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penny on - BE someone

Posted on Aug 16th, 2007 by Michael : catalyst-producer Michael
YOUR PLANET

Listen to the children ...



they are saying ... Your Planet needs YOU !




Some Alarming Facts


Education


Penny On is being led by young people. The issue is urgent and important so it needs new thinking, new logic and fresh eyes. As part of Penny’s school enrichment programme, young people get to choose where funds get allocated, they’re learning about the most effective solutions to poverty at the grass roots level, they’re learning from the heroes and heroines of the voluntary sector who work behind the scenes to tackle deprivation, exclusion, marginalisation and environmental issues.


Inclusion

Our pilot programme is focusing on twinning, bringing together grass roots communities and working in partnership with a wide range of specialists in both local and international development. The principles behind Penny On transcend politics and religion, they resonate with people at an emotive and humanitarian level. Common goals call for common sense and collective intelligence. There is an old saying … none of us are as smart as all of us!


Community

The young people get to see first hand the scale of the challenge, seeing for themselves the most effective strategies and become involved in building awareness, raising funds and getting to the heart of the problems that affect their community. By twinning grass roots communities we foster peer to peer relationships between ordinary people who are often “in the problem” they know first hand through their lives about the reality of deprivation and exclusion. These heroic people are the experts who hold the key to eliminating poverty from the grass roots up.


Environment

Nature sustains us, it feeds us, protects us and nourishes us. When we work with nature we can create solutions to poverty that empower people, that support life, economy and community. Working with nature means encouraging bio-diversity, thinking beyond the current accepted norms and towards greener, self sufficient and abundant environments. Here’s how 5,000 people benefited from natures solutions.

A Child's Appeal to the UN




Mankind's role is to fulfill his heaven-sent purpose
through a sincere heart that is in harmony with all creation and loves all things.
Morihei Ueshiba


Penny-on


Mitchell High School and Penny-On

This note aims to address two questions of particular relevance to the Penny-On project, and is based on a recent visit to Mitchell High School.  The two questions are:

1.    What’s so special about what’s happened at Mitchell High School
       during the last five years?


2.    What value can the Penny-On team bring to the Mitchell project and the
       wider community of Stoke-on-Trent and Newcastle-under-Lyme?



What’s So Special About Mitchell High School?


Six years ago, before the arrival of Debbie Sanderson, Mitchell High School was a fairly typical “failing school”.  Situated on the edge of the Bentilee community, near Stoke-on-Trent, the school draws from a catchment area that has many unpromising features, including high levels of long-term unemployment, crime and drug use.

In the five years since Debbie’s arrival (in 2002), the school has made enormous strides, including the following key features:

•    High levels of engagement with the local community;

•    Provision of adult learning services to well over a thousand people;

•    Extraordinarily sophisticated information systems, including the deployment
     of over 150 “thin client” terminals to pupils’ homes in the community;

•    Achievement of special status as a Business and Enterprise Academy.

An Epicentre for Education and Enterprise

The key to Mitchell’s success is that it has established itself as an epicentre for education and enterprise, not only for the pupils but also for the wider community.  This is all the more extraordinary, given that many of the families from which the pupils are drawn have experienced several generations of unemployment.

The irony, of course, is that the Stoke-on-Trent area has a long history of extraordinary commercial activity, itself being enormously influential in the development of the pottery industry during the industrial revolution.  However the last hundred years have not been kind to the area, with dramatic declines in both the pottery and coal industries.

If Mitchell High School can provide the catalyst for a new generation of entrepreneurs in the area, its service to the wider community will go way beyond that of any normal school.  It has the opportunity to spark a transformation across the entire Stoke/Newcastle conurbation.


The Role of the Penny-On Trust


This last point introduces one of the opportunities for the Penny-On team to make a big difference in the Stoke/Newcastle area, which is to publicise and propagate the success of Mitchell High School.  If we can capture and then disseminate the key lessons from Mitchell, to other schools that face similar challenges, we can play an invaluable role in ensuring that Mitchell is viewed by other schools as a valuable resource and a beacon, to be engaged and learned from, rather than viewed with suspicion and resentment for “making them look bad”.

Work has already begun to engage young people from other parts of Stoke/Newcastle, with a view to sharing the lessons from Mitchell with them.  Martin Dewhurst has met with a group from a youth club in Chesterton, and a similar initiative is underway in Trentham.

A key point about Penny-On is the way in which it calls on young people to adopt a “giving” orientation to the world, rather than a “getting” orientation.  Young people gain an understanding that there are people in the world who are much less fortunate than themselves, and that, by their efforts, they can make a big difference to the lives of those people.  This is a world away from the “entitlement mentality” that can all too easily affect a community such as Bentilee, which has experienced relatively severe economic conditions during the 20th Century.

Community-Level Engagement is Key


One of the principles of Penny-On is the principle of connecting communities.  Any money raised by Penny-On will always be spent either in the local community or in another specific, known community in the developing world.  It will never disappear into a general pot, its destination and purpose to be determined by an unknown bureaucrat.

The implication of this is that the people in the community that raises the money will always have sight of where that money goes, ensuring that they retain psychological ownership of the outcomes, whether those are in the UK or elsewhere.

From the standpoint of the community in the developing world that receives the funds, there is also a big positive impact.  This is money that comes with love, from a specific group of people, giving the recipient community a clear message that they are known and cared for, by a group of people they’ve never even met.



Sexy Integral Models


For WHATEVER reason, Sexy Integral Models IS NO LONGER available @YouTUBE
Please accept my appologies because IT IS well worth watching in the context of
Steve McIntosh's work.  IF you watch AQUAL: A Graphic Presentation
and then select to watch from the menu The Pattern That Connects
Holons - AQUAL to Spiral Dynamics
- ALL will BE revealed.

AQAL: A Graphic Presentation




THE CHILDREN are WATCHING and "LISTENING"  for THE INTEGRITY of OUR ACTIONS

CHILDREN



"The integral worldview gives us an understanding of culture that allows us to begin to address the global cultural problems that are at the heart of pretty much every problem. What  I mean is that every problem in the world has its solution at least partially in the raising of consciousness. And that's what the integral worldview does more effectively than any other worldview before it - it can literally raise consciousness at every level."

                                                                                      Steve McIntosh




ALL hail ! to my dyslexic friend  and to Jon Symes & Phil Turner for their book
            and  particularly Ron Monnier for creating the superb copyrighted
                  "centre-piece" image at the top of this zBlog for the children.


.


.

Access_public Access: Public 29 Comments Print views (3,680)  
Michael : catalyst-producer
3 days later
Michael said

I believe ”poverty” to be a global illness that knows no boundaries. We have poverty of spirit as well as poverty in the body and mind, and this illness affects the rich as well as the poor.
                                                                                                                              Nishta

Michael : catalyst-producer
3 days later
Michael said

Mohandas K. Gandhi  said “Poverty is the worst form of violence” - and TIME always referred to him in terms of his enlightened leadership & philosophy of non-violence.
  
                                      

jenni : hello
9 days later
jenni said

Michael, how doe penny on work?

jenni

10 days later
Martin said

Hi Jenni,

Michael kindly invited me here to answer this one …

Penny On works by inviting you as you shop to simply add 1 penny to the things you buy.
Can you imagine everyone who could do so making that choice?

It uses all existing technology
It creates a new social fund for use in the community
It empowers, informs and educates people about the power of collective action
It shares its publically collected funds 50% Local 50% International on projects that empower people
It works through education to build social responsibility into the curriculum

Right now it's being piloted and led by young people in an area affected by poverty
They are building the campaign outwards from their community to other communities

Penny On has the annual potential to tackle the issue of hunger 6 times over

I hope that paints an inspiring picture Jenni and I look forward to sharing news of the arrival of Penny On on your shores.

With love

Martin

PS Thank you Michael for being the visionary you are :-)

11 days later
Martin said

PS

I should add this …

Why is Penny On different?

Penny On is a fund-raising brand that makes it easy for every individual to contribute, utilising modern technology in a new model for fund-raising. More than that, Penny On is the brand for young people, the consumers of today and the consumers of tomorrow. With a brand message enshrined within the school curriculum, young people will drive awareness throughout families and communities, through social networking and mobile telecommunications. Imagine fund-raising through EFTPOS, through pay per click, through text messaging and across global boundaries. The opportunity to align with this global phenomenon and drive awareness of CSR, for an organisation operating internationally, through retail, online, within schools and local communities is huge.

Penny On is a strategy that is both compelling and sustainable.

jenni : hello
11 days later
jenni said

thank you for the information Martin. I had not heard of it before. I will look for it. jen

Michael : catalyst-producer
20 days later
Michael said

penny on’s underpinning raison d’etre of …

1.    establishing a “brand” committed to raising money – a penny at a time – through every consumer transaction on earth,

         and

2.    giving the children the responsibility and support to administer & manage such a project and BE the ones who decide where/how, the money raised should be spent,

has the potential to establish penny on as THE lego building block template which could glue together all activities involved in the eradication of poverty, so often talked about by the ‘communities’ of politics, religion & science, in line with the UN Millennium Goals.

Zaadz IS a place of honesty.
Zaadz IS a place of integrity.
BUT above all Zaadz is a place of ACTIONwalking the walk rather than WRITING or HAVING DISCUSSIONS about talking the talk -  as  exemplified  by so much ACTION@zaadz

As the Rough Guide to a Better World and how YOU can make a difference says …
walking the walk
is the ONLY way to address THE big target of the UN Millennium Goals –

ENDING POVERTY.



29 days later
cHAngeL said

Beautifully said. Power to the children! The world could not be in better hands. Thank you for teaching them about  love in action, Martin and Michael.

Sending love and beautiful thoughts for Penny, across the Atlantic…Janie

Michael : catalyst-producer
about 1 month later
Michael said

In the context of Michael Strong's concluding paragraph of his FLOW Principles statement, namely :-

But we believe there are reasons to consider expanding the realm of hip, cool  entrepreneurial activity far beyond the politically correct boundaries that have been  established through the current gate-keepers of politically correct left-liberal orthodoxies.   Indeed, we believe that the most profound gains for humanity, in terms of creating world  peace, prosperity for all, and ever-deeper levels of happiness and well-being for all, will be  achieved by means of questioning existing orthodoxies of left-liberal political correctness.

I can only respond - WHO better to question those orthodoxies, than the generation of children who will inherit the produce of their own “seed sowing & growing” ….

in THE manner of walking the walk - which we experience at Mitchell High as a
'very fruitful day'
- everyday.

There are many visionary one-liners in FLOW's - The Direction of FLOW - Liberating the Entrepreneurial Spirit for Good - which are succinctly descriptive of the REAL TIME ACTION  taking place at Mitchell High, which will undoubtedly establish the THE lego building block template which could glue together all activities involved in the eradication of poverty, so often talked about by the ‘communities’ of politics, religion & science, in line with the UN Millennium Goals.

Michael : catalyst-producer
about 1 month later
Michael said

Gemma Clarke's brilliant summary of the campaign detailed by Martin above …


Why is Penny On different?


Penny On is a fund-raising brand that makes it easy for every individual to contribute, utilising modern technology in a new model for fund-raising. More than that, Penny On is the brand for young people, the consumers of today and the consumers of tomorrow. With a brand message enshrined within the school curriculum, young people will drive awareness throughout families and communities, through social networking and mobile telecommunications. Imagine fund-raising through EFTPOS, through pay per click, through text messaging and across global boundaries.

The opportunity to align with this global phenomenon and drive awareness of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), for an organisation operating internationally, through retail, online, within schools and local communities is huge.

Penny On is a community wide strategy that is both compelling and sustainable



which I would say establishes the appropriate community mindset shift, required to establish the most potentially creative template jigsaw piece - from which THE most realistic Global Social Responsibility model can be assembled.

Michael : catalyst-producer
about 1 month later
Michael said

Hello OUT there - WHAT are WE DOING for THE GRANDCHILDREN ?

about 1 month later
cHAngeL said

Severin Suzuki's speech  …thank you, Michael.

Michael : catalyst-producer
about 1 month later
Michael said

With the clearly established requirement to do more to achieve the UN Millenium Goals - there is a desperate need to evolve to a “walk the walk initiative” rather than being satisfied with a walk the talk advancement of talking the talk. I believe that the most appropriate solution would be an all-inclusive solution which harnesses the strengths of our global diversity. A solution which would establish at its core, a thinking environment based on the interconnected and fully integrated values of education & training, enterprise and the community.

A solution which would encourage those less fortunate than ourselves, to discover their own natural greatness, as a result of helping them to think for themselves, rather than just being trained to be good.

A solution which can be characterised by focus, appreciation, trust, delegation & a financial strategy based on an absolute necessity to establish, from the outset, a model of conscious capitalist stakeholder values. An ALL inclusive, conscious capitalist solution based on the very best business practices originally espoused & enacted by Josiah Wedgwood in Stoke-on-Trent, which if good enough to act as a model for Henry Ford's initiative, should be of equally appropriate value to Penny On.

2 months later
cHAngeL said

Yes!
Feel your heart…
Walk the walk…
Think the thought…
Mold the clay…
Drive the car….

Share the pennies!….

Love + action = the solution

Michael : catalyst-producer
2 months later
Michael said
2 months later
cHAngeL said

Awesome video Mick.  :)

Michael : catalyst-producer
2 months later
Michael said

The one message that we are trying to promote all the time, that poverty in the world is an artificial creation. It doesn't belong to human civilization, and we can change that, we can make people come out of poverty and have the real state of affairs. So the only thing we have to do is to redesign our institutions and policies, and there will be no people who will be suffering from poverty. So I would hope that this award will make this message heard many times, and in a kind of forceful way, so that people start believing that we can create a poverty-free world. That's what I would like to do.
 
                                                                                                         Muhammad Yunus

Samme : Prince of Rainbows?
3 months later
Samme said

Great  inspiration!  Thank you for finding and sharing this Michael.
Samme

3 months later
cHAngeL said

Love the picture and additions, Michael.

mita : Awake-catalyst
4 months later
mita said

Loved all the positive inspiring posts here Michael except puzzled by this???

For WHATEVER reason, Sexy Integral Models IS NO LONGER available @YouTUBE Please accept my appologies because IT IS well worth watching in the context of  Steve McIntosh's work. I do not thing that image raises consciousness in anyway….there is a good reason Youtube took it off I think. I like to hear your perspective Michael.

The reason for mass poverty in developing countries and the great accumulation of wealth in developed countries is the way our Temples of Capitalism namely banking and financial system evolved since coonial times following Bank of England & Rome.
see my pod or “google deep conscious capitalism”

mita

Michael : catalyst-producer
4 months later
Michael said

WHATEVER is linked to my Don't KILL the Messenger zBlog, which, as IS the case with ALL my other zBlogs, ever evolving.

I have seen, more recently, that Stephanie Dowrick and LandmarkEducation have become sponsors of zaadz@gaia. For what purpose they have done so, I could not possibly comment,  other than to quote the words of Robert Bellarmine, Galileo's Jesuit Cardinal Prosecutor …

To assert that earth revolves around the sun is as
erroneous as to claim that Jesus was not born of a virgin.

Stephanie Dowrick's book title “Choosing Happiness”  lacks commitment, care or compassion for “others”, as does LandmarkEducation's  “Live a Life You Love”

For those @zaadz who really understand michael grove's definitions of LOVE & EVIL
I would assert that IT IS ONLY -  I, WE, IT - in truth, beauty and goodness, in collaboration as ONE, in communication as LOVE, in collective MIND-SET as consciousness supreme, which will ensure the survival of planet earth, including it's trading & monetary systems,  and secure the qualitative advancement of the evolutionary process.

The Sexy Integral Models YouTUBE video was ABSOLUTELY IN FACT the SELF SAME
The Pattern That Connects Holons - AQUAL to Spiral Dynamics
- but with JUST ONE KEY frame “sexy image” added to attract I would suspect, in combination with the revised title Sexy Integral Models, AS MANY PEOPLE IN CYBERSPACE WHATSOEVER, to  a  video  which exemplifies the concept of “raising consciousness” which IS SO very important in the context of Steve Mcintosh's own concept of GLOBAL GOVERNANCE.

Equally, in defference to what the children have to say on this subject, the “single image” in combination with the revised title IS really quite amusing, when one considers the content of the video. Perhaps we should ask “Ken Wilber's soul-mate” ?

Much as I ABSOLUTELY RESPECT and applaud ALL your perspectives, Susmita, and totally agree with your comment - IS IT NOT THE CASE that we are already experiencing the early signs of collapse of those Temples of Capitalism ? and once this finally happens what will we have to put in their place IF we DO NOT have a system of global governance which allows soveriegnty at nation state level whilst BEING able to legislate, police, indite, convict and punish at INDIVIDUAL level ?

The wise soul IS NOT the one who gives the right answers but the ONE who asks the right questions so please ask another question, as IS your want.

LOVE

michael

mita : Awake-catalyst
4 months later
mita said

Thankyou michael, I agree the right question will lead to right answer or goal.

If the temples of Capitalism is Declining, how is the Temple of Global Governance going to redeem us? All goverments need finance

Ends and means must be in harmony, beauty and integrity and it cannot be imposed from outside. So I feel it is a bad taste and poor judgement to put cheap cover on stuff of substance.  I greatly respect Wilber's deep thinking. Yet no matter how great an idea is, small group of people need not and should not make decision for whole society or planet
because there are great diversity of language culture and beliefs. Yet our basic human needs and humanitarian values are same.

Our biggest challenge is to find new sustainable currency  based cooperative partnership based economic  alternatives to corrupt  capitalism, which is creating myriad problems with mushrooming debt and poverty in one hand and massive accumulation of wealth in few hands. Just my two cents

4 months later
Martin said

Bryan found this link today and is interviewing Ayman on his radio show.

Michael : catalyst-producer
4 months later
Michael said

Ayman has been quoted as having said …

Revered as a spiritual path, commerce emerged as a tool to advance mankind.

In the context of Martin's …

I see us standing as a circle of friends, our circle grows each and every day as we open our arms to bring in more and more friends, floating above us all is our individual and collective higher purpose. This is our bond, this is our reason for being.

IT IS apparent that the “duality split” of our  species, Homo Sapiens sapiens, has already encircled our planet twice in the last 20,000 years.  The first time when the Europeans moving west met and interbred with the Asians moving east, to deepen the global gene-pool and the second time when the Asians moving west met and shared their knowledge of ideas with the Europeans moving east, to eventually establish a global internetwork of networks of shared information. IT now remains TO BE seen IF ALL 6.7 billion souls alive on our planet, as individuals, can collectively ”join hands” as the next Buddha.

EVER cogniscant that ZEN is dependent on TAO & BUDDHA as ONE



mita : Awake-catalyst
5 months later
mita said

Here's the philosophy of liberty, a link from another zaadzster Big'O

http://www.isil.org/resources/introduction.html

However, it is not just the government, it is the control of currency by few private commercial banks under centralized banks like FED, which is actually a private corporation with government sounding name and appearence (see Ron paul exposing FED). There goes the fraud part of free market pushed by banking cartel and their economists.

Google “deep conscious capitalism”.

cheers

Michael : catalyst-producer
5 months later
Michael said

Having listened to the children ….

about the simplicity of the Penny On message and its potential to lead by example, in
ALL  THINGS, and despite the need for absolute perseverence and a watchful eye, in
the face of having to come to terms with SO MANY restrictionsJanie & I have continuously striven to provide Martin with an understanding that WE ARE ALL imperfect and still learning to learn, to consequently allow HIS OWN goodness to shine through and for the Penny On venture to know its place.

ALAS TPOT has now ABSOLUTELY REJECTED the opportunity to avail themselves of the positive energy of support, which both Janie and I have so tenaciously offered, to restore balance and harmony to the Penny On initiative.

NO THING is born,
NO THING is destroyed
AWAY with your dualism
YOUR likes and dislikes
EVERY single THING IS just ONE MIND
CONSCIOUSNESS SUPREME IT SELF

When YOU, Martin, have perceived THIS
YOU will have mounted the chariot of the Buddha's
and left ALL concept of a Trojan Rabbit Hole behind.

SO BE IT

Thank YOU for your best wishes and greetings of love,
& good luck with the realisation of your own journey to
truly understand The Hierarchy of Heaven and Earth

Merchants of LOVE  “united”

michael

5 months later
cHAngeL said

We are all here to listen….and learn…and…to the children. The children should be running the board rooms on this planet, and attending all meetings of importance for their future. These things must be placed in those companies hands who are willing to take on these new strategies, to an active level. It cannot be any other way. The universe will demand it one way or the other. I humbly bow to it's wisdom of knowing men, women and children must work together in balance, to start a new beginning. Old paradigms must wither, like a rose cut from the vine. But those petals can be saved and used in prayer and meditations for peace. And new seeds can be planted in light of hope. Our company will take on this new approach, and the white rose of peace for all will grow in the sunshine of the children. :) :) :) :)

CHICKO : team work makes the dream work
8 months later
CHICKO said

Penny On is my most life chinging insperation.

before penny on came into my life i was a noughty boy
i used to be up my local park with all the one a be gangsters drinking. I can admitt i was a drinker and at that point i thought i had no future. that was untill all of my mates started with the Drugs and tryed to egg me on to take them with them all, i felt inside i was stronger than that and i thought inside i had somthing better, and that was to make a diffrence in others lives as well as mine.

it took me about a week to dig deep inside my self to find the real me and what i wanted to do with my self was make CHANGE. for years i was hanging around with the people who were scared of change, i used to look around at my mates and think ” are these really my friends?”  i thought to my self yes they are my friends i cant just give up on them just because they started the drugs, emagine what they would be like in the future if they had no one there to tell the NO. 
well now my mates know what kind of person i am and they no that when they talk about drugs infront of me they know i will tell them about how disapointed i am in them.

most of them stoped now because that was my challange/goal.

no one diserves to be left alone to drugs and bad habbits and thats why i want to make a diffrence , its about “capturing hearts and minds” .
we start to change and we mean to go on. nelson mandela one said “once one has climbed the highest mountain, he realises there are many more to come”

i finally realised a goal dosnt get given to you with out hard work and with out hard work how can we ever expect that this world will change?
well it will not :D

sorry if im boring everyone lol

im a 16 year old boy with a big dream of geting out of this place i live in because bad things will happen soon. i could get my head kicked in by the gang or somthing like that
i now have no other option but to join the army and i dont want to because i want peace, i am against killing but things like that i would have to do to get away from here

the army is the only way i can get away from here because of money. for me i still think i changed my silly ways to late and there is no second chance but im on a mission to prove my SELF wrong and have a better life.

i have writen a song and it goes like this:

 

One day that day this day

My story of life


One day I will reach the sky n

Think of all the people dieing

Over the world I watch you needing


Because I will never be your one

You peace

 Your diamond

Or your sun


Its never!

Its never too late…


One day I'll fly

One day you'll fly




Then that day your luck is in

You've travelled the world

You've seen everything

Its crazy



Everyday I wonder why were here

How everyone

Lives a life of fear

Because change


Chang

Change


One day I'll fly

One day you'll fly


From this day on we'll all be great

Lets carry on

With out a life of fait


Its easy

Too easy


One day ill fly

One day you'll fly


We will all fly like a kite

And then

we'll all Shine O so bright

For freedom

And peace


This day has come and you have a child

You look around

The worlds gone wild

Like I told you


One day I will reach the sky n

Think of all the people dieing

Over the world I watch you needing


Because I will never be your one

You hope

 Your peace

Or you're raising sun


One day we'll fly

One we'll fly together

Into a better world

it explains everything and one day i wish to get my song out to the whole world and that is some anbition of mine ;)

i am sitting in my room bord stiff so i thought i write this on be half of janie lakes and micheal grove

love you lotes
xxxjoshxxx

Name: josh cicatello
Age: 16
location: England
E-mail: sexychico_15@hotmail.co.uk

i put my details because if anyone wants a chat just email me i love to talk to people :D

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