charitymatters, Author at Charity Matters

Cancer September 4, 2015

A fight song

The other day I went to the dentist for my annual appointment. My dental hygienist, who has become my friend over the past decade of having my mouth held captive, did not look like her usual perky self. I only see her twice a year but she somehow feels like a dear friend every time we visit. I asked her about her children who are the same age as mine and as the tears began to flow, she shared that her college age son was just diagnosed with cancer.

I came home devastated and in shock at how quickly lives are altered by the words, “You have cancer.” As I scrolled through Facebook as a distraction, I came across this and felt compelled to share.

Having spent over a decade at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles, supporting families in crisis, this spoke to me on so many levels. Coincidentally, September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. Life can change on a dime, one never knows and it is the power of love, compassion and a fight song that makes it all worth the fight.

Charity Matters.

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Charity Matters Quotes September 2, 2015

September

“That old September feeling… of summer passing, vacation nearly done, obligations gathering, books and football in the air…. Another fall, another turned page: there was something of jubilee in that annual autumnal beginning, as if last year’s mistakes and failures had been wiped clean by summer.”

Wallace Stegne

The season is turning, it is a beautiful time to take a breath and a moment to reflect on all of the beauty around us. It is there, we simply have to open our eyes and find a moment to appreciate it.

Charity Matters.

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Raising Philanthropic Children August 31, 2015

Are you a Global Citizen?

The other day I took our first-born to his new college, yes he is transferring. As a result, I sat through yet another college orientation, my second in 2 weeks. Having now been through three of these events, I found myself fascinated that all of these institutions of higher learning keep speaking of our teenagers as “global citizens.”

Yes, I have known since my first time at Disneyland that, “It’s a Small World After all” but this term, “global citizen,” has become a constant reference at these orientations. It seems to be a new SAT vocabulary word or perhaps something from the new version of the college dictionary? Regardless, the question these great institutions are asking of their students is how will you contribute to the world? Pretty strong stuff for kids that were just at Senior prom a few months ago….just saying.

The question began making me think, what is my answer. How am I contributing to the world? Wow, even halfway through my life with a handful of ideas that is such a big question. Yet, it is an awesome question to ask yourself. Is there something that I have done that makes our world, our universe, our planet a better place? Answer: stay tuned.

I think whats even more exciting is that our children are beginning to ask themselves at such an early age as to how can they use their gifts to make our world better. If that what college is teaching these days, then I think we are on the right path. It is a small world after all.

Charity Matters.

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Charity Matters Inspiration August 28, 2015

The Alchemist

“The closer one gets to realizing his destiny, the more that destiny becomes his true reason for being.”

Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

My girlfriend and I were talking the other day about our lives and this new chapter, as we have launched our children. I mentioned my favorite book of all time, The Alchemist, a story about a young boy’s journey through life and the lessons learned along the way. The conversation inspired me to pick the book up, yet again and revisit the story.

No matter how often I read it, I always feel as if I come away enlightened. So as I look to the year ahead and the next chapter, I do so knowing that each day brings me closer to my purpose. It is the journey, that is the joy of being alive.

Charity Matters.

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Charity Matters Quotes August 26, 2015

A man of value

“Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value.” Albert Einstein

So, this week I am back at it, launching our oldest son to his new college. I have so many things that I feel need to be said, but this quote says everything.

I have always told our sons that my purpose in life is to raise good men who make our world better. My goal was never to raise rocket scientists or billionaires but rather good men. On friday, I will bid our oldest son goodbye and give the world my greatest gifts, my sons.

There is simply no greater gift one can give.

Charity Matters.

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Education August 24, 2015

Rachel’s First Week

As thousands of us packed up our children and sent them off to college this past week, I thought it was important to share the story of a young college coed named Rachel Fiege. A story, which is every parents worst nightmare, one that we hear every year and sadly one that continues to be told over and over.

The story of a young girl Rachel, an incoming freshman at IU, who goes off to her first week of college full of hope and promise until a night of drinking ends in tragedy.

While the story is tragic, it is the message of hope that comes in taking this senseless tragedy and turning it into a mission to avoid it reoccurring in the future. Taking this devastating loss and empowering these new college freshman to mentor high school seniors to avoid this story from ever being told again.

Charity Matters.

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Charity Matters Inspiration August 19, 2015

Millennials

There is much said about the millennials, that generation born between the 80s and the turn of the millennium. Many of the generalizations have to do with young tech obsessed hipster professionals that are self-absorbed and ego-centric. However, a new study from The Case Foundation, says that these generalizations could not be farther from the truth.

The study is entitled, “How Millennials are Changing the Definition of Philanthropy,” says that this generation is among the most generous and committed members of society. Like everything they do they are changing the face of philanthropy. Forty-eight percent of these millennials are using their skills and talents, combined with technology to volunteer.

This philanthropic trend is not only helping this generation with their resumes and experiences, it is also helping non-profits to thrive with fresh and innovative ideas and volunteers. It is easy to size up this bearded, coffee, boba loving generation as self-centered but we all have it wrong. These young hipsters are paving the way for an exciting new chapter in how we as a society share and give our talents to help others. This is as hip as it gets in my world.

Charity Matters.

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What Matters? August 17, 2015

Its done

Well, its done. He is launched. We did all of the obligatory schlepping, moving, buying, unpacking and settling in that comes with sending a child off to college. A lifetime of work boiled down to a few short crazy days and then in a blink its done.

A huge smile and a hug from our son, as he told me,”Don’t cry Mom its going to be okay.” Of course it is and he is right (words he will love to read in print, by the way). But “okay” somehow isn’t enough.

When our son was a newborn, we went to a party and put him under a table, while he napped in his car seat. We left the party with our toddler and 20 minutes later realized that the baby was not with us. A sickening feeling, that I will never forget, took over my body as we rushed back to find our beautiful son, asleep exactly where we had left him under the picnic table.

Today, eighteen years later, that same feeling is back. It sounds so crazy and yet, I feel like I went home from the party without him and every maternal extinct is screaming, go back! Go back! Nature can be so cruel, this primitive instinct of mothers and children is so hard-wired into us, regardless of the circumstances and our intellect.

While the job of parenting is never done, for now I will try to overcome this incredible sadness, that an amazing chapter in my life has closed and a wonderful new one has opened for our son.

Charity Matters.

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Uncategorized August 12, 2015

Texas sendoff

On monday, I was so busy crying that I forgot to mention that this week there won’t be any additional post due to getting our son settled in his new home and state.

Thank you for all your kind words and support.

Charity Matters will be back next week. Until then enjoy these precious last days of summer!

Charity Matters.

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Charity Matters Quotes August 10, 2015

A mother’s sendoff

“Mother is her son’s first god; she must teach him the most important lesson of all – how to love.”

T. F. Hodge

This is it. The boxes are packed and tomorrow we leave to send our second son off to college. Many have said these past few weeks, “you have another son or you have done this before, it won’t be that hard.” Well, I am here to say that if I had a hundred children or just three, each time one leaves a piece of my heart is ripped out.

Our second son, is an amazing young man and is ready to fly. He is kind, compassionate, strong, smart, funny, sensitive and determined. He is the kind of person that walks into a room and lights it up with his smile and confidence. This is simply who he is, and has always been.

We are so proud of him and yet saying goodbye is agonizing. My brain knows that he is heading to an amazing school and that he will thrive. My heart however, is breaking. I know that this is a journey thousands of mothers are going through and a right of passage into manhood. The passage from this mother’s view is blurred, as the tears pour down my cheeks and I watch part of my heart walk ahead towards his future.

Charity Matters.

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Charity Matters Inspiration August 7, 2015

The greatest power of all

I was scrolling through Facebook the other day in procrastination mode and I came across this post that was supposedly a lost letter from Albert Einstein to his daughter. Fact checking, yes we do that here, proved that sadly this letter was a fake. However, I decided that I wanted to share it with you regardless of its origin because it is beautiful….whoever the author.

There is an extremely powerful force that, so far, science has not found a formal explanation to. It is a force that includes and governs all others, and is even behind any phenomenon operating in the universe and has not yet been identified by us.

This universal force is LOVE.

When scientists looked for a unified theory of the universe they forgot the most powerful unseen force.

Love is Light, that enlightens those who give and receive it. Love is gravity, because it makes some people feel attracted to others.

Love is power, because it multiplies the best we have, and allows humanity not to be extinguished in their blind selfishness. Love unfolds and reveals.

For love we live and die.

Love is God and God is Love.

This force explains everything and gives meaning to life. This is the variable that we have ignored for too long, maybe because we are afraid of love because it is the only energy in the universe that man has not learned to drive at will.

After the failure of humanity in the use and control of the other forces of the universe that have turned against us, it is urgent that we nourish ourselves with another kind of energy.

If we want our species to survive, if we are to find meaning in life, if we want to save the world and every sentient being that inhabits it, love is the one and only answer.

Perhaps we are not yet ready to make a bomb of love, a device powerful enough to entirely destroy the hate, selfishness and greed that devastate the planet.

However, each individual carries within them a small but powerful generator of love whose energy is waiting to be released.

When we learn to give and receive this universal energy, we will have affirmed that love conquers all, is able to transcend everything and anything, because love is the quintessence of life.

Charity Matters.

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Charity Matters Inspiration August 5, 2015

Mothers to the Rescue

Our sons have all attended a high school with the motto, “Men for Others.” Service is at the core of the school’s philosophy. As a result, the most remarkable young men come from this school and George De La Rosa, is no exception. When I heard what this junior in high school has done, it brought tears to my eyes. George is the founder of the volunteer service called Mothers to the Rescue. He was inspired to help children who are growing up without a mother, as he has. His goal, to simply provide a mom…even if temporarily…. to help provide those “mom moments” of back to school shopping, getting ready for prom or even the holidays.

“I created this organization because I was forced to grow up throughout most of my life without a mother. When I was seven, my mother unexpectedly died due to a complication during surgery. I want to give others what I never had and that is the opportunity of having a strong helpful mother figure to teach him/her lessons that only a woman can teach. I want to provide others with the opportunity to have a strong woman who can “come to the rescue” and help shop for school clothes, prepare for proms, dates, and have the ability to ask any questions about life.”

George began pairing his volunteer moms with children in need just around Valentine’s Day this past year and is currently applying for his non-profit status.

“Every Child deserves a mother, and I want to afford all young people who grew up without a mom, the opportunity to experience love and life lessons from a woman.” George is living proof of being a “Man for others” and I am sure his mother is smiling down on him and all those children whose lives he changes.

Charity Matters.

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Charity Matters Quotes August 3, 2015

Hot August Nights

“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 is going oh too quickly. We are getting ready to pack up our second son and send him off to college. So spending time with him this past weekend and seeing him full of joy and summer filled my heart.

These are the moments that life is all about. The ones to treasure, to savor and when I feel all is right with the world…..even if it’s just for that precious moment.

Charity Matters.

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Charity Matters Inspiration July 31, 2015

For Max

As many of you have read here, Max Paige (aka Little Darth Vadar) and his family have become dear friends of Charity Matters. Max was born with a congenital heart defect and over the course of the last 10 years has had 9 surgeries. This week Max will undergo yet another surgery on his heart.

His mother Jennifer said, “When Max was an infant, he had an incredible will to live. At age 4, he asked how much surgery would hurt? At 7, he wanted to know why he needed to go through with this and now at 10 he is keenly aware of time and how precious it is.”

Max and his family have used his celebrity and innate goodness as a platform for so many wonderful causes. He is wise beyond his years and he and his brother are two of the most philanthropic young people I have ever had the privilege of knowing, thanks to their inspiring parents.

This is his theme song for the next leg of his journey and I wanted to share it all with you, in hopes that you can send a prayer or kind thought his way in the next few days and weeks.

Max as always uses his experience to make others lives better, even at the tender age of 10. His hope is that if someone is inspired to do something because of his journey, that they would consider supporting a place that has given him so much and become a second home, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and the Heart Ambassadors program. Max here is to you and the good fight!

Charity Matters.

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