Do you ride a bike?   Some of us do and some of us don’t. Either way we are all for social change and creating a greener environment. That’s why we gave this month’s grant to Roll-Up bike valet for free Park(ing) day,  submitted by the lovely Joyce Watts. We got together last night at South Yarra Trattoria thanks to Morgan’s recommendation. The place was filled with elderly citizens – we’re hoping this was a compliment to our level of intelligence. Luckily we were given a (sound proof) glass room to ourselves; Kristian’s voice alone would have cleared the restaurant. We ate pasta. Lots of it. Except for Kristian who is on a juice diet (go figure). So Joyce has an awesome idea. September 21 is International Parking Day. Individuals from around the world get together and take over parking spaces for the public to do… whatever they want. Joyce, working with the ever wicked Roll-Up wants to offer three car spaces up as Valet parking for bikes. She’ll be able to fit ten bikes in one car space. The aim? Joyce is trying to encourage more people to ride their bikes as a mode of transport – which we think is… read more →

We are proud to announce that this month, for the first time ever we have received over 1,000 grant applications worldwide in one month (1,018 to be precise). When the Awesome Foundation began in Boston, never could have we imagined during our first meetings that three years later we could have over a thousand applications per month from around the world, with dozens of chapters and hundreds of members all helping make the world a more awesome and beautiful place. Reviewing the grants is truly a wonderful experience as we get to see a small snapshot of how people around the world want to improve their communities, create amazing art, and make others smile through their awesome endeavors. Although we aren’t able to award grants to everyone, we know that many of the applicants find alternate methods of funding and go on to make great things happen with or without our assistance and nothing can stop their awesomeness. We are thankful to everyone who has applied and who will apply in the future. You are each awesome in your own way.  

The members of Awesome Mongolia are extremely excited to tell you about the formation of our first chapter, Awesome Sukhbaatar! The idea has been really popular in our small town of Baruun-Urt, located in the Sukhbaatar province of Mongolia.   Former Peace Corps Volunteer Travis Hellstrom and I started our group slowly with a couple of key local leaders who we knew would be interested and are always motivated to help the community. They expanded it quickly and we had our group of 10 in no time, not to mention the support of the local government, media, plus a few other interested members waiting for openings or even a second chapter! I will act as the co-dean for the next year with Aldarmaa, our province’s educational department foreign language specialist. To get our first project going, we decided to introduce the idea to the community through an essay contest hosted by the Education Department. The topic was “If I had 200,000 tugriks I would…” On Children’s Day, a major holiday on June 1st here in Mongolia, we will announce the winner and award the student with the prize (roughly $200 US) to make their awesome idea happen! Later, we’re also… read more →

A new Melbourne project, Poo Power!, which uses discarded dog waste from parks as a renewable energy source is the latest recipient of the Awesome Foundation, Melbourne Chapter. The grant was awarded to Duncan Chew who developed the project after watching people readily scoop their dog’s poo in plastic bags only to send it to landfill but wanting to find a more sustainable way. Duncan Chew discovered there is over 1,350 tonnes of dog waste to be disposed of every day in Australia – nearly half a million tonnes per year. Using this un-tapped resource, the project involves building a digester to convert the dog waste into a biogas. It will then be used in a Melbourne park in a public lighting installation as a community meeting place for use by dog owners and other visitors. “In researching the scope of the project we were intrigued by the strong sense of community amongst dog owners that congregate at these parks,” says Duncan Chew. “We want to nurture this relationship and build a biogas fueled ‘campfire’ where people can come together at this unique meeting space.” The $1000 grant will be used to contribute towards the cost of building the poo-powered… read more →