The possibility of children's minds and hearts

My heart melted when I read this story... I think these 2 children are already great influences. The following story is from the mother of 2 young boys.

I was talking with the boys about Christmas, and that this year we are not going to have a lot of gifts. My eldest told me that it's ok because they have too many toys anyway. So as the discussion continues, we talk about the possibility of donations instead of some gifts. Both boys embraced this idea more than I thought they would to be honest - what kid will pass up toys?? Anyway, when Grandma asked what they wanted, my eldest said "just a small toy and then help dogs and cats". My husband's mom looked at me puzzled to say the least. I explained everything and in my son's name a donation will be made to a local shelter for Christmas. When my youngest was asked about it, he wanted to help the rain forest. So a donation will be made in his name to the Arbor Day Foundation Rain Forest Rescue. It made my heart happy that they were not "coached" on what to say. It was a discussion we had, and they chose to follow through on it.

Stacy's children...

My act of kindness is for Stacy's sweet children. I promise to pray for them every day for the rest of my life.

I am so moved by this act. And it brings to memory a few other acts from last year. Included in the loved ones that Stacy left behind, are her two children. They were 4 and 6 at the time she died... just a few weeks before the eldest turned 7. I wanted to share with you a few kind acts done for them.

Sorry to make the story a bit long... but hopefully the time you spend reading it will be worth it.

Since she was 3, my niece has asked for Butterscotch. For those of you that don't know, Butterscotch is a realistic robotic pony about as big as my niece (Butterscotch comes with a brush, a micro-chipped carrot, and a pretty price tag to boot)! As you can imagine, there were many conversations explaining to her why it wasn't possible for her to have Butterscotch. She remained hopeful and persistent, even when she didn't receive Butterscotch that first Christmas of asking. A few months after Stacy died, Christmas was upon us again, albeit a bit sadly.

We exchanged most gifts on Christmas Eve night... Christmas morning is saved for the kids. It's then that they open presents from Daddy and Santa.

My boyfriend's brother and sister-in-law have never met my family, but gave me two wrapped gifts for the kids. We had no idea what they were. We would find out Christmas Eve night....

I hadn't noticed my nephew opening his gift until I heard.....

"$50?! Papa! Did you hear that?! I got a $50 gift card to Toys R Us!!!" (my nephew's eyes were HUGE)

Everyone around him: "50 DOLLARS?!"

Nephew: "But they don't even know me."

Me: "But they love you anyway"

Nephew: Looked at Auntie Robyn in disbelief.

He felt sooo rich. It was awesome :)

My niece looked completely dangerous when we told her she had her own spending money for Toys R Us... we can tell that she is going to be a major shopper. ;)

We all had a great time, and there were many smiles in spite of the impending vacancy. The next day, after the kids opened their Daddy and Santa gifts, Mom made a wonderful Christmas lunch (with a little help). When we were all done stuffing ourselves, we started to clean up the remnants of our feast; and there was a knock at the door. All I saw was a flash of Red and White, and we called the kids to the kitchen. There was Santa, bringing in a medium sized box and setting it down on the floor. Everyone looked at each other questioning "who invited Santa??" We all got the same shrug and look in response "Not me! I have no idea?!"

Next, Santa came back in lugging a large bag with him. My niece immediately exclaimed, "It's Butterscotch!" We all tried to hush her. We were desperate not to raise her hopes. My nephew was on the floor helping his sister with the tie.... before the bag was even open, he yelled "It's Butterscotch!" I told him to not say that... because we couldn't believe it was. As soon as the bag was opened, my niece was inside of it. "It IS Butterscotch!!" And it was. The bag was removed, and there was Butterscotch, completely assembled and laying down. We all looked at each other, in disbelief for what had just transpired. There was my niece sitting on top of her new pony saying "I wanted Butterscotch so much, and I never stopped wanting her! And now I got her! Can you believe it? I got her!!"

For the record, my nephew received a Nintendo DS. And there marked the day my niece and nephew met their soul mates.

I have to admit that I am not one to spoil children with many material possessions. With that said, this was the most magical Christmas I have ever witnessed. And I will never forget the spirit that surrounded us.



(Santa was in cahoots with a very special family friend)

More for our soldiers away from home....

My friend who introduced me to "AdoptAPlatoon", sent me another way to support our troops. Please read on as this is such an awesome opportunity!

Hi Robyn-

There is another organization that supports our troops called Soldiers Angels. What I have decided to do is to, in addition to the packages that I am going to send out to my 4 soldiers through Adopt A Platoon, I have sponsored a holiday package to go out to one of the soldiers through Soldiers Angels. It is only about $20 per holiday package. Maybe some of your other folks that read your blog might want to sponsor a package for a soldier too. Here is the information:

Dear Angel,

This Holiday season, the goal of Soldiers' Angels is to send 180,000 Wrapped in Holiday Spirit Care Packafuges - one for every service member deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan. That's 180,000 heroes wrapped in warmth from home when they are going to need it most. When they are, at this special time of year, so far from family and friends, we will provide them with comfort and support from home in the form of a Blanket of Belief, thermal mug, hot cocoa, hot cider, warm socks, candy bar or health food bar, gum and a holiday card with warm wishes from home.

This is a huge project and in order to reach our goal, we are asking all Angels, "Can you be there for a hero this Holiday Season?" There are a variety ways this can be done. You can send a Wrapped in Holiday Spirit care package to a specific soldier, you can send one to "Any Soldier" and--new this year--you can send a care package to a soldier in honor of a friend, family member or loved one.

Don't we all know at least one person who has everything, one who is really hard to shop for? Think of how great it will be to honor them by sending some warmth and support to one of our heroes. Once you have ordered your package(s) just email your store confirmation # to holidays4heroes@gmail.com and we will send you a beautiful certificate you can present to them to celebrate your generous and thoughtful gift in their honor.

Here comes the BEST part: it's all a short visit to the Angel Store and an email away. They are currently on sale for 25% off, making the cost, just $18.75 including shipping & handling. How many people would you like to be able to cross off your shopping list for less than $20.00 without changing out of your P.J.'s? And no using all the gas in the tank, either!

To support a hero this Holiday, visit the Angel Store at www.angelsstore.org. To find the Wrapped in Holiday Spirit package go to the Navigation section (left side) and click on "Care Packages." The Wrapped in Holiday Spirit package can be found in the "Themed Packages" section. Or, just click here.

This is truly a time we need to fly wingtip to wingtip, Angels. So, what do you say? Can you be there for a hero this Holiday Season?

Love,

Patti & the Holiday for Heroes Team

I'm still here, as well as your oh-so-sweet-acts!

We've been out of the state visiting our families; and although we had wonderful visits, I apologize for the delay in posting.

Here are a couple of lovely little stories...

I went to Younkers and bought some button up sweaters and took them to the nursing home today. They were going to give them to some patients who would like or need them. I remember how kind Stacy was at the nursing home. Always a smile on her face.

I went to the pharmacy today and asked if they would let me pay for part of someone's medicine that didn't have insurance... and they let me!

Matching Donations to Your Local Food Bank (Until Friday!)

The following article is from a blog called "fivecentnickel.com". Please read through it, and contact their blog if you can participate!

Matching Donations to Your Local Food Bank
Posted by nickel on October 15, 2008 (9:36 am) in Charity

For those of you that don’t keep up with this sort of thing, today is Blog Action Day. If you’re not familiar with Blog Action Day, it’s a day when upwards of 10k bloggers (myself included) band together to write about a topic that needs greater attention. Last year’s topic was the environment. This year, the topic is poverty.

Rather than simply writing about the poverty problem, I decided that I wanted to do something a bit more tangible. So… Like last year, I thought I’d try to raise a bit of money to help combat the problem.

Here’s how it works… My family will match all donations made this week up to $1000 total (today through Friday) with a donation of our own. Note that this will be in addition to our normal annual contributions, so it’s a true match. All you have to do is find your local food bank, make your donation, and then let me know about it. In order to simplify the record-keeping, all of our matching donations will go to our local food bank in a lump sum donation.

Feed the world in four easy steps:

1. Visit Feeding America to find your local foodbank.

2. Make your donation (follow the link directly to your local foodbank, or donate via Feeding America).

3. Let me know via e-mail to ‘nickel’ at this domain (fivecentnickel.com) or via my contact form (specify the amount).

4. Save your receipt… It’s tax deductible, after all.

For the most part, we’ll do this on the honor system, but I reserve the right to ask for proof of any questionable (in my opinion) donations. Proof would constitute a screen shot of your donation (or confirmation e-mail) — you will of course be free to blot out the sensitive parts (name, address, etc.).

Don’t worry, my goal here is to give the money away. I just don’t want someone lying that they gave a large amount and effectively ending the fundraiser early.

Assuming that people actually take me up on this offer, I’ll post a list of donors and amounts (I may post periodic updates, as well, depending on the response).

Fellow Bloggers: Make a minimum donation of $50 and I’ll include a link to your site when I post updates and/or the final list. Again, keep in mind that I might ask for proof, so don’t lie. If you do, I’ll out you in a very public way.

About Feeding America*

Feeding America is the nation’s leading charitable hunger-relief organization:

• A network of more than 200 member food banks and food-rescue organizations
• Serving all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico

The Feeding America network secures and distributes more than 2 billion pounds of donated food and grocery products annually.

The Feeding America network supports approximately 63,000 local charitable agencies operating more than 70,000 programs including food pantries, soup kitchens, emergency shelters, after-school programs, Kids Cafes, Community Kitchens and BackPack Programs.

Each year, the Feeding America network provides food assistance to more than 25 million low-income people facing hunger in the United States, including more than 9 million children and nearly 3 million seniors.

*Feeding America was formerly known as America’s Second Harvest.

Article taken from fivecentnickel.com - http://www.fivecentnickel.com
URL to article: http://www.fivecentnickel.com/2008/10/15/matching-donations-to-your-local-food-bank/

More... but not the same

I am so very pleased to share more acts of kindness for children. I'll let these 5 stories speak for themselves....

My husband and I are currently going through the foster care process hoping to bring in a child soon!

We had a fund raiser at school today, and a number of people contributed towards those who couldn't afford the lunch.

My boss gave me tickets to the Cubs playoff game. I love the Cubs, but gave the ticket to my boyfriend so he could take his son to such a big game. To make it a little even for his younger brother and sister, I got them tickets to the circus.

When Sister Euphrasia from Camaroon, Africa, stayed with us here at Clare Hall for two weeks, she was intrigued with the teaching materials I've developed for deaf children. She bought my two DVDs of workbooks for deaf children. I surprised her by constructing and giving her sets of blocks containing JULIE AND JACK comic strip stories. The blocks are very educational. They help deaf children acquire various skills- reading, thinking, comparing, sorting, arranging stories in sequence and then finding sentences that match the pictures and tell the story. Sister Euphrasia was delighted. Now she's back in Camaroon.

I volunteered September 26 at the Boys and Girls Club. Many of the kids are from pretty rough neighborhoods. The volunteer coordinator took me to the gym where approximately 70+ children were running wild! It was VERY intimidating right away... but after just a few minutes I had already made a few friends amongst them. After chatting quite a bit with one little girl, she told me she wanted to be an EMT and a police officer when she grew up because her uncle had been shot in the eye and survived. After 3 hours it was time to leave, and I got many hugs from these awesome kids. I also spoke with the art teacher about supplies. She said she would gladly take anything I could donate as they never have many supplies. I went shopping, and bought just over $100 worth of paints and projects for lots of little children!

Dear Neighbor....

I chose my next door neighbors as the recipient of my planned random act of kindness because they are such a cute couple. They are a young mom and dad and a baby that live in the one bedroom garden apartment in the building next door. I see them from time to time, on their way to work or to family parties. They always have a blanket covering the baby in it's car carrier and they are always coming and going with what looks like extended family and or friends. They just seem like a nice couple that are hard working and just trying to provide for their small family. So, I thought that I would do something nice for my quite shy but friendly neighbors. I started with the couple in the garden apartment. One night, I secretly slipped an envelope into their mailbox. The envelope contained a $20 Target gift certificate along with one of their red reusable shopping bags. I also put in a small card that said "Smile, you've just been tagged. Encouraging random acts of kindness is the name of the game, and now you are it." On the back of the card it read "Someone reached out to you with an anonymous act of kindness. Now it is your chance to do the same. Do something nice for someone, leave this card behind, and keep the spirit going! Visit www.selflessacts.blogspot.com for my inspiration. Or, visit www.helpothers.org for more ideas and info." The card included the following quote, " The fragrance always remains on the hand that gives the rose. - Gandhi." I found these cards at the www.helpothers.org site. I liked their idea of leaving or giving the card when you commit random or anonymous acts of kindness. I ended up making up my own set of cards to use. I made up some in in Spanish too. Soon, I plan to secretly leave envelopes in the mailboxes of the upstairs apartments nextdoor. It was fun figuring out what I was going to do on Stacy's Day, and I felt really good at the vision I had of their faces when they opened the envelope. I hope that they put that card to good use. I had originally wanted to buy them a package of diapers for the baby but I couldn't figure out how to fit that into their mailbox.