Come support my new Non Profit

As many of you know I have started my own non profit here in Austin with some amazing people. It’s called Lights. Camera.Help and is the world’s first non profit film festival. As of this week we have started selling our Film Passes for the event. Please check out more below. We would love you support!

Lights. Camera. Help. is a new nonprofit in Austin, Texas and it’s bringing you the first world wide film festival only for nonprofit and cause-driven organizations.

On July 31st and August 1st at 7pm, Lights. Camera. Help. will screen the best of the over 130 documentaries, PSAs, shorts and feature length films submitted to the festival.

By donating around $15.00 for this limited time offer Film Pass you will get to come to two nights of film screenings plus gets into our VIP wrap party on Sunday where we will announce the winner of our “judges prize”.

Only 40 of these passes are going on sale so grab yours today!

Our screening locations are:

July 31st – 7-10pm – Southwest Key East Austin Community Center – Screening

http://www.swkey.org/Contact_Us.html

August 1st – 7-10pm – UT CAL 100 – Screening

http://www.utexas.edu/maps/main/buildings/cal.html

August 2nd – 8-midnight – The New Movement Theatre – Wrap Party

http://newmovementtheater.com/about/

One lucky organization that’s the subject of our “judges prize” will receive all the proceeds from the festival. Thanks for helping us support all the non profits that entered and donate for your ticket today!

Hey Non Profit Rockstars : How's your balance?

Everyone knows a well-balanced diet is essential for a healthy life-style, right? But, what about a well-balanced life?

Work/life balance is the parallel of an individual’s professional work and personal life. When the two are out of sync, it can add undue stress to your already hectic life. Finding this balance is not easy (ask anyone!). That’s where we come in!

This specific workshop has been designed to provide a more intimate discussion about the subject. The last work/life balance workshop focused on balancing work with family life. Part II of this workshop will be geared toward finding time for personal interests like volunteering and seeing friends. In the end, we hope you will walk away knowing what work-life balance is, what it means to you and how you can develop it in your own life.

R.S.V.P. at ynpnaustinprograms@gmail.com

**This workshop is FREE to all YNPN members and those interested in YNPN (yes, you!).**

Meet Your Moderators:

Glen Ross, Vice President of Constituent Relationship Management, American Cancer Society

Glenn Ross has served with the American Cancer Society for over 25 years. Currently, he is the Vice-President of Constituent Relationship Management for the American Cancer Society’s High Plains Division and is a regular volunteer with Relay for Life. In his spare time, he publishes a blog on Customer Service at AllBusiness.com and is a regular contributor to Central Texas Relay for Life’s blog, as well as FI Space, a website dedicated to futuring and innovation in the nonprofit sector. He enjoys spending time with his wife, two kids, two cats, and two dogs, and as well as reading, gardening, bicycling, and swimming.

Emily Steinberg, Associate Director, College Forward
Emily has served with College Forward in various capacities since she moved to Austin from upstate New York in 2004. Along the way, she served as one of College Forward’s first college coaches and AmeriCorps*VISTA members and has since helped raise over $4.4 million in grant funds to expand College Forward’s services.  She currently oversees the organization’s programming, operations, and development departments, while also facilitating long-term strategic planning with the Executive Director and Board of Directors. Emily a member of the American Association of Grant Professionals, Association of Fundraising Professionals, Ready by 21 Coalition, and was an inaugural participant in Leadership Austin’s “Emerge” program. An aspiring historian, avid performance artist, and writer, Emily has worked to maintain a positive work-life balance throughout her work and volunteerism with various NGOs and human rights organizations across the United States and South Africa.

I'm Homeless in Austin,TX : The Final Video

So this weekend I got a chance to be homeless for 48 hours and be guided around by my street shepard Alan Graham of Mobile Loaves and Fishes. The only piece of tech I tool along was my flip camera. Here is what I recorded. The video is rough and raw and their is no soundtrack. But I think that’s kinda the point of filming on the streets. Leave me your thoughts.

Read more at http://www.fispace.org/category/personal-change/

Homeless in Central Texas : An FAQ

So this weekend I got a chance to be homeless for 48 hours and be guided around by my street shepard Alan Graham of Mobile Loaves and Fishes. I know I have a ton of nerds and geeks that read this blog so I thought I would throw up a Homeless/Street Retreat FAQ since so many of you have questions.

1) Where do you live? “Live” is a interesting word for the working poor and homeless. Mostly we walked. From downtown Austin to Threadgills to listen to music over the fence. From 5th street we caught a bus to Sunken Gardens and Barton Springs. The best part of that? You can’t tell the homeless from the hippies at Barton Springs! You live where you are. Whether that’s in an alley behind Fox7 or sleeping in a parking lot behind the old county courthouse. At night we slept under the stars on a parking lot.

2) Where do you eat? If you have your wits about you, you can always find a meal here in Austin. The problem is that all the meals are provided by churches and non profits. Where the heck is the city of Austin or the State of Texas in this? Big time Fail on that. These are people not animals. The trick is to know where to be and when. Such and such church at 8:30am breakfast and 5:30pm at Woolridge park for Mobile Loaves and Fishes trucks, etc. We picked this up by talking to other homeless people on the streets. Also if you go outside Veggie Heaven and hold one finger up they will bring you a meal. I love them even more now.

3) Where do you get water or use the bathroom? This was the “easy” part for us. Second floor of Whole Foods. Cold water and ice. Also the Public Library, HEB by the bathrooms, most buildings at UT. Same goes for Bathrooms. Want to take a shower? Find a river or use the sink in a bathroom.

4) What do you own? Homeless people and the working poor have some interesting stuff. Cell Phones. Ipods. Old broken laptops. Shoes. Shirts. Shopping Carts. Cardboard to sleep on (like I did). Watches. It all depends. That like asking what I own versus what the readers of this blog own. It all depends. The thing that brings them together is that they are poor and don’t have houses/apts of their own.

5) How do you get money? You panhandle, do odd jobs, hang with the day workers. Asking complete strangers for money was not hard for me. I am a trained actor. I simply put myself into a character and had at it. BUT the rejection was hard. The way people look at you, treat you, simply loathe you for asking was something I have never experienced. It made me sick to my stomach to be treated that way. DON’T EVER IGNORE ANOTHER HOMELESS BROTHER AND SISTER AGAIN. If you are in your car give them a pair of socks. Or that crappy old high tech/startup.com AMD/DELL shirt you got for free. Don’t have money? Don’t want to give them money? Tell them that. Just don’t ignore another human being.

6) Were they nice to you? The simple answer is yes. They were very inclusive and friendly. We talked to a ton of people who had been their from a year to a week. People who weren’t all there to people who choose to live life like this. It was an amazing eye opening experience.

7) How can I help? STAY TUNED. In the meantime check out this sustainable plan for getting the Homeless lifted off the streets and into a better life. It’s worth your time. Habitat on Wheels.