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June 2015

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Weddings that make a difference

Weddings that make a difference

As we come to the end of June and July is just days away, I realized that the month zipped by without a mention of weddings. When you think June, you think weddings, so we simply can’t end the month without a few tips on how to incorporate charity into your big day. Decades ago, when we were married these options didn’t exists but today couples are using this special day to not only make a statement but more importantly to make a difference.

Here are few great ideas that couples are incorporating philanthropy into their big day.

1. Registering for gifts can now make an impact on others with the help of the I Do Foundation. Couples can either select a cause they want donations to go to rather than gifts or register with a variety of retailers who will donate a portion of those sales to a cause.

2. Wedding Dresses there are a number of organizations such as The Bridal Garden in NYC that donate 75% of their sales to a non-profit for children’s causes. Then when the big day is over you can donate your wedding dress and pay it forward with Donate My Wedding Dress.org

3.  Wedding Details and decor couples are picking a theme and or cause for their wedding and incorporating that into their decor. Different tables can represent different causes and the decor follows suit, with pink napkins for breast cancer and red for heart disease, all furthering awareness to a cause the couple cares about. Donations can be made in lieu of favors or the I Do Foundation also has charitable favors, so gifts that keep giving.

4. Food and Flowers can always be donated to homeless shelters and flowers to hospitals. Ask your caterer or crew to help you make sure that both of these get passed on to an organization who will appreciate them.

5. Honeymoon who knew that now even some all-inclusive resorts, such as Sandals, have local non-profits that they support? A wonderful way to know that even your vacation is helping the communities you are visiting.

Just knowing that you are starting out your new life by inspiring others to give and impacting lives is something worth celebrating.

Charity Matters.

 

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Summer is officially here!

“What is one to say about June, the time of perfect young summer, the fulfillment of the promise of the earlier months, and with as yet no sign to remind one that its fresh young beauty will ever fade.”

Gertrude Jekyll

Summer is offically here

It is official, summer has arrived! What magical words. The longer days, no homework, the crazy schedule fades away and somehow life just slows down to a perfect pace.

It as if we all can take a deep breath and let the fun and joy of this perfect season take over. So wherever, you may be heading this first weekend of summer, remember to enjoy the beauty of the moments and the season.

Charity Matters.

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What is summer without camp?

Spirit rally 2013I never went to sleep away camp as a child. I have to confess, I was really happy hanging out with my friends and being at home. However, whenever my friends who went to camp returned, they always seemed different, more grown up…as if something had shifted in them in the short time they were away. It did make me wonder, what really happens at camp?

Flash forward a few decades and finally it is my turn to go to camp. No, not just because its summer, but as many of you know, I run a non-profit summer leadership camp. A crazy wonderful twist of fate that gives me a summer full of camp and answers all those questions I pondered so long ago.

This past weekend, as I watched the counselors arrive, most alumni of our camp, their excitement to see one another, their life long friendships and deep connection to one another and our camp….I realized that if these amazing individuals were the product of what we do, then I had really missed out.

Its taken time to now know what camp is……. showing up afraid, alone and making a friend. Camp is arriving as a blank sheet with no prior history, labels or expectations and re-writing your story, any way you want. Camp is being able to find and be your best self with a group of like-minded students that are simply trying to do the same. Camp is independence away from your family and proving to yourself that you do know what your toothbrush is without being told. Most of all camp is really, really fun. The games, the dances, the talent shows and competitions.

So, this summer as I prepare for camp, I am excited, nervous, happy and hoping that your never too old for camp and that just maybe I will seem a little more grown up when it’s over.

Charity Matters.

 

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The Progress Continues

Operationprogress

Last friday I was invited to an event at City Hall, in Los Angeles, celebrating the amazing success of a non-profit organization called Operation Progress, in Watts.  The success is due to the inspiring story of one police officer, and the partnership and community he created fifteen years ago.

Its founder, an unlikely source in one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in Los Angeles, a police officer in Watts. His name is John Coughlin, Boston born and bred from a nice family, who moved west to join the LAPD in 1995. Five years later he was tired, frustrated and sad from the violence and hopelessness he saw while on patrol. So he decided to do something about it.

In 2000, Officer Coughlin decided to turn his frustration into something that could help break the cycle of inner city  poverty.  This time his weapon was education. His idea was to mentor and provide scholarships for the “good kids” to help them to escape their violent surroundings by partnering the LAPD and the kids. With that idea he founded Operation Progress  and the motto, “Helping good kids get out of bad places.

Operation Progress’s mission, ” a thread that will weave together the Watts neighborhood under the common goal of using education to empower the community’s youth.” 

Today, Operation Progress is thriving. What started out as a few scholarships ($2,000) to inspire and help get kids heading on the right path has morphed into a model program for the community. OP has brought the LAPD and the community together, to help the children of Watts and has become a national beacon of hope for community policing.

Currently, Operation Progress has 31 students that will be sponsored from Kindergarten all the way through college with scholarships, mentoring, tutoring and everything needed in their 10 pillar program. The motto of the LAPD, “Is to protect and serve”  and LAPD officers and John Coughlin truly live that motto daily.

Charity Matters.

 

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Happy Father’s Day!

When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much he had learned in seven years.”

Mark Twain

Fathers Day 2015

Fathers are special. It is a unique relationship that we all have with our Dads. Somehow they don’t get all the attention, even for their one day a year, because Dads are just that way. They do what they do for their families without fuss or fanfare. Yet, when they are absent their void is great and vast.

We often forget about our Dads and all they did for us. So, this weekend it is time to acknowledge these great men in our lives, past or present.

Happy Father’s Day!

Charity Matters.

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What to contribute this summer?

“We cannot stop the winter or the summer from coming. We cannot stop the spring or the fall or make them other than they are. They are gifts from the universe that we cannot refuse. But we can choose what we will contribute to life when each arrives.”

Gary Zukave

summer of action

 As summer approaches, officially next week, it seems like another opportunity to re-think how I can contribute? Summer is a break from board meetings and much of the service I do throughout the year and sometimes a much-needed one, I must admit.

However, summer brings longer days, a little more time and an opportunity to serve. For me, this summer will be about running a summer program, teaching service to teens and planting the seeds of compassion in our youth.

As we enter into this sunny season, ask yourself what do you choose to contribute to life when the season arrives?

Charity Matters.

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The gift of life

 

“To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson

The gift of life

With birthdays come drivers license renewals and the question of whether or not to put that pink sticker on my license indicating that I am an organ donor. For me the answer is simple, yes I am.  I am an organ donor because I have heard the helicopter on the roof of Children’s Hospital bringing the precious gift of life to a child.

I am an organ donor because I have watched to family friends suffer while waiting for a donor. The first friend, needed a heart transplant. He received a heart from someone who had died at the craps table in Vegas. He told me once he had his new heart, he unexpectedly found himself wanting to go to Vegas, but wouldn’t dare go by the tables. His new-found spirit was infectious.

Another dear friend of ours, and a young father of two, waited for a kidney for what seemed like an eternity. To see this vibrant man dwindle was devastating for all of us who adore him. When it seemed grim, a miracle occurred. Another’s passing gave the gift of life to our friend and he is thriving. When I saw this video I thought of both our friends.

I will be putting a new sticker on my license stating I am organ donor. I will tell my family, so that they know my wishes and you have this post as a back up. I think Emerson simply said it best, “To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived.”

Charity Matters.

 

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The gift of a break

“A vacation is what you take when you can no longer take what you’ve been taking.” 

Earl Wilson

the gift of vacation

This past week was an amazing celebration of graduations, family, friendships, ceremony and the never-ending passage of time. So much joy, so many parties and never have I needed a little break more, to catch my breath, regroup and sit, than now.

Honestly, there is never a good time to leave work, because work never ends. For me, running a summer program, this is not the best time. The best time, is when you need it, which makes this the best time. A day or two to slow down, process everything and begin to think about the coming weeks ahead.

Tomorrow is my 49th birthday and this is my gift to myself. The gift of a moment, the most perfect gift. Slipping away to sit on the sand, a walk on a beach and feeling grateful. If the countdown to 50 brings the wisdom to know when to slow down, then I welcome it with open arms.

Until then, I am sitting in this moment with heart full of love and life full of gratitude.

Charity Matters.

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Every rose has its thorn

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Today I am sitting in the front row of my alma mater’s graduation ceremony. It is an all girls school and the ceremony is filled with tradition, ceremony, white gowns and could be confused as a debutante ball to a casual observer. In all the pomp and circumstance, I find myself tuning out the speeches and looking at the beautiful roses sitting in every graduates lap.

Their roses do not have any thorns, but as I reflect back decades ago when I too sat on that stage, I was nothing more than a thorny rose. Sure, I was young  and full of energy but the reality is that what was within was still thorny. The irony is that as I look at the fresh-faced beauties in their white gowns gazing blindly into their futures, it is only now that I realize their true beauty is yet to come.

What they don’t realize is that their lives are like the roses in their laps, de-thorned, closed buds that are full of fragrance and possibility. Where does the real beauty begin? How does the rose lose its thorn and open?

The answer I believe comes with each act of grace and kindness. It is the moments of a life that open the bud. Each moment a gift of growth and which slowly opens the flower. Over time the petals burst to full-bloom,  the fragrance heavenly and the inner beauty abounds, unleashed for all.

As I sit here, smiling and watching, each girl takes her roses, grabs their petals and throws them up into the wind… all the petals blow away, as each bud awaits its turn to open.

Charity Matters.

 

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The beginning of an ending

“Wheresoever you go, go with all your heart.”

Kongzi

the beginning of an ending

This weekend marks the beginning of an ending. This week our family celebrates two graduations, our youngest off to high school and our middle son off to college. It is a happy, crazy, emotional roller coaster ride of a week. This is not our first graduation and you would think that each ceremony somehow prepares you for the next, for me this is not the case.

Each one of our children has had their own journey, their trials, struggles and their triumphs. Each ceremony brings to light the steps of each ones paths. For our youngest son, he will be celebrating graduation with a class he joined only a year and a half ago. Yet, it feels as if he has been there forever by all. It will be a week of traditions and celebrations to launch him towards high school.

The graduation that I can not seem to process is my middle son. While he may look like a high school hero on the outside,  his journey these past few years has not been as seamless as it appears. He has had roadblocks like anyone, but in the face of these obstacles, he has always taken the high road. He has taught us grace, made us smile, showed us incredible dedication to his friends, team and school. Everyone knows their children are special, but he has shown us through his compassion towards all, what that word really means.

My heart overflows with pride in thinking about who he has become and how proud I am to be his mom. So as I try to process all that goes on this week, I keep trying to remind myself that we have done great work as parents and how lucky the world is to be getting these remarkable young men.

Beginnings and endings they all are part of the circle we call life. As we close these chapters, we go forward with full hearts towards the next.

Charity Matters.

The last lunch

last lunch

Every morning, five days a week, for 15 years has begun the same way…pulling out a brown paper bag. The morning ritual of coffee and lunches is as much a part of my day as breathing. It is something that on auto pilot, my brain just does…..until now.

Today, is the last time I will make two. Today, is the last lunch for my high school senior. Of all the crazy things to get sentimental about, it seems so strange and yet it really is the perfect metaphor for the journey.

That plain brown bag is just like my son. When he went off to kindergarten, his name was boldly placed on his bag with smiley faces as he began school. Everyday we filled that brown sack with love, the gift of time, patience, gallons of peanut butter and jelly and commitment. Sometimes, even something unexpected ended up in that bag.

Many a day, I found it smashed up in the bottom of the backpack crumpled and broken, just as many a day, was the young man it belonged too. Whether that brown lunch bag was crumpled, perfectly creased, empty or full it was always evolving and we were always there filling it up.

Now, this morning that brown bag is covered with huge rolling tear drops, as I fill it for the last time. My heart is breaking. Rather than being giddy about this tedious task being wiped from my routine, I find myself devastated at the loss.  I would make lunches a thousand times over to have some more of those precious moments back.

Of course, we are thrilled that he is moving onto college cafeterias, where other people will feed him, but somehow knowing this is the last lunch is more than my heart can bear. So, today I will write his name big and bold with a huge heart and send him off knowing his bag is full and he is loved.

Charity Matters.

 

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Charity Matters Quotes: June

It was June, and the world smelled of roses. The sunshine was like powdered gold over the grassy hillside.”

Maud Hart Lovelace

CM June

Today is the first day of June. The countdown to summer begins. Parents and children everywhere are marking their calendars until homework ends, no more lunches made and the joy of summer descends.

June brings chaos, joy and finally summer….a happy month, that I for one am ready to embrace.

Charity Matters.

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