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2017 Top Ten Gifts (under $50) That Give

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Hey, folks. I have decided to revive the tradition of a Black Friday list of top ten gifts that give (3 ways!) So, here it is. Enjoy your shopping from the comfort of your home and God bless you.  1.        Vive la Revolution! These are the most gorgeous Revolution bracelets.  For $38 each (or 3 for $100), you can get a beautiful band and $10 goes to charities fighting Alzheimer’s. Find them at RivetRevolution . 2.        UNICEF has an immense market for goods from around the world and even tells you when you purchase one how many people you are helping. This beautiful wooden sculpture “Balanced Embrace” will provide enough polio vaccine to vaccinate 56 children. Find something beautiful from clothes to jewelry that meets your taste at market.Unicefusa.org . 3.        Hand knit gnome ornaments are sure to be the hit of your gift list, especially when they find out Melange works to empower rural women in Peru with the proceeds. All this and more at ShoppingforaChange
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One More Time, OK, Maybe Two

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I took a break from Relay for Life last year for the most part and I'll be honest, in some ways I've missed it. In other ways, I have enjoyed having more time. OK, I did raise $250 to keep myself out of the fake jail they put up at our Relay (try it if you haven't, you can raise lots of money by promising to put people in jail, or not, based on whether they raise money!) and I did write an article about the honorary chair at the Relay last year in my town for our local newspaper. And, gosh I can't miss one of the biggest events of the year, so I went. But, that was about it. I wasn't on the board and I didn't have a team of my own. In the meantime, some things changed. My husband and I both started new jobs on the same day for one. And, I found out that the new company supports Relay but they have never had a team at this location. So, I wondered. Should I say something about it? or not? Eventually, it came out that I had worked on Relay and when they
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To live and love others

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Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net Today I want to honor a man, a man with a heart after helping others. This man wasn’t trying to be in the spotlight, he just had a heart after God and for showing God’s love to others. He tried to live by Matthew 25:40 and in the twenty years that I knew him, he did. The verse shows us how we should help others as if we were helping Jesus Himself. The man was named Sandy and he was a kind, gentle, patient and compassionate man, always ready with a smile, a handshake and an encouraging word. When having lunch with him one day, I overheard the waitress say something to Sandy and found out that he had paid for the dinner of some military service members he had seen in the restaurant. He didn’t want them to know it was him. He just wanted to brighten their day and thank them for their service. Another memory I have of Sandy is from a few years ago when it was almost Christmas. We wanted to get something special as a pr
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A Reminder

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  “If there is a poor man among your brothers in any of the towns of the lands that the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward your poor brother. Rather be openhanded and freely lend him whatever he needs.” Deuteronomy 15:7 I’m reading through the Old Testament of the bible and came across this passage. The Old Testament is rich with miracles, history, and stories, but it is also quite harsh. When the Israelites who were slaves came out of Egypt and were told by God they would be given a new land flowing with milk and honey, they were also told to kill all the people in the cities which they conquered. The Old Testament has lots of wars and killing in it, but right here in the middle of all of it, God reminds us to take care of the poor. Now, usually in this blog, I tell you lots of ways to help others. I’ve even given you data that shows that if you do help others, you will reap benefits of joy and gratefulness yourself, as well as bet
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Movies Against Cancer, Thanks to Jack

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I am saddened to hear of David Bowie’s death. Above, nine-year-old Jack Churchman from Perth, Australia recreated one of his more well-known moments. I heard about Jack because he’s collecting money for a cancer charity in western Australia. It started when he found out that some girls in his sister’s class at school had cancer. He decided to grow his hair and donate it. He wanted to do more, so with his family’s help, he began copying famous scenes from movies. He posts them on his Facebook page-- Jacks Big Cut. He will recreate a scene from a movie you request if you donate more than $5. He’s done at least a 100 scenes in movies so far and tries very hard to get them exactly right. If you go to his Facebook page, you can see th ey are excellent. He asks people to like and share their favorite film scene, then donate on his fundraising page to a cancer charity in Australia. If you’re not on Facebook, you can also go to his fundraising page to donate. He
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Giving You the Best Ways to Help Others

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It has been a year ago today since I last posted. In looking over my life at the top five things that have given me a feeling of accomplishment, this blog has to be one of them. I've been thinking about how I want to be remembered. I would love for one of the things for which I am remembered to be this blog and my Facebook moniker of Volunteer and Charity Guru. So, I'm back! I'm still working fulltime and have other responsibilities, but I really missed talking about the awesome things anyone who wants to can do to help others. I never stopped doing things to help others, just writing about them here because I had a website and this blog and a busy life. So, I was walking with my son last week and, of course, mapping the miles with the Charity Miles app so money would be given to a charity for my exercise, when I found a new way to give. It's a new app called Donate a Photo which is sponsored by Johnson & Johnson. You upload a photo that you've taken, a
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Habits of the Heart

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  The new year is here! If you’re making a resolution to be kinder this year, then do I have a couple resources for you! One is www.kindspring.com . They have a way to help you be kinder by doing a 21-day challenge.   I tried it in December and I really liked it. I got a daily email with an idea of something kind to do and also a short message to think about. Because I do this blog, I spend time researching kindness and charity, but sometimes, I have a hard time thinking of 21 things in a row to do. With this daily reminder, you don’t have to.   It’s done for you. Over the years, I’ve heard different “scientific” ways to make a habit. Doing it for a certain number of days seems to be the most popular answer to that question. Being consistent helps makes habits. But we all need some help with that when it’s something new we want to do. The 21-day challenge can help you by providing ideas, thoughts and a reminder, but I have another resource that is specifically ab
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