Shut up and do something

Last year, our very own Janet Stemwedel (of Adventures in Ethics and Science) introduced ScienceBlogs to DonorsChoose. Put simply, this organization matches a donor's funds with a grade school classroom project that donor wishes to fund. This means that if, like me, you go on and on about the sorry state of education in this country, you can actually shut up and do something about it in a very directed way.

A quick browse through the list of projects needing funding will open your eyes to the incredible devotion and creativity of this country's teachers--and the incredible dearth of resources in some of this country's schools. You'll see proposals asking for resources as basic as books, software, and lab equipment, but you'll also see some ambitious proposals from teachers hoping to create reading centers or organize amazing field trips. You can tailor your donation to help kids with special needs, or to fund projects at schools with poorer funding. Whichever project you help fund, it is almost certain that some kid, somewhere, will benefit from it.

You don't need to throw in a huge chunk of change: If every visitor to this site today donated just $5.00 to the challenge, we'd reach the challenge goal by noon. What's more, as soon as we meet that challenge, SEED Media will match our donation up to a total of $15,000.

Want prizes? Fine. Donate, and you can register to win fabulous prizes, including an iPod nano (Again! Dammit, why am I never eligible for the good contests?).

Ready to make the magic happen? Click here.