canning-poverty canning-poverty

The official canningpoverty.org blog

The official canningpoverty.org blog

Hello, JoeUsers, it is I, Gideon. I created this blog site for all of the canningpoverty.org releases. I will be reposting some articles from *my* site onto here, as I am hoping to use this site for all external traffic related to canningpoverty.org. For those who don't know who we are, I am posting the basic information as follows:

Canning Poverty – A Proposal

In the wake of our recent circumstances, I have had many people emailing me asking “What can we do?” They want to help but are on fairly fixed incomes themselves. Well, I think I might have a way they can help that will cost nothing but their time (and a little outlay for the domain name registration).

The idea is canningpoverty.org. I have checked, and the domain name is, at the moment, available. We would set up coordinators in different communities to take donations and deliver them to the local recycling facility. The payment would be deposited in a paypal account for use by the organization.

What we would do

The money collected by canningpoverty.org would be used, after administration, towards the following:

*Relocation grants for families who have job offers in other areas but are unable to afford to move.

*Small business startup grants.

*”Urban homesteading” programs to encourage home ownership in the inner city.

*Emergency temporary relief.

*Other assistance as determined by a board of directors.

Structure

My goal is to have canningpoverty.org set up as a nonprofit, with the following board positions:

*Chairman – myself

*Secretary – someone with the organizational skills to handle the paperwork

*Treasurer – someone with money skills to handle the incoming donations

*Web designer – someone with computer knowledge who can assemble a webpage

*Media contact – all board members would meet with media, however, this person would organize all contacts to avoid scheduling conflicts.

Finally…

*There are 300 million people in the US. In my community, I receive approximately 1 and a half cents per can. If we received an average of 1 can per man woman and child in this country per year, that would be a $4.5 million/year operating budget. 1 can per man woman and child per month would be a $50 million/year operating budget. We would, of course, take other recyclables depending on what the centers in the community will accept, but the focus will initially be on aluminum cans.

There’s a strong potential here to make a difference.

For further information, you may contact me at: [email protected]. I will be posting more later.

signing off,

Gideon MacLeish
10,804 views 56 replies
Reply #26 Top
but I talked to Adrian and he wants me to play it . . . he's such a sweetie!


SCORE! Now that's a cool hubbie!
Reply #27 Top
Words cannot express how terrific he is . . . I feel so lucky to have him . . . I definitely don't deserve him.
Reply #28 Top
So glad to see this moving along so well. I'm here this morning to bump it. Gideon, I've sent you an email about the web page. I just don't have the right access to it or something to get it published.
Reply #30 Top

I am hoping dharma can figure it out.


I emailed Yahoo Tech support.....and they gave me a party-line answer.  If nothing else, I'll have to publish the starter page and then Wise Fawn can go and tweak things to her satisfaction......

Reply #31 Top

Ok, the problem was that no-one but the administrator (me) was allowed to change the starter web page.


I did a real quick (5 min) job on the starter page and it's up now...I'll work on it as I get more time and we get more things to add (pictures, more information and stuff) Here, go check it out......


Link

Reply #32 Top

That link's broken...try this one instead....


Link

Reply #33 Top
Looks nice, dharma. After we tweak it a bit more, I will start hitting some forums with the link (it would be nice to get this blogsite on the final edit as well).
Reply #34 Top
Very nice job on the page!

I just got home from work and can't wait to talk to my boss tomorrow. He has a large trashcan full of cans (I think it fills up every couple of weeks) that he's been saving up to recycle, but there aren't many places around here that will pay for them. I'm hoping to find somewhere soon--even if I have to drive a little ways it would be worth it, because I can load a lot of cans in the van at one time!

This is exciting!
Reply #35 Top
WOW! So much done since I checked in yesterday afternoon! Very exciting. I checked with my local recycling center and they do approximately 30 cents a pound. Also, every year they do a bonus (like 5 cents extra per pound) on earth day, which is in april.
Reply #36 Top
Also, every year they do a bonus (like 5 cents extra per pound) on earth day, which is in april.


Very nice! That would be a good time to do a drive.

Once we get rolling, and after we can obtain nonprofit status, I'd like to try to approach buyers into paying a premium for our cans as a donation. If we could get a big recycler like Reynolds or Pepsico on board, that would be splendid!
Reply #37 Top

Yes!!  More people offering to help!  You're right, Cleve, this is exciting!!!


Gideon..I decided to use my own ebay id to list the stuff, and I'll just make it a paypal only sale and divert the funds to the canning poverty paypal account.  I'll put a statement (much like that on the web page) on the auction page and I'll see about getting some flyers copied off so I can put one in each shipment that goes out.  I'm using my ID because I have around 200 confirmed transactions and low negative feedback...it's likely to instill more confidence in buyers than a brand-new ID.  


I'm off to check out cafepress.com now..... 

Reply #38 Top
Gideon..I decided to use my own ebay id to list the stuff, and I'll just make it a paypal only sale and divert the funds to the canning poverty paypal account.


That would be the best way to do it, I agree. Others can do it like that as well; just email the proceeds from the sale to the [email protected] email address, same as they send can money.

I found an email address for the national poverty center at the University of Michigan. I will send it on to you when I'm on that yahoo account.
Reply #39 Top
I'm glad I had a chance to peek on. The web page looks great! I'm so glad this is getting off the ground.
Reply #40 Top
Ok, a couple of quick things I whipped up when I finished work last night. (remember I said I "dabble" in graphics, so I can't say they're good)

I need a little direction here, ...like some idea's for the graphic.
Do you want me to do a graphic for the webpage?

This one's for a page top heading:




This one could be an advertising banner to put on other sites:



.... and one I was just playing around with:



Thoughts?
Reply #41 Top
Very nice designs. I hadn't thought of click through ads, but we really should have them.
Reply #42 Top
WrecklessEric - Those are great! There is something about the middle one that stands out the most to me. xtine did a great one too, maybe you guys can put them together for one.
The page that they have now is a basic starter page, you can't add graphics or write HTML to it. But it's a great starter and dharmagrl did a good job with it.
Reply #43 Top
Holy Crap! Those graphics are great!

I think the top one would look great on a mug/t-shirt/other stuff! I'd buy one. That one is really sharp!

Great job!
Reply #44 Top
I like that middle one too. Although there's something to be said about the red, white, and blue bow. That's nice too.
Reply #47 Top
I'm going to bump this because it's a wonderful cause.

Gid, if you could figure out something for a teenager to do that doesn't have credit card access, please just let me know. I'm an artsy type, I could try to draw up some CanningPoverty.Org T-Shirt designs...

Email: Link

I really like the idea. I'm going to pray for your success. I figure you can use all the help you can get, right?

Peace,

Beebes

Reply #48 Top
beebes,

You know, you guys could see if your school would let you do a can drive for a service project. One of your parents could transfer the money from the recycled cans...just a thought, but with you, carebear, capt, zoologist, apdelong, and everyone else connected with joeuser from your school, you could probably get a good amount of cans.
Reply #49 Top
That's cool. I'll see what I can do.

In the mean time, what about those t-shirt designs? If no, then that's cool. If yes, then I might have a few by tomorrow, If I get my Calculus done and I don't screw around in art class.

Peace,

Beebes
Reply #50 Top

Thanks for the compliment, Wise Fawn.....and Eric, those are some kick-ass graphics!


Beebles, please, please, let as many kids as you can know about our little project.  The more exposure we get, the more cans we get, the more money our org has, the more families we can help....and sooner.


Sir Peter...thanks for the help and the exposure!