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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 Quotes March 13, 2015

What is here is right now

“Life is a great and wonderous mystery, and the only thing we know that we have for sure is what is right here and right now. Don’t miss it.”

Leo Buscaglia

Life has been full these past few months with no rest for the weary. So, I am taking some of my own advice and enjoying some much-needed time off. My oldest is home from college and we are months away from our second son leaving the nest, which seemed like the perfect excuse for a mini vacation.

What is here and now for me is my family and those precious moments of all of us together. What is right here and now for you? Whatever it is I’m sure you don’t want to miss it!

Happy Friday!

Charity Matters.

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What Matters? March 11, 2015

Broken record

Forgive me if I sound a little bit like a broken record these past few weeks but when signs continue to re-occur, I feel compelled to address them. Each week I write about giving…giving of time, talent or treasure, as they say….but over and over I keep hearing that many of us are empty….and like the giving tree there is simply nothing left to give.

You are not alone. This past fall I had some health issues….the final diagnosis was stress, overload, exhaustion. I had given beyond what I had to give…to my job, the many causes I support, board commitments, Charity Matters and of course our daily commitments to family, friends and the list goes on….mine, I’m sure, is no different from yours.

Did this trigger a radical shift? Sadly, no…radical isn’t in my DNA, but it did cause a slow transition. Have I slowed down? Not really, but what I am doing is recognizing the danger signs and giving myself permission to take a day off, permission to do things that make me happy, fill me with joy and fill my soul.

Of course I want to do it all, give to all , I have to give to myself, in order to give to all of those I so deeply want to help. Tomorrow, I will practice my husbands favorite slogan, “Charity starts at home.”

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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What Matters? February 25, 2015

Writing your way to happiness?

Last week I wrote about the “mid-life thing” and then days later a reader sent me a New York Times article entitled Writing Your Way to Happiness. The basic jest of it was that recent scientific studies say that writing can make you happier, lower your chance of sickness and have overall improvements on health and well-being.

We all “write” all day long, thousands of emails, texts, even Facebook posts but that type of writing is like showing people your living room. My mom used to say the living room is the room you want people to think you are, rather than your bathroom, which is who you really are. In other words, that kind of writing is for an outward perception, the writing the article is referring to is from an inward perspective.

What are you really thinking? Feeling? Doing? As someone who writes, alot…I think this falls in line with the mid-life posts, the last week. Writing is simply a gift you give to yourself, it is a time to fill yourself up, when you write from your heart and hear your own voice anything becomes possible.

While they say, don’t believe everything you read….this post is proof that once you begin to really listen to yourself through writing….. you can write your way to happiness.

Charity Matters.

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Charity Matters Quotes February 16, 2015

President’s Day

“Believe that you can and you are half way there!”

Theodore Roosevelt

Happy President’s Day!

I was recently asked a question about leadership and when I recognized it in my life. To be honest, the question took me a bit by surprise and required some thought. After giving my answer, I reflected upon a trait that many of us rarely recognize, the gift of leadership.

In a world where we all desperately seek followers, who are our leaders? These are words I often share with the thousands of students who will come through the non-profit leadership organization I have the privilege of working for.

This President’s Day ask yourself the same question, are you a leader or a follower? Be thankful for all of the wonderful leaders we have had in order to enjoy the freedom we all celebrate today.

Happy Presidents Day!

Charity Matters.

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What Matters? January 26, 2015

Wild

“I spent my life trying to be the woman my mother raised me to be.” Those were the words that haunted me from my weekend journey to the movies seeing Wild. A great movie about loss, self-discovery and grief….

A movie that spoke to me, not because of the self-destructive behavior or the hiking for that matter) but about finding out who you really are once you no longer have someone telling or showing you who to be. I have said it here before that my re-birth began with my mother’s death and this movie resonated that theme.

Why is it that we wait to be who we are supposed to become? Is it that our evolution really takes that long? So often our parents don’t live to see our success. My mom did live to see her grandsons and my joy in being a mother, but sadly died days before her only granddaughter arrived. At that juncture in my life, I wasn’t fully formed, the pieces hadn’t all come together….honestly some days I wonder if they ever will….but when the shifts occur and the pieces fall into or out-of-place in your life you know. You do.

I know that none of us really know what our parents expected us to be or dreamed we would accomplish but somehow I know over a dozen years later that I have become the woman my mother raised me to be. Still a work in progress but somehow…. I know she is proud.

Charity Matters.

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Charity Matters Quotes November 28, 2014

Black Friday

“Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.”

William Arthur Ward

Today is “Black Friday,” a day when we wake up full, stuffed and ready to charge the malls or just plain charge. Yesterday, we sat with our families watching football, laughing, making and eating a meal together and in a flash its gone.

As we enter into the holiday season, lets remember the moments and the people who bring us joy. Although yesterday seems so long ago, let us remember the best gift we can give ourselves and others is gratitude. That is the gift to focus on this holiday season.

Charity Matters.

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Charity Matters Quotes November 26, 2014

Thanksgiving Gratitude

“At times, our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us.”

Albert Schweitzer

Tomorrow is the day, sadly the one day for many of us, that we take time to be thankful. This year, this day and this moment I am grateful for many things, my guess is for many of the same things you are; health, family, friends and for those people in my life who have guided me to where I am right now and there are many.

When you are not sure how to begin the process of gratitude, think for a moment of where you are at this moment in time and in your life. How many hands have guided you to this place? Today, I am grateful to each person who has lighted my path and for all of those who have shown me the way.

I am grateful to each of you who continue to inspire, teach and motivate me on this journey. To each and all of you, I wish you and your families a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Charity Matters.

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Charity Matters Quotes November 24, 2014

Living your purpose

“Our chief want is someone who will inspire us to be what we know we could be.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson

As I mark my one year anniversary as the Executive Director, of a non-profit youth leadership organization, I find myself full of gratitude. I know it is Thanksgiving week, but this is more than being grateful. I am in awe of the path that lead me to this place where I am in a position to inspire, engage and motivate hundreds of middle and high school students each year. In turn, they are in the position to do the same to me and have.

More than motivation or leadership, what I find brings me the greatest joy is living a life of purpose. I was telling a girlfriend about my job the other day and she responded, “Wow, I didn’t realize you could get paid to make the world better?” Her reaction surprised me a bit. More than that, it made me think that my “payment” is so much more than a check (don’t get me wrong, raises are always appreciated).

Of course this past year has been full of challenges and road blocks but what great adventures aren’t? Life is journey and when you get to a place on your path, when you get to be your best self and show that to others…..well there is simply no place else I would rather be.

Charity Matters.

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Charity Profile November 19, 2014

Write Girl

A few years ago, I did a post on an amazing organization that gives girls a voice. No, it wasn’t about public speaking or singing but rather, writing. Writing for me is the place when my voice comes alive and my soul speaks. It is the purest connection of who I am. Writing is the way I articulate my path and purpose, and I’m obviously not alone in my passion for expression.

When I discovered the New York City non-profit called Girls Write Now that gave girls their voice through a writing mentorship program, I found myself wondering why this didn’t exist in other parts of the country? When I decided to revisit the topic this week, I discovered an amazing woman here in Los Angeles named Keren Taylor who has done just that with her non-profit WriteGirl.

In December 2001, Keren Taylor wanted to partner girls with writers to help them find their way through pain, adolescence and provide them with a tool to improve their lives and move forward. That tool was a pen and a mentor. Six months later, after a handful of workshops that began partnering girls with writers/mentors, WriteGirl had published its first book and that was just chapter one.

Thirteen years later, WriteGirl has received over 58 Book Awards, in 2011 they received the prestigious honor of Non Profit of the Year and last year, the First Lady awarded WriteGirl with a National Art and Humanity Award. As their slogan says, “Never underestimate the power of a girl and her pen!” I couldn’t agree more.

Charity Matters.

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Charity Matters Quotes November 17, 2014

To Write

“You don’t write because you WANT to say something, you write because you HAVE something to say.”

F. Scott Fitzgerald

The other day as I sat down to write, I realized that I had written more than 500 posts. I’m not quite sure just how that happened, but apparently I have had more than a few thoughts to share. I am a communicator, it is what I do. Writing, to me, is more than communicating.

We live in a world with so much noise that writing is actually my quiet. It is a time to really think about something, to find a subject’s heart and then to share that heart and hope the message is not just delivered, but felt.

That is why I write. I write to think, I write to feel and I write to share.

Charity Matters.

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Charity Matters Quotes November 14, 2014

Charity Matters Quotes: Journey

“There is one way to learn, it’s through action. Everything you need to know you have learned through your journey.”

Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

We started the week with a moment and are ending it with a journey.

There is one way to learn and it is through action.

What is your journey?

I hope part of it includes a wonderful weekend.

Charity Matters.

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