Location
Boston, MAI am a writer,trainer/facilitator and arts and marketing consultant who lives in Boston. I have designed and facilitated workshops on a wide variety of topics, including communication, team building, and parenting issues (through Parent-411.com).
I was director of the cultural economic development program, ACT Roxbury, where I founded the Roxbury Film Festival, Roxbury Literary Annual, Roxbury Open Studios and Roxbury Discussion Series.
I've had essays, short stories, children’s stories, and poetry published in several publications. I am an active blogger who writes about relationships, family, current issues, race and sex in witty, entertaining, poignant and powerful entries on my personal blog (blog.candelarisilva.com). I am also a contributing editor to BlogHer.com and to Parent-411.com.
I am an avid volunteer, serving on a number of boards and spreading the joy of reading to young children through my random booking project (myrandombooking.net)
Candelaria submitted a way to: Give back
way to be well created 12.15.10
It's a Family Affair - Giving that is
As we see it, that giving could be:
• A donation to a charitable organization.
• A donation to a school.
• Adopting a family and getting what they need for Christmas.
Because our family is spread throughout different parts of the country, it would be hard for us to come together to do a volunteer activity, although for other families that would be easy.
Each year, there are some family members who give gifts that are not particularly thoughtful, there is another family member who is extravagant and gives gifts that cost more than I want to accept, and then there are my two aunts who give essentially throw-away gifts from their favorite dollar store. What a waste!
Wouldn’t it be better, we thought, to eliminate this and give to people truly in need? So far, our extended family has not gotten on board this program. So, my sister and I have decided to pool the money we would have spent on each other’s gifts and give to another organization. Because we are a family of teachers, this year we are going to make a donation to: Donorschoose.org. Donors Choose is an online charity connecting people to the classroom. On the site, teachers ask for things they want for their classrooms and donors decide to which project they want to contribute.
Other sites that give to teachers are Adoptaclassroom.org. It says that 100% of the donations are given to teachers and iLoveSchools.com, a non-profit online donation center that collects new, used and in-kind resources and gives to schools.
Our hope is that we will be able to convince other family members to join us going forward.
