Charity Matters Inspiration Archives - Page 30 of 37

Charity Matters Inspiration May 13, 2015

Charity Matters Quotes: Generosity

“Generosity is not giving me that which I need that you do, but it is giving me that which you need more that I do.”

Kahlil Gibran

As many of you know, I run a non-profit organization. The nature of non-profits is that unlike traditional businesses which survive because of goods and services exchanged, non-profits survive because of others belief in a cause and mission. In essence they survive because of others generosity.

There are many challenges that come with this “business” model, such as knowing where the next dollars to fund your program and pay your employees are coming. These past few weeks, I have felt the incredible burden and stress of just that…where will the funds come to pay everyone and make this happen? In truth, it is a sickening feeling that I wish on no one.

However, just when I had to tell my board that I simply didn’t know where to go next….did I receive the gift of generosity that brought me to tears, literally. One person, simply said, “I would like to help.” Those words changed everything, including me.

Like everyone, it feels better to give than to receive. However, to be humbled by one person’s immense generosity is a gift and a lesson I am grateful for. While the non-profit business model has its challenges, I am beyond blessed to be the constant witness of human kindness, compassion and generosity in action. The human spirit’s capacity to love and give is beauty in action.

Charity Matters.

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Charity Matters Inspiration May 1, 2015

Commitment Day

What is commitment day? It is one of the most important days in Watts all year. Commitment day is the day that the boys from Verbum Dei High School stand in front of their community and tell everyone where they will be attending college in the fall.

This might not seem like a big deal to many, but for these boys of South Central Los Angeles, this is a game changer. A moment that will alter their life course forever. These young men live in one of the most dangerous, poor and crime ridden neighborhoods of Los Angeles. Yet, 100% will be leaving because they are going to college, against all odds.

What makes their journey more unique than any other high school student? The obstacles that these young men must overcome are simply staggering. First, they must apply (if their parents allow them to or understand) to this amazing boy’s school and be accepted. Often times they are behind academically and students must catch up quickly. While other boys in these neighborhoods are joining gangs, the boys of Verbum Dei are putting on dress shirts and ties.

In addition to overcoming poverty, family issues, grades and gang pressures these young men are trained to work in corporate America. One day a week they board a van to their job where they work to help subsidize their education and more importantly see who they can become. After four years of studying, working, doing sports and becoming “Men for Others” these young men are proud to tell their family and friends that they are heading to a place most have never been, college.

Today is Commitment Day at Verbum Dei. These men will announce to their families, peers and school that they are on their way to schools such as Georgetown, USC and a host of others, all sharing bright future ahead.

The teachers, staff, parents and corporate sponsors have made commitments to these young men and now these young men are committing to the world that they are leaving the life they know and heading to incredible futures full of promise. This is Commitment day.

Charity Matters.

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Charity Matters Inspiration April 29, 2015

World Wish Day: Make a Wish Foundation

Today is World Wish Day. World Wish Day is organized by Make-A-Wish to commemorate the anniversary of the wish that inspired the creation of what is now one of the world’s leading children’s charities. Seven-year-old Chris Greicius’ wish to be a police officer was granted in Phoenix, Arizona by volunteers on April 29, 1980.

The Wishes give these children and families something to look forward to, to dream of and a slice of hope. One of my favorite wishes was the little boy from the Bay Area that wanted to be Batman. Never underestimate the power of a wish.

Since Chris’ wish in 1980, more than 300,000 children around the world have had their fondest wishes fulfilled by the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Make A Wish Foundation’s mission is to “enrich the human experience with hope, strength and joy.”

Every 37 minutes, Make-A-Wish grants the wish of a child with a life threatening medical condition somewhere in the world. Today the Make-A-Wish is active in 35 countries. All of this began, with just a simple wish.

Charity Matters.

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Charity Matters Inspiration April 24, 2015

It’s never too late

I’m late, a week late. It seems that last week was National Volunteer Week and that the week shifts from time to time in April, as a result I missed it. However, it’s never to late to learn more ways to get involved and about the people who are doing just that.

National Volunteer Week was created by the Points of Light Foundation to promote volunteering. The organization was created out of George Bush’s 1989 inaugural speech calling for a thousand points of light. The organization, helps millions of volunteers change the world. They mobilize people to take action on causes they care about through programs, events and campaigns, such as National Volunteer Week.

Points of Light creates a culture of volunteerism, that celebrates the power of service. The week is used to encourage and volunteering, finding a cause that interests you and inspiring people to jump in. Non-profits from all over the country posted service projects and volunteers went to work.

In addition, some inspiring storied were shared to prove the power of one. This was one of them.

We all have gifts and talents, but how do we choose to share them? When we do, those points of light radiate out of us because there is simply nothing better than knowing your life improved anothers. As volunteer Amy Paterson said,” Anyone can make a difference. The important thing is to find what your strength is and then find a place to put it. Be that point of light, because the world needs you.”

Charity Matters.

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Charity Matters Inspiration April 20, 2015

The Moral Bucket List

Yesterday, I was asked to speak to the high school volunteers and their parents at our annual Staff Recognition Day. I sadly had procrastinated on what to say and I found myself on Facebook…where I believe most of us procrastinators eventually end up. Before I knew it I found myself reading an article from the New York Times called The Moral Bucket List.

Upon reading it, I knew exactly what to share with our group of extraordinary volunteers and I thought it was worth sharing with you. The article talked about “resume virtues versus eulogy virtues.” It was written by David Brooks, who was more or less in search of enlightenment after finding career success, he began to ask what really mattered? He wondered why do some rare people emanate that light, joy, radiance and others do not.

Brooks goes onto say, “ Our culture and our educational systems spend more time teaching the skills and strategies you need for career success rather than the qualities you need to radiate that sort of inner light. Many of us are clearer on how to build an external career than on how to build inner character”.

The more I read the article, the clearer it became to me that everything he was searching for was in fact exactly the skills that our non-profit teaches to its 5th, 6th and 7th grade students. More than that it was what we ask our high school staff to pass onto their younger mentors.

The author posed three questions:

“What values bring happiness and character?”
“Have you developed deep connections that hold you up in times of challenge and push you toward the good?”
Lastly the author asks, “People on the road to inner light do not find their vocations by asking, what do I want from life? They ask, what is life asking of me? How can I match my intrinsic talent with one of the world’s deep needs?

I know these seem to be deep questions to ask to teenagers. Yet, as I spoke to them about finding their gifts and sharing them with the world, I looked at an audience of nodding heads. They already understood what “radiating light and joy” was that author was so desperately in search of ……because each of them was already aglow.

Charity Matters.

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Cancer April 8, 2015

Let it Be

Just hearing the words, Let it be I begin to hear the song..speaking words of wisdom, let it be…let it be. Sometimes letting it be is the most difficult thing of all. Those words were the singular wish of a young girl named Karla Rosen who was diagnosed January 7th, 2005 with a rare brain cancer. Her heartfelt desire was to “just be.”

During that year, their community rallied around their family to take care of meals, Karla’s two siblings, yard work, and all of life’s task that shift in the wake of a child’s health. The community support was overwhelming, wrist bands were made and sold to help pay the medical bills. After a year of fighting this horrible disease, Karla Rosen lost her battle with cancer on February 5th, 2006. She was 15 years old.

Her parents, found a letter in her room shortly after her death that said, “I have only known two other people with my condition: one passed away, and one has been struggling for life in the hospital for many months. I now know, because of what I am able to accomplish once again, what miracle God wanted me to pass on – the miracle of life. Thanks to my cancer, I now do not sweat the small things in life and live it to its fullest.”

With the help of the community, within months of Karla’s death, her family decided to celebrate what would have been Karla’s 16th birthday with the creation of the Let it Be Foundation. Their mission is to provide ongoing support and services to families and children diagnosed with life threatening illnesses throughout the child’s treatment, with a focus on the entire family.

The Rosen family has taken their unbearable loss and turned it into a legacy of compassion for others. As the song says, “there will be an answer, let it be…let it be…..”

Charity Matters.

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Charity Matters Inspiration April 6, 2015

Blind Sided

A few years ago when the movie The Blind Side came out, I was told by a number of friends that I reminded them of Sandra Bullock’s character in the movie. At the time I thought it was perhaps because I had overly highlighted my hair, was raising a football player and had once done interior design. While I love Sandra Bullock, that was not who I was being compared to, but rather to Leigh Anne Tuohy, the character she played. I wasn’t sure exactly how to take this comment.

Months later, while speaking with my step sister, who was then promoting The Blind Side, she told me she had just met the Tuohy family from the film. Unaware of the previous comparisons, she said the same thing, however, this time about the actual person, Leigh Anne. She explained that Leigh Anne Tuohy wanted to bring orphans to the Academy Awards to highlight the need for adoption of abandoned children. Needless to say, that didn’t happen….but I secretly loved the idea.

A few years passed and I forgot all about the comparison. Then, last weekend, my oldest son came home for Easter, and brought me a present. He said, he had heard Mr. Tuohy speak at his school, promoting their new book, In a Heartbeat, Sharing the Power of Cheerful Giving. My oldest said, as he heard Sean Tuohy describe his wife, it reminded him of me, so he waited in line and brought me this.

I was flattered beyond words and for once was completely blind sided.

Charity Matters.

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Charity Matters Inspiration March 27, 2015

Do Something

I wondered why somebody didn’t do something. Then I realized, I am somebody.

Unknown

I love this quote and I think when I reflect on the incredible women that I profiled this week, it is the perfect fit. Two women, very different who simply wanted to make the world better in any tiny way they could. There is nothing tiny about one person simply helping another. It is the ripple effect of their kindness that makes them unknown heroes.

Each of us has the capacity to do a family service project, get a group of friends together for a dinner or simply to find a small way to lift another up.

You are somebody.

Charity Matters.

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Charity Matters Inspiration March 25, 2015

Friends with Causes

I love meeting people who want to make a difference. Every time I come into orbit of an extraordinary person who simply wants to make the world better, I am lifted up and inspired. Last week a friend of mine connected me to another quiet angel is quietly doing just that. Her name is Alexandra Dwek and she is not your average philanthropist.

Alexandra had the brilliant idea of combining the things she loved most, her friends, the causes she cares about and bringing them all together in her home. She named her concept Friends With Causes. Like most of us with busy lives, we don’t get enough time with our friends and going out for dinner or drinks with a friend or two at a time is both expensive and time-consuming. Alexandra came up with the perfect solution.

Four times a year she invites a fun group of friends, usually about 30, to a pot luck at her home. She lets guest know that there is a contribution, usually what you would spend if you went out for drinks or dinner, or whatever you are comfortable with. After a fun casual dinner, a speaker from the non-profit shares the story of their cause and a specific program that they need help with.

Alexandra finds causes that cover a variety of areas from children’s issues to veterans to health and beyond. More than that, she visits the non-profit and specifically identifies one project that her friends can complete, so friends leave knowing that their fun night out made a specific impact. Her dinners typically raise $3,000 and up per evening. More than that, they expose a non-profit to a new audience, enlighten one another, bring people together to make a difference.

As Alexandra so beautifully said quoting Mother Teresa, ” If you can’t feed a hundred people, then just feed one.” She added, “Every little bit makes a difference.”

Charity Matters.

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Charity Matters Inspiration March 23, 2015

A little love and kindness

This past weekend I attended a party for an East Coast non-profit that is heading to LA, which is an unusual move in the non-profit world. There are so many things that make Project Giving Kids unusual, and by that I mean, out of the ordinary and extraordinary. Most of that comes from the amazing founder, Molly Yuska.

I met Molly a few months back interviewing her for CM and knew instantly that she was extraordinary. Her mission is to teach, expose and connect busy families and children to fun, meaningful and age appropriate service activities. She does that by partnering with local (now LA based) non-profits that vary from Healing the Bay to Food for Free and Gotta Have Sole, just to name a few.

Molly is an uber connector but more than that she is passionate about instilling the values of compassion and kindness in her children and ours. She shared a story Saturday night that said it all. Molly told the crowd that her young children wanted to have a lemonade stand a few weeks back. Molly groaned, as they had just done one.

Molly asked her children, “What would you give the money too?”

Her child’s response was,” I don’t want to charge money, I want to give the lemonade away.”

Molly, ” Why would you have a lemonade stand for free?”

Her daughter’s answer,” To spread love and kindness.”

That is exactly what Molly is doing, spreading love and kindness. Two things that world can never have enough of. So welcome to Los Angeles Project Giving Kids! Thank you for bringing all of us more love and kindness.

Charity Matters.

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Charity Matters Inspiration March 6, 2015

We can start now

” How lovely to think that no one need wait a moment. We can start now, start slowly, changing the world. How lovely that everyone, great and small, can make a contribution toward introducing justice straightaway. And you can always, always give something, even if it is only kindness.”

Anne Frank

As I wrapped up the week talking about amazing teenagers and young people, Anne Frank’s words from decades ago, are as relevant as ever. Teenagers, regardless of the century or decade they are from inspire hope.

As Anne Frank so wisely said, “You can always give something, even if its only kindness!”

Charity Matters.

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Charity Matters Inspiration March 4, 2015

VolunTEEN Nation

Teenagers get a bad wrap. I love working with teenagers. They are energetic, creative, passionate, full of life and eager to learn and give. The teenagers that I have the privilege of working with, are what I love most about my job. If they believe they can accomplish something, they can.

I recently came across an amazing story about a 12-year-old who wanted to work for a non-profit and was rejected multiple times. Her solution? To start her own non-profit organization and one that was powered by kids for kids. Her name is Simone Bernstein and in 2009 she did just that. She created a non-profit database where middle and high school students across the country can find volunteer opportunities in their neighborhoods, called VolunTEEN Nation.

Today, Simone is 22 and a Fulbright scholar at the University of Toronto. VolunTEEN Nation, which started in St. Louis is currently nationwide and has connected over 78,500 volunteers and funded more than 500 grants and service projects, since its inception. Simone and her brother Jake, plan to take VolunTEEN nation worldwide next year. As Simone said, “I realized that many people fail to understand that youth can make a difference.”

As someone who works with our youth, I couldn’t agree more.

Charity Matters.

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Charity Matters Inspiration February 2, 2015

Max Page and his Force

As millions of us watched the Super Bowl yesterday and of course those very pricey ads. I thought it might be worth revisiting the one of my favorite philanthropic friends. His name is Max Page and you might remember Max from his starring Super Bowl ad as Darth Vadar, a few years back.

Max has been a patient at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles many times in his short life for multiple heart surgeries. I met Max and his family, a few years ago, as we worked together to launch the Junior Ambassador Program at CHLA . The Page family are some of the most philanthropic people I know, and have used their situation and celebrity to the benefit of others time and time again.

Last week Max revisited his friends on the Today Show but didn’t get to share what he is up to these days. Max continues his acting and his passion for philanthropy, At the wise old age of 10 he is a spokesperson for the non-profit GenerationOn.Org which inspires children and teenagers to get involved in making a difference. Max’s heart may have been defected once upon a time, but today it is his heart and use of the Force that continues to inspire us all.

Charity Matters.

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Charity Matters Inspiration January 21, 2015

American Sniper

This past weekend I went to see American Sniper, an amazing movie. It made me think of many of the military non-profit post I have done over the years. More than anything the movie reminded me of the incredible sacrifices our military families make.

The movie is one that stays with you. When sitting down to write I couldn’t decide if I should write about the Navy Seal Honor Fund, which supports the children of fallen Navy Seals or if I should revisit one of my favorite, The American Widow Project…which I decided to do here. The story begins with that fateful knock and the nightmare that followed of the then 22-year-old Taryn Davis.

It was 2007 and she was told that her young husband, Michael had been killed in Iraq. Taryn’s life was shattered. She felt alone, devastated and didn’t know where to turn. She decided to travel the country and interview other military widows and the result was both her healing and a documentary she entitled “The American Widow Project.” A few short months later she founded a non-profit with the same name, The American Widows Project.

Taryn’s goal was simply to ensure that no military widow should feel alone in her grief. She believes that each military widow deserves the opportunity and tools to help rebuild her life. When a widow reaches out to The American Widow Project they immediately receive Taryn’s film, a phone call from another widow and thousands of online supporters as well as local support groups. In addition there are monthly activities such as sky diving, zip-linning or surfing, to help these women feel alive again.

While the movie American Sniper was about a hero, it is the people like Taryn Davis who take care of those left behind , who are also hereos.

To date Taryn has helped over 800 military widows and counting.

Charity Matters.

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