Excessive Waste, Urgent Need, Add Three Women

Wow. I attended a luncheon yesterday at the Edgewood Country Club with a dear friend Susan Lieber. I had recently asked Susan to support a charity I was working with (the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation). She stood ready to assist and in turn asked that I attend a fundraiser luncheon she was hosting for Global Links. "Where and when?" were my only questions. I'm honored to be able to work with charities and happy to lend a hand to friends who do the same.

Now, on to the "Wow". I had a vague idea as to what Global Links does. But, this luncheon delivered a far more powerful education. The founder of Global Links was there to share with us her vision when she started the group 20 years ago, in her garage with two friends. A local radio icon was there to introduce the founder. And, I was surrounded by fellow women business owners, some new faces and others that feel more like family. It was an amazing luncheon to say the least.

Global Links (in a nutshell) is an organization, mostly volunteer, that seeks to improve health care around the globe. They initially identified a huge surplus of medical waste in our country as well as a dying population in others- from lack of medical supplies! Connect the dots. We have very stringent medical safety protocols that demand we throw unused supplies out to landfills under a host of conditions. We also update our medical equipment, to remain state of the art, far more frequently than most countries. Therefore, why don't we donate our unused supplies (that are still sterile and available for us) and our gently used equipment to places where others have little to nothing? Seems like a no brainer to me!

One quick story that our beloved radio host shared with us, was her own volunteer (2 hours a week) experience. She was counting maxi pads and then putting so many in a zip lock bag for dissemination when the volunteer coordinator told her to add a "cheesecloth-looking item". She asked what on earth it was? The coordinator demonstrated for her that if you gently pulled it a part it was a rudimentary pair of underwear. After all, what good does a maxi pad for a woman who doesn't have underpants to place it in? The vision of a woman having to bleed down her legs crossed my mind and I was struck in a profound way. We take so very much for granted each and every day. Can you imagine a hospital not being able to save your life simply because they don't have the sutures to seal your wound after surgery? Why perform a surgery if you can't seal the opening and the patient will die anyway?

As March is Ethics Awareness Month- I encourage you to make ethical daily living choices that bear Global Links and the people it serves in mind. Let's reevaluate the way we live and dispose of so much. Let's all make a commitment to live better.

If you wish to visit Global Links- please do. The site is http://www.globallinks.org/