Tag: #volunteering

Episode 102: Kindness Is ASK A DOCTOR About VEGANISM AND HEALTH

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Happy New Year! In this month’s session of ASK A DOCTOR, Anitha is joined by Dr. Tushar Mehta, an emergency room physician who also has great knowledge and expertise when it comes to health and diet.

Dr. Mehta talks to Anitha about the positive aspects of a plant-based diet, including reducing the risk of heart disease, diabetes, obesity and even certain types of cancer. But they also talk about essential nutrients folks on a plant-based diet need to ensure they are getting, such as protein, calcium, zinc and B-12.

Dr. Mehta provides examples of sustainable and accessible foods like whole foods and enriched soy milk which is an excellent source of protein, calcium and zinc. He also dispels the negative myths about soy milk and why these myths were so widespread.

To learn more about Dr. Mehta and his research, you can follow him here:

@EcoDocTush on BlueSky and Twitter.

To learn more about adding a healthy plant-based diet to your life, check out this website:

 Plant Based Data

As a thank you to Dr. Mehta for sharing so much of his knowledge, Anitha donated to Ecole Communautaire de Santo. Established in 1993, it is the first community school in the Santo area of Port au Prince, Haiti. Dr. Mehta is personally involved in funding this school where over 600 children attend yearly.

To learn more about ECS and the programs they offer click here:

haiti community school

If you have a medical issue you’d like discussed on the podcast, please send Anitha an email through her website, anitharobinson.com

If your question is selected, Anitha will donate to a registered charity of your choice* as a thank you.

·       Registered Charity must support animals, the environment, or people. And also, no religious organizations, zoos or marine aquariums please.

Episode 101: Kindness Is Helping A Deer Named Thor

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Anitha rings in the holiday/Christmas season with her special guest Dawn Rasmussen. In May of 2020, Dawn and her husband discovered an abandoned/orphaned baby deer on their rural property. Dawn shares the story of caring for Thor (the name she eventually gave him). Dawn decided early on that Thor would not become a pet, and instead remain a wild animal. Though she bottle-fed him, brushed him and nurtured him, she also went to great lengths to ensure he grew up as a wild deer. Dawn talks about those early days of sleeping outside in a tent so that Thor would learn how to live outside while still receiving regular bottle feedings.

Thor is now a 100% self-sufficient wild deer who is part of a herd. From time to time, he still drops in for a visit to say ‘hello’ to the woman who raised him.

Thor the deer—a perfect story to celebrate the holidays!

To learn more about Thor and Dawn, check out their Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/ThorTheDeer

As a thank you to Dawn for sharing her story, Anitha donated to Rowena Wildlife Clinic. This clinic provides free veterinary care to injured wild animals and stray homeless domestic animals. To learn more about what they do, check out their website:

rowena wildlife clinic

 HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

To hear the full episode click here:

Episode 100: Kindness Is Celebrating 100 Episodes

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Anitha’s son, Daniel joins her to celebrate her milestone of 100 episodes of Kindness. Daniel thought it would be fun to switch things up and ask Anitha questions instead of the other way around. The two look back on the past four years of the podcast. Anitha reflects on whether her perception of kindness in the world has changed. Daniel also explores Anitha’s thoughts on her own kindness and what she would want her children and future grandchildren to know about kindness. A fun and honest conversation between son and mom.

Another change in routine for this episode was that Anitha chose the charity she donated to — Lola Ya Bonobo. This incredible charity is dedicated to providing orphaned baby bonobos a safe and healthy home. Bonobos are critically endangered apes. At Lola Ya Bonobo, bonobos learn how to live like bonobos again and those who can be are eventually released back into the wild!

To learn more about Lola Ya Bonobo, click here:  Lola Ya Bonobo Website

To hear the full episode, click here:

Episode 99: Kindness Is Being Kate

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Kate & Midget

Long-time friend, Kate Thompson joins Anitha to talk about the many animals Kate has helped from squirrels to raccoons, from cats to cats to more cats.

Kate and Murphy
Mookie
Mookie
Midget
Smuggles & Midget
Spooky looking out for Smuggles
Wally & Newton
Kate’s crew

Kate also shares her cancer diagnosis in hopes of raising awareness about cancer and early detection.

An incredible episode about an incredibly kind and brave person.

You can follow Kate through Instagram:

Kate’s personal instagram

Kate’s Hair Salon Instagram

As a thank you to Kate for sharing her story, Anitha donated to Courage Rock. This therapeutic riding centre established in June 2017 is a non-profit 501c3 organization that provides free services to veterans, first responders, and qualified family members.

To learn more about Courage Rock, click here: Website

Click here for the full episode:

Episode 96: Kindness Is Charlene Draws

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Author-illustrator, Charlene Chua joins Anitha as the podcast continues to feature authors during November and National Novel Writing Month.

In addition to talking about her journey as an artist, Charlene chats about her love for cats and how she used her artistic talents to help a cat named Max.

 She also discusses the pressures creators often feel when they decide to make the BIG move to working as a full-time artist.

A great episode for book lovers and cat lovers alike!

To learn more about Charlene, you can follow her here:

My website: www.charlenechua.com

Bookshop page: https://bookshop.org/shop/charlenedraws

As a thank you to Charlene for sharing her story, Anitha donated to Home At Last Rescue.  Founded in 2020, Home at Last Rescue (HALR) is a Registered Canadian Charity, that is 100% volunteer driven. They rescue cats from substandard living conditions and give them the loving homes they deserve.

To learn more about this rescue, click here: Home At Last Rescue

To hear the the full episode click here:

Episode 93: Kindness Is Sir Darius

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The incredible Sir Darius Brown joins Anitha to talk about his initiative— combining his love of sewing and his love of animals to help shelter animals find loving, forever homes.

Sir Darius has made thousands of bow ties for shelter animals, taken their photo, and shared these photos on social media. These adorable bow ties have helped save many, many dogs.

An inspiring episode of love and kindness making a huge impact.

Letter from President Obama

To learn more about Sir Darius check out the following links:

Sir Darius Website

Sir Darius Instagram

As a thank you to Darius for sharing his story, Anitha donated to Mt. Pleasant Animal Shelter in New Jersey. This shelter cares for homeless animals and works to find them permanent, loving homes. They also partner with shelters around the country to save at risk animals from being euthanized. Mt. Pleasant Animal Shelter never euthanizes any animal for time or space reasons. Adoptable animals reside at the shelter until they find their forever home.

To learn more about this shelter, check out their website: Mt. Pleasant Animal Shelter

To hear the full episode, click here:

Episode 92: Kindness Is Creating Freedom Farmhouse

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Emily Bott joins Anitha to talk about purchasing a property in 2018 that turned out to house a colony of 16 feral/barn cats. Emily and her partner, Dylan decided not only to allow the cats to remain on the property, but worked hard to gain the trust of the cats so they could be spayed/neutered and vaccinated. Life for the cats was so good, they eventually chose to live inside with Emily and Dylan!

These cats now enjoy being warm, safe, lounging on soft beds and so much more!

In the six years since moving to the property, Emily and Dylan have expanded their rescue journey to include farm animals such as donkeys and goats.

The farm’s mission is to provide compassionate care, rescue and sanctuary for animals in need. Emily shares some really heartwarming stories of the animals on the farm.

To learn more about Freedom Farmhouse, check out the following links:

Freedom Farmhouse Website

Freedom Farmhouse Instagram

As a thank you to Emily for sharing her story, Anitha donated to Rochester Emergency Veterinary Services.

This emergency veterinary hospital is fundraising to set up a new location to help more communities and more pets. To learn about what they do and what they are fundraising for, check out their website: REVS Website

To hear the full episode, click here:

Episode 90: Kindness Is Sammie’s Buddy Benches

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Fifteen-year-old Sammie Vance joins Anitha to talk about an initiative she started when she was eight years old, called Sammie’s Buddy Bench Project.

These benches not only help kids make friends, but they also help the environment since they are made from recycled plastic caps!

In the past seven years, Sammie has helped create over 500 buddy benches for schools all over the world.

Sammie is also the author of Inspire the World: A Kid’s Journey to Making a difference

And she shares her writing journey with Anitha.

An uplifting conversation with an incredible young person.

You can learn more about Sammie and all the wonderful things she’s doing here:

Website www.sammiesbuddybenchproject.com

IG: @sammiesbuddybenchproject

As a thank you to Sammie for sharing her story, Anitha donated to Project3R, a non-profit organization founded by sixteen-year-old Ryan Hickman. Project3R is dedicated to recycling and raising environmental awareness and education around the world. To learn more about this organization, click here: Project3R

To hear the full episode click here:

Episode 88: Kindness Is Remembering Wildlife

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Margot Raggett is a wildlife photographer, wildlife warrior and a cancer survivor. She joins Anitha and generously talks about these parts of her life.

After witnessing the death of a young elephant, a tragic victim of poaching, Margot felt compelled to help protect wild animals . . .and thus was born Remembering Wildlife.

The first book in the series, Remembering Elephants, brought together photographers from all of the world, including Margot, donating stunning photographs for the book, which came out in 2015. Since then, eight more books have been produced and to date $1.5 million dollars has been raised through the sale of these books to support 74 projects in 33 countries across Africa, North & South America, Asia and Europe.

The latest book in the series, Remembering Tigers, will be available October 2024.

You can purchase one or more or all of these gorgeous books and help protect wildlife by visiting the Remembering Wildlife website: Remembering Wildlife

To learn about some of the projects Remembering Wildlife supports, click here: Projects

On October 9th, Remembering Wildlife will host a special event to celebrate the release of Remembering Tigers. It will be an evening to showcase tiger conservation and wildlife photography. To attend the event in London, England in person or virtually, click here:

Remembering Tigers Live & Virtual Launch

As of the date of airing of this episode, Margot was still deciding on a charity she would like Anitha to donate to. Once Margot decides, Anitha will donate and provide details and a link to the charity.

To hear the full episode, click here:

Episode 87: Kindness Is Blankets For Baby Rhinos

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September 22 is World Rhino Day and to mark this special day when the world recognizes these incredible beings who are critically endangered, Anitha chatted with Elisa Best.

16.11.20 – Mirror Animal Hero Awards 2020 – Picture shows Elise Best at her workplace Rowe Vet Hospital in Bristol.

Elisa is originally from South Africa and works as a small animal veterinarian in the UK. Elisa talks about the plight of rhinos and her desire to help them, and how this evolved into the creation of Blankets For Baby Rhinos (BFBR).

This lovely group began by knitting blankets for orphaned rhinos, who are often both emotionally and physically traumatized when their mothers are killed by poachers. Rhino rescue groups discovered that baby rhinos find comfort when wrapped in these blankets.

BFBR has now grown to provide blankets for other animals such as injured and rescued pangolins, lions, leopards, as well as the dogs and humans who are part of anti-poaching units. These dogs and humans work bravely to protect rhinos from poachers.

To find out more about Blankets For Baby Rhinos and how you can support this incredible group, check out their website and their Facebook Page:

Website: Blankets For Baby Rhinos

Facebook: Blanket For Baby Rhinos FB

Elisa talked about an amazing place called Care For Wild Rhino Sanctuary. This is one of the rhino rescue groups, Blankets for Baby Rhinos supports. Care For Wild rescues, rehabilitates, releases, re-wilds and protects orphaned rhinos. In 2016, Anitha’s daughter had the privilege to volunteer at this sanctuary. Her daughter’s experience with the baby rhinos at Care For Wild inspired Anitha’s debut picture book, A Family For Faru. Care For Wild will always hold a special place in Anitha’s heart.

Daisy and Modjadji

To learn more about Care For Wild Rhino Sanctuary, please click on this link:  Care For Wild Rhino Sanctuary

Elisa also mentioned the importance of the anti-poaching unit to protect rhinos and the personal risk these brave men, women and dogs face every day. She mentioned a feature length documentary called RHINO MAN. This film focuses on the life of Anton Mzimba, who was the Head of Ranger Services at Timbavati Private Nature Reserve. Anton dedicated his life to protecting and conserving South African wildlife, and made great sacrifices to himself and his family to do so. Sadly, he was murdered in July of 2022. To learn more about this film, check out the following link:

Rhino Man

As a thank you to Elisa for sharing her story, Anitha donated to Blankets For Baby Rhinos.

To hear the full episode, click here: