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June 2014

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Brides Who Make a Difference

Brides who donate

We simply could not end the month of June without some sort of wedding post. All those beautiful June brides, who are just returning from their honeymoons and now wondering what do I with their big white dress? Chances are pretty good that you won’t be wearing it again anytime soon.

Here are a few suggestions whether you are a bride new or old, know a bride or happen to have a big white dress stashed somewhere in your closet. That special dress that made your day will brighten someone else’s and help support these amazing causes.

1. The Bride Project Wedding dresses are donated to The Brides Project from all across the country. Some are “pre-loved” donated by brides who want to see them dance another day.  Many are donated directly from bridal salons, so they are brand new. The best part of all is that the money raised from the sale of gowns supports families touched by cancer through the Cancer Support Community in Ann Arbor, MI.

2. Brides Against Cancer  Wedding gown sales are an important fund-raising event for Brides Against Breast Cancer. The thousands of generous donations  received from designers, manufactures, bridal shops, and individuals worldwide, enables Brides Against Breast Cancer to contribute to wellness and educational services to those impacted by cancer.

3. The Bridal Garden  The Bridal Garden, has a collection of one-of-a-kind wedding gowns for sale at up to 75% off the original retail price. Their vast network includes; couture designers, exclusive retailers, and individuals who generously donate their gowns. The Bridal Garden is not only a bridal boutique, but also a not-for-profit charitable organization whose proceeds benefit education for disadvantaged children.

4. Brides for a Cause a bridal store that raises funds for charity. Brides for a Cause is partnered with  Wish Upon a Wedding, a non-profit organization dedicated to granting weddings and vow renewals for couples facing terminal illness and serious life-altering situations.​  Brides for a Cause will accept your wedding dress on their behalf, sell it and send 50% of the proceeds to the charity.

So the next time you receive a wedding invitation, think about sharing this info with the future bride. Since weddings are all about love it seems to be a match made in heaven. Who knew that cleaning out your closet could raise funds, change a life and spread the love and joy that you felt on your wedding day to someone else?

Sounds like the best wedding gift of all.

Charity Matters.

 

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Charity Matters Quotes

“Summer is the time when one sheds one’s tensions with one’s clothes, and the right kind of day is jeweled balm for the battered spirit. A few of those days and you can become drunk with the belief that all’s right with the world.”

Ada Louise Huxtable

summer afternoon lake jump

I am still at my Summer Conference this week and feeling excited by the beautiful work we are doing. I love this quote because while it is summer and I am working, seeing these amazing young people remind me that all is right with the world.

My turn to jump into the lake, will come soon enough.

Hope you are heading off somewhere wonderful this weekend and wishing you blessings for a beautiful summer!

Charity Matters.

Copyright © 2014 Charity Matters. This article may not be reproduced without explicit written permission; if you are not reading this in your newsreader, the site you are viewing is illegally infringing our copyright. We would be grateful if you contact us.

Time for Camp!

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

I am back from a much-needed vacation and re-energized for the busy summer ahead. As most of you know by now, I took a new position last November running non-profit that provides a Summer Leadership Conference for middle school students, called TACSC. Today, I feel like a nervous camper because it’s my first day of Summer Camp or Summer Conference, as we call it.

All year, we have worked, planned, fundraised and organized for this moment. It is exciting, terrifying and fun all at once. Just like the 200 students who will show up today, spending their first week away from home, in a college dorm…I can empathize with their nerves because its my first time too!

This moment is the reason I took this job. No, not to relive my childhood and run off to camp but because of what we do and have been doing for 32 years. That is teaching our students how to lead and inspire others. Planting the seed of compassion by teaching service, having our students learn how to use their voice and stand up for what they believe in and how to lead from behind and by example.

Oh don’t get me wrong, this is still camp….with talent shows, line dances, movie nights, games and all the fun that comes with camp. This is camp with a difference and a purpose.

Last night as I packed up my own 7th grader to attend our program, I realized that he was excited, happy and really looking forward to this experience and I can say proudly, I am too!

 

Charity Matters.

 

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Charity Matters Quotes

A good vacation is over when you begin to yearn for your work.”

Morris Fishbein

returning from vacation

How crazy does it seem to come back from vacation already thinking about work? That is exactly what a few days away did. Cleared my mind, refocused my direction and re-energized my spirit. I am excited for summer and the non-profit Student Leadership Program I am running. Most people’s jobs wind down in the summer and my job is just the opposite.

These much-needed days away were time to get centered, focused and ready for the fun and a very full summer ahead. I am blessed for treasured time with my family and for a job that gives me the ability to empower students to make a difference.

Charity Matters.

Copyright © 2014 Charity Matters. This article may not be reproduced without explicit written permission; if you are not reading this in your newsreader, the site you are viewing is illegally infringing our copyright. We would be grateful if you contact us.

Vacation, All I Ever Wanted….

Vacation all I ever wanted

When I was in high school I loved The Go-Gos. This week their song, “Vacation” is seriously stuck in my head and the reason being is that it is time for our family to get out of dodge for some much-needed rest and relaxation. We are not headed too far this trip but anyplace that gets you out of your routine, is more than far enough for me.

An open space with fresh air, little technology, my children and spouse without the demands of work. That is vacation. We all need them. Vacations don’t have to be to a glamorous destination or include an umbrella drink. My sons joke that we can turn any trip into a road trip whether we began in a car or fly to a foreign country….this time they just might be right.

When you look at back at your life and the memories that were created, my guess is that many of the good ones come from the trips that you took. Since we have one leaving the nest and time continues to zip by faster and faster, it becomes more important to stop, leave and just be with those you love.

When I return, I will be rested, renewed and ready to blog about amazing people who inspire me and gear up for the Youth Summer Leadership Program I run.

It is going to be an amazing summer…..once I start that vacation.

Charity Matters.

 

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Just breathe

“Breathing, according to me, corresponds to taking charge of one’s own life.”

Luce Irigaray, Between East and West

just breathe

These past few weeks have been full of joy, celebration, fun and chaos.  Now it is time, to take a step back…..pause and just breathe. Our fast paced lives often move so quickly that we stop to reflect, give gratitude and contemplate where we have been and where we are heading. This week that is exactly what I am going to do.

Unplug, check-out, step-back and just breathe.

Charity Matters.

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Schools out for summer!

“In school, you’re taught a lesson and then given a test. In life, you’re given a test that teaches you a lesson.”

Tom Bodett

School's out for summer

It’s here! It’s here! Summertime is here!

No more homework, making lunches, studying or school. Phew.

Whether a student, a teacher or a parent there is simply something wonderful that happens once school is out.

A weight is lifted, the load a little lighter and the excitement of a relaxing summer looms ahead.

A time to slow down, relax and enjoy.

Happy Summer!

Charity Matters.

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To all the Dads

This sunday is Father’s Day. Last week as we celebrated high school graduation my husband gave our son a copy of something he has kept in his wallet since I have known him. It was a poem. It was the most beautiful gift a father could give a son. I wanted to share it with you.

 

Father and Son

If

by Rudyard Kipling

If you can keep your head when all about you
    Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
    But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
    Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
    And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;
    If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
    And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
    Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
    And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
    And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
    And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
    To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
    Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
    Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
    If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
    With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
    And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!
Happy Father’s Day to my Dad, my incredible husband and all of you wonderful fathers.
You teach, inspire and enrich our lives.
Charity Matters.
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A time for reflection

A birthday is just the first day of another 365-day journey around the sun. Enjoy the trip.”

Author Unknown

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Today is my 48th birthday. And as the years roll by each one becomes a time for reflection. Birthdays are times to connect with those you love, celebrate all the amazing blessings in your life and a moment to pause and think about what happened last year and where you are heading next.

When I look at the past year, I see a whirlwind of events; celebrations, football games, holidays, school events, college applications and acceptance letters, proms and graduations. Oh, and my full-time job running a non-profit. More than anything, I see blessings of time spent with people I love.

So as I begin to think about what this next year will bring, with the nest a little emptier, I can only hope for a renewed sense of purpose, clarity and gratitude. Age is simply a number but the greatest gift one can give the world is a life well lived.

That is exactly what I intend to keep doing.

Charity Matters.

 

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Charity Matters Quote

“And in the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.”

Abraham Lincoln

Young@Heart

This week will mark another year passing, and that is a good thing.

The passing of time brings perspective, wisdom and more importantly gratitude.

The gratitude in turn, brings joy.

The joy fuels the need to serve others and make a difference.

Making a difference fuels the soul.

Charity Matters.

Copyright © 2014 Charity Matters. This article may not be reproduced without explicit written permission; if you are not reading this in your newsreader, the site you are viewing is illegally infringing our copyright. We would be grateful if you contact us.

This is it.

You are educated. Your certification is in your degree. You may think of it as the ticket to the good life. Let me ask you to think of an alternative. Think of it as your ticket to change the world.”

Tom Brokaw

photo via: baltimore sun
photo via: baltimore sun

Tomorrow is the big day, Graduation Day. For 18 years of guiding, homework, making lunches, driving and all of the work that goes into being a parent….this is it. Is it over? No. Is it a parental payday? Maybe. To me it is simply another milestone. His first smile, first step, learning to ride his bike, then his driver’s license and now to use those same wheels to head off to college. It is a milestone and like all great milestones it is a celebration of achievement. It is a time to be in the moment with all of the people who helped us get to this moment.

Just like the first smile, the first steps and the first pedal strokes there were more. This will not be the last milestone or celebration of achievement. Like all the wonderful accomplishments, I will cheer, smile, cry and beam with pride. Although my son has earned this moment, it is one for all of us to celebrate.

He can change the world tomorrow. Today his smile is more than enough.

Charity Matters.

Copyright © 2014 Charity Matters. This article may not be reproduced without explicit written permission; if you are not reading this in your newsreader, the site you are viewing is illegally infringing our copyright. We would be grateful if you contact us.

To the graduate

photo via: 12newsnow
photo via: 12newsnow

Since I have brought all of you along for this journey, it seems only fitting that we have inspiring closing remarks, as all graduations do. Charity Matters has nothing to do with graduation you say? Yes, you have a point. However, Charity Matters is about making a difference, food for thought, a little nourishment for the soul. In looking for that, I came across this. A graduation speech viewed by millions, entitled, “You are not special.”

Perhaps the title is deceiving but the message is outstanding. Like all great commencement speeches it is full of inspiring comments about “dreaming big, working hard, get up, get out, explore.” But the overall message (spoiler alert here) is that “selflessness is the best thing you can do for yourself.”

So whether or not you watched all twelve minutes, like millions have, or simply skipped to the end…congratulations. You walked away with the message that selflessness is the best thing you can do for yourself. As a result, you walked away a little bit better and wiser, than when you arrived, just like our graduates. So, congratulations to you. As our speaker so eloquently shared, “Wisdom is the chief element of happiness.”

Wiser and selflessness, I feel happier already.

Charity Matters.

 

Copyright © 2014 Charity Matters. This article may not be reproduced without explicit written permission; if you are not reading this in your newsreader, the site you are viewing is illegally infringing our copyright. We would be grateful if you contact us.

A gift.

photo via: goredfoxes.com
photo via: goredfoxes.com

Education is on my mind. It usually is, but this week especially. I have been thinking about how education shapes, molds and can transform a life. When this video was sent to me, I knew it was not by coincidence. It is truly one of the most inspiring beautiful stories I have ever shared. It is a story of education, hope and purpose.

This Verbum Dei graduate from Watts, Caylin Moore, shares his journey from poverty to college and now as the recipient of the Fulbright scholarship. If ever the expression dream big fits, it is here. I was only going to watch 2 minutes but was so enthralled by this young man’s message of hope I watched it all. Caylin, his story and message are a gift.

 

Caylin’s message of who he plays football for, his purpose, his struggles and his faith are humbling. This young man is a walking example of what the gift of an education and dreaming big can accomplish…..anything.

Charity Matters.

 

Copyright © 2014 Charity Matters. This article may not be reproduced without explicit written permission; if you are not reading this in your newsreader, the site you are viewing is illegally infringing our copyright. We would be grateful if you contact us.