and shop for a cause Thursday and Friday at the 1st annual Tseelana Market.

The Market is benefiting The Wilson Foundation, a local not-for-profit organization providing education and health support for AIDS victims in rural South Africa.

The word “Tseelana” (pronounced “Say-lana”) means “to help each other” in Northern Sotho, the language spoken by the people The Wilson Foundation serves in South Africa.

Participating artists will donate a percentage of each sale back to The Wilson Foundation, and together will raise money for children in South Africa who desperately need help.

Some of the local artists include: painter Brenda Bogart, candles by Eleanor (Ellie) Hamm, jewelry by Beyond Baroque, S King Collection, London Schmid, and much more. There will also be handmade bracelets, wire baskets and other items by South African artisans.

The Tseelana Market is free and open to the public!

The Human Trafficking Forum is organized around research to be released by CHILDREN AT RISK in September on domestic human trafficking in Dallas and the state of Texas. Other panelists will discuss the international dimensions of human trafficking in Dallas and provide insight into law enforcement and victim assistance in this region.