Hands On Nashville Day

My son and I spent a morning painting and grounds-keeping a school last week as part of Hands on Nashville Day.  The photo doesn't show how bright and clean the walls looked like - especially since it was previously "institutional putty" colored.  And the lovely garden area in the window was filled with weeds taller than me.  I am proud to say that we were part of 30 people who showed up from my work to make this transformation.  I don't know if this technically qualifies as planting a school garden, but maybe it's headed in that direction.

Across the City:

9,200+ Volunteer Hours

2,300+ Volunteers

$200,000+ in economic impact

63 Schools and their students being blessed!

Small Stuff

I had nearly two feet of hair cut off to donate to Locks of Love.  From their website:

"Locks of Love is a public non-profit organization that provides hairpieces to financially disadvantaged children in the United States and Canada under age 21 suffering from long-term medical hair loss from any diagnosis."

Bowling for Kid - Big Brothers/Big Sisters Fundraiser

Participated in the fundraiser through work - our team raised over $500 for a worthy cause.

Vision Walk - Check!

My son and I went, walked, and raised $250 for a good cause. Thanks to family, coworkers and strangers who donated to our cause!

The food drive isn't going so well. I did not get the letter from them saying that this is an official event. Need to follow up with them.

Vision Walk Update

One thing that I have learned as I have embarked on my journey to Do Good and Make a Difference is that one woman can do nothing.  The success that I have here is directly related to many, many people.  I would like to thank my family and friends who are part of my family, for their generous donations to this year's Vision Walk.  Between them, they have pledged $150 dollars towards a cure for blindness.  I posted the link at work today.  Hopefully some of my coworkers will feel inspired to join us in April.

Pasion for Post Cards

I have been collecting post cards for decades, now; however, mostly they sit in albums hidden from the light of day.  But if everything has a purpose, how can a post card express its postcardness like that? Post cards are meant to be mailed.  They are meant to bring a smile to someone's face when they show up in their mail box.  And who better to receive such a smile than our military men and women who are deployed.  And so, I shall ransack my collection of post cards and send them out into the world!

I'm Not A People Person

Cooking or serving food at a soup kitchen is probably a more personal expression of charity and love for my fellow human being; however, I think I can do more than just that.  It may not be as personal, but I would wager it is at least as impactful.... I am going to go on a one woman food drive to see if I can fill my pickup truck bed full of non-perishable foods for our Food Bank.  People give food to the Food Banks during the holidays, but the need is there all year round.  Also, I am lame with social media, and my Crowd Funding is going nowhere...

So here is the high level plan

I will stay at the store on Saturday from 6 am to 6 pm and fill up my truck as many times as I can in that time period.  

• Contact the Food Bank and get their buy-in to the idea
• Contact local Super Walmarts and grocery stores until I find one that will agree to my food raiser
• Set a date
• Make a sign
• Write a press release and send to local newspapers
• Write a letter and send to all the local churches
• Letter to the local colleges
• On day of, get boxes from the store to put the food in
• Afterwards, write a letter to the Editor and send to all the local newspapers thanking my neighbors and fellow citizens

The holiday food drives have hopefully filled our Food Bank's larders, so I will make sure that the time period for this food raiser works for them.  I am thinking of Mid-February.

Vision Walk

Walking to cure Retinitis Pigmentosa - a genetic disorder that causes retina damage and progressive vision loss.  Although not on the list of Good Things that my FB family and friends suggested, I decided to add it to my list for very personal reasons - this genetic disease is slowly robbing our son of his vision.  Research scientists are so close to being able to stop the deterioration.  And once that happens, then the reversal of the damage to the eye can't be far behind.  Help us cure this type of blindness in our life time by supporting me in the Nashville Vision Walk 2013 being held on April 20th - or join us on the walk and raise even more funds.  Not in the greater Nashville area? Find a walk in your city here.