Blogging Your Blessings

Make ‘Em Smile From your own town to the opposite hemisphere, there are families going though the hardship of an ailing child. Many of us simply can’t drop a lot of money to help but there are ways that cost nothing except time and good intentions.  This nonprofit is determined to lift kid’s hearts around the world with words of encouragement. Send a card through www.MakeAChildSmile.org

  When I lived in the Lower Height district of San Francisco, I drove for an AIDS food bank in my rusted-out little car I had driven across the country from West Virginia. I had arrived in the mid-eighties, which we may all remember as the height of the AIDS crisis. My best friend delivered meals to patients in their homes and I gave rides and also hauled groceries donated to the food bank by the Church Street Tunnel. One early morning, I was walking to the Market and Church Street MUNI station and there it was with giant pink letters announcing itself as a place to lend a hand for the AIDS cause. I went in and within two minutes had a shift and assignments for the week.  Plus everyone in there seems extremely cool to me and they were not grim at all but seemed to have a mission of importance.  It seemed such a small way to help during that scary time but I also learned that whatever you can give, large or small, it is important to give of yourself. And it all does add up. Feeding Ame

If you love to cook and love to help people, this might be the option for you; teaching cooking classes and offering your services as a free guide to getting the healthiest groceries at the best prices via Cooking matters, a division of Share Our Strength.   What I love about this is that it is personal and oh-so practical. www.CookingMatters.org pairs you up with your local group and you can bake up a lot of love while showing others how to do the same. 

Sometimes we all feel deflated or overwhelmed, someone or something hurts us or disappoints us, or we hear bad news about a loved one’s medical condition. On those days, when you feel your light has gone out, remember there is always a glimmer of hope and something to be thankful for. Albert Schweitzer said it well: “Sometimes our light goes out, but is blown again into instant flame by an encounter with another human being. Each of us owes the deepest thanks to those who have rekindled this inner light.”

From Growing Up Homelses to Helping the Homeless NFL player James Jones knows it’s better to give than to receive “Being homeless made me a better man,” says James Jones, wide receiver for the Oakland Raiders since 2014. “And while I wouldn’t wish anyone to go through that, I wouldn’t change anything as far as how I grew up.” Having slept in shelters and on park benches for the first fifteen years of his life, Jones’ success as an athlete defies stereotypes about homelessness and poverty. He has taken his challenging experiences to heart. Since being drafted to the NFL in 2007, he has volunteered for many community organizations, and in 2008, started his own with his wife Tamika. The LoveJones4Kids foundation provides funding for school supplies, football camps, and pep talks to underprivileged children, many of them living in the same conditions that Jones did growing up. “People are used to hearing about a homeless person or kid and don’t think it’s possible to be a

Here's how you can knit, sew and quilt your way to a better world. www.handcraftedwithlove.net :       Socks For Soldiers knits socks for soldiers serving in the Middle East.       Stitch for a Cause knits, crochets, sews, and quilts blankets and infant apparel for local children's agencies. Based in Louisville, KY, USA.       Stitches From the Heart sends handmade clothing and blankets to premature babies across the nation. Based in Santa Monica, CA, USA.       Stitching Up The World knits, crochets and sews items to donate to a variety of organizations. Their main effort is items for chemotherapy patients in New Hampshire, Based in Candia, NH, USA.       Threads of Love provides clothing, blankets and other handmade articles for premature and sick infants. Threads of Love has chapters in the United States, Canada and London, England.       Tiny Stitches is based in Gwinnett County, Georgia and provides basic layettes to disadvantaged newborns and preemies

Sponsor a Low-Income Family via www.boxproject.org The Box Project joins struggling families in depressed regions of rural America with individuals or groups. The idea is not just to provide financial support (volunteers send about $50 worth of food, clothing and medical supplies monthly), but emotional support as well; most participants develop long-term relationships over many years, cemented through letters. In addition, the organization encourages volunteers to learn about where the family they help lives, so they can impact public services and local policy. I know this is helping a lot of people in my home state of West Virginia where hard times remain.

I witnessed my mother tithe at church when I was a child and noted she did so with pride. I was also not unaware that she “did without” and did not get herself new purses or clothes or anything so she could take care of my sisters and me and be able to give her little bit of extra pocket money to the church. I learned about self-sacrifice and also about living from your values in this way. Experiment with tithing. There is a universal law of tenfold return. This means that when you give freely, your return is tenfold. You don’t give to get the return; you give freely, and what you give flows back to you tenfold. Particularly in terms of money, many of us think the law of attraction doesn’t apply. It does. Money is simply energy, and when you allow the energy of abundance to flow through you, then money and other resources continue to flow to you. When you stop the flow of abundance out of fear, anxiety, and worry, the flow of money stops. During the next six months, experiment. Whe

Millions of people across the America could use a little helping hand and especially now. The oldest and largest national origination dedicated to assisting local, community-based seniors, Meals On Wheels has made delivering daily meals directly to Golden Ager’s its mission – deliveries that wouldn’t be made without strong network of 5,000-plus community programs and countless, countless volunteers. www.mowaa.org is in many communities so find the one near you and get involved. I drove for a hospice food delivery service and the people are so appreciative that I always felt I got more out of that they did. One other good group to go more global in your giving is Convoy Of Hope:    Go to http://www.convoyofhope.org/ and find out what you can do to help end world hunger. We are here to help others and this one of the best-ever ways.Let