Week Three

"Life is life- whether in a cat or dog or man. There is no difference there between a cat or a man. The idea of difference is a human conception for man's own advantage."

-Sri Aurobindo

"Nothing living should ever be treated with contempt. Whatever it is that lives, a man, a tree, or a bird, should be touched gently, because the time is short. Civilization is another word for respect for life..." 
- Elizabeth Goudge

What I learned in class about animals was that only 10% of owned dogs were adopted from an animal shelter, 39% of U.S. households own at least one dog, and about six million vertebrate animals are dissected yearly in U.S. high schools alone. 

For our animal cruelty cause we learned that there are at least four laws against animal cruelty, "every major circus that uses animals has been cited for violating the minimal standards of care set by the United States Animal Welfare (AWA)...Today dogfighting has been reported in urban, suburban, and rural settings in all regions of the country" and the most interesting one of them all was that "Dogfighting became prevalent in the U.S. after the Civil War, with professional pits proliferating in the 1860s. And was a source of entertainment for police officers and firemen." Some of these came from dosomething.org.

It is important to look at the numbers before making an investment to see how the organization profits and how they manage money that they receive from the donations. If we didn't see if they were validated we wouldn't know how or if the organization used the money.

What I learned about my organizations when I looked at their tax returns was that it was really hard to find them if you didn't search appropriately and that some organizations didn't make as much money or they didn;t fill in most of the requirements we needed, for example, the organization P.A.A.W.S, Inc. Some organizations like San Diego Humane Society & SPCA and the Progressive Animal Welfare Society had great changes from the year the tax form was made and the previous year.

Week Two

"Why Should man expect his prayer for mercy to be herd by what is above him when he shows no mercy to what is under him?"
- Pierre Troubetzkoy

What I learned about myself and about my classmates in the Brown Paper Bag Activity is that we all value different things and have different things to represent our values. For example, one of my classmates has preserved he dog's paw print so she can remember him and that to her represents her love to pit bulls and animals. I had a picture of my dog, Rocky, who is like my best friend and that for me represents how much I care about animals since I have one of my own.

My experience in creating our Purpose, Vision, and Mission statement was so happy, because I know that we are going to make a difference in this world with a small steps and help out organizations that support our cause. I felt really happy also to set up a purpose, vision, and mission statement which is to help educate people about animal cruelty, and also help animals from animal cruelty and help save their lives and make a difference in the community and world.

What I expect in my encounter when reaching out organizations this week is that I will help out other organizations who are for my cause and learning what they do to help solve and prevent animal cruelty and know how they will use the money we will be donating to them and also maybe learn more about them and how they are changing our world today, such as PAAWS, The Humane Society, and many other organizations.

Week One

My experience in using these make a difference (MAD) cards was really fun. I learned many things that I didn't know before about myself and my peers. I learned that I want to make a difference in saving the animals and saving our planet. I learned that many people in my class value religion a lot.

What I hope to gain from participating in the Main Street Philanthropy program is to help people and even organizations that support my values (saving animals, helping the environment, and preservation with historic things such as buildings, ruins, and other things). Also to gain more knowledge about giving donations to people and organization and how it all works.