Helping Hearts, Blog of Anne Sanders

  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 s...

OK. I haven’t tried this yet because I just heard of it, but OH, how I love the idea! It’s a month worth of ideas and items to spread kindness. You can sign up to get them for one month, six months or 12 months! Here is how the founder Heather Shugarman describes the Be Nice box: Each month, the box will center around a theme & all contents will be a surprise until you open the box. But, each month you will receive a list of 13-15 fun, awesome & affordable ideas to practice kindness in your area. along with the list, you will also find 5-7 materials, items & handmade products to help you fulfill some of those tasks. and finally, each box will contain a cool, handmade surprise for YOU! Also, $1 from every box goes to a charity. The Be Nice Box has supported Ten Thousand Things , Himalayan Cataract Project , Open Arms MN , Blessings Basket Project , Project Success and LIFEline Fashion , Share Our Strength and Meals on Wheels since they opened in October of ...

Next Saturday is the day! The Great Kindness Challenge ! I am so excited because I already have an idea for something to do. You see, the church I have been attending is having a ladies’ brunch that day which I have been looking forward to because I am new at the church. I’m eager to meet some other ladies and find out what this church does for missions work. Since it’s the Great Kindness Challenge, I think I will stop beforehand and get a dozen roses and individually wrap them and give them out to random ladies at the brunch. What will you do for the Great Kindness Challenge? If you need some ideas, the Kids for Peace , who started the challenge, have a few ideas (25 to be specific) on their website . They range from things like smiling at people and making thank you cards, to cleaning up and planting a tree. Of course we want to do kind acts every day, but this is a day to help us remember that and give us a few hints on what kinds of things we can do. I had gotten in th...

Next week is a pivotal week. As we celebrate love on St. Valentine’s Day, we realize that love is to be shared. It’s something you can hold onto only if you give it away.   Last week I wrote about how I enjoy books and sharing them with others, giving you lots of options about how to do so or support nonprofits that do. I guess I was subconsciously gearing up for International Book Giving Day on Valentine’s Day. V-Day is also when we celebrate One Billion Rising to dance against violence done to women worldwide. I wrote about that in January so people could decide how and with whom they were going to dance in support of it. But next week is also one of my favorite weeks of the year because it’s Random Acts of Kindness (RAK) Week. Back in January, I warned you that it was coming with my story of how Courtney Fell led a bunch of kids to do random acts of kindness. She had some great ideas for acts of kindness. Now it’s time for even more. The Random Acts of Ki...

I cried so much doing the research for this week’s blog. I guess that’s nothing new. My husband often sees me with tears running down my face as I work on my blog. It’s usually a mixture of sadness and happiness at what happens in this world that causes it.   Have you heard about the 26 acts of kindness that NBC News Host Ann Curry suggested people do in honor of each person who died at Sandy Hook Elementary School? She started out just suggesting people do 20 acts for the kids, but everyone wanted to do something for each person who died.   If you want to see some examples of what people are doing and her explanation of how it all happened, visit the NBC News page about it . I think it’s such a fabulous idea that I had to mention it.   I also found out about a local mother who started her own random acts of kindness initiative.   Were your kids bored over the Christmas holiday when they were out of school?   Courtney Fell’s two boys were, too...

Last week I asked you to think about which charities you might want to support in the new year. This week I have thirteen ways to do so. Not all of these ways allow you to choose the charity you benefit, but many of them do so get ready to give back! 1.        Open a savings account with ableBanking and get $25 given to the charity of your choice and a quarter percent of your average balance once a year as well. They are an online bank with no fees so you will be saving money, too! 2.       Give a dime a day to charity without thinking about it. Help Every Day takes what it calls a “coin of compassion” each day , charged monthly to your credit card, to support various charity projects around the world. You don’t miss it, but it’s helping other people. 3.       Like Carrie Underwood, James Taylor, Katy Perry or the Rolling Stones? Then buy your ticket to their concerts at Tickets for Charity ...

Top 11 Last Minute Charitable Christmas Gifts Christmas is getting closer but it's not too late to do something to make a difference this holiday. The unique items below can be given with the best intentions—to help others. There’s still time to get a notification card sent to the recipient but even if you wait, you can send the notice of the present by email or in many cases, you can print out your own card to hand to your friend or family member.  1.        Alternative Gifts International - $11 pays for a share of a yak for orphaned and destitute children in the Tibetan regions of remote western China . 2.       Spend $25 or more to free forced labor slaves with International Justice Mission . 3.       A llama from Heifer International  - A share is $20 while a whole llama is $150. Heifer provides all kinds of animals from chicks to water buffalo to families that can use th...

Who means the most to you in this world? If you're a parent, you probably would say your child. And to your child, you are probably the most influential person as well. So when your parent is not taking care of you any more, that's a major life change. How about when you need to start caring for your parent? This month my mother got a walker. A couple of weeks ago, she called me out of breath and upset to tell me that she had fallen three times just that day. In the past few months, she has had more health problems than in her entire life. I won't go into all of them but the latest one has been problems with her feet which have caused her to be off balance and in pain. The day after she called me, I talked to a friend and she mentioned a walker. That's how new I am to the idea that my mother needs help. She falls that many times and I don't even think "walker" until a friend mentions it. I just don’t think of her as being a woman behind a walker b...

A dime a day. Does it sound like too much or too little? It adds up to about three dollars a month, less than the cost of a Starbucks espresso or a Burger King Whopper. It is the coin of compassion that Help Every Day deducts from your credit card monthly to support its projects. If you’re not sure how to go about helping other people and you don’t have much money to do so, then Help Every Day is a great option. They’ve done projects around the world: improving water collection in Tanzania, developing literacy and vocational skills among poor adolescent girls in India, providing bikes for new health care professionals in Tanzania, financing difficult deliveries of babies in Sierra Leone, caring for orphaned Kenyan babies, providing training for older orphans in Kenya. Their current project is helping the indigenous Quechua communities in Peru. By financing a project over a six month period, Help Every Day will assist these threatened communities with economic developmen...

Yesterday my son and I went shopping for school clothes. You would have thought I was torturing him the way he complained. Florida also had a tax free weekend for school supplies and clothing last weekend. We had returned from being out of town that Sunday so we ran over to Walmart at 7 p.m. that night to get his composition books and pencils, too.   From my Facebook page, I can see that some of the children of my friends are already in school. My son starts next week. So, it’s time to start thinking of teachers, schedules and homework again. Amidst all the preparation, you will see boxes in major chain stores like Walmart asking for school supply donations for needy kids.   It’s an easy way to donate. Just pick up a few extra boxes of pencils and reams of paper at the same time you’re shopping for your own children while most of these items are on sale. However, there’s another group of kids who need supplies just as much as the older ones—preschoolers. We have a ...

I am ecstatic. My husband who has been in Kuwait for a year and in Birmingham the year before is BACK!   He’s been home for a little over a week. We went on a nearby base a couple of days ago and I stopped and got Slim Jims for the guys at the gate.   It’s something I started doing back during Random Acts of Kindness week in February. I bring them snacks since they’re on their feet outside for hours at a time.   He asked me why I did it and I said because I like to. Another great kindness event is coming up next Saturday, the Great Kindness Challenge .   It’s an event aimed at getting children involved in helping others, but it’s also a great day for everyone to do as many kind deeds as they can. If you’re having trouble thinking of some things your kids can do, the Great Kindness Challenge website has a list of 50 suggestions which you can print and check off as you do them.   They include things like leaving a flower on someone’s doorstep, reading a b...

I know. I know. I was supposed to write about Volunteer Vacations today like I promised.   I will get to it next month, but I was inspired on Monday to write about something else.   That’s when I was watching Good Morning America and heard the plea from Sam Champion for people to join the Be the Match Registry.   It struck me because I had just joined and gotten my membership card in the mail a couple of weeks ago.   He was asking because Robin Roberts, one of the show’s anchors, has contracted MDS, short for myelodysplastic syndrome, a rare blood disorder that affects the bone marrow.   Roberts is a breast cancer survivor.   I admire her for all she’s been through and she is one of the lucky 30 percent that have a sibling with an appropriate match for bone marrow.   But 70 percent of the time, a sibling’s marrow does not match.   That means thousands of patients with leukemia, lymphoma, sickle cell and other life-threatening dis...

What’s soft, furry, purry and gives tons of joy to people around the world? Why, cats, of course. I grew up with cats, starting with a Siamese called Cricket to today’s Tiger striped version named Georgia.   We’ve lost two cats in the last five years so it’s with heartfelt memories that I write today’s blog. Animal shelters around the country are putting on special events all month in June to celebrate, you guessed it, Adopt a Cat Month.   It’s one way to help that I wholeheartedly support because all of the pets we’ve owned have been shelter or neighborhood cats who otherwise might have been killed at a shelter. These felines have enriched my life and become part of my family over the years.   My son adopted his own cat and named her Georgia for George Washington a few years ago.   Everyone agrees upon seeing him for five minutes with her that he adores that cat. I think she’s pretty great, too.   She’s a loud one, for sure, waking up in the morning...