Couple Builds Bikes for Disabled Kids

I saw this on the news tonight.  What a wonderful story!

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Family/therapy-couple-fashions-tricycles-children-disabilities/story?id=14282607

What I've Been Doing for Two Weeks

Some months ago I wrote a blurb about CASA for this blog.  I've always thought it was a great organization and had been trying to talk my mother into starting to volunteer for them now that she is retired. I know her particular skill set would be great for what one needs to accomplish.

Finally I got her to do it!  And it turns out she loves it and is great at it.  So, now my mom is a child advocate and my sister-in-law does their outreach and another sister-in-law used to volunteer and I have several friends who volunteer and just by a natural progression I decided I'd go ahead and get certified.

SO... I have been sitting in the certification class for a week and have another half of a week to go.  I wonder about the sanity of the decision since I'm raising two kids (with my husband) and we're running our own business. But then I think about the kids that need a voice and I can't ignore that.

It's remarkable to think what can be done if we all band together to help stop the cycle of abuse and neglect. I sat in court for three hours last Wednesday and listened to various testimony of people -- child protective service workers who testified the parents aren't doing what they need to do to get their kids back, parents who say they are doing all they can, listening to drug test results, police reports, advocate reports, lawyers who try to turn their client's lemons into lemonade...

One of the days in class we discussed domestic violence. We listened to a 911 call from a little girl named Lisa. I have a fairly tough exterior and most of the time remain in great control of my emotional self, but this one really got to me.  As I sat listening I wondered if I cried because it was just horrible or if it was because I still struggle with the repercussions of my niece being stabbed by her husband  I could not separate the two and I'm not sure if the depth of my sorrow was for little Lisa (and all the other little Lisas in the world) or if it was for my own family and our loss.

Not that it matters. My perspective has certainly changed since I've had children and crimes against children seem way worse now than they ever have because I put myself and my kids in the place of the people in the stories I hear. And I want to be a good example for the two boys I'm raising.  I tell them they should make the world better than it was when they arrived to it and I ask myself constantly if I'm doing that myself.

How many lives must we make better to counteract those who are selfish or careless or violent? It would be nice if there was a formula, but there's not. So my plan is to just keep trucking and do the best I can do in my own small way, one person at a time. If you'll do it with me that will be two of us and if you bring a friend that's three times the good.

(If you have time to be an advocate for a child who is a victim of abuse and neglect, please check out CASA and see if it would be a good fit for you!)

The Kindness of Children

Not long ago I saw a really touching story about the kindness of children. CBS News has been doing a series about "children of the recession", how the economy is affecting children.

This particular segment had a reporter going around seeing what ideas children had to help with the recession. During the segment it came up that several of the children had money they had been saving and they'd given it to their parents to purchase groceries or other needed items for the family.

What a testimony to the spirit and consideration of these children. Heartwarming and heartbreaking all at the same time.

If you'd like to see the news segment, check it out at the CBS site.

Budget philanthropy idea for the day: Do you have anything extra in your pantry or cabinets? Consider filling up a grocery sack with a few items and taking it in to the food bank or a halfway house or shelter.

Dine In to Fight Childhood Hunger

Stouffer's is running a great campaign to build awareness of childhood hunger. If you visit the site between now and the end of April, Stouffer's will donate $5 to Feeding America to provide meals for children and their families struggling with hunger.

All you have to do is pledge to have dinner at home with a group of family and friends and discuss hunger. They even have free tools to help you. You can download them from the site.

Easy, peasy! You have to eat dinner, so why not dine in with friends and talk about what you can do to help fight childhood hunger. Who knows, maybe you will come up with some brilliant plan. The absolute worst you'll do is get Stouffer's to raise an extra five bucks on your behalf and from there the sky's the limit!

Go CASA!

Have you heard of CASA? If not, you should check it out. My sister-in-law, Pat, is a CASA volunteer.

CASA stands for "Court Appointed Special Advocate", an adult who acts as an advocate for children who are, for whatever reason, caught up in the court system and have no adult to act on their behalf.

From the CASA overview at their web site:

CASA volunteers are appointed by judges to watch over and advocate for abused and neglected children, to make sure they don’t get lost in the overburdened legal and social service system or languish in an inappropriate group or foster home. They stay with each case until it is closed, and the child is placed in a safe, permanent home. For many abused children, their CASA volunteer will be the one constant adult presence—the one adult who cares only for them.

I am a huge, huge fan of CASA! There are never enough volunteers and there are little boys and girls who need you right now. Can you be their advocate? Can you make sure they don't fall through the cracks?

Go learn more about CASA at these web sites:

• nationalcasa.org
  
• casanet.org
  

Using Social Media for Change

Chris Brogan knows the power of social media. Today he used his powers for Good.

While on Twitter, a social networking and micro-blogging tool, Chris "tweeted" to his 34,126 followers about the Share Our Strength project and asked that they "retweet" it to their followers. Share Our Strength's mission is to help wipe out hunger in children and they have partnered with AT&T to do a text-message fund raising drive ($5 pledge per message) with up to $100,000 in matching funds.

Today, Chris Brogan got the word out to 34,126 people plus all the people THOSE people know. If every one of those original people answers Chris's call to action, he would raise, in mere moments, $170,630. With AT&T's matching funds that amount would be $270,630. All it costs you and me is $5. My lunch costs more than $5.

Sometimes all it takes is one sentence to make a difference. How can YOU use the Internet for change? What cause can you help drive through the power of social media? Harness the power of your ENTER key.