Blogging Your Blessings

– Happy Halloween!  Bowl of candy? Check. Costume on? Check. Pumpkins carved? Check. Today is All Hallow’s Eve and what better day to dress up, go out, and overindulge on sugary sweets? However, take a few precautions before venturing out: ·   If you have kids, don’t let them trick-or-treat without supervision ·   Don’t let your child eat candy that doesn’t come in a wrapper ·   Hold a flashlight when outside so drivers can see you ·   But Halloween doesn’t have to be all about the sugar rush and crazy costumes. It can also be a very charitable day: ·        Make cards of kindness ·        Some children are too ill to go out trick or treating. Make homemade Halloween cards for hospitalized children with life-threatening illnesses and mail to either Love Letters: Random Cards of Kindness or Hugs and Hope . 2 ·        Send candy to the troops...

Teaching others is hard word and can be a thankless job. Whether you are a student or have kids in school, approach your/their teacher and tell them what a great job they are doing.  Adopt A Classroom goes to the head of the class in my book for the good work they do: AdoptAClassroom.org gives teachers a hand by providing needed classroom materials so that students can succeed. It is estimated that more than 15 million children don’t have the resources they need to succeed in school and that teachers spend more than $1 billion a year stocking their own classrooms due to a lack of funding in schools. Supporting K-12th grade students, including public, private, and charter school classrooms, AdoptAClassroom.org makes it easy for donors to provide funding and support to classrooms throughout America. Teachers register their classrooms and needs online; donors discover classrooms through simple search tools, and make targeted contributions.    Their goal is to connect dono...

Operation Gratitude I learned about his from my mom whose church regularly sends cards,letters and care packages overseas to the armed forces. My mom and her fellow church ladies bake some of the best cookies in the world so they gather up all kinds of goodies and treats and send them overseas where the taste of “down home” surely brings many smiles of satisfaction. Those who are less gifted in the baking department, such as ME, can make $15 donation to Operation Gratitude, which pays for one care package for one serviceperson. Operation Gratitude has end over a million of these kindness kits around the world!

Help Those Who Help Themselves Empower an entrepreneur with a loan through Kiva . You can give as little at $25 dollars to entrepreneurs in developing countries to help eliminate poverty. Throughout the life of the loan, you will receive updates on the progress of the project and will be repaid by the borrower with Kiva Credit—which you can use to fund another project or withdraw. http://www.kiva.org/ I have bought some really lovely pillows baskets and bangle bracelets made in India by women whose creativity was sent soaring by Kiva!

True generosity, with no strings attached, expecting nothing in return, and without scorekeeping, is a direct expression of abundance. Be generous with your time and skills by volunteering for something you believe in; leave an extra tip for the wait staff; give away thank-you’s. Go through your closet and gather up things you don’t wear or use and donate them to a homeless shelter or people in need. Medieval scribe and exalted thinker St. Augustine taught that “Charity is the virtue that brings us closest to God.”

Give Away Your Old Stuff Do a favor for people in need and give away some of the things you no longer need or use or wear.  Others would be happy to have it and it will help you simplify your life and enjoy your time more.  Find a few locations that you can drop off your stuff or call an organization that collects your goods to redistribute to those in need. There are Goodwill’s or Salvation Amy centers in every town, large or small so you can donate there to help others and quickly.  Nowadays, it might be best to take an old suitcase you don't use anymore and and pack extra clothes, towels, blankets and very practical items anyone woiuld need to be able to donate it to the victims of the recent California wildfires. Some of my friends lost their homes, pets, cars and jobs to the fires of the last few days so I am packing up care packages to deliver. You might not love your old suitcase or last year's comforter anymore but someone you love who lost everything in ...

Now is about the best time ever to take a volunteer vacation.  Learn a new language. Or become more fluent in your less dominant language if you are already bilingual. The more people you can communicate with, the more valuable you are to working opportunities as well as opening yourself up to new people and cultures.  A friend of mine recently took a volunteer vacation where he taught English to orphans and abandoned children in Liberia. He said he enjoyed every minute and wants to do this every year, as he loved working with the kids. As he told me this story, his smile was at least a mile wide! This same friend, Brad, gathered up money from all of us and took it to in person where he went to help however he could,  to the aftermath of the tsunami, Hurricane Katrina and now in Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico. What can we do? Volunteer vacations make the best memories, too.