His Holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama

Today, I had the great honor of attending an event featuring His Holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama. His several day visit to Seattle was part of Seeds of Compassion, a five day event engaging Seattle communities in the idea of peace and compassion.

My day started at the UNICEF booth. I've volunteered with UNICEF for over 10 years here in Seattle so it was a again a great honor to help out during this event. My shift was over just in time to go see the opening ceremonies of the Dalai Lama's event. There were many speakers and an inspiring drum session in which the local Duwamish people took part. The Dalai Lama's speech was incredible, inspiring, and - as is often the case - quite humorous. The wise words and laughter were very well received by the audience that almost filled Quest Field, home of the Seattle Seahawks.

In 1997 I took part in an Earthwatch trip to Ladakh (an area of India that is culturally very Tibetan) where we studied the biology and culture surrounding snow leopards. I had the opportunity to visit several Tibetan Buddhist monasteries while in Ladakh and remembering the beautiful landscape and people still inspires me today. It is events like this that reaffirm the culture is a vital part of our lives and will indeed continue to shape our future along with innovative science and design.

City of Seattle and UNICEF

As part of the Seattle chapter of the US Fund for UNICEF I got to take part in a press conference today to announce the City of Seattle's Day of Giving for tsunami relief. UNICEF is doing some pretty amazing things for children such as family tracing and centers for children that have been separated from their family. This in addition to all the usual things UNICEF does in these situations to improve the survival, protection and development of children around the world. It was a bit surreal though since I was fitting it into my lunch hour at Harborview hospital (my new day job) and all. From Harborview HR to six TV camera's glaring at me. All in a days work though. Good to do a bit more for tsunami relief too. Sometimes I feel like I should be doing a lot more

Ashley Judd, an American Beauty inside and out

Saw on the Today Show that Ashley Judd has signed on to Nutrition Aid, a youth health campaign sponsored by the new American Beauty Cosmetics (an Estee Lauder company), YouthAIDS, and Population Services International. Pretty exciting stuff.

Other celeb connections I've run across recently include Paul McCartney's involvement with Adopt-a-Minefield campaign, Alyssa Milano as the 2004 Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF Ambassador and Ted Dansen who continues to support efforts to protect the worlds oceans through Oceana. Ted also put in a great plug for Ermenegildo Zegna at the recent Emmy Awards.

Big blue

I presided over the first of our monthly Seattle UNICEF chapter meetings today. We used to meet seasonally to gear up for big campaigns and such but we decided it would be a good idea to start meeting monthly so that we could get more events going on with partner organizations in the area such as PATH, UNA and The Gates Foundation, VillageReach and the World Affairs Council. Marge Haines has been the chair for many years and she's done an absolutely incredible job so it's going to be hard to fill her shoes. The plan is for me to help out as co-chair for a bit with another person until we can find someone that can fill Marge's shoes. I'd love to do it but am so busy I fear I couldn't do the position justice. Regardless, good times ahead for the Seattle UNICEF chapter.

A day for UNICEF

Spent a big chunk of the day wearing my UNICEF volunteer hat. The new spring merchandise came in so a few of us spent several hours getting it all out at the Downtown Bon Macy's. I'll do the Bellevue store on my own on Saturday.

UNICEF event

We had our UNICEF volunteer recognition dinner tonight at the Bon Macy's led by our incredible chairperson, Marge Haines. Great dinner, good people and lots of incredible stories about a really successful year. Our chapter is all volunteer, but they really seem to get a lot don.

UNICEF and the Seahawks

With a sunny day in Seattle, I reved up Mario (my Vespa) and headed down for another day at the UNICEF giftwrap center at Westlake Center. Biz is picking up and we're doing a lot of wrapping. I've somehow succeeded in injuring myself in the line of duty...twice on the tape dispenser and once with the ribbon slicer (trying to clean it).

In other news...I went to the Seahawks vs. Cardinals game on Sunday with my Sis and future brother-in-law, Mike. Great game (we won, five fumbles and all) but I was also really impressed with all the great stuff the Seahawks are doing in the community, particularly the Stats for Kids program. I think it's time to rev up SSF's sports program.

UNICEF time

Spending a lot of time volunteering at the UNICEF gift wrap center at Westlake Center. I've done the gift wrap gig for over five years now and continue to really enjoy it. I read in our little notes binder that the Gates just gave another $27 Million to several agencies, including UNICEF, for vaccines.

GMO show

Whoa...how surprised was I to see GMOs being discussed on the Today Show this morning. Author Marc Lappe who wrote Against the Grain represented the issue well. AND...they're going to talk about hormones in food tomorrow. Impressive!

The planets must have been aligned just right this morning because two other segments on the today's Today Show featured two incredible 'sustainable style' role models: Grace Kelly and Audrey Hepburn, both known for their influence on style and there dedication to humanitarian issues. Prince Albert talked with Matt Lauer about the Princess Grace Foundation which helps young aspiring artists realize their career goals. Sean Ferrer, Ms. Hepburn's son and Chairman of the Audrey Hepburn Children's Fund discussed his new book Audrey Hepburn: elegant spirit with Katie Couric. I have to say that the photo of Audrey Hepburn holding a child in Africa in a Lacoste shirt is one of the most stunning images I've ever seen and actually one of the things that inspired me to start SSF.



As always, really impressed with Today's promotion of Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF, and Katie Couric's work on colorectal cancer research.