Helping Hearts, Blog of Anne Sanders

In less than three weeks, Valentine’s Day will be here. Now that beautiful day celebrating love has a new meaning. Not only is it the day of love for couples, it is also a day to end violence against women. Not by parading or picketing, but by dancing. One Billion Rising on V-Day is the movement. It’s named for the one billion women who are raped or beaten in their lifetimes. According to the slogan: One billion women violated is an atrocity. One billion women dancing is a revolution. Other than with a few close friends, I have never shared that I was raped when I was 22. I was living in Japan and seeing a guy there. I invited him over to my house for dinner and he took that as an invitation for more than just dinner. It affected me in my relationships with men for at least five years. When I met the man I was to marry, I had to tell him that it was still affecting me sometimes. It wasn’t a constant pain or ache, but sometimes I didn’t want a man to touch me. Now there’s a ...

You may already know that January is national mentoring month, but did you know you can mentor children as far away as Africa and as close as Philadelphia without ever leaving your home? Or that you can become a buddy to someone with intellectual and developmental disabilities from your computer? It’s called E mentoring. There are many different ways of doing it, from video conversations to email pen pal programs. Infinite Family matches children in Africa affected by HIV/AIDS and poverty with adults around the world, who through weekly half hour video conversations, improve the life and future of these children. E-Buddies pairs people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) in one-to-one e-mail friendships with peer volunteers who do not have intellectual or developmental disabilities. Matched pairs exchange emails once a week. E-Buddies provides people with IDD an opportunity to develop new friendships and acquire much needed computer skills. ...

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 ...

I have been asked to be a part of a blog chain called "The Next Big Thing." For this blog chain, we talk about our latest Works In Progress. Besides my blog, I am also working on a book. Here's some information about it and links to the person who invited me to this chain and also to five other people whom I'm inviting to be a part of the blog chain. Thanks for checking this out! Ten Interview Questions for the Next Big Thing: What is your working title of your book? Behind the Stage Where did the idea come from for the book? From some things my pastor said about life as a pastor What genre does your book fall under? Christian contemporary fiction Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition? Patrick Dempsey as the main character Josh Allen and Elizabeth Banks as his wife Leah. What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?  Behind the Stage  delves into the psyche of a popular minister as he combats attacks on his sim...

My mother in law made a comment a few weeks ago that struck me. She knows I volunteer for the American Cancer Society . Many times she has said she hears about so many more people who have cancer now than when she was growing up. She said that back then everyone talked about the March of Dimes . Now I know the name the March of Dimes and I know it has to do with children. But what I didn’t know was that the March of Dimes has been around for 75 years, was started by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to fight polio and has had famous supporters like Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley. Cancer may be the disease many people are concerned with today, but healthy babies are always a concern and that’s why the March of Dimes changed its focus to preventing birth defects and infant mortality after the polio vaccine was developed. I have to be honest, the March of Dimes is not the best organization for keeping administrative and fundraising costs down. According to Charity Navigator...

Five more kids will have presents from their fathers in prison this year because of the Angel Tree program and the ladies of my bible study. I called some local churches and one of them said they’d look into doing Angel Tree next year, too.   I know it’s not much but it’s something those five kids will not soon forget. Today I’m going over to my local food bank to drop off food from my hurricane closet. Hurricane season ends when November does so I cleaned out my closet and had a bunch of canned soup, ravioli and veggies to donate. I put a note on my Facebook page so my friends can give me items to donate, too. Last year we had a food drive at my birthday party in lieu of gifts so we were able to bring a nice box of items. When I called the food bank, they were eager to get the food with so many people stopping by right now needing it. We already sent a bag of Christmas food and money for a turkey through our church. I can’t help it. I keep hearing on the radio about ...