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   Make sure that the items you are donating are not out of date or in danger of expiring any time soon.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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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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When You’ve Given Your All…And Think You’ve Got Nothing Left To Give

        When you have given your all and feel like you have nothing left to give…that is a great time to do a little Rest & Renewal.   Stop, don’t make any decisions; or, take any actions when you are feeling burned out and overburdened.  Stop, take a few deep breaths and re-evaluate the situation when you are feeling more refreshed.   Rest, eat healthy, drink water; ponder the blessings in your life and be thankful for them. 

         Don’t allow yourself to dwell on the negatives.   It is too easy to feel discouragement or weariness in that frame of mind.      When your vision is clear you will be in a better position to see things as they really are…assessing both the positive and the negative; allowing you to act accordingly.

        Emotions and physical limitations can blind you to your actual situation.  Give it a little time and remember to recharge your batteries.   No one says that you have to do all and be all things to everyone around you.   It is a wise person who takes the time to make sure that their own physical, spirtual, and emotional needs are met…then, and only then, can you continue to pour yourself out, or give to others in a real purposeful way.  

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Share What You’ve Got-With Those Who Don’t Have Alot

       People are funny; when things get tight…their fists often get tighter; but not always.  This year, like no other year in recent memory, people are hurting.  They are hurting in many areas financially.  Many have lost their homes, their jobs, their savings…along with medical coverage.  It is a difficult time for many in our nation.

        Most everyone has something that they have been blessed with that they no longer use.  Those things that you have been blessed with and no longer use just might be terribly useful to someone else.  Have extra blankets (or sleeping bags) in the closet or attic that you have no use for?  Someone else has need for them; donate it to a shelter, a church, or an agency that gives to those in need.  Don’t forget places like the Salvation Army or Goodwill.  Let’s challenge ourselves to find ways to have a positive impact on those around us.

         What about checking out deals, when you grocery shop, that make use of buy one get one free…then, donating that extra item to a food pantry?  In fact, things people often run out of and have a hard time replacing are necessities such as laundry soap, shampoos/conditioners, toothpaste, dish soap, toilette paper; when money is limited…having those things donated to a food pantry can really be a big help.  Maybe you have a baby or toddler that has outgrown their diapers or pullups…and you have a partial package left; donate it, don’t let it set on a shelf somewhere unused.  What good are those items doing sitting there collecting dust?

          Do you have warm clothes that either don’t fit, things that aren’t your style; or, perhaps you just have an extra set of clothes that you could pass along?  What about coats or boots, mittens or hats/scarves?  Items such as these are desperately needed in colder temperatures and climates.  The fall and winter weather is unforgiving if a person is not sheltered and dressed appropriately for cold temperatures.  Children and adults are both in need; so, please check your closets and storage areas for things that you are not using.

          Here is another idea; have you had a tree fall on your property that you would like removed?  Offer it to those who heat their homes with wood for free…just for the taking.  Wow…how wonderful to get it removed and bless someone else with the wood who could use it to heat their homes. 

          So you say…you don’t have anything physical to give.  How about donating your time or possibly a service like raking leaves/shoveling snow for an elderly person who you know isn’t able to do it for themselves?  Maybe you could offer to get their mail so they don’t slip on the snow and ice or offer to run some errands for them.  There really are so very many ways to help another person who is in need. 

          Think about the homeless who are living on the streets.  Do you perhaps have a shelter or tent that is not going to be used in the near future?  Can you live without it?  Find an agency or charity that will use it to house those folks who cannot or will not live in a shelter.  We have many veterans and run-aways who live under bridges and tunnels all around this nation.  Is a tent or a shelter from your basement or garage an ideal place to live?  No but, it may just keep someone safer from the extreme elements, temporarily, until they can get back on their feet.

           Are any of these suggestions going to cure the ills our nation is facing; probably not…but, it may just help communicate caring to someone who is feeling desperate and alone.  Think about what you can do to help someone who has it a bit worse than you and yours.  Your donations could mean the difference between life and death for someone; and it doesn’t have to cost you more than a bit of compassion for others!

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Cancer Takes Talent-Paul Newman Passes Away!

       I have said it before, and i will say it again…cancer is a thief…it steals from us those that we love and it takes from us the talents & gifts that they were blessed with, as well.  Yesterday, cancer stole another well known person of talent, Paul Newman passed away.  Every person has merit and it isn’t that we acknowledge only those who are well known…but, because this is such a large world…it is important to mention that cancer steals people from all over the world; rich-poor, well known-and lesser known, married-single, old-young, male-female.  Cancer does not care who it takes…it just takes.  So we lose laborers, artists & musicians, educators, inventors, doctors, lawyers, researchers, librarians, farmers, janitors, we lose mothers/fathers, sisters/brothers,husbands/wives, and we lose children…we lose so very much that it hurts the tapestry of our lives!

        It would be a great day to make a donation to one of the charities that battle back against such an enemy.  http://www.standup2cancer.org/ or http://www.holeinthewallgang.org/ or http://www.cancer.org/docroot/home/index.asp.

        I love that Paul Newman was a person of integrity and dedication.  He supported charities for many years that benefitted those afflicted by cancer and other devastating diseases…long before it affected his own physical being.  He cared; he cared enough to do something about it.    Paul Newman and his business partner created Newman’s Own line of salad dressings and other food items and donated the profits from that company to charities that benefitted many. 

        It is with grace and dignity that he battled the disease that took his life.  He lived his life as he wanted and didn’t appear to play games that some celebrities do regarding their status.  I liked that about him.  If that means that we didn’t get to know all kinds of personal and private information about him and his family…so what.  It just means that he didn’t buy into all the hype of being famous.   So, he had a long line of acting credits to his name, he made a name for himself with his race car driving, and his charities.  What matters most is that he loved his family and he positively impacted others with the gifts that he was blessed with. 

           That is the way we should all hope to be remembered…we lived, we loved and we left the world a better place by giving back in the ways that matter most! 

         

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Gone But Not Forgotten-Princess Diana

          She is gone but not forgotten, the fair princess; Lady Diana Spencer.  It has been 11 years since her death in a car accident in Paris. Her youth, her beauty, her energy has been frozen in time through the photos we view.  So much has happened since that time.  Her beloved boys have grown up, her ex-husband Prince Charles has remarried Diana’s nemesis, the world has continued to move onward. 

           Still, no one has ever been able to take Diana’s place of purchase in the hearts of the public who loved her so.  She who was able to accomplish so much in so little time here on the Earth.  Can you imagine how much more she would have been able to do in a world full of hurts because of her ability to leverage her legacy?  She set a great role model with the work that she did for charities…that does not have to end.  People can follow her example and achieve much in the world, through donating time and money to those in need.  So we remember her today…full of smiles, and a heart that bent towards those in need, those who suffered, and those who were meant to overcome.  How can you be a light in the world?

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Stand Up To (2) Cancer

        Do you know anyone who has been diagnosed with cancer?  Did you know that 1 out of 3 women will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime…1 out of 2 men.  So unless you are a family of one, with no friends and you are the luckiest person in the whole wide world…cancer is going to touch someone you care about, at some point.  If you haven’t had to deal with the enemy cancer yet…consider yourself blessed beyond reason.  There is a movement afoot to Stand Up To Cancer.  It doesn’t matter if it is breast cancer, colon cancer, blood cancers, brain cancer,ovarian, or any other kind of cancer…it is a destroyer and needs to be eliminated.  Please join forces to battle a plague on the world that we live in…help fight cancer.

        The goal is to Stand Up To Cancer and understand it…take it apart…so that we can more efficiently battle it and WIN!  That is the end goal.   Cancer is the enemy…it is a thief…it has stolen enough, artists, doctors, mothers, muscians, pilots, cab drivers, babies, teachers, clerks, lecturers, fathers, students, writers, researchers, husbands, factory workers, miners, fire fighters, sons, nurses, daughters, child care workers, politicians, sisters, waitresses, brothers, lecturers, speakers, wives, caregivers, grandparents, role models, athletes, neighbors, librarians, friends, social workers, police men & women, military men and women, designers, dancers, clergy, you get the idea…Cancer is not picky about who it chooses to invade and try to destroy. 

          It could be you next, or someone you care about.  Cancer claims one life a minute each day!  Can you believe that?  One person a minute per day is too many loses! That is 1,500 deaths per day… that is unacceptable.    Protect your health best way that you can, eat right, exercise, protect your environment, take your vitamins, stay away from contaminants, be aware and educate yourself.  Honor those who have fought with everything they have…help out someone in a health crisis with cancer…be a supporter to someone in need. 

          Once cancer strikes…there are many needs, physical,spiritual, medical, emotional, financial, transportation, and daily care needs.  Do what you can to lift someone up!  Life is precious.  Will you make a commitment to be a force to be reckoned with and help make an impact in the fight against cancer?

         For us to win the war on cancer it requires courage, support, awareness, education and funding.  The television networks are joining together to bring those tools to the public and try to create a historic event that will hopefully rev up the odds of winning.  http://abcnews.go.com/Health/StandUp2Cancer/  There are many celebrities who are adding their voice and their talents to the project.  They have a wonderful website that you can view here that will explain more.  In the meantime, look for the program to hit the networks on Sept 5th, at 8 pm.  You can go to the website and read up on the idea here:  http://www.standup2cancer.org/  Let’s not be idle and let others do the fighting…there is something that we all can do…what are you willing to do to help?  Let’s envision a future without cancer!!!

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$14 Million Dollar Twins-Cover People and Impact Charity!

       The photo images of the twin children recently born to Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are being sold for a large sum of money to be put on the cover of People magazine, as well as, Hello magazine in London; the money will go for charity to the Jolie-Pitt foundation.  The amount is rumored to be around $14 million dollars for the rights to the photos. 

        Both Angelina and Brad have set a precedence of using the money gained from the media for photographing their children; to be used for good, as far as, harnassing the intense competition of the media to get those first pictures.  The large sums of money will go a long way to continue funding the humanitarian and good will charities that they both support around the world.

         Tonight, Sunday, August 3rd, 2008 at 7 pm, eastern time there will be a release of one of the photos on http://www.people.com .  Then the release of the newstand version of People magazine will be available on Monday, August 4th. 

          The twins, Knox Leon and Vivienne Marcheline were born July 12th in Nice, France.  Imagine the impact that the children of this family will have, in years to come, with the financial backing, of their parent’s combined large bank accounts and their dedicated role modeling of giving, along with the social and moral training in the area of giving, to those in need around the world.  I mean, they are already giving…they just don’t know it yet!  It is a legacy that few are priviledged to have, and even fewer are apt to enact; but, it is a legacy worthy of example.

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Generosity

       I was thinking on the idea of generosity last night.  I believe the spirit of generosity comes from a person’s value system.  At the very basis of who they are, comes a willingness to give; and to share their gifts, talents,knowledge, and resources with others.  It is a beautiful thing to give without thought of getting something in return.  And yet, giving without some thought of balance can be destructive.  A person who has truly mastered the gift of generosity of spirit, gives in ways that are healthy for both the giver, and the receiver.

       To know the difference between giving, and enabeling.  Having boundaries on both sides is a tricky thing; so that, one person is not doing all of the giving and inspiring while the other is doing all of the taking.   Having clear boundaries and expectations helps each side to know what is required to maintain that balance.   

          That when when giving and receiving are mixed together it can inspire others when they have the opportunity to do the same.    That is the balance that i am talking about…giving can incorporate time, skill sets, energy, knowledge, or material things.  It isn’t even really that important what you give…what is important, is being aware of the needs of others around you; and, being willing to sacrifice a little of what you have been blessed with to benefit others.   Do you know someone who can benefit from what you have to offer?  I would love to hear about your thoughts on generosity!

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