Good Works Multiply Fast

Ebola and terrorism can spread from country to country, but good works can, too.

We've seen people pouring buckets of ice water over their heads or those of others to raise awareness for the ALS condition, or Lou Gehrig's disese, suffered by a graduate of Boston College. Initially spread by 60,000 email messages, the Ice Bucket Challenge has reached 1.9 million donors and raised $94 million for ALS.

That's not all. Responding to the Ice Bucket Challenge by Ben Affleck and Jimmy Kimmel, Matt Damon dumped water from the toilet over his head. Why? As an advocate for clean water (See Water.org), he wanted to highlight the fact that water in the toilets of Western nations often is cleaner than drinking water in less developed countries, where 2.4 billion people lack adequate sanitation. Damon, a supporter of the nonprofit, Water Is Life, challenged other celebrities to follow his lead. Incidentally, Water Is Life is distributing a "Drinkable Book" in Africa, China, and India. The pages not only provide basic health information, but they also act as water filters. Coated with silver nanoparticles, the pages remove 99% of harmful bacteria, when water passes through them.

Seamstresses (and men) in the US, UK, Ireland, Canada, Mexico, and Australia have followed the lead of Rachel O'Neill, who founded the not-for-profit organization, Little Dresses for Africa. She came up with a way to turn pillowcases into sundresses for African girls in orphanages, churches, and schools. Mission trips began carrying these dresses not only to African countries but also to Haiti, Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico, Thailand, the Philippines, and Cambodia.

When publicity by ecouterre.com and other media outlets told how a 99-year-old Iowa woman, Lillian Weber, makes a dress a day for Little Dresses for Africa, donations were sought to pay for shipping what has become an outpouring of 2.5 million dresses.

Free downloadable instructions for making pillowcase dresses and mailing information are available at littledressesforafrica.org.

Boys couldn't be ignored. A Lutheran quilting group in Wisconsin developed a pattern for turning T-shirts into shorts for boys. A pattern for making these Britiches for Boys, a 60 minute per pair project, is available at nancyzieman.com/blog/nancys-corner/britches-for-boys-in-africa/ Nancy Zieman also can furnish a kit with all the supplies for making three pairs of shorts.

Other ideas for doing good around the world are in earlier posts: "Help Wanted" and "Hope for the Future."