On the website ChristmasSpiritTree.ca you can find an online Christmas tree that is illuminated every time somebody leaves a Christmas message online. The tree reacts to social media, messages at the website itself, blogs, forums and news media.

The Hell’s Kitchen project is situated at the roof of the Metro Baptist Church in New York and served its first harvest that consists of fresh vegetables and fresh fruit. The project is meant to provide food to the busy food pantry within the church. The roof features 1000 square foot space that was previously unused and the entire project is done by volunteers. The many pigeons in New York initially became a problem, however this was solved by placing removable cages.

1/2 PROJECT is a campaign that puts donating to charity in a different perspective. With the 1/2 Project you can donate half of your ordinairy expenses to charity instead of large sums of money at once. The project links companies and NGO's together and plays a role in the product design. For example, pay a whole Domino pizza and donate half of it to charity.

Spa Reine has started a campaign in cooperation with Unicef.  For every bottle that is sold, Spa donates 4 liters of clean drinking water to the children living in Burkina Fas. Consumers can leave a personal message about this campaign on the website Spahelpt.nl and create more awareness to the campaign.

Innocent, the British brand which is famous for their 100% natural smoothies, has started a campaign in which small knitted caps are made for their smoothie bottles. For every sold smoothie with a knitted cap, 20 cents will be donated to the National Elderly Fund in the Netherlands. Also want to show your knitting tricks? You can send your self-knitted caps to Innocent, which will be sold.

Hurricane Irene has done a lot of damage in the state of New York. Many farmers lost their harvest. To help these farmers and other casualties of the hurricane, over 100 restaurants in New York have donated 10% of their day revenue last Sunday. These revenues were donated to a charity fund that helps casualties from the hurricane Irene.

With all that misery in the world, sometimes we really need some fun. The simple idea to put a table with a megaphone in the middle of the streets brings some joy into the streets. Just say hello to your friends or family or just to let the street hear your talents.

Commissioned by the Indianapolis Musuem of Art, Visiondivision is creating a project for the Fairbanks Art and Nature Park. In order to sacrifice something, to make something new, a large tree will be rebuild to several tables, chairs, swings and a kiosk.

 

From Tuesday the 19th of July there is a weekly dinner club at Mediamatic with products that have passed the expiration date. The organizers want to create more attention for the use and misuse of expiration dates and therefore show that it's possible to cook with products that otherwise would be thrown away. Bring expired products after RSVP and get in for free.

A good article at Triple Pundit about Panera Bread's founder Ronald Shaich who started a Community Café last year where guest can-pay-what-you-can.  Bottom line: Panera Bread created the Panera foundation and after 1 year Shaich estimates that about 20% of visitors to the cafes leave more than the suggested amount, 20% leave less and 60% leave the suggested donation. On average, each cafe serves 3,500 to 4,000 customers per week and generates about 75-80% of the retail value of the food.