Blessed

When u see a need try to fill it. I felt so blessed this morning for my good family, good friends, and good co workers.

Do I have plenty on my mind worrying me? Do I wish I had more, could do more...yes.

But today I choose to be grateful. 

If you're reading this, I am grateful for you too!

Have the best holidays!

- Lisa

Exactly

 

Please Consider Giving

 

Helping at the Food Kitchen

Lisa and I spent part of the late afternoon helping the Street Angels prepare 100 pork dinners for local warming stations. Well, she helped with food - I got stuck washing dishes in the church kitchen. D 'oh.

ISO

We have a family friend in need of help to make Christmas special. If anyone wants details on how to help dm Dan or myself. - Lisa

Milwaukee Warming Room Info

Sign up for a Good Cause!

Support a good cause. Sadly, I won't be medically cleared to even attempt it by the event date - but you're healthy: sign up!

The Soup Kitchen

Lisa and Junie, volunteering at the soup kitchen with the Girl Scouts

The 2014 Food Pantry Charity Walk

This past Saturday #TeamSlap, for the third year in a row, participated in a charity walk for the local food pantry. 

The morning of the walk the kids were not thrilled with the notion, despite looking forward to it for weeks. 

 

YaYa, now a month shy of teenagehood, refused to have her face in any picture. 

Anyhow, soon enough it was time to hit the pavement. This year, for the first time, we took the "long route", the 2.6 mile option. 

Halfway into the walk, I finally got a face pic. Sorta. Kinda. 

Right around the time this picture was taken Lauren and I discussed the possible benefits of buying a Beetle; gas mileage was my point. Hers? "If we were driving in it we could watch people punch each other" [aka "white punch buggie no punch back"]

Lisa was on 'stand-by', just in case one of the kids pooped out and we needed a pickup. It wasn't needed :)

Once we finished the walk - THE FIRST TO FINISH by the way - the food pantry offered participants a sundae bar. The kids dove in. I abstained. 

On the walk home we walked through the road construction nearby, grateful that it wasn't our street that was torn apart by the city. 

 I am disappointed in a number of friends (not just one) who RSVP'd for the various invites that were issued for it and then failed to show. Y'all missed a beautiful day and the chance to do something good for the community. That aside, kudos to the kids of #TeamSlap. I'm proud of you.

Can we Make a Difference? I'd like to think we can.

In this, The Year of The Comeback, we have made it our goal to try and devote a small part of our lives to giving back to others in our community. We’re doing this not only because it is the good and Christian thing to do – and I don’t say that tongue in cheek – but because the mere act of giving will empower you. It says to your soul that you are not a victim, that you are no longer relegated to the sidelines and that you can make a difference in the world. You might remember our ill-fated charity walk for the local food pantry. Our efforts have been small since then; a donated can of food here, a dollar or two to a charity drive here. We don’t have much to give.

 This past Friday however, I got a catalog from Heifer International. Since 1944 Heifer International (HI) has assisted in livestock and agricultural training and assistance to alleviate hunger and poverty around the world. Their goal for the people they help is self reliance, which is important – I am, after all, a Republican – and what the catalog allows you to do is simple but breathtakingly powerful.

For a set price, you can provide a family halfway across the globe with an animal that will help that family provide food and fertilizer, and in some cases provide products the family can sell to gain a better financial footing. There are some pricy gifts; the top of the line is $25,000 for a gift that will provide acreage and schooling for a community; then there is the $5,000 ‘Ark’, which provides a pair of 15 different animals to families, who are then obliged to ‘pay it forward’ by donating one of the pair’s offspring to another needy family.

Obviously I can’t afford $25,000 or even $250 for that matter; good intentions be damned, someone still needs to pay the mortgage and utilities. Even so, we can still do some good.

A sheep, goat, or pig is $120 – a ‘share’ of one purchase is $10.

A trio of rabbits is $60 – a share is $10

A gift of honeybees – which provides not only food but a potential income – is $30.

So sometime early next week I’m going to call a family meeting. We’ll all decide on what our goal will be, and hopefully by Christmas that gift will be on its way to some deserving family.

I really feel this is a good program and something worthwhile. I hope we can make a difference in someone’s life. 

BVCC Food Pantry Charity Walk

I have some notion that I should try to install responsibility and empathy into the kids, and teach them to give back to the community. Rolling with this thought, I picked the fundraising walk for the Bay View Community Center's Food Pantry as our inaugural "family project". 

Alas, Lisa had to fill in at work for her hospitalized friend so she couldn't attend. Then Lu had a fit and I left her behind (she reconsidered and joined me before the walk began), and I wisely viewed LK as too young to hoof a 3 mile course and dropped her off at grandma's.

 I wish I could say it went well, but it was a comedy of errors. Turnout was pitifully low. There were maybe, MAYBE two dozen walkers, and we accounted for a sixth of the total. Then the kids argued, right there in public, tho' they knocked that off once the walk actually started. There was also a moment I'm sure we'll laugh about in twenty years, but since this isn't 2032 mum's the word. So A for effort, C for achievement. At least the Food Pantry got a bag of groceries and some cash from us; I hope they did better financially than the turnout indicated.