Thank you for your interest in Do Good Adventure and its activities. Here is our latest news! -Russell
August 30, 2013–After a fun, relaxing summer at home, I am back at school. Today was Outreach Tulane, a day on which hordes of Tulane students spread throughout the city and volunteer. The team for which I was lead project coordinator cleaned the sculpture garden at the New Orleans Museum of Art. I look forward to continuing my work as an R.A. this semester and to serving as Vice-President of Civic Engagement for Tulane’s dorms. Oh, and I’ll be volunteering at ARNO, Animal Rescue New Orleans, starting next week. I can’t wait!
May 21, 2013–It is always a treat to hear from teens, and organizational representatives, I met on the road trip. Many thanks to each of you who stays in touch and lets me know about your do good adventure. The school year has ended. One of the highlights has been learning about the volunteer and philanthropic work of my classmates. Truly inspiring. I became an R.A. (Residential Advisor) in March and enjoy being with and helping my fellow residents. I’m looking forward to my summer in San Diego…and to coming back to New Orleans in the fall.
January 3, 2013–It has been an honor to be a resident, and vice-president of Wall Residential College. The students there enjoy banding together to make the campus, and the city, better and stronger. Even with a hurricane hitting town the first week of school didn’t slow anyone down. In fact, my time sheltered in the dorm gave me a deeper appreciation of what the Katrina victims suffered. They continue to be in my thoughts as they continue to rebuild their lives seven years later.
August 15, 2012–I am excited to head to Tulane University in New Orleans next week. My road trip visit to NOLA helped convince me to spend my next four years in this wonderful, healing city. I look forward to starting the next chapter of my Do Good Adventure. Thank you for taking the ride with me.
June 15, 2012– Summer is underway! Do Good Adventure founder Russell Lyons is in Warwick, New York, for the next five weeks working at Kutz Camp‘s program for teens with Autism Spectrum Disorder.
May 7, 2012– Our focus continues to be attending events around San Diego that promote teen volunteerism. We had fun walking at Friendship Circle of San Diego‘s Friendship Walk last week and participating in JServe which mobilizes Jewish teens for a day of volunteerism each week. Do Good Adventure founder Russell Lyons was honored to share Words Alive‘s Youth Volunteer of Year award with Sharada Narayan. We are excited to announce that, thanks to our funding partners and our fiscal sponsor, the Jewish Community Foundation of San Diego, the Do Good Drawing has been extended again and will continue until September, 2012.
April 14, 2012–Do Good Adventure continues to meet and consult with nonprofit organizations that are interested in expanding outreach to teen potential volunteers. Thanks to our funding partners, the Do Good Drawing contest which was originally scheduled to end in March, 2011, has been extended to May. We have been consolidating information from the road trip and will enhance the resources for teens and organizations on this web-site by Memorial Day week-end.
March 21, 2012–Do Good Adventure continues to extend its reach thanks to CW6’s “San Diego Living” which aired a segment about teen volunteerism on March 16th. As follow up to visits last fall with legislators in Washington D.C., I am beginning to meet with legislators’ San Diego office. Thank you to Senator Dianne Feinstein’s office for welcoming me this week.
March 13, 2012–I am honored to be the “For the Win” honoree this week and to have a guest entry on the White House blog. On March 18th, Do Good Adventure will participate in Project Concern International‘s Walk for Water. We will be walking with Liza Gurtin, Do Good Adventure’s September, 2011, Do Good Drawing winner and supporting an important teen-led effort to prevent disease world-wide.
March 5, 2012–For the last week of the Do Good Adventure road trip, I am volunteering with Words Alive, a San Diego literacy organization. I first volunteered here when I was four years old and I am excited to see how Words Alive has grown since then. As sad as I am to see the road trip end, I am happy to be home after six months of travel. The road trip may be over, but Do Good Adventure is just getting going.
February 29, 2012–We are planting trees in Portland with Friends of Trees this week. All this rain should certainly help the saplings grow strong and tall.
February 23, 2012–After visiting Seattle for a few days, we headed to Washington’s Olympic Peninsula to volunteer. From our hotel room, we can see the beautiful Hood Canal glimmering against a backdrop of snowy mountains. I’m volunteering with a couple of organizations this week, both of which are dedicated to preserving marine life on the canal. Long Live the Kings is committed to restoring wild salmon and steelhead trout to the waters here and the Hood Canal Salmon Enhancement Group works to protect salmon habitats. So far this week I have surveyed trout spawning grounds, tested water samples and planted native plants where invasive plants once grew.
February 14, 2012–We are volunteering at Give Kids the World, a nonprofit resort in Central Florida for kids with life threatening illnesses and their families. This amazing facilities offers families a respite from doctor’s visits and treatments as the children have their Disney, Universal and Sea World wishes fulfilled. It even has a carousel, a castle and ice cream for breakfast. The kids and their families respond in kind, relax, have fun and are gracious to each volunteer.
February 10, 2012–After 12,000 miles of driving, we are flying to Florida to volunteer at Give Kids the World. Hope you’ll check out the videos from our visit to Best Friends Animal Sanctuary.
February 6, 2012–The trip odometer has topped 11,000 miles for the Do Good Adventure road trip. This week we are back in Kanab, Utah, volunteering at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary. From taking pigs for walks to feeding horses to having dogs stay overnight for a sleepover, I enjoy every minute of my experience here.
February 2, 2012–I’m in Vegas thise week, volunteering again with Three Square, the only food distribution center in Southern Nevada. While collecting and distributing meals for food insecure individuals is a top priority here, this week they are also focusing on thanking their donors for making the important work possible. Lots of phone calls to be made and I’m happy to help make them.
January 23, 2012–After a leisurely drive up the beautiful California coast, we have arrived in San Francisco. The trip odometer topped 10,000 on the way! This week, I’ll be volunteering at The Exploratorium, a world famous science musuem.
January 16, 2012–There are currently more than 400,000 youth in our foster care system nationwide, 30,000 of whom will age out of the system this year. This week, I am volunteering with Lilly’s Fostering Hearts, a new nonprofit that mobilizes the entertainment community in Los Angeles to support foster youth.
December 7, 2011–Bingo, ice cream socials…what’s not to enjoy! I had a fun week volunteering and helping at Handmaker, a residential facility for Tucson’s seniors. My paternal great grandmother had lived in this home when she had Alzherimer’s so my family has a strong connection to the place. Now, after driving more that 9,000 miles in 25 states and volunteering at nearly a dozen organizations in different cities we are home in San Diego for the holidays. We look forward to continuing the adventure in January.
November 29, 2011–It was a wonderful treat to fly home to be with family for Thanksgiving. This trip has helped my realize home much I have to be thankful for, especially my family. We flew back to our car in Houston and are now on the road again. Eating and sight seeing on San Antonio’s Riverwalk provided a welcome break from the road. A trip to the Alamo brought to life the battle I had read about last year in American history class. Although we were scheduled to be in El Paso this week, our partnering organization had to cancel at the last minute. So, we headed into Tucson today. The trip odometer topped 8,000 miles as we hit town.
November 16, 2011–This week we are collecting and distributing food, clothes and bedding to homeless families through Houston’s Emergency Aid Coalition. Do Good Adventure was honored to be nominated as a “top San Diego aha moment”. Here is an interview with our travel advisor, Kamie Cicinelli describing her aha moment regarding the adventure.
November 14, 2011–Once Green Light New Orleans totaled our work for the week, we learned that we had installed 277 light bulbs, saving 109,138 kwh of energy, $12,742 in energy bills and 123,819 lbs of CO2 from entering the atmosphere. Time to change out those light bulbs folks!
November 10, 2011–The trip odometer reads 6,500 miles. While our free time in New Orleans has been touristy and fun (the beignets are as delicious as I had been led to believe), I have been moved by the people in whose homes I installed light bulbs with Green Light New Orleans. Many of them had lost their homes and possessions during Katrina.Their stories of loss and determination to rebuild were both heartbreaking and inspiring. Equally as inspiring was the couple who chose to live in the 9th ward after Katrina in an effort to motivate others to return to the area.
November 2, 2011–We got out of Washington, D.C. just a few hours before the Nor’easter hit and spent a fun, relaxing week-end in Blackburg, Virginia and Asheville, North Carolina. There are more than 1.5 million homeless kids in this country, a third of whom are younger than I am. This week I am part of Atlanta’s Stand Up For Kids team, reaching out to kids living on the streets.
October 27, 2011–After 5,000 miles of driving towards the east coast, we have now started to head south. Washington, D.C. has been a whirlwind of meetings with legislative representatives and youth policy makers. I find it fascinating to learn how members of the different sectors of our community–political, business, nonprofit–perceive their roles in engaging the next generation of volunteer and philanthopic leadership.
October 21, 2011–The visits with family and friends have continued as I visited Rochester, New York, where my paternal grandfather was born and raised, followed by a stop in Stamford, Connecticut, where my mom grew up. Seeing Niagara Falls for the first time added a touring element to this end of the trip. Then, we were in one of my favorite cities, New York. The fun of shows, good food and sightseeing was tempered by the knowledge of how many people there (and elsewhere) don’t have their basic needs of food and shelter met. Volunteering at Grand Central Neighborhood Social Services‘ soup kitchen, a few blocks away from Times Square, showed me the human face of this challenge…one we can’t afford to ignore.
October 10, 2011–Both of my grandparents were born and raised in Michigan. So this area is not only full of family history, it is also full of relatives.I have heard more stories about my ancestors in the past few days than I have in the past 17 years. I have enjoyed catching up with relatives, some of whom I’ve never met before. Visiting my maternal grandmother’s grave for the first time was a paricularly touching experience. Friendship Circle of Michigan, the organization at which I’m volunteering this week, does an amazing job of helping kids with disabiities. They are also very good to their teen volunteers and even have a slurpee machine and xbox in the volunteer break room.
October 5, 2011–Our week in St. Louis, Missouri, is almost at an end. The leaves are turning yellow and red and we even saw a few fall off their trees as we walked the campus of Washington University in St. Louis (my mom’s alma mater) today. Volunteering at The Women’s Safe House, a 50 bed shelter for victims of donestic abuse and their children has been an eye-opening experience. The trip odometer reads 3,150 miles and we are headed to Michigan.
September 29, 2011–After travelling through the beautiful Bryce, Zion and Rocky Mountain National Parks, as well as going up and down Vail Mountain, we arrived in Boulder, Colorado, to gorgeous fall weather. We have enjoyed “saving the oceans from a mile high” with Colorado Ocean Coalition and are ready to head out to St. Louis, Missouri. The trip odometer reads 1,700 miles.
September 20, 2011–This week we are having fun helping animals at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary, the largest no-kill animal shelter in the world. The odometer reads 600 miles and we are in Kanab, Utah.
September 15, 2011–It is week two of the Do Good Adventure tour, we have been volunteering at Three Square in Las Vegas. The trip odometer reads 450 miles.
September 15, 2011–The La Jolla Village News has provided the first newpaper coverage of Do Good Adventure. Read about it on our “media” page.
September 5, 2011–The Do Good Adventure Tour 2011-12 begins.