Day 166: Clothing Donation

With the back-to-school season upon us....we were all able to edit our closets and fill yet another bag of gently worn clothing to contribute to those in need.

Day 165: Time to Count the Money!

Today started my volunteer groups' month to count the Mass-collection money at St. Jude's. When there is a holiday on a Monday, it always causes a question whether we count on Tuesday or Wednesday. After 3 phone calls as to the day and one for the time, 4 of us showed up--each in a hurry for their own reason. Not too much talking, and we finished in an hour!! Lorraine (the Secretary) was very surprised to see us all finished. I said to her---people away, not much money; ladies in a hurry, done quickly!

Day 164: Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation

The runner in me can't resist donating to a cause that acknowledges the contribution with a sneaker cut-out picture posted in the store!!  So today, while at Marshalls, (that's Marshaaaalls, to the Cutler gals!), I was asked to contribute to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.  Supporting this cause is an easy "yes" for me, as one of my dear friends from college has a son who was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes when he was just in elementary school.  Hearing of his experience is when I first learned about how challenging and overwhelming this disease can be for an entire family.  I am happy to report that my friend's son is thriving in high school and has successfully learned to cope with this all consuming, life altering and so far, uncurable disease.  May the research team continue to raise the bar to new heights for children suffering from the many related complications of diabetes.  http://www.jdrf.org/

Day 163: Nothing But Nets

Back in May 2006, I faithfully turned to the back page of my Sports Illustrated to read Rick Reilly's column.  He is a sports journalist and writes extremely well with wit and humor, and he usually writes about some under publicized issue or event.  On this day he wrote about Africa's tragic battle with malaria. Sometimes, we forget how lucky we are in our part of the world, but many millions of people, mostly children, die from mosquito transmitted malaria.  I consider myself a human mosquito magnet, and can attract a swarm on a sunny, windy or rainy day.  But my worst mosquito day pales in comparison to the desperation and tragedy the people of Africa face each day.  I urge anyone who reads this blog to check out Reilly's article.  If the link below does not work, or you can't copy and paste it onto your  address bar, then google Rick Reilly and Nothing but Nets.  My efforts to inform anyone would not come close (or be as entertaining) as Reilly's article.
I have given to the organization several times, but today seemed to make sense to give again as I was covered by the little buggers while assessing my tree damage from Irene.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/writers/rick_reilly/04/25/reilly0501/index.html

Day 162: Thoughts of the Paulist Fathers

Nana  here.

Many moons ago when I was in high school, we had a mission (a week of prayer for women and 2nd week for men) at St. Theresa's Parish. Two Paulist priests conducted the mission and one of them (Fr. Finley) asked a group of us who counted the money to write to him. I did and the friendship lasted for nearly 50 years. Father would always come out to visit us when he was in the Boston area and more often graced our table and blessed our children at family events while he was stationed in Boston for a few years. Recently, I came across a book he had written for the "older set" which I had tucked away and realized I guess I am" there" now and will read his words. He died on Sept. 7th ,1996 so for the fifteenth Anniversary of his passing, we sent a monetary donation to the Paulist Fathers in his memory.

Day 161: Birthday Wishes to Homeless Children

Today, I went to iPARTY to look over and choose the paper goods for our gathering next weekend in memory of Marie. On the way out, the young cashier asked me if I would like to contribute to "Birthday Wishes." I had never heard of it so he explained it all to me. "Birthday Wishes" has one mission: to bring birthday parties to homeless children. He elaborated a bit more and I agreed to donate a small donation to what seems to me to be a worthy cause. If you would like to learn more about how you can help, go to their website which is http://www.birthdaywishes.org/

Day 160: Cupcakes for Cancer

Hello from UPenn! I have finally settled in and am enjoying my week of meeting up with all of my friends. Though just recovering from a major ankle sprain, I still have many meetings and a very long "to do" list before the start of classes! One especially important responsibility includes the Colleges Against Cancer Committee duties. The Committee wants to start advocating for Relay for Life as early as possible. Tonight, the committee is hosting a "decorate your own cupcake" bar. Whether a student wants to take a break from unpacking, explore the campus, or find an alternative to late night partying, they can come to the cupcake bar (which will also have a live band!!). Each color frosting will represent a different type of cancer (ex: pink will be breast cancer). Not only will this spread awareness, but this is also a way to obtain data about which cancers people are most passionate about curing so we can advocate fundraising for the most popular "colors" around campus and raise the most money possible.

We set up shop in one of the committee member's apartments. We made about 200 funfetti and plain vanilla cupcakes. (Don't worry, not from scratch! All were from box mixes). Only 4 people showed up to bake, but since I am not able to supervise the cupcake table tonight from 11-1 a.m., I figured I would at least help with the baking. I can now say I am an experienced batter scooper! I look forward to hearing how successful our event is, and how much the students like our baking-from-a-box!