For three years now (and counting), the staff and I have had a holiday tradition – one that seems to have become a favorite for all of us. We pick a charity to receive half the proceeds from our Holiday Special, and in the last blog I told you the three groups we’d narrowed it down to. But what happened next was an NICABM first . . . Usually there’s some friendly debate about what organization should be chosen, and the voting is normally spread among the finalists. But this year we came to a unanimous decision. We’re excited to…

We’re not too tied to tradition in this office. We’re actually always pushing ourselves to try new things. But there’s one annual tradition that I appreciate an awful lot. Every year, around mid-December, we gather the staff to choose a charity for our Holiday Special. And what always encourages me is the industrious and thorough work that our youngest staff members do to prepare. These are our student interns – bright kids who do so much at the Institute. And they’re among the most passionate about this particular tradition. Here’s how it works: each staffer can promote a charity. They…

Being a preacher’s daughter, I grew up well-acquainted with a number of Bible verses, the oft-quoted and obscure alike. But one passage that’s resonated more and more with me over the years is Matthew 25:40: In as much as you take care of the least of these, you take care of me. I come from a family who showed me that, even in the leanest of times, you should give your tithe. And during times of blessing and abundance, it feels all the more like a natural reflex to seek out ways to share and give back. It’s now two…

Already we’re starting to hear less and less about Hurricane Sandy, and not even two weeks have gone by. But as the days grow colder and the nights longer, for those hit hardest, recovering from the extreme hardship is getting even tougher. In the most devastated areas of Delaware, New Jersey, New York and Connecticut, people are still sorting through much of the wreckage – and will be for many months to come. Circumstances like these arouse the compassion and empathy that lies within each of us and we look for ways to lighten the burden of those most affected….

In our last blog post I wrote about the amazing chain of events that occurred when one man, Rick Ruzzamenti, decided to donate one of his kidneys. His selfless donation led to 29 other kidney donations and linked together 60 donors and recipients in a long chain. But there is another hero in that story who personally inspired me. In the US, “donation reciprocity” is possible because many people in need of a transplant know someone who would like to donate to them, but can’t due to immunological incompatibility. In these cases, it’s possible for the recipient to receive a…

You may remember just over a month ago, when we promised to donate half of the registration fees from our Holiday Package to charity:water. We sent in $37,500 to be exact. The Holiday Package charity is an annual project that the staff chooses. (I don’t vote, since I get to choose the other charities that we fund. You can see my charity choices here.) We had gone through an involved process here, trying to decide which organization should get the money, and had documented the process in one of our earlier blogs. But this week, we were again faced with…