Squid (she is very cool, as is her blog, and as are her kids) is trying to raise money for a local high school girl to participate in The Sojourn Project's ten-day journey retracing the American civil rights movement of the 50's and 60's. Here is Squid's original letter:

Like many of you, our family has decided to focus on the kind of holiday giving that makes a real difference. If you feel the same way, then consider the following opportunity:

My friend Amy Sandia is sixteen years old, and is a junior at Deadwood High School. She "has a dream," which is to go on a ten-day Sojourn Project journey (www.sojournproject.com) that will retrace the steps of the American civil rights movement in the 50's and 60's. I can only hope that my own children will show such a fierce interest in history and humanity when they reach her age.

Amy is a wonderful girl, from a wonderful family, but unfortunately her family cannot afford to pay for all of the trip's expenses. Amy has been doing quite a lot of fundraising, but has not yet reached her goal. The payment deadline of December 7th is looming.

If you are looking for a way to make a concrete difference in a local life--and to help groom the next generation of social activists--then please consider making a donation towards Amy's trip. It will make a lovely holiday gift in the name of your favorite historically savvy liberal.

Thank you,
Squid Rosenberg

Squid originally said she wanted to raise $200. We did that in 12 hours (the internet ROCKS!). Then the trickster said she told Amy she'd try to raise $1000 but she didn't want to be greedy on the blog.

Oh HELL, what do you think the blogosphere is for? It's for HELPING people in some way. This particular way happens to be by foregoing one's quad venti starbucks drink and sticking that $5 into the donation bucket. Go! Shoo! Do it!

Here's my own little story about The Sojourn Project: in my comp class on the day we discussed Martin Luther King's "Letter from Birmingham Jail," one of the quiet kids in the back stuck his hand up and was confident enough to say something insightful and useful for the rest of the discussion. He, too, had raised money and gone on The Sojourn Project's trip when he was in high school. He said it really changed him and he learned a lot. Hey, if a shy kid speaks up in class only once in the semester and it's about King and civil rights, I'm all for whatever got him there.

Here is a link to the Dropcash donation page. It's easy. I've used it multiple times to donate to things (including this, of course!!).