[ February 28, 2010; 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm. ] GuerillaArts, the nonprofit space committed to increasing art awareness and support in Dallas, will be giving tours of their 5,000 sqft building this Sunday - even the upstairs artist studio space, which has been closed off at past events.

Stop by between 2 and 4pm - meet and mingle with the people behind GuerillaArts and your local artist community. They will be talking about the great things GuerillaArts will be launching this spring, including the artist in residency program, spring classes and their summer institute for high school aged artists.

[ January 22, 2010; 8:13 pm to 10:00 pm. ] Tonight kicks off the 2010 Young & Cultured Concerts @ series at AMLI Quadrangle. Come in, grab a drink and take in the creative works of 2 local artists - musician Eric Tipton and artist SAMO4PREZ.

This is a free event (sweet!) but don't come empty handed (oh?). Concerts @ has partnered with two local nonprofit organizations, See the Need, Meet the Need and Hope for Haiti, and will be collecting supplies to airlift next week to Haitian relief efforts. YOU can help by bringing in supplies or a donation to the Concerts @ event tonight. There will be boxes and donation jars around the gallery and concert space.

[ December 14, 2009 to December 17, 2009. ] Be a part of Christmas on Greenville Avenue and give a gift to a child in need.

The Restaurant Association's goal is to have 100 restaurants and retailers collect 10,000 toys in 20 days. From now until December 17th, 2009, bring a new and unwrapped toy to one of the participating locations. Toys will be collected on December 17th and delivered to the WFAA studio in Victory Park for a live event from 5-10pm.

[ December 12, 2009; 7:00 pm to 10:00 pm. ] Tonight is the Art Conspiracy's 5th annual fundraiser, this year benefiting Resolana.

The auction benefit will feature 150 Dallas area artists in an empty warehouse, and live music from Telegraph Canyon, The Crash That Took Me, The Boom Boom Box and RTB2. Paul Slavens, KXT Disc Jockey, will host tonight's fundraiser.

[ November 26, 2009; ] Going to Mom's house for Thanksgiving? Give thanks by donating the cost of your meal to those less fortunate.

Here a just a few to consider:

Soup Mobile is a non-profit mobile soup kitchen feeding, clothing, and caring for the needy and homeless in the Dallas area.

North Texas Food Bank is a non-profit hunger relief organization that distributes donated, purchased and prepared foods through a network of feeding programs in 13 North Texas counties.

Jonathan's Place is a “home-style” emergency shelter for abused, abandoned and neglected children and a Foster & Adoptive Family Program located in Dallas.

[ November 7, 2009; 12:00 pm to 5:00 pm. ] Old monitors and VHS tapes collecting dust in your garage? Do yourself (and the environment) a favor and drop them off for recycling at the Lakewood Green Living store this Saturday, November 7th, 2009 between 12 and 5pm.

[ November 13, 2009; 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm. ] If any of you know me, you know I'm always wearing TOMS shoes. My first pair has the famous quote by Mahatma Gandhi written all over it, "Be the change you wish to see in this world." TOMS is inspiring and it's the kind of change I wish to be a part of - even if I am just wearing the shoes for now.

The founder of TOMS shoes, Blake Mycoskie, is coming back to his home roots and speaking at the Dallas County Young Democrats for the "Living Our Values" Speaker Series and Reception.

[ November 4, 2009; 7:00 pm to 8:00 pm. ] This is a bit of a late notice but had heard about the lecture only this morning via KERA's Think program. I caught just the last part of the interview with Dr. Elders and had one of those driveway moments when I reached my destination but stayed in the car to hear the rest of the interview. She is informative and frank on controversial issues like thelegalization of marijuana and condom distribution in schools. Tonight she will speak at SMU for the 2009 Raggio Lecture series and she will address the present and future state of women’s healthcare in America.

[ November 5, 2009; 6:30 pm to 9:00 pm. ] Every individual, every group, has an issue they stand and fight for. For filmmaker Libby Spears, she has devoted almost 10 years uncovering the sex traffic industry.

[ October 15, 2009; ] Last weekend over 500 people in Dallas sat in a room together for TEDxSMU and listened to some bright minds. Speaking on behalf of the entire room: It was inspiring.

Throughout the day people we would break for lunch and coffee and you would find yourself in conversations with like-minded individuals who know there is something we can do to change the world if we would just get off our ass and do it. That was my takeaway from last Saturday. It was actually a quote from Jody Williams referenced by speaker Turk Pipton of The Nobelity Project. She said:

"There's nothing magical about change. If someone wants to change the world, it takes getting up off your ass and caring enough to take the first step to contribute to change on an issue you care about."