Milk&Co has Brainwave and you can too!

Michael Klim is one of Australia’s greatest swimmers, rising to prominence in 1997 when he set a world record at the Australian Championships for the 100m Butterfly – a record Michael held for 6 years. As an entrepreneur and founder of the highly successful skincare company Milk & Co with his wife Lindy Klim who effortlessly manages her role as full-time mum with a hectic career in the media spotlight. She is the face and brains behind skincare range, Milk & Co Baby.

Brainwave provides practical assistance and emotional support to children with neurological conditions as well as their families and carers to positively impact their quality of life. Michael & Lindy Klim are Patrons and Ambassadors dedicated to promoting the Brainwave Australia brand and continue to be a generous and committed supporters of the cause.

       

OFFER

For the month of June 2015, Milk & Co will donate $1 from every 375ml bottle of Milk Baby Bath Time Wash and Milk Baby Shampoozle & Conditioner sold at Coles and Woolworths stores nationally to Brainwave.

All money raised will help fund much-needed programs including mobility and rehabilitation and ongoing therapies and family events which provide emotional support and promote social inclusion.

Brainwave’s General Manager, Caroline Scully, is over the moon, and so grateful to Michael and Lindy for their tireless support. “We are so proud to have Michael as our Patron and Lindy as our Ambassador. They’re the real deal – warm people who love kids and regularly take time out of their own busy lives to come along to family days and fundraising events year in, year out. We’re so lucky to have them, and their positive impact on our children and families is profound.”

 

Balvic Plumbing – Mitcham Junior Football Club – More than a sponsor

Jeff & Fiona Balman of Balvic Plumbing have been sponsors of the Mitcham Junior Football Club (JFC) for three years as part of the Eastern Football League (EFL) in Melbourne, Victoria. Their son, Sam, plays for the Under 12’s although last year had a serious injury that no footballer ever needs, ‘total knee reconstruction’ from a clash of bodies in the second round of the 2014 season. Regardless of injury Sam continued to hold a key support role and returned to play this week helping them to their eighth straight win for the 2015 season …… Go Tigers!.

Gavin Ward, Operations Manager for the Mitcham Football Club said that “The owner operators of Balvic Plumbing really show the heart and soul of the community by continuing to be sponsors of our club even while their son couldn’t play, they are great role models to all of our players.”

When Asked as to why Balvic Plumbing are sponsors for the club, Fiona Balman said “Mitcham Football Club is such a great part of the community and it is our way of giving back. Every weekend we see committed volunteers helping out and we really like being a part of that.”

OFFER:

Balvic Plumbing are qualified technicians providing services to those in need of new of heating, cooling or hot water solutions for their home. Promote this story amongst your friends and family that have a problem with heating this winter or are getting ready for a hot summer. Balvic Plumbing offers a 10% discount on labour to pension card holders, quote this discount code to them BALVIC2015 when contacting them.

Give  Balvic Plumbing a go – contact them at  info@balvicplumbing.com.au or a call on 1300 887 632

2015 Sponsors of Mitcham Junior Football Club

Deers, tears and a great surprise

You don’t have to be a celebrity to give back, in fact many people give back every day of their lives and ask for nothing in return.

Ms Cindi Grady a Waitress Missouri USA was having a run of bad luck, including having run into 5 deers in her car. In fact her car was so badly damaged that cosmetically it looked like a wreck.

This beaten up vehicle caught the attention of small business owners from Central Arkansas Tool Supply, Gary and Roxann Tackett of Quitman, Arkansas. They made some inquiries at the restaurant in which Cindi works and then went about replacing her beaten up vehicle with a much better one.

Gary & Roxann did this for no reason other than wanting to have a positive impact in peoples lives, they are role models within their community and #impactambassadors.

Support them by visiting their store – https://www.facebook.com/CATSquitman/reviews?ref=page_internal

Yao Ming, Prince William & David Beckham stand tall against ivory trade

If you were to be the person responsible for killing the last elephant on earth for its ivory, would you be proud ….  and I don’t mean just the person that physically kills the #lastelephant but the people responsible for the trade in their ivory and the end consumers. The price of ivory when this occurs will, by current trends, be so high it will only be purchased by the mega wealthy. The wholesale price of ivory in China has gone from approximately USD$750 in 2010 a kilogram to about $2100 a kilogram in just 4 years. What will it be in another 5 years.

Why is this? The wealthy are going to be responsible for wiping out one of the grandest animals on earth! Greed, prestige …. is it worth it? Former NBA star and Chinese icon, Yao Ming doesn’t think so and has launched a major public awareness campaign targeting consumption of ivory and rhino horn in China in partnership with WildAid, Save the Elephants, African Wildlife Foundation, and the Yao Ming Foundation.

We are all ambassadors you don’t need to be Yao Ming, Prince William or David Beckham to become an Impact Ambassador and stand against the trade in elephant, rhino or or tiger products. But, we do appreciate their help.

Join with people from China, the United States and around the globe in taking the Ivory Free pledge. Be IVORY FREE and do your part to end the massacre of Africa’s elephants.

Crowdfunding isn’t new!

When we think of crowdfunding our minds generally go straight to online platforms like http://www.kickstarter.com that have seen great success in attracting small (& large) investment dollars from many people. In fact you can support all ranges of ideas from a a new bands music production to films, games, new cars, energy saving devices …. the list goes on!

Now, I’m not going to be so brave as to place a time and date on when the first ‘crowdfunding’ took place. It would have definitely been during a period before charities existed, even money as it is in our nature to help those around us, especially within families, the communities in which we live or groups we support. The collection of donations for charity to those less fortunate than ourselves is most definitely crowdfunding in its true form.

Businesses assist in crowdfunding to support projects based on their own belief systems, the people that buy products or services of those businesses in turn support the projects as well. Some businesses even build it into the experience of the their offering as well.

World Expeditions has been working with Free the Bears since 2005, providing unique eco-adventures for their consumers to visit sanctuaries in Cambodia, India, Laos and Vietnam.

Once such Free the Bears journey to India where nearly 600 bears have been saved visits the Agra Bear Sanctuary and travels south to the Bannerghatta Bear Rescue Centre. Where you have the opportunity to work at both sanctuaries and meet the very bears you are supporting. The Free term Bears CEO, Matt Hunt joins you at Bannerghatta where the last Dancing Bear was removed from the streets of India.

Besides bringing hundreds of Free the Bear supporters closer to the bears themselves, World Expeditions have so far donated more than $180, 000 towards their work! Great work World Expeditions!

Through Free the Bears you can in fact crowd fund support for these animals and sponsor you very own bear here – Sponsor a Bear

Baby tears, ebola and pure tragedy

It’s an interesting debate raging across the internet as to if Bob Geldof was right to attempt to recreate the Band Aid success of 1984 in 2014. Was he right to do this or would it have been better to ‘not do’ it at all? Or should he have done it this way instead of that?

Surely it is better to do something against ebola than not at all, to have the discussion and further raise awareness of this awful disease? A nurse died from ebola because she wiped a tear away from a dying babies face!

Do we want to see the confronting image of a dying woman being taken from her house at the start of their video, NO but this is the negative impact of ebola:

For all those people out there that think it it was wrong to recreate Band Aid ……. what’s your positive impact on the world?

You don’t even have to buy the music ….. you can donate directly by visiting here – http://www.bandaid30.com

 

 

We can all have a #greatimpact on the environment

At Visy, they love to recycle.

Recycling isn’t a new thing for Visy either. They have actually been at the forefront of the recycling industry for many years – and today they process recyclables from more than 3.2 million households annually.

Visy believes the key to recycling is to see the bigger picture. It’s not just about what they do with their waste, it’s about how they create products to begin with and use recycled materials as the starting point for many products.

Ultimately, it’s the goal at Visy to find ways of recycling more and more materials until we live in a world where waste is a thing of the past. In fact they are asking all of us to take a pledge to so as well.

 

Every part of the process counts. The waste materials Visy collect, what they transform them into and how it’s done. Visy aims to be environmentally responsible every step of the way, by teaming up with governments, customers and other industry groups to make sure this happens. Together, Visy works to save resources, energy and water, and reduce litter and landfill.

Visy runs an educational program for school aged children, more details on how to access this can be found HERE

IMPACT: In FY2012-13 alone, Visy recovered more than 1.5 million tonnes of paper and cardboard, 343,000 tonnes of glass, 65,000 tonnes of plastics and 28,000 tonnes of metals (including aluminium and steel cans) to be recycled.

This is a BIG idea – Walmart

Take just a short time to consider the #greatimpact projects that Walmart are involved in, they had 245,000,000 happy customers in 2014:

“At Walmart we believe we have an opportunity and a responsibility to make a difference on the big issues that matter to us all. Issues like preserving the environment, fighting hunger, empowering women and providing access to healthy, affordable food. Walmart is driving meaningful change in a way that no other company can. And we’re committed to using our size and scale to help the world live better.”

How powerful is that, even more these are basic ideals that every business could / should have no matter how small.

IMPACT: Too many to mention in one post, not sure where to start on this company. What about their economic impact? Each week, more than 245 million customers and members visit nearly 11,000 Walmart stores under 71 banners in 27 countries and e-commerce websites in 10 countries, Walmart employs 2.2 million associates worldwide.

Red Hot Impact – Silverlake Conservatory

Anyone can take inspiration from this story by self confessed (past)
delinquent Michael “Flea” Balzary bassist for the famous band Red Hot Hot Chili Peppers.

Nothing else needs to be said – just look at the passion he has for the Silverlake Conservatory

This is a great example of how people are inspired by music!

IMPACT: 700+ kids have now had access to music to change their lives just like Flea.

This is how impact works in our economy – The story of Hopwas Woods in Staffordshire

At Impact Embassy we report on people, products and organisations that have a positive impact on the world. We are purposefully optimistic and focus on the good stuff! If we / you do not like a product / service do not buy anything from that company (if possible) and make your voice known when you are that strongly against them. There are lots of resources for doing this online….. just not here at Impact Embassy.

In Staffordshire, United Kingdom there is a forest known as Hopwas Woods. The locals had heard of proposed plans to comment quarrying in the woods and made their support known against any such plan by Lafarge Tarmac. Working with the Woodland Trust – “The action and quick thinking by locals, especially over the last week, such as the Friends of Hopwas Wood (running since 2004), as well as support from Staffordshire Wildlife Trust and many other groups across the county and country has ensured that Hopwas Wood will remain intact.” said a representative of the Woodland Trust.

Lafarge Tarmac actually owns a large tract of Hopwas Woods and many other areas throughout the United Kingdom.

Stuart Wykes, director of land and natural resources at Lafarge Tarmac, said: “Following dialogue with stakeholders and partners we have asked Staffordshire County Council to withdraw the Hopwas Woods proposal from the Minerals Local Plan. “We pride ourselves on working in harmony with local communities and want to do so at Hopwas Woods”

“We did not have firm plans to develop Hopwas but intended to use the public consultation on the Minerals Local Plan as an opportunity for dialogue to agree a way forward.”

NOTE: Use their drop down playlist and watch video N0.4 “ULTIAMTE LAND”

This certainly fits in with the basis for Impact Embassy – if you really believe in something then fight for it and support it. Build it into your belief system and purchasing habits. The smart businesses do listen and work to ensure they have a positive impact through their business operations and make it part of their day to day operations.

This should be recognised and encouraged and this is what we should all be about. What is your passion that you would fight for OR what are you currently fighting for?

IMPACT: Hopwas Woods saved!