Five years later, it's a bit ironic to be back on this blog again -- with news of a brand new homegrown charity -- this time MY OWN!
I never set this blog up for that reason.
I never planned to start my own charity.
And yet.
Here I am.
When my Dad first got sick and was diagnosed with Stage IV lung cancer, I was suffering the utter agony of a helpless daughter living three states and eight hours away from her Pops. I was buying books, sending cards, making phone calls, soliciting friends to pray... in short, "taking care" of my Dad became a fulltime job.
One of the thoughts that came to mind is that I needed something visible to give to people who were praying for my Dad. I based my idea on the funeral prayer card -- with a picture and quote -- only this version was a LIVING PRAYER CARD. I didn't want to wait until Dad died to get people praying for him. That struck me as way too late.
I can't tell you how much it helped knowing people both appreciated and were using the cards. "I have it in my purse," said my Mom's friend. "It's in the middle my refrigerator," said another. The card was really useful for me and my children, too. I put them up on mirrors, alongside picture frames, on all our bulletin boards, anywhere I could all over the house and it kept my Dad close to my heart and in my prayers all day long.
The first card looked a lot like a bookmark and I made a few frig magnets too.
I had the unfortunate honor of making a second prayer card for my Dad's funeral four months later.
More recently, a friend's husband was diagnosed with multiple myeloma. And at the same distance away as my Dad, I went in to the familiar anxious dance of "what can I do?" Another set of cards later, an idea was born.
Now I am offering my cards for sale with 10 percent of proceeds going to cancer care charities.
Watch this space for samples.
If all launches well, I hope to have a real website, with real ordering capabilities and eventually downloadable graphics.
Meantime, remember this charity is HOMEGROWN. So with baby steps, I present to you my name and logo....
Thursday, January 22, 2015
Thursday, September 30, 2010
FOOD CRUSADER
She's working fulltime as the elementary school cafeteria manager and shuttling five kids to various sports and activities. She's in charge of an active youth group, trekking groups of kids all over Atlanta to Six Flags, bowling and beyond. She recently took in her teenage nieces after her brother died. By all accounts, Melody Guinn's to-do list shouldn't include spending evenings over the first two weeks of December standing outside in windy 40-degree chill filling boxes of food for the needy of Morgan County.
Her family and friends tell her she's crazy. Her co-workers say it might be best to take a year off. But Guinn's heart--which is what guides her in the end-- says there are people in greater need than her and the show must go on.
"In our family, the motto is 'sharing is caring,'" she says.
What began as a simple project with her son's pre-K class has blossomed into a full-scale, non-perishable annual food drive at Morgan County Elementary. And while people have made donations, even turkeys and cash occasionally, this is one charity whose needs continue to grow even as the volunteer staff stays the same.
Guinn is even planning an enclosure on her carport to allow for a year-round weekend food pantry for the working poor who can't make it to the Caring Place or other weekday food pantries.
As school counselor Stacy Waldron put it to me, "This is all Melody." It's her crusade. Her truck. Her storage facility. It's her family, husband and five kids who pack all the boxes and personally deliver them."
Guinn is reserved and humble, crediting her grandmother with her 'do-unto-others' approach.
"If I can't help but two families... if I can't help but one person..." Guinn says, "it's in me to help. Because hopefully that one person will turn around and help someone else."
Guinn puts a tidy conclusion on my homegrown charity adventure. Giving is something within us. One of the impulses we can't really control. And if we can help, we do.
And if someone we help helps someone else? The giving is all the sweeter.
Guinn Family Christmas Food Drive
Morgan County Elementary School
1640 Buckhead Road
Madison, GA
770-597-0618
Her family and friends tell her she's crazy. Her co-workers say it might be best to take a year off. But Guinn's heart--which is what guides her in the end-- says there are people in greater need than her and the show must go on.
"In our family, the motto is 'sharing is caring,'" she says.
What began as a simple project with her son's pre-K class has blossomed into a full-scale, non-perishable annual food drive at Morgan County Elementary. And while people have made donations, even turkeys and cash occasionally, this is one charity whose needs continue to grow even as the volunteer staff stays the same.
Guinn is even planning an enclosure on her carport to allow for a year-round weekend food pantry for the working poor who can't make it to the Caring Place or other weekday food pantries.
As school counselor Stacy Waldron put it to me, "This is all Melody." It's her crusade. Her truck. Her storage facility. It's her family, husband and five kids who pack all the boxes and personally deliver them."
Guinn is reserved and humble, crediting her grandmother with her 'do-unto-others' approach.
"If I can't help but two families... if I can't help but one person..." Guinn says, "it's in me to help. Because hopefully that one person will turn around and help someone else."
Guinn puts a tidy conclusion on my homegrown charity adventure. Giving is something within us. One of the impulses we can't really control. And if we can help, we do.
And if someone we help helps someone else? The giving is all the sweeter.
Guinn Family Christmas Food Drive
Morgan County Elementary School
1640 Buckhead Road
Madison, GA
770-597-0618
THRU WITH FLU
The second or so Saturday in October, stay away from Highway 44 in front of Putnam General Hospital. Unless you like traffic. Or need a flu shot.
As word has spread, the annual free "Drive-thru to stop flu" has attracted exponentially more people, over a thousand last year, forcing an early start-time just to clear snarled roadways.
Eight nurses stand at the ready over four lanes of traffic. As car windows roll down, sleeves roll up. A little brief paperwork, a healthy apple and the driver is off, armed to face another vicious flu season.
Paid for in full by the Putnam General Auxiliary, President Pat Henderson says that while they love to help different hospital departments with their "wish lists," the flu shots are the primary focus of their many fundraisers.
"With the bad economy, flu shots are usually not a priority," Henderson says. "Food, shelter and clothes are a priority." And, she says since the CDC can't predict which flu strain will be active each year, annual shots help build protection for different strains.
The price tag is far from cheap. Nearly $20,000 in the past three years, not including band-aids, needles and fruit.
The group hosts events almost year-round to make their money. In July there’s a linen sale. November 22, it’s the $5 jewelry sale. December 5 is the annual Love Light tree lighting and veteran salute. January 28 is the popular soup luncheon and March 26, a fashion show, both at First United Methodist in Eatonton.
With some volunteer retirees headed back to paying work, Henderson says they're always seeking new members. The community and hospital are counting on them.
Flu Shot Drive-by
Putnam General Hospital Auxiliary
101 Lake Oconee Parkway
Eatonton, GA Pkwy
706-485-2711, ext. 249
As word has spread, the annual free "Drive-thru to stop flu" has attracted exponentially more people, over a thousand last year, forcing an early start-time just to clear snarled roadways.
Eight nurses stand at the ready over four lanes of traffic. As car windows roll down, sleeves roll up. A little brief paperwork, a healthy apple and the driver is off, armed to face another vicious flu season.
Paid for in full by the Putnam General Auxiliary, President Pat Henderson says that while they love to help different hospital departments with their "wish lists," the flu shots are the primary focus of their many fundraisers.
"With the bad economy, flu shots are usually not a priority," Henderson says. "Food, shelter and clothes are a priority." And, she says since the CDC can't predict which flu strain will be active each year, annual shots help build protection for different strains.
The price tag is far from cheap. Nearly $20,000 in the past three years, not including band-aids, needles and fruit.
The group hosts events almost year-round to make their money. In July there’s a linen sale. November 22, it’s the $5 jewelry sale. December 5 is the annual Love Light tree lighting and veteran salute. January 28 is the popular soup luncheon and March 26, a fashion show, both at First United Methodist in Eatonton.
With some volunteer retirees headed back to paying work, Henderson says they're always seeking new members. The community and hospital are counting on them.
Flu Shot Drive-by
Putnam General Hospital Auxiliary
101 Lake Oconee Parkway
Eatonton, GA Pkwy
706-485-2711, ext. 249
Sunday, September 5, 2010
FERST IN BOOKS
Sitting hunched over her dining room table, licking stamps and stuffing children's books she paid for into padded envelopes, Madison's Robyn Ferst never doubted that her charity would be big.
"She's the ultimate visionary," says Shauna von Hanstein, Ferst Foundation for Childhood Literacy's director of operations.
Going from soliciting kid readers at local festivals and the supermarket to sponsored programs in 73 counties of the state and joining Dolly Parton's Imagination Library in forging a partnership with Rotary International is definitely big.
As a child, Ferst had degenerative hearing loss and books gave her a world where being unable to hear didn't matter. She couldn't imagine a house without books.
It impresses me that this charity doesn't sit back waiting for people to ask for help. They actively advertise trying to reach more children. Their goal is to offer a book every month to every child under five in every county of Georgia.
They're motivated by the thought that having books in the home prepares a child for school and learning success. And they believe a larger group of better readers will someday result in a larger, better-educated workforce.
My youngest and I will be sad on his fifth birthday this winter when the books stop coming. But we have a huge library of well-read, well-loved stories that have him well on the way to reading himself.
Ferst Foundation for Childhood Literacy
P.O. Box 1327
Madison, GA 30650
www.ferstfoundation.org
706-343-0177
"She's the ultimate visionary," says Shauna von Hanstein, Ferst Foundation for Childhood Literacy's director of operations.
Going from soliciting kid readers at local festivals and the supermarket to sponsored programs in 73 counties of the state and joining Dolly Parton's Imagination Library in forging a partnership with Rotary International is definitely big.
As a child, Ferst had degenerative hearing loss and books gave her a world where being unable to hear didn't matter. She couldn't imagine a house without books.
It impresses me that this charity doesn't sit back waiting for people to ask for help. They actively advertise trying to reach more children. Their goal is to offer a book every month to every child under five in every county of Georgia.
They're motivated by the thought that having books in the home prepares a child for school and learning success. And they believe a larger group of better readers will someday result in a larger, better-educated workforce.
My youngest and I will be sad on his fifth birthday this winter when the books stop coming. But we have a huge library of well-read, well-loved stories that have him well on the way to reading himself.
Ferst Foundation for Childhood Literacy
P.O. Box 1327
Madison, GA 30650
www.ferstfoundation.org
706-343-0177
Thursday, August 12, 2010
MY FRIEND'S HOUSE
The neat thing about living in the community you write in is that you get to see things unfolding, live, as they happen. As good fortune would have it, I’ve been watching a brand new, homegrown charity--a soup kitchen with planned clothes closet and overnight shelter--come to life. And Patrick Alligood, the exact right guy for the job, is learning the hands-on way that it takes a lot of work and time for that to happen.
Whether they have kids or like chocolate (or both), most Madisonians know Alligood. The Antique Sweets candy store owner directs traffic mornings at the primary school. He only misses to lead the All Pro Dads breakfasts, a rare opportunity for dads to share one-on-one time with their kids before the first morning bell rings.
Alligood also coaches soccer and serves on the elementary school council and volunteers on boards and committees and so he knows the community and understands its needs the way he gets how to cook up the perfect praline.
Which isn't to say he fully understands how to make that happen quickly.
Alligood wanted to do a collection for a world hunger fund but his young adult Sunday School students wanted to help with local food needs--a real “oh yeah....” moment for him.
From research to steering committee to incorporation has been a long, winding road on which Alligood has struggled to be patient.
“My intention was to get it up and running by now,” he says. “But there's usually a reason that timing doesn't work out like I want.”
For example, if the steering committee and feasibility study had been on schedule, it would have been ahead of the availability of the old county jail--the perfect facility for a project of this scope.
Also, in the delay, Madison Presbyterian Church has started up “Free Food Fridays,” proving grounds for volunteers and resources that will all transfer to Alligood's project in the long run.
Alligood says that after asking around about the idea, he pretty much had to get involved because “it was the right thing to do.”
“There are million dollar homes up and down Main Street and $40,000 vehicles all around town. But Morgan County average income is less than state average. There's a large population that struggles. Whether seniors or young families, children... 40 percent in the school system are on free or reduced lunch. So for me, I wanted to help the community, help my neighbors, help my friends....”
The charity's name—chosen by Alligood's mom--says it all. My Friend's House. As in "Where ya headed, man?" "Over to My Friend's House."
My Friend's House
1321 Dickson Rd
Rutledge, GA 30663
706-342-0034
Whether they have kids or like chocolate (or both), most Madisonians know Alligood. The Antique Sweets candy store owner directs traffic mornings at the primary school. He only misses to lead the All Pro Dads breakfasts, a rare opportunity for dads to share one-on-one time with their kids before the first morning bell rings.
Alligood also coaches soccer and serves on the elementary school council and volunteers on boards and committees and so he knows the community and understands its needs the way he gets how to cook up the perfect praline.
Which isn't to say he fully understands how to make that happen quickly.
Alligood wanted to do a collection for a world hunger fund but his young adult Sunday School students wanted to help with local food needs--a real “oh yeah....” moment for him.
From research to steering committee to incorporation has been a long, winding road on which Alligood has struggled to be patient.
“My intention was to get it up and running by now,” he says. “But there's usually a reason that timing doesn't work out like I want.”
For example, if the steering committee and feasibility study had been on schedule, it would have been ahead of the availability of the old county jail--the perfect facility for a project of this scope.
Also, in the delay, Madison Presbyterian Church has started up “Free Food Fridays,” proving grounds for volunteers and resources that will all transfer to Alligood's project in the long run.
Alligood says that after asking around about the idea, he pretty much had to get involved because “it was the right thing to do.”
“There are million dollar homes up and down Main Street and $40,000 vehicles all around town. But Morgan County average income is less than state average. There's a large population that struggles. Whether seniors or young families, children... 40 percent in the school system are on free or reduced lunch. So for me, I wanted to help the community, help my neighbors, help my friends....”
The charity's name—chosen by Alligood's mom--says it all. My Friend's House. As in "Where ya headed, man?" "Over to My Friend's House."
My Friend's House
1321 Dickson Rd
Rutledge, GA 30663
706-342-0034
Friday, July 16, 2010
AUTO ASSIST
If you don't have a car, you can't work. That's the simple concept behind Episcopal Church of the Redeemer's vehicle assistance program.
I'm floored by the thought. I hate my dented, dirty mini-van, but take it completely for granted. High mileage, squeaky breaks and all, it takes us everywhere we need to go.
Les Reed is the brainchild behind the program and he leads the all-volunteer, zero-overhead team that researches and buys quality used cars off Craig's List, eBay and from local dealers.
Thanks to an anonymous donation, the group has put 14 people in cars in the past two and a half years. And thanks to their clients' monthly payments (set at what they can reasonably afford each month for around two years with 0 percent interest) Reed and Co. are able to continue car purchases.
Motivation to pay is less threat of repo-man and more "if you don't --we won't have the money to help someone else."
I'm curious if a church that gives so generously hopes to recruit new members, but Reed calls it an unconditional gift. Besides, he says, most of the people taking advantage of the program are working constantly to make ends meet and too busy with young families to come to church.
They aren't trying to convert anyone. Just lend a hand.
Episcopal Church of the Redeemer Vehicle Assistance
303 N. Main Street
Greensboro, Ga.
706-453-7171
I'm floored by the thought. I hate my dented, dirty mini-van, but take it completely for granted. High mileage, squeaky breaks and all, it takes us everywhere we need to go.
Les Reed is the brainchild behind the program and he leads the all-volunteer, zero-overhead team that researches and buys quality used cars off Craig's List, eBay and from local dealers.
Thanks to an anonymous donation, the group has put 14 people in cars in the past two and a half years. And thanks to their clients' monthly payments (set at what they can reasonably afford each month for around two years with 0 percent interest) Reed and Co. are able to continue car purchases.
Motivation to pay is less threat of repo-man and more "if you don't --we won't have the money to help someone else."
I'm curious if a church that gives so generously hopes to recruit new members, but Reed calls it an unconditional gift. Besides, he says, most of the people taking advantage of the program are working constantly to make ends meet and too busy with young families to come to church.
They aren't trying to convert anyone. Just lend a hand.
Episcopal Church of the Redeemer Vehicle Assistance
303 N. Main Street
Greensboro, Ga.
706-453-7171
Monday, June 14, 2010
MOTHERS UNITE
Georgia Smith has spent nearly 20 years with her guard up. And she’ll gladly leave it there, her eyes and ears peeled, to keep her neighborhood and community safe. As president of Mothers Against Crime in Eatonton, she remembers the moment she knew she couldn’t just “sit there and let these things happen anymore.”
In 1992, just seven months after her youngest daughter’s classmate had been shot and killed in the parking lot of Hardees, a young woman caught in the crossfire of a drug-related gunfight was shot in the back of the head. She was only 27 and had a baby in her arms. Smith worked as coordinator of organ and tissue donation at Putnam General at the time and cried with the girl’s mother as she struggled with the decision to take her off life support.
“I was so distraught. When they took her off, I knew right then that something had to be done.”
Smith is one of those people who, moments into your first meeting, radiate the confidence and fearlessness of a born leader. ("I'm a Leo like that," she says.) Her suggestion to picket a strip of "juke joints" in Putnam County exploded into a media frenzy, public involvement and eventually, the destruction of all but one of the buildings.
She and a group of other concerned mothers took their efforts to the schools. They provide scholarships for students, sponsor support programs for at-risk families, and organize parties, picnics and a mid-June all-community youth rally to keep locals focused on their youth and their future possibilities.
There’s Eatonton then and Eatonton now... and in between and in the future, you’ll find Georgia Smith and her fellow members in Mothers Against Crime working to make sure their community is safe.
Mothers Against Crime
403 Willie Bailey Street
Eatonton, Ga. 31024
706-485-5332
In 1992, just seven months after her youngest daughter’s classmate had been shot and killed in the parking lot of Hardees, a young woman caught in the crossfire of a drug-related gunfight was shot in the back of the head. She was only 27 and had a baby in her arms. Smith worked as coordinator of organ and tissue donation at Putnam General at the time and cried with the girl’s mother as she struggled with the decision to take her off life support.
“I was so distraught. When they took her off, I knew right then that something had to be done.”
Smith is one of those people who, moments into your first meeting, radiate the confidence and fearlessness of a born leader. ("I'm a Leo like that," she says.) Her suggestion to picket a strip of "juke joints" in Putnam County exploded into a media frenzy, public involvement and eventually, the destruction of all but one of the buildings.
She and a group of other concerned mothers took their efforts to the schools. They provide scholarships for students, sponsor support programs for at-risk families, and organize parties, picnics and a mid-June all-community youth rally to keep locals focused on their youth and their future possibilities.
There’s Eatonton then and Eatonton now... and in between and in the future, you’ll find Georgia Smith and her fellow members in Mothers Against Crime working to make sure their community is safe.
Mothers Against Crime
403 Willie Bailey Street
Eatonton, Ga. 31024
706-485-5332
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