Category Archives: Philanthropy

January is Blood Donor Month

Donate blood

Will You Be Saving A Life And Donating In January?

January is Blood Donor Month, which means it is time for us to help change lives. There are a wide range of diseases and crises that call for the need for immediate blood. As a blood donor, we have the ability to transform an individual’s situation into a far less unpleasant one.

Donating blood on a regular basis is a very honorable habit, as it makes the world go round. There are a wide range of reasons why an individual would choose to become a blood donor, including knowing someone with an ailment that requires blood transfusions or simply believing it is the right thing to do. No matter what the reasoning is, our honorable efforts are greatly appreciated.

Blood is a liquid that circulates through the body via a pathway of blood vessels, arteries and veins, carrying nutrients, oxygen, antibodies and other necessities of life to every cell and tissue throughout the entire body. Blood is also the means by which waste and waste byproducts are removed from the cells. Think of the circulatory system as a transportation system consisting of vehicles, roads and highways, similar to how we move goods and products throughout the world!

Of course, we don’t have little vehicles speeding through our veins, so how does blood do this? Whole blood is made up of red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets, all which are suspended in a fluid called plasma. Each of these components of our blood has a very specific and important job.

Red blood cells contain hemoglobin, a type of protein that gives blood its red color, and are primarily responsible for carrying fresh oxygen throughout the body while removing spent carbon dioxide from the cells.

White blood cells are very important to our immune system; they protect us from foreign invaders such as bacteria, viruses and fungi.

Platelets are the smallest-sized components in whole blood, but they are mighty in importance. They are responsible for blood clotting, which helps stop bleeding should we suffer from a cut or other trauma to the circulatory system.

Plasma is the fluid protein and salt solution in which the red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets are suspended. Plasma is 90 percent water and also contains several proteins that aid in blood clotting and the creation of antibodies. It is vital in providing blood volume, hydration, and mineral exchanges throughout the body, which are critical for proper cell function.

A whole blood donation can be separated into its different components and used for specific treatments for cancer or other illnesses, bleeding disorders or traumatic injury. In fact, since a single blood donation can be separated into components, your donation may help three different transfusion patients!

Medical advances and modern surgical techniques, (such as cancer treatments, organ transplants and open heart surgery), have increased the need for blood. In addition, the advancing age of the Baby Boomer generation has caused stress on the blood supply. Our national blood supply must be ready for everyday needs as well as the unexpected, such as accidents, natural or manmade disasters. Volunteer blood donors are needed year-round.

All blood is not the same! Different people have different blood types.

Changing the face of the world! Steven Svoboda

Maria & Steven Svoboda August 2014

At the Maria Sanchez Show, we try and focus as much as possible on good news. Oftentimes it isn’t so easy to do so. For whatever reason, the human condition appears to need stimulation and we find it in salacious, dramatic, tragic situations. Thus the rubber necking that occurs on our roadways when there is an accident.

This is why the media focuses on blood and guts. Either we have prurient interest or we want to be distracted so very much from our own existences that we focus on the horror.

Enter one of my idols, a man that I am proud to call a collaborator, and someone who is literally changing the way we look at an issue that was traditionally and socially acceptable – male circumcision.

When I first met Steven, I was working at an NPR affiliate as a talk show host and I brought him on the program to talk about female genital mutilation and what was occurring at that time in Africa.

In our conversation, Steven compared that atrocity with male circumcision. Of course I rebuffed his words and the concept as “our” circumcision in the United States is conducted by a mohel (a Jewish practitioner) or a physician, in clean, sanitary, well lit and controlled circumstances.

After all I argued, my father, my 2 brothers, my 3 sons and my ex-husband were all circumcised. That’s just what we do. That’s how ignorant I was at that time in my life.

Steven’s point to me then and to this day (we’re talking late ’90s) was, “genital mutilation is genital mutilation, regardless of the gender and the circumstances.”

That began a 15+ year of professional collaboration. I affectionately have called Steven our “Circumcision Correspondent” because he visits with us whenever circumcision is in the news.

The organization he founded 20+ years ago which is his passion to this day, Attorneys for the Rights of the Child, seeks to educate people, physicians, cultures, countries about surgically removing viable skin for cosmetic reasons. www.arclaw.org for more information.

Steven and I had never met in person. This picture of the two of us was taken last Friday, August 22 in Santa Monica, CA as we finally had an opportunity to speak to one another face to face.

I hope you’re helping to make this world a better place! Steven is a shining example of that.

Thursday, August 7th, 2014 – G2G Collection

G2GWin/win/win is a goal of our program as well as attempting to help make our world a better place.  When you combine luxury travel destinations with philanthropy, you are on to something.

Please join Maria as she visits with the creator of one such enterprise.  Rob Vaka shares with Maria about an entity that he created with Adam Capes.

It is a luxury destination club targeting individuals with an opportunity to become members of an organization that will save them money and change their lives, as well as our world.

Rob explains how the business works, how one may join, how charities benefit, how it may actually save us money and the luxury properties that are available all over the world.

There are several plans to avail oneself of with locations on the beach, in the world, at ski destinations, yachts, resorts, mountains, city and voluntourism locales.

The G2G Collection’s Giving Plan Foundation gives members’ charity of choice five percent of the nightly rate each time they travel but more importantly, members contribute $7,500 to their favorite charity and receive the tax deduction.

There are more than 100 charity partners.  In a year and a half, G2G Collection has generated more than $1.25 million for these charities and they have a goal of raising $1 Billion for charity every decade! 

As Rob shares in the conversation, “life is short, I’m a 15 year cancer survivor, what we remember most about our lives is our experiences, not things.”

If you own a property that you feel might meet the standards of G2G, you may contact them about the opportunity as well.

It’s not often that we can give and get, so please listen to the conversation so you may learn more about how this is possible in today’s world. 

G2G Collection, travel beyond the destination.

Click here for their website.

Wednesday, June 25th, 2014 – Sarah, The Tree & Her Road to Recovery

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Please join Maria as she visits with a mother whose 17 year old daughter suffered a horrific tragedy eight weeks ago.  Mother Nature fell on her daughter as she was walking to high school.  Learn more about this story and what you can do to help this family recover and experience a miracle.

 

You can help Sarah by Clicking This Link to her Fund Me page!   Any donation you can make will get Sarah on the road to recovery.

 

Click the player button below to hear Sarah’s story…

 

World Martini Day is Today!

MartiniGlasses2Today is World Martini Day that is, for you to shake up, or stir your inner Bond and enjoy one of the most iconic cocktails.

The martini is one of history’s most iconic cocktails, from its humble beginnings as a vermouth heavy libation in the 1860s, through the Bond era, into the ‘tini’ madness of the 80s and 90s, and up to present day… where anything goes.

Drinking a martini is a very individual experience, and although the ingredients are few, the possibilities are endless. With that in mind, we are wondering how will you prepare your martini today, World Martini Day, June 19th?

From the 1800s to the Bond era, the martini has persisted as a cultural icon. Whether it’s shaken, stirred or straight up with a garnish of lemon, the possibilities are limitless.

Go on, join the likes of Bond, Bogart, Fitzgerald and FDR, and make this iconic cocktail with your own vodka.

Personally, I’ve been drinking martinis for many years.  I even have a martini glass collection.  Enjoy!