Blog Posts by Tonic

Six months have passed since the devastating earthquake struck Haiti - the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere. While more than half of all Americans made donations to assist the Haitian people, many are deciding to do something more: To travel to Haiti to help. Could you be one of them?

As one Tonic reader who volunteered with Hands on Disaster Responsein Leogane, Haiti writes: "My wife and I just returned from a week there and we cannot say enough good things about our experience. It is hard work - I mean REALLY hard work - and the devastation in Haiti is heartbreaking. But the opportunity to help is also incredibly rewarding."

Builders. Nurses. Therapists. Translators. Teachers. As Haiti continues to rebuild, more volunteers than ever are needed for a variety of jobs. Below we've gathered a list of 10 volunteer opportunities that exist right now, with everything you need to know to get started.

Interested? Log on to the appropriate website. Make that phone call.

... But he's running, biking and swimming his heart out for those who do.

The former Bachelorette suitor (who married Trista Rehn in the only successful relationship to actually be spawned by the ABC reality series) is smack in the middle of what he's calling the 10-10-10 Challenge: He's competing in 10 different, grueling athletic races this year in the hopes of inspiring 10,000 people to give just $10 each to First Descents, a nonprofit dedicated to empowering young adults with cancer through the experience of whitewater kayaking.

When I first heard that a former Bachelorette contestant was competing in races for charity, I shrugged my shoulders. I'd been covering this season's show on ABC and seen a wrestler lie to get his 15 minutes of fame, so I thought similarly of Sutter: Here's another reality TV star clinging to fame in the name of goodness. But when I interviewed the Colorado native, I realized I couldn't have been more wrong.

It all started when Sutter met professional

Zak Anderegg was busy exploring the natural wonders of the slot canyons on the Arizona-Utah border in late June when he glimpsed a shocking sight amongst the sandstone waves and natural rock arches. Nearly 350 feet beneath the rim of the canyon, shivering in a deep pothole in the rock was a small, black dog that seemed to be on the verge of starvation.

Anderegg pulled himself to the surface in order to get the animal food and water, but one horrific thought kept nudging aside his initial shock at finding a puppy where no dog should ever be. "Falling from the rim would have killed him." He tells KSL.com. "Every single time I work it through my head, I come up with the same answer: Someone put him there."

When his new discovery proved unable to eat or take in much water, Anderegg climbed back out and drove to a nearby town to report the incident and rally a rescue team. The Subterranean Samaritan quickly found out that "To Protect, and Serve" doesn't extend to dogs left to die

You know Randy Pausch. The terminally ill Carnegie Mellon professor's "Last Lecture" might be both the most heart-breaking and soul-mending life lesson of the YouTube era - having spread from viral video to best-selling book before he succumbed to cancer two years ago. (See the video that started it all, below.)

You probably don't know his son, Dylan, though you might remember the youngster as one of three little big reasons his father fought so hard in a doomed battle against pancreatic cancer. Today, 8-year-old Dylan is picking up where his dad left off.

On June 22, Dylan appeared with his mom Jai on Capitol Hill, where during his final days two years earlier, Randy asked congress to devote dollars to a desperately underfunded cause. Pancreatic cancer, the fourth most lethal cancer in the United States, is the "least federally funded of all leading cancer killers," according to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. It receives less than 2 percent of the National Cancer Institute's

When most people see a fast-food bag fluttering on the corner of the highway, they probably shake their heads and keep on driving.

The Pick Up Artists aren't most people. These four young environmentalists have dedicated themselves to spending the next two years driving across America, conducting roadside cleanups and spreading the word about reducing waste.

After just three months on the road, the Pick Up America project has already collected more than 37,000 pounds of garbage. And they're only 340 miles into their 2-year, cross-country trip.

The project began March 20 at Assateague Island, Md. They aim to arrive in their final destination, San Francisco Bay, Calif., around August 2011.

The team knew what they were getting into when they launched their quest, but the amount of trash they have encountered has already surprised them. "I had no concept there was that much garbage out there," says Kelly Klein, Pick Up America's director of community outreach. "That was

Suffering from Cerebral Palsy and terminal pulmonary vein stenosis, Leo Haines was so sickly when he was born that he spent the first year of his life in the hospital. Not only did the brave little boy survive but he discovered such a talent for painting that he's just celebrated his first art exhibition.

Due to his severe illness, which includes intermittent deafness, Leo often struggled to communicate with his family. That was before he discovered painting. With a canvas on the floor and a selection of colorful paints, he began to create abstract works with sweeping blocks of color, not so dissimilar to that of the famous artist, Jackson Pollock, reports Britain's Daily Mail. Painting became a therapeutic hobby and also allowed him to express himself.

Encouraged by his grandmother, Marianna Thomas, herself a local painter, Leo began to paint up to five times a week over the last two years. "It began by getting him to recognize different colors and mixtures and shapes. Now it

When Mikael Hardy moved from Atlanta to Greenville County, S.C., she discovered a frightening way of life. Some of her new neighbors kept their dogs chained up outside every day and every night - oftentimes emaciated, sad creatures with empty water buckets and no food. "I saw all these chained dogs, and I said, 'What is this?'" Hardy says. "I knew I needed to save them."

Last year, Hardy, 40, started knocking on doors, asking these neighbors if she could build them a fence, get their dog spayed or neutered, and provide dog food, toys and veterinary care. For free. "At first they thought there was a catch," she says. "They probably thought I was on crack."

Since August of 2008, however, Hardy has persuaded almost 60 different owners to allow her to build a fence and provide romping room for some 70 dogs. The only requirement: each owner must spay or neuter their dogs before construction begins, paid for by Hardy and her nonprofit, PAWSitive Effects.

Incredibly, Hardy has a

It's a road trip like no other: On Tuesday, Chris Lomen, 22, launched a three-month, 4,000-mile Rollerblading adventure that will take him from his home state of Minnesota all the way up to Maine, then south along the Eastern seaboard and down to Key West - relying on the kindness of strangers most nights for lodging. While there's sure to be plenty of good sightseeing and story gathering along the way, and he'll certainly get plenty of exercise, his motivation for tackling those miles on his own two feet extends far beyond a little post-graduation summer fun. Lomen is aiming to raise $100,000 for Outreach International - money that will be used to rebuild as many as 10 schools destroyed by January's devastating earthquake in Haiti.

Tonic caught up with Lomen during his Rolling To Rebuild trip on Wednesday, as he stopped for a brief lunch break along the shores of the Mississippi. "It just made sense," Lomen says of choosing to help Haiti through this fantastic journey. "You take