Birthdays – Charity Matters

What Matters? June 11, 2014

A time for reflection

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

Author Unknown

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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Uncategorized June 10, 2013

Ahhh…. birthdays!

Tomorrow is just another day like any other except that it is the marking of another year passing. I have so many friends that dread these days which justify the wrinkles and sadly few left that embrace their birthday. When we were little, we loved the cone-shaped hats, the friends, the candles. When and why did that change?

Well for me, it hasn’t. I am still a birthday girl. I love everything about them. First and foremost it is the friends and family that reach out, people I love, I miss or I just simply really enjoy. How fantastic to have one day a year when all those people simply say hello? Honestly, that is my favorite part of birthdays.

The other thing that birthdays have brought in the past few years is a time of reflection and gratitude. I am so grateful that I am alive, I am healthy and that I get to celebrate another magical year of living. That is a beautiful gift and one that I never take for granted.

Birthdays are also a time to see where I am. What have I accomplished this year? Being born in June, it’s a nice half-year assessment mark. Looking back and acknowledging any goal accomplished and looking ahead with all of the new ones I can’t wait to tackle.

I am in my late forties now and to me I’m just getting going. I have a whole second half of life beginning. How exciting is that? So tomorrow, I will be soaking up the calls, the friends, the love and the moments. Something we should all do everyday, even if it’s not our birthday.

I might pass on the cone-shaped hat this year but I will enjoy blowing out all those candles, even the extra one!

Charity Matters.

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Homelessness and Hunger March 13, 2013

March Madness

In our house we take March Madness seriously, no it’s not because of basketball, it’s because all three of my sons have birthdays this month…which of course leads to true March Madness. I am always trying to find ways to remind my boys how fortunate they are and birthdays are always a good opportunity for gratitude.

This year I wanted to find a cause that involved birthdays that the boys could contribute too and I came across the most remarkable cause called Cheerful Givers.Org and the person behind it all, just as amazing.

He name is Robin Steele and in 1994 she was touring a local shelter in her community in Minnesota and discovered that parents often looked for a favorite box of cereal or canned good to give their child as a birthday gift. Robin couldn’t bear the thought of a child’s birthday passing without any acknowledgement and immediately got to work assembling 12 birthday bags that she dropped of at her local homeless shelter.

The next day Robin received a call from the shelter to share the story of the birthday bag. A woman had come into the shelter looking for some sort of favorite food item to recognize her child’s birthday and panicked when there wasn’t anything. However, when the shelter gave her a birthday bag the woman replied, “The whole way over on the bus I prayed and prayed that there would be something here for me to give my child, but I never dreamed there would be something so beautiful.”

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhsEld48tnE&feature=youtu.be]

Robin got to work, enlisted volunteers and began Cheerful Givers. However, three years later Robin still wondered if she was doing enough. So in 1997 she traveled to India to meet with Mother Teresa. Robin met with her hours before her death and returned with a message that we are all hungry for love.

She was more determined than ever to ensure that her birthday bags, “celebrates those lives that matter and that they are a symbol of unconditional love we have for our anonymous neighbors and their children.”

Today, over 622,045 birthday bags have been distributed and counting. March madness in all its glory. The celebration of birthdays is the celebration of life and Robin Steele reminds us all why it is such a gift.

Charity Matters.

Copyright © 2013 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.

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