Charity-Raising Funds For Team Keegan

It has come to my attention that people will often find themselves doing amazing things after finding themselves in challenging situations.  Take for instance this family i know.  Their son Keegan had cancer…and life got pretty challenging not only for Keegan but for his whole family.  Keegan lives with his parents and he has a younger sibling and an older sibling.  Living in a rural area means that when you have cancer treatments you often have to do a lot of traveling to and from bigger cities that have the facilities that you can not necessarily get in your own small town.  This not only puts a financial hardship on families but it also creates many opportunities for separation of family members.   It is difficult  to be able to work a job or two, balance the physical and emotional needs of all the family members and still find the extra energy to take care of yourself.   Those are issues this family understands, the stress of it all, as they have been through it themselves.

This particular family has gotten through all of that and they decided, as a family, to give back to others going through similar situations.  They were blessed over and over again by friends, family members and  even total strangers during all of the trials they faced while going through testing and treatments.  They have decided to form a non profit to help others.  To get the non profit status, they must raise funds to file all of the necessary paperwork with the state and federal government.

This week they are doing an online auction on their Facebook page Team Keegan   If you believe in doing good things, in taking a challenge and using it to bless others…won’t you visit their page and bid on some of their donated items?  I believe there are wonderful items such as:  a child’s wooden rocking horse, a picture hand-created by Keegan, a sock monkey in a hospital robe, baby chickens, a hand-sewn American made fabric purse, a tote bag with a swaddling blanket and burp rag and a photo package from a local photographer.  This is a fundraiser…and they are planning on doing good things to bless other children and their families facing medical challenges.

If you have ever known someone who has faced cancer then you know just how important support can be.  Please help this family achieve their dream of becoming a non-profit organization who reaches out to others in need.  Thanks for being willing to read this far.  Now won’t you go visit their page at Team Keegan ?

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Soap Saves Lives So Please Help Save Soap

In America we take so many things for granted.  If we get sick, we go to the pharmacy and pick up over the counter medication that can help us get well.  Other times, we go to the doctor and get prescription medicine to help us get well from an infection or sickness.  We are blessed.  We have instant access to information to help keep ourselves well.

The best thing is that we have been taught that washing our hands well with soap can help to keep us healthy.  We have access to soap and water on a regular basis.  Not everyone is so lucky.  What they don’t know and don’t have access to can harm them or kill them.  Soap and water save lives and there is a Global Soap Project that you may not be aware of to get soap into the hands of people who are in need of it, to stay well.  To continue click here.

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Stamp out Hunger Food Drive-National Association of Letter Carriers

Wow, that is a mouthful for the title of this blog post…but, it is what it says it is.  The National Association of Letter Carriers have committed themselves once again to their annual food drive.   They do this to help combat hunger.  In the last two years in the United States, more than 50 million people have found themselves living in homes that don’t have enough food.  This is outrageous, we can all do something to help.  No one should go hungry in a country that supplies other nations with food from our surplus produce that farmers work so hard to grow.

You may say, I am only one person…what can i do?  You can support the National Association of Letter Carriers help stamp out hunger by leaving a bag at your mail box, on Saturday May 14, 2011, with non-perishable food items.  That is only 2 days from now.   Make sure that the items you are donating are not out of date or in danger of expiring any time soon.   Don’t have a lot to give; give what you can.  If you are blessed enough to have the means to give…give generously; we all have a responsibility to share our blessings with others.

Support businesses and organizations that sponsor the annual Stamp Out Hunger food drive.  This is an amazing grass roots program that blesses your local food banks.  All the food collected by your local mail carrier stays in your local area.  The people you help may be your own friends, family or neighbors. With the economy being so challenging in recent years more people are affected by not having enough to eat.  The numbers of children in homes without enough food is rising.  The elderly are having a harder time making ends meet.  Young wage earners are finding themselves without steady income to support their families sufficiently.   Natural disasters have hurt many families and those people still need to eat.  Churches can’t do it all…they need our help to provide food for those who are struggling with hunger!  Won’t you help?

Would you like to learn more?  Visit their website here:  Stamp Out Hunger and if you happen to have a Facebook account or a Twitter account…then Like them or Follow them to lend your support.  Spread the work online and off.  Tell others about the food drive…encourage others to donate.

Remember to thank your mail carrier.  They are dedicated to helping people stamp out hunger in your community.   Do you know someone who has had to use food from a food pantry or food bank?  Tell them about my friend Connie who heads up a website that teaches people how to eat healthier with the food that they bring into their homes through SNAP, food pantries, commodities, and farmer’s markets.  She does this in a way to help people stretch their budgets and to encourage the people who visit her website to form a community to share tips and ideas with one another.  Her site isn’t just for food stamp users…but for anyone on a tight budget who wants and needs to eat well.  Food Stamp Cooking Club

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For The Love Of God

People do many things, for the love of God. There are those who feel that they have a specific calling in their lives to live and accomplish a great mission, or purpose. I’d like to underscore that by saying that we each have been born to praise God; and, to do the great commission which is; to bring the “good news” of Jesus, God’s son, to those who do not know him so that they may have an opportunity to accept him as Lord and Savior of their lives. By doing so, and repenting of their sins…committing their days and nights to living according to the word of God and it’s instructions; they will be used by God to accomplish many things in their lifetime.

I believe that just being aware of the world around you and noticing where the acceptance of God is lacking and doing your best to be of service in some way; of bringing a light or help to those who are in need, is a ministry itself. Some have a pull on their hearts to teach, preach, do missions work, or evangelize. There are others who are drawn to a particular effort of outreach which may be to take Bibles into areas of the world which have little or no access to the word. Then again, there are those with an online ministry to edify or build up disciples such as the Live Sticky movement which encourages people to spend a portion of their online time being dedicated to bringing awareness of God to those that they impact. These are all ministries that are needed.  To continue reading click here:  Write Where You Are

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Business Friends Help Kids With Cancer And Their Families

 

 

 

Business Friends Help Kids With Cancer And Their Families Feb 16th, 2011 by Rainy Friends Like Us is a wonderful nonprofit that reaches out to families of children who have been diagnosed with cancer. What they do for families goes over and above just sending those children a cuddly bear to hold when they are scared, lonely and needing something to cling to while they go through treatment for a disease that they don’t understand; even though, Friends Like Us does do that too.

The extra mile is what this organization does provide. They often listen to a parent, of a young cancer patient, express their fears, anxieties and questions about what to expect when cancer hits their family. Mark and Deloris Bailey, founders of the organization know what it is like as they have been in that position when their son was diagnosed and treated for cancer. So they created Friends Like Us to meet the needs of young cancer patients by providing them with a chemo bear.

This chemo bear comes with a medical bag which has tools that doctors and nurses can use to help explain treatments and procedures that the young child may be having to go through. It is a wonderful tool. This chemo bear even may have a port just like the child and can have it removed in a bear clinic when the child has his or her port removed. In the meantime, the bear can be of service when the child is at it most vulnerable going through tests or long lonely nights in the hospital.

To continue reading click here: Write Where You Are

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Money Doesn’t Fix Everything

When someone doesn’t have enough money to meet their daily needs it is easy to think that putting their hands on a boatload of money would just fix just about everything wrong in their life.  Yet, if you look around and observe the world you start to see just how wrong that is because money doesn’t fix everything.

There are rich people with just as many problems as poor people.  If you would like to continue reading click here: Writewhereyouare

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A Compassionate Call To Action-Giving

I know people who are struggling, people who have cut back in every conceivable way to save money just to stay afloat.  I also know people who are living very comfortably in nice homes, with fancy vehicles, going out to eat regularily and have no worries when it comes to bills or their health.  The world definately has classes of people who are in the haves and the have nots.  There is also a large population of people who are somewhere in the middle.  The thing is…we all have things that we could share.  Blessings come in many packages.

Everyone of us has gifts, talents, finances, possessions, strengths, knowledge or time that we could share with others.  What I love to celebrate and learn about are those who share those blessings with others without thought or expectation of getting something back from that experience of sharing.

Our society is going through some amazingly challenging times…people are struggling.  We need to be aware of others around us who are in need…those who could use a little pick me up.  It could be a kind word, a nice deed, financial gift, or it could be a sharing of knowledge that could bring a positive change to another.   There is a spiritual attitude that I love, it says this: “Those to whom much is given, much is expected in return”.  I call that an attitude of gratitude; being thankful for all that you have been blessed with and a willingness to share it with others!   I challenge you to find some way to bless others in your daily life.   Consider this a compassionate call to action…what can you give to others with no strings attached?

I have moved my site to a new Url: WriteWhereYouAre if you are interested in reading more blog posts!

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An Awakening To Domestic Abuse

      This subject is never a pleasant one.  No one likes to acknowledge domestic abuse is a way of life…especially if it is happening within their own life.  Unfortunately, domestic abuse happens every day in a multitude of ways.  It doesn’t just happen in the lives of the poor, the rich, or the celebrity world; even though, that is often the stories that we hear about…those who are famous.  We must awaken to the facts of domestic abuse; it is often learned behaviors that are used to control another person…either with intimidation, physical violence, emotional abuse or sexual abuse.

       Domestic abuse is like cancer…it is constantly trying to destroy the people involved.  It is a pattern of behavior that affect both the abuser and the person being abused.  Many who are being abused do not recognize that what is happening in their lives is actually domestic abuse.  The reasons for their lack of understanding, or denial are many. 

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A Nursing Mother Can’t Ignore A Hungry Baby-Salma Hayek

     If you were traveling through a poverty striken area and you had a baby of your own that you were still nursing…could you walk away from a hungry newborn baby that had nothing to eat?  Actress Salma Hayek was in Sierra Leone on a humanitarian mission…she nursed an African newborn who was starving because his mother could not produce milk for her child.  Salma was moved to feed that child.  She talked about his eyes lighting up as he began to feel the nutrition flow into his body.  She was moved in her heart to feed him; because i believe that a nursing mother can’t ignore a hungry baby that is crying out in his/her need;  that is called basic human compassion.  Still, you would think that we all had that in abundance; but, not always so, some would run the other way as quickly as they could go.

       This moment was captured on film by the news crew of  “Nightline”  who were along on the trip for Unicef , to promote the importance of tetanus vaccines.   Unicef and Pampers have a campaign called 1 Pack=1Vaccine; Salma is a spokeswoman for Pampers.  www.unicefusa.org or www.pampers.com/unicef 

         I love the message of what Salma did; purely from the standpoint of, if you see a need fill it.  Salma still is breastfeeding her own child who is approximately 1 year old.  She understands the importance of, the nutritional value as well as the bonding value of, breastfeeding. 

         Surely there will be those individuals who will criticize her for what she did.  There will be naysayers who will bring up the issue of aids and to the  possible exposure to her health or that of her own child.  They will say that she did this as a publicity stunt, or for the attention.  Some will say in the larger scheme of things…did that one feeding make a difference; will it save the life of that child.   I believe it made a difference.  I believe an African woman saw an American woman with heart.  I believe a baby felt fulfillment, comfort, and love.  I pray that the mother and child received more help.  A world saw a desperate moment and an act of love.

          I say, she was in the moment.  She saw a child in need; she felt the despair of a mother who could not provide for her child the most basic necessity in life at that time for her child; she did what she was able to do.  I love that she didn’t think twice.  Those who have been blessed in life and find themselves around others in need have a responsibility to share.  I respect Salma for doing it so very naturally.  There are so many in need around the world…what can you do to make a difference?

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Personal Responsibilities-Who And What Are You Responsible For?

     Do you ever wonder what your personal responsibilities are?  I mean, most people understand that they must work, take care of their children, nuture their personal relationships, and pay their bills; what else is there?  Being a responsible person is a way of life; are you required to take care of others outside the close personal limits of your immediate family?  Who and what are you responsible for?  Are there limits to your responsibilty legally, physically, spiritually, emotionally or morally? 

      Have you ever heard the saying, “Are you your brother’s keeper”?  Human beings are complex creatures.  We have layers of self, one upon the other…each with their own wants and needs.  For those who are spiritual seekers of truth; there are teachings which encourage us to reach beyond the demands of our own personal flesh-n- blood, wants and needs.  My road map is the Bible.  Everything i need to know to be a successful and fulfilled person is included in that instruction manual.

       God wants us to follow his leading; we are to grow and learn how to praise him and serve others.  This is not always convienent in today’s society,  according to the world’s values. That attitude of becoming a servant requires a bit of sacrifice on our part.  Many people run from their own responsibilities and refuse to accept that they have a moral responsibility to reach out to others.   And there are others who do not consider themselves spiritual beings who still manage to be service minded…realizing that there is value to connecting with and recognizing need in others. 

      Understand, I am not talking about enabling others to continue to be irresponsible…but instead, teaching and inspiring others to take up the challenge of  meeting their own obligations when they are able.   To do that, they must be inspired, they must have knowledge, skills, opportunities and funding…once that happens, they too can become a servant to pass it on to others.

        Responsibility is something that we must strive for.  When everything is going smoothly…it is because we have acknowledged our responsibilities and have submitted ourselves to the service of God. 

        God says that we are to take care of the widows and the children; we are to befriend the poor.  When we see suffering in the world and we have the ability, the skill, the opportunity to help ,then we must consider it a priviledge and a responsibility to do so.  What are you willing to do for those around you?  Do you know someone who has a need? Can you listen when someone needs to talk, can you spend time with someone who is lonely, are you capable of performing a chore that someone else cant do and needs done? 

      There are so many ways to be of service to another fellow human being…it is simply a matter of being aware and observing those around you and being willing to be helpful.  People in need are all around us…it will change your life to see the world through the eye and heart of a servant of God.

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