It’s obvious that we are going through some tough economic times these days, but there is certainly hope for change. As tough as times may be, change starts at home and you really have to look to the community around you. For this reason, I’m dedicating this edition of What’s Up Wednesdays to helping your fellow man.

John Chow is widely recognized as the root of all evil, but even he has a soft spot in his heart if you look deep enough. He recently helped to raise over $6,000 for Union Gospel Mission. Readers of his blog, myself included, donated a total of over $3,000, which Chow then matched to bring the total UGM donation to $6,132.48.

Nate Whitehill has managed to find quite a bit of success with creating some world class blog designs and now he’s ready to give your blog a makeover for free. All you have to do is read the contest details on how you can get IZEA and UBD to redesign your blog for the incredible price of zero dollars and zero cents.

Jennifer Laycock has a very helpful article on the easiest links you’ll ever get. One of the biggest rules of search engine optimization is to work on your quality incoming links. Are you leaving anything on the table?

Darren Rowse is writing about Blog Action Day and this year’s theme is poverty. The professional blogger provides his reflections on poverty, the situation in Thailand and the Philippines, and what we should be doing about it today.

Jodee wants to hook up the freelance writers in the audience with what could be an incredibly interesting freelance writing gig. Might I interest you a columnist position at Hooters Magazine? Do you like video games, movies, men’s fashion, hot cars, and hot women?