At the Crossroads is the brainchild of Rob Gitin, who wants to inspire homeless youth to dream big dreams and support them while they reach for them. A big part of that is building trust. At the Crossroads isn’t about telling people what do. It’s about helping them overcome obstacles and achieve their goals. It’s really an incredible program with a huge success rate. Watch a short documentary about their work.

“Thank you so much for doing such a incredible job volunteering with At The Crossroads last night! That was fantastic,” Gitin wrote us after our event. “We have had tons of volunteer events over the years at ATC. Last night was the most fun I can remember having. You were such an awesome, hard-working, fun group, asked great questions, and were a true pleasure to host. You got a ton accomplished! For the next couple of months, our clients will be enjoying the fruits of your labor. And, most importantly, because you chose to give your time, 60 clients in the upcoming month will be able to meet with our counselors, getting the support they need to build better lives. You made a real difference in the lives of our youth!”

No one will ever say that Sweeties don’t know how to have a good time.

After all our hardwork, we hit Orson, where a portion of the proceeds from our cocktails and dining benefited ATC.

A big thank you to our volunteeristas, Rob and Naomi from At the Crossroads and Sabrina and Elizabeth from Orson for making this an incredible, impactful and productive evening.

Like Chicken Little, since the late-80s I’ve been running around telling people, “The sky is falling.” When I saw “An Inconvenient Truth” in 2006, it was a profound visualization of that very thing. Watching polar bears drown, I felt powerless. The problem was so big. What could one little chicken do? It was overwhelming.

I hate feeling powerless. It pisses me off. If we’re going to solve these huge global problems, we need to feel empowered, inspired and energized. That’s how Sweet co-founder Jen Rainin and I struck upon the idea for Sweet. We asked ourselves: How can we make solving these problems fun? How can we get more people involved? Voila! Let’s travel the world and do simple community service projects where we can see a difference in a few hours.

In November 2009, we did that on our Sweet Caribbean Cruise. The feeling was phenomenal (see for yourself). Our voluntourista army replanted wetlands destroyed by Hurricanes Katrina and Hugo, refurbished a city park and installed a recycling program, pulled hundreds of bags of trash off beaches in Mexico, donated over 1,000 children’s books and a copier to a school in Belize, painted classrooms and dedicated a children’s library, donated computers to a children’s e-learning center in Honduras and brightened a dismal children’s hospital ward by painting vibrant cartoon characters on the walls in Belize. We did that with 300 people who gave 4 or 5 hours each. Along the way, we connected with the community in an amazing way. We learned about them. They learned about us. We opened a dialogue about lesbians and gays in places where we’re essentially invisible. We also connected with each other.

Our voluntouristas came home from our cruise motivated to continue spreading that goodwill. Denise Johnson from Chicago started the Roatan Computer Project and collected enough money to send seven more computers to Roatan’s E-Learning Centers. A teacher in Florida collected more school supplies to send to our school in Belize City. Two more Sweeties opted to do a book drive for the children of Belize rather than a gift exchange at their holiday party. And on and on. The Sweet Ripples from our first cruise continue to spread.

Newton’s first law says that an object in motion will stay in motion (well, it says something more complicated — F=Ma — but that’s the gist of it). That’s the formula for Live Sweet (fun = mission x action). Our mission is to get more people in motion and create a ripple effect of positive action all over the world. Think of it as lesbians (and our pals) giving the world a giant hug.

The Live Sweet Voluntour 2010 aims to start as many ripples in as many cities in the United States as we can reach this year. That means, I’m traveling to different cities to lead community service projects, gather Sweeties for fun and fundraising fitness events and host parties to celebrate our lives. We’re also spreading lesbian visibility in the United States, where it seems like every day people are voting on whether we deserve equal rights. The more we connect with people in our own backyard, the less likely they will be to vote against us.

No matter who you are, how much you make or where you live, we each only get 24 hours (1,440 minutes / 86,400 seconds) in each day. Your time is precious. Your attention priceless. Together, your time and attention can make a huge difference in the world. Check the upcoming events calendar for Live Sweet Voluntour stops near you. Currently, I’m heading to Orlando, Florida (April 16-18), New York City and New Jersey (April 23-25) and Denver (April 30-May 2). Want Sweet to come to your city? Suggest a project!

Let’s change the world with our love, laughter and unbridled glee.

Hug the world,

Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could only do a little. — Edmund Burke

Live Sweet is about putting our passions and good ideas into action in our communities. It’s about bringing the Sweet community together between trips to celebrate our lives. On our November 2009 Caribbean cruise, we changed hearts and minds in Belize, Mexico and Honduras by being ourselves and letting people know us as individuals while in the safety of community. Live Sweet is about doing that in our own backyards, where it seems like every other day there’s a new referendum on our human rights.

On this site, you can:
• Find opportunities to join the women of Sweet in volunteering or fundraising in your community and worldwide.
• Read inspiring stories about the women in our community who go the extra mile.
• Connect with women all over the world who share your passion for making the world a better place.
• Enjoy pictures and videos of our adventures as well as music from our Sweet artists.

Words are cheap, actions are priceless. As Cher said, “The only things I regret are the things I didn’t do.” She was talking about Marlon Brando, but I think it’s apropos. Live Sweet is where we stop dreaming of a better world and create it together.

Starting with our wetlands restoration project in New Orleans, Sweeties gave back in every port.

New Orleans: Sweeties planted 600 new grasses in a marsh devastated by Hurricane Katrina.

Costa Maya, Mexico: 150 Sweeties pulled over 200 giant bags of garbage from Uvero Beach in a 45-minute contest. We pulled a sink, a television, vacuum cleaner parts and tons of other oddities one should never see in the ocean. We found trash from Greece, China and many parts in between.

Belize City, Belize: Partnering with Lifeline, a philanthropic organization run by the first lady of Belize, Sweeties painted bright cartoon characters on the walls of a children’s hospital ward. Donations of toys and clothes were also made. Across town, another gaygle of Sweeties painted three children’s classrooms and a storytime corner. Over 1,000 children’s books plus other school supplies were delivered. Sweet guest Erin Cottom of The Cottom/Shakkottai Investment Group donated a much-needed copier with toner and tons of paper. It was all totally Sweet!

Roatan, Honduras: In Roatan, Sweeties repainted a children’s e-learning center and donated two new computers. It costs $150 per kid per year for access to the e-learning center. Our Sweeties rummaged through their pockets and donated enough to give four more kids access to the center.

Cozumel, Mexico: In about 30 minutes, we pulled 1,500 pieces of plastic off the beach. Next, we planted 25 mangroves in a swamp devastated by Hurricane Hugo. Finally, we ended our day with a celebration with the local Rotary Club at Carlos Canseco Community Party, where we painted park benches and trees (to protect them from bugs) and planted more trees. The community made us lunch, too.

On Tuesday, a 7.1 earthquake left Haiti devastated, particularly the capital of Port-au-Prince. The quake left collapsed buildings, the dead stacked on city streets, thousands of homeless and people digging through the rubble with their barehands in search of loved ones. While there is no official death toll, it’s expected to be in the hundreds of thousands.

Our friends at Rainbow World Fund have been supporting ongoing projects in Haiti since 2004 by improving nutrition and working to make drinking water safe.

We call upon you now to be a part of the LGBT community’s emergency response efforts. You can make a difference. Rainbow World Fund originally committed $50,000 to the relief effort. It is our hope that through your generousity and sharing this story with your personal networks that we can multiply this aid several times. Please forward this to all your friends, post it on your Facebook, MySpace and Twitter accounts. Let’s make a big impact in a country so desperately in need of what we have to offer.

The wonderful organization CARE is already on the ground providing emergency food, safe water, plastic for shelter, blankets and basic medicine. Best of all, 100 percent of your donation goes to disaster relief. Whether you have 10 dollar or 10,000 dollars, you can make a huge impact.

Read the Rainbow World Fun’s press release: > http://rainbowfund.org/links/HaitiEarthquakePressRelease.htm

Donate online at: http://www.rainbowfund.org/donate and specify “Haiti”

Let’s show the world that when it comes to human compassion, all the artificial labels and stereotypes that divide us are obsolete.

Donate by check at: Rainbow World Fund, 4111 – 18th Street, Suite 5, San Francisco, CA 94114.

Another fab TV news segment about Sweet’s work at the children’s hospital ward in Belize City, Belize, during our Sweet Caribbean Cruise, the largest CarbonFree™ cruise ever. Whoo hoo! We got them to say “lesbian” on Belize TV.

In Belize, Sweet guests brightened a children’s hospital ward in partnership with the local organization Lifeline and donated a 1,000 books and school supplies to a new storytime corner at a local school. In a country where homosexuality is illegal, Sweet advanced the conversation and made a lot of new friends along the way. Mmm, mmm. Let’s hear it for our articulate Sweeties. Y’all rock!