Year in review: how you're changing the world

Hi T. Scott -

We're changing the world!

That's right - you and over 5 million other fantastic Care2 members are my inspiration. Earth Day is approaching, so I'm back with my annual "Care2 Year in Review" and I'm inspired. The news is full of chaos in Iraq, nuclear threats in Iran, atrocities in Darfur and other doom and gloom we've all heard by now. But you may not have heard that you, yes you, helped saved a huge amount of forest this past year, protected public health and made the world a little better in many many ways.

Making the world a better place is catching on. Over a million new members joined the Care2 community this year, so you seem to be inspiring your friends and neighbors too!

A few highlights from this past year:

Members helping Members:

Spend time surfing the Care2 Connect community and you'll see amazing things happening. This past year I've seen members organize incredible relief efforts in the wake of hurricane Katrina, others providing emotional support for friends in need, and still others sharing blogs with wonderful poetry, spiritual guidance and deep political analysis. We've even had a number of members get married to each other! If you haven't visited lately, stop by for a little inspiration. You'll find a very special place with members making a difference in countless ways. http://www.Care2.com/connect

Victories for the Environment:

Great Bear Rain Forest: Remember signing a petition to protect the Great Bear Rainforest from logging? Many Care2 members did, finally helping to convince the government of British Columbia, after a ten-year campaign, to protect this magnificent 5 million acres of temperate rainforest from logging. That's an area the size of New Jersey. Proof positive collective action works. This is an absolutely fantastic win.

Drilling in Arctic National Wildlife Refuge: If it weren't for the relentless efforts of committed citizens like you, there would already be oil drilling in the Arctic Refuge. Instead, the House Budget Committee has listened to the public outcry and temporarily derailed drilling. Last spring, over 75,000 Care2 members joined our virtual online march to persuade the Senate to block drilling. Thanks to this huge success we've teamed up again with Defenders Action Fund for a new March this year to keep in place laws that regulate pesticide use, and to protect endangered species and the environment we all share.

As I write this, over 89,000 of you have already joined the march! Wow. If you haven't already added your name to the march, please do. Takes just a minute. I know you care, but let's make sure your representatives do too! And someone even had the fun idea of giving away ipods to marchers this year, so join the march and you might win a free ipod with a wolf on it. Save the world, win a cool looking ipod - it doesn't get much better than that! ;) Check it out: http://earthday.care2.com

Victories for our Heath:

Public Health Funding Restored: Over 10,000 Care2 members wrote their representatives urging them to restore critical public health funding that had been cut from Bush's FY 2007 budget. And on March 16, 2006, we won!

Asbestos Bailout Bill: After thousands of Care2 members protested, the Senate narrowly blocked the Asbestos Bailout Bill. For now, victims of asbestos and their families have retained their right to hold asbestos companies accountable for their actions. But stay tuned, supporters of this measure have vowed to bring the bill up again in the future.

Victory for Pets:

Pets Included in Evacuation Plans: Super woman: In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Care2 member Margaret B. set up a petition on Care2's PetitionSite.com requesting pets be included in evacuation plans. By the end of the day 509 people had signed. Six days later her petition topped 75,000 signatures! As you may recall, the public outcry made headline news, and when Hurricane Rita hit a few weeks later, evacuees were told they could bring their pets along. I love stories like this.

Victories For Women:

Congress Reauthorizes the Violence Against Women Act: Care2 members flooded their representatives with 36,000 petitions last fall helping to convince Congress to pass a bill which will help protect women from abusive partners. President Bush signed the bill into law on January 5, 2006.

Women Better Protected From Human Trafficking: After more than 15,000 of you sent petition letters to Congress supporting the International Marriage Broker Regulation Act, H.R. 3657, the bill was authorized. A representative's office that emailed our campaign wrote: "This is great! Thanks for your efforts. I've gotten quite a few calls from [Representatives] offices wanting more information because they'd gotten constituent mail (no doubt thanks to your petition)." Very nicely done - that's impact!

If you didn't participate in any of the above campaigns, no worries, we still love you. But please consider the impact you can have next time you see one of our Action Alerts. It may seem like a small thing to do, but as Mother Teresa said so poignantly "If you can't feed a hundred people, then feed just one." And as we can see from the handful of examples above, together we're making a profound difference on the health of our planet and in the lives of many.

Other Highlights:

We normally keep a low profile and try to empower our members and partner nonprofit organizations, but I want to highlight the fantastic efforts of the Care2 team this year too. Working behind the scenes we've grown to 35 of the most passionate and hard working team members you'll ever meet. The Care2 team has been building outstanding new services, working with over 150 leading nonprofit organizations, supporting the Care2.com website that smoothly handles over 300,000 visitors a day, and creating important educational newsletters and unique opportunities to make a difference. And every day I see letters from our members writing in to tell us how much they appreciate what the Care2 team is doing. So Thank You for those letters - we've got a huge job ahead of us, and sometimes we feel the growing pains, but when you use our services to make the world a better place…that's our inspiration. Quick overview of some new tools and features this past year:

• Care2 News Network - Your votes make sure the important stories make Front Page news. This is a very cool community-powered international news service and I encourage everyone to participate.
• Care2 Share - Blogs, Photos, Tributes, Recipes and more from Care2 members. Inspire others, or get inspired!
• My Page upgrades - Surf over 1 million member homepages. You'll discover an amazing array of people like you, looking to make a difference.
• PetitionSite enhancements - Great new tools for anyone who wants to start a petition, plus people can now upload photos to their signatures for greater impact.
• A Whole New Look for Care2 - It's tough to say goodbye to old friends, but after 5 years it's time for a new look. Check back soon for a beautiful new Care2 homepage.

Thank you again for making a difference. There are many other accomplishments I'd love to highlight, but want to respect your time. Whether you're taking little steps or giant leaps, you're part of the solution - and together we're changing the world. We've got a lot of challenges before us, but with the passion and enthusiasm I see among Care2 members, I'm just grateful to be a part of this. Thank you!

Randy Paynter
Founder & President
Care2.com

P.S. If you can spare just a minute, please do join our Virtual March on Washington to speak up for a healthier environment, endangered species, and for our children. It's already a huge success with nearly 90,000 marchers, but as you can see from the successes above, every additional person helps: http://earthday.care2.com