Sent every Tuesday

Hey. I just want to let you know I’m thinking about you.

If you’re enjoying the dawn of spring and the vaccine rollout has you feeling hopeful about the future, that’s amazing. Enjoy your happiness and peace and optimism today. You deserve it.

And if you’re feeling down, I get that too. Maybe it’s the stress of school and the lack of a spring break. Or the fatigue of the pandemic. Or violence and hatred in the news. Or something else entirely. Regardless, I want to encourage you to be extra patient and loving to yourself this week. Give yourself time and space. Ask for help. Lean on your support system and the people who love and care for you. And if you need help immediately, text DS to 741-741 for 24/7 support via text from Crisis Text Line.

Hang in there, ok? We got this.

- Ben, Editor-in-chief

DoSomething Members Are Telling Cigarette Butts to GTFO: Get The Filter Out.

Learn how to Do Something about the world’s most-littered item.

With 4.5 trillion discarded each year, cigarette butts are the most-littered item on the planet and the single greatest source of ocean trash. They’re also toxic to aquatic life, dangerous to humans, and have been linked to deadly wildfires.

A few years back DoSomething members cleaned up over 3.7 million cigarette butts in their communities. Now, one of our biggest campaigns is back, and members around the country are telling cigarette butts to GTFO: Get The Filter Out.

“It is unquantifiable how many times, as an older sister and someone who raises chickens, I had to stop my precious babies from eating [cigarette butts]!” says DoSomething member Grace, 14, who cleaned up 563 butts.

“This campaign is important because cigarette smoke affects us all. My mom and sister have asthma and the smell affects them,” says Cyeed, a 13-year-old DoSomething member, who spent an hour every day for a week picking up butts around the apartment complex, for 432 in total. “My neighbor saw the work that I was doing and gave me a gift card for encouragement.”

Join our community and tell cigarette butts to GTFO!

With food insecurity rising, local food banks and meal providers need donations now more than ever to continue supporting our communities through the coronavirus pandemic. DoSomething members Nicholas, Avery, Kavya, and Hannah collected food items to Tackle Hunger in their communities, and altogether donated 4,416 food items to local food pantries. Learn how to join them!

Congratulations to DoSomething members… Deanna, Sierra, Nasiyah, and Phoebe who each earned one of our $250 Black History Month grants to help take their racial justice initiatives to the next level.

Our Teens for Jeans campaign inspired these students… to lead a service project in partnership with their local youth shelter (and their work inspires us!). 

This week in Pets of DoSomething… DoSomething members Megan’s cat, Madeline’s cat, and Cole’s dog. 

Last chance to apply for mental health scholarships… through our friends at Letters to Strangers. (Psst...mention DoSomething in your application for an extra chance to win!)

This week in Black joy… two new Black muppets are coming to Sesame Street, and a New York senior just became her high school’s first Black valedictorian in 152 years. 

More Amazing Impact From the DoSomething Community!

We asked you to brag about the amazing stuff you’re doing, and you did not disappoint. Here are some of our favorite answers from the DoSomething community. (Psst...submit yours here!)

“I participated in two different virtual cabarets that raised $760 for the ACLU and $850 for the Black trans-led charity For the Gworls respectively!”

- DoSomething member Socks, 22, California

“I started working on making a page where kids can access study guides, career advice, read articles about different people's experience with high school etc.”

- DoSomething member Abbey, 15, California

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