April 2016 – Charity Matters

Cancer April 27, 2016

When Breath becomes Air

Have you ever read a book that haunted you? Spoke to you and really made you stop and think? I just finished one and I have to say, it felt as if the universe had given me a gift. When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi, a truly beautiful autobiography of a Stanford trained neurosurgeon who discovers he is dying of cancer.

An extraordinary view of life, from someone who spent his trying to save others. A man who loved literature and found himself pondering the question of what makes a human life meaningful? He writes early on the book, “If the unexamined life was not worth living, was the unlived life worth examining?”

Paul Kalanithi wrote of his experience of both living and dying, and how his perception of both changed through his journey with cancer. One of my favorite quotes from the book was, ““There is a moment, a cusp, when the sum of gathered experience is worn down by the details of living. We are never so wise as when we live in this moment.”

Such wise a beautiful words from a life well lived, and a legacy for all to learn from.

Charity Matters.

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Charity Matters Inspiration April 25, 2016

Prince

“Compassion is an action word with no boundaries.”

Prince

FILE - In this Feb. 18, 1985 file photo, Prince performs at the Forum in Ingle

I have to admit that I loved Prince and his music, he sang the soundtrack of my youth. As cliché as it sounds, it is true. His untimely death surprised me for a multitude of reasons, but most off all for the strength of its impact. How can someone I have never met leave me feeling so sad and empty?

Again comes that question that threads through me often, what is the measure of a life? Is it using the gifts you have been given to help another? Sharing your God-given talents with world? Taking what you have to lift up another?

I heard this interview on CNN the other day and thought that it spoke volumes to who Prince was and the measure of his compassion. He helped so many everyday of his life but never told anyone.

Alicia Keys said, “There were many Kings in rock and roll but only one Prince.” It was so true.

Charity Matters.

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Charity Matters Inspiration April 20, 2016

Do you?

“You really can change the world if you care enough.”

– Marian Wright Edelman

n-MANOJ-BHARGAVA

I was so inspired by Manoj Bhargava and his film Billions in Change, that I thought of him when I found this quote.

A man who cares.

Do you?

Charity Matters.

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Charity Matters Inspiration April 18, 2016

Billions in change

Over and over we hear it said that one person can change the world, a phrase I do believe in. Anyone who inspires change, knows it takes a village to do so. It is a global village that billionaire Manoj Bhargava is creating to deliver products that can directly impact humanity and he is seriously the real deal.

Manoj has taken his fortune, created from 5 hour Energy, to focus on three areas to improve the world;water, energy and health. His approach is to, ” make a difference in other people’s lives, not just talk about it.” A new documentary called Billions in Change, follows his journey. Take a small peak here at what one man can do to improve the lives of seven billion people.

As our world becomes increasingly smaller and the global village a reality. It is people like Manoj Bhargava, who will not only change our world but inspire each of us to do the same.

Charity Matters.

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Charity Matters Quotes April 15, 2016

Tax Day is here…

“The hardest thing in the world to understand is the income tax.”

Albert Einstein

It is everyone’s favorite day of the year. I know, that I am so happy once this day has passed, there is simply so much to do and stress over leading up to April 15th. So, I am thrilled that it arrives on a friday this year, so we can all celebrate that Tax Day is behind us!

Hopefully, this weekend can be spent remembering all the great deeds you did this past year and the lives that you touched.

Isn’t that what is really important?

Charity Matters.

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Charity Matters Quotes April 13, 2016

Charity Matters Quotes: Make a difference

“Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.”

William James

Just a small reminder that its only Wednesday and not to late to make plans to celebrate and participate in National Volunteer Week.

As the quote says, if you act as if what you do makes a difference , it actually will.

Something to think about.

Charity Matters.

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Charity Matters Inspiration April 11, 2016

National Volunteer Week is now

Who knew that this week is National Volunteer week? In case you missed the memo from the White House, or your local news didn’t deem it important enough to cover, consider yourself informed…or at least you will be, by then of this.

National Volunteer Week, a program of Points of Light was established in 1974 and has grown each year, with thousands of volunteer projects and special events scheduled for the week. The week is all about inspiring, recognizing and encouraging people to seek out imaginative ways to engage in their communities. It’s about showing that by working together, we can do anything. National Volunteer Week is about taking action and encouraging people to be at the center of social change – discovering and demonstrating their power to make a difference.

If you don’t know where to start, take a peak at one of my favorite sites, Volunteer Match.org. You just type in your zip code, what you love to do and it will match with an organization that can use your help, in your community.

I know its monday and you are thinking of all you have to do this week, but maybe….just maybe you have a moment you can give to make someone else’s life better. So text your friends, your children, your family and make a plan to do something this week…it all starts with you!

Charity Matters.

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Charity Matters Inspiration April 8, 2016

Thread

“Invisible threads are the strongest ties.”

Friedrich Nietzsche

A few weeks back, a dear friend sent me a New York Times article on a non-profit called Thread, and I was instantly sucked into this beautiful story. Perhaps, a tale as old as time, but one that never gets old, the story of amazing people who take their own tragedy to make someone else’s journey better.

This story begins with a young man named Ryan Hemminger, who was a straight A student in high school in Indiana, when his mother was in a bad car accident. Her injuries resulted in her no longer being able to work, a subsequent pain pill addiction and a downward spiral into poverty. What happened next was that a community of teachers rallied around Ryan and provided clothing, bus fair and mentoring, to save him. The support resulted in transforming Ryan into a varsity athlete, an A student again and he was admitted to the US Naval academy.

This however, is not the happy ending, but the beginning. Flash forward to 2004, when Ryan, now married to Sarah, a John Hopkins biomedical engineering grad student, was driving by a local high school and saw a group of students. Sarah, realized that many of them could be like Ryan,”Exceptional individuals with extraordinary situations.” Sarah realized, that she and Ryan needed to be a part of community that could pay forward the gift that was given to Ryan. It was out of that moment that Thread began.

Thread’s mission is to thread people together, regardless of socioeconomic and racial barriers. It is their belief that by building new families, not defined by DNA, but rather love and support…that they can change the world. Since 2006, that is exactly what they have done.

This year alone, over 255 students have been touched by the Thread family. Ninety-two percent of their students graduate from high school and go onto college and 80% have completed a college degree or certificate program. It is these invisible threads that create the connection that changes another’s life forever, the best ending imaginable.

Charity Matters.

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Charity Matters Quotes April 7, 2016

The ties that bind

“We cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow men; and among those fibers, as sympathetic threads, our actions run as causes, and they come back to us as effects.”

Herman Melville

Ties that bind

A crazy image but the perfect visual to describe the ties that bind. Each of us is uniquely bound to another, to a community, to a cause.

The ties that bind, that indescribable feeling that bonds each of us together. It is those fibers that make us feel a part of something bigger than ourselves. Ultimately, it is that same feeling of connection that empowers us to act and to help another.

We are all connected by a thousand tiny fibers and sympathetic threads, as Melville said.

The question remains, how do we turn that connection into action and the cause into an effect?

Charity Matters.

P.S. Apologies for the resend on this post and tomorrows. Due to a new web-host, the two earlier post this week were not sent to my beloved email subscribers, so here is Monday’s post and Wednesdays will come tomorrow. Thank you in advance for your understanding and continued support!

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