Help After the Hurricane

This was supposed to go up on Thursday, but life has this annoying habit of getting in the way of my blogging.

Anyway, it's been a week (nearly) since Hurricane Sandy decided to make life difficult for the eastern seaboard.  Compounding the issue, we're expecting a nor'easter in the next few days to add to the flooding for the coastal states, as well as to dump some snow on my area.  I don't mind snow so much.  Meanwhile, however, I did promise to share with the readership ways that they - that is, you - can help with the relief effort which, if this current forecast is accurate, is about to become even more crucial and more difficult.

First up, as always, the lovely and big-hearted Debbie Tenzer of Do One Nice Thing has provided us with some information on the subject.  She points out that the biggest needs are money and blood donations.  If you wish to and are able to donate blood, go to this page to find out where you can do so near you.

You may have heard that you can donate via text message.  Send the text REDCROSS to the number 90999 to donate ten dollars to that organization.  Or donate directly on their website to their disaster relief fund.  Another one to consider: help the Humane Society as they help the pets and homeless animals who were affected by the storm.

Are you on Twitter?  Follow the account of the Sandy NJ Relief Fund.  They too have a website where you can contribute to the relief effort, and they also provide occasional updates about what's happening.

If you live in or near the state of New Jersey and would like to contribute food, clothing, blankets, and other material goods like that, your best bet is to call the state's volunteer hotline at 1-800-JERSEY-7.  The operators can direct you to the best place to deliver your donation.

Oh, one more thing.  The utility workers have been laboring tirelessly to get everyone's water and power turned back on in a timely fashion in all of the affected states (including mine).  Workers have traveled here from almost every other state in the country.  They're away from their families and putting in long hours to make other people's lives easier.  Please, please - if you encounter any of these hard-working men and women, take a few minutes to express your gratitude.

I'll be posting on Wednesday because of that contest I mentioned in a previous post.  In the meantime, if you live in the United States, tomorrow is Election Day.  I'm not going to tell you for whom you should cast your vote, but by all means, vote.

Tomorrow is also my sister Lisa's birthday.  So I'm voting that she should have a happy birthday!

Rachel's Crusade

One of my favorite things to do with this blog, as you might have noticed by now, is to use it as a platform to help my friends with their assorted causes.  Today, I'm doing a shout-out for my friend Rachel.

Every autumn, Rachel participates in the local Out of the Darkness community walk for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.  Every autumn, she sets a fundraising goal and works very hard to reach it.  This year, I'd like to help her accomplish the goal.

The Out of the Darkness walks are designed to raise funds and awareness for the fight to prevent suicide.  It's estimated that here in the United States, one person attempts suicide every minute - and once every 14 minutes, one of them succeeds.

Your contributions to the AFSP are tax-deductible to the extent allowable by law, and if you donate online you'll receive an email receipt for your contribution.  Comes in handy at tax time.  If you have questions about things like tax ID numbers and whatnot, check out this page.

Rachel's trying to raise $250.  As of this writing, she's 30% of the way there.  Can you help her reach the 100% mark?  Here's where to go.  Thank you!

Isaac Cometh

As most people know by now, the southern United States is bracing for impact from Hurricane Isaac.  My own area got slapped pretty hard last year by Hurricane Irene (what's with the I names causing problems, anyway?), and I have a lot of friends in the south, so I've been watching this with concern.

Florida just got a soaking, but now Isaac's racing toward Louisiana, which was already pretty battered by Hurricane Katrina just a few years ago. Haiti already took a beating from this storm.  Organizations are already mobilizing to be ready to help those who will or do need it, and evacuations are in progress.  If you want to help, here's where to go:

• The Red Cross
• Operation Blessing International
• Samaritan's Purse
• Doctors Without Borders (nothing specific for this cause yet, but I'm sure there will be)

Good luck, stay safe, and help each other.

Give a Kiva

My sources of inspiration, for this blog and everything else I write, are various.  This one comes from work.  I arrived at the store the other day to find my manager looking and sounding extremely pleased, because she had gotten repaid on her Kiva loan.  Then she asked if I had heard of Kiva, and out of that grew a blog post.

Free Jason P.

I did plan on showing you some pictures from Las Vegas today, but this is much, much more important.  It's vaguely connected with my trip to Vegas, though, because that's where I was when I first heard about this.

Imagine that you fell in love with a foreign country.  You married a local, had a great job, even appeared on international television.  You settled down to a content existence in a beautiful location.  Then, one day, you were arrested.  There's no proof that you committed the crimes for which you were arrested; even the other people who were arrested with you testify that they have no idea who you are.  But the government of your adopted country is convinced of your guilt and you're sentenced to 22 years in prison.

For Jason Puracal, this is the nightmare in which he's found himself for the last eighteen months.

Hello Henryville

As they so often do, this particular 'good idea' wandered my way courtesy of Debbie Tenzer, webmistress of Do One Nice Thing and my personal nominee for Nicest Person in the World.  The April newsletter from her website enlightened me about Henryville, Indiana.

Henryville suffered tremendously from tornadoes that recently blasted through the area.  One of the biggest losses was Henryville High School, which took all of twenty seconds for the storm to completely demolish - while students and staff hid inside the building.  Yeah.  Let that run through your mind for a minute.  The building in which you are hiding from a deadly storm crashes down around you.

Miraculously, everyone survived.  That's the really good news.  The bad news, of course, is that the school was destroyed.  The students have resumed classes using temporary space in the nearby community of Sellersburg.  Meanwhile, it's prom season here in the United States.  It's hard to imagine how that would work for a community that needed to rebuild its entire high school, but as Debbie phrased it in the D1NT newsletter, the prom became kind of a symbol of normalcy and hope.

Here's where the story gets even more interesting.

Getting carded

Recently, my pal Irma lamented that she had so many beautiful holiday cards sent to her, and she really wasn't sure what to do with them all.  She asked her friends for their advice on saving versus tossing.  I know a lot of people get crafty with their cards, turning them into wreaths or garlands or what have you; I applaud such efforts, even though I don't do these things myself.  I'm personally an advocate of keeping cards of particularly sentimental value (for example, I have the last Christmas card I ever got from my mother's parents before they both died in 2006), but I'm also a big fan of taking a third option, which in this case is donating the surplus cards to charity.

The best known recourse for donating cards is a program called St. Jude's Ranch for Children, a rescue mission for abused, neglected, and abandoned children.  (It's not to be confused with St. Jude's Hospital, which caters to critically ill children regardless of their ability to pay for treatment.)  The ranch has a program for recycling cards by having the resident kids turn them into new cards.  These are then made available for purchase as a fundraiser for the ranch.  Of course they mostly work with holiday cards, because that's what the most people send to each other, but they accept donations of all kinds of cards all throughout the year.  In fact, there is currently a particular need for birthday and thank-you cards.

There are a few rules, of course.  For one thing, the program cannot accept any cards manufactured by Hallmark, Disney, or American Greetings.  They use the front part of the card, so make sure before you send any cards that there's no writing inside the front.  Oh, and please don't send those really big novelty cards - cards measuring 5 by 7 inches or smaller are vastly preferred.

If you're sending a large quantity, the website notes that the most cost-efficient way to mail them is in one of those flat rate packages at the post office.  (You know..."if it fits, it ships.")  Bundle up your donation and send it to:

St. Jude's Ranch for Children
Recycled Card Program
100 St. Jude's Street
Boulder City, NV  89005

If you're interested, you can also purchase the cards made by the kids, to complete the cycle.  Cards are sold in packs of ten for $10.  You can place an order by calling 1-877-977-7572, or by sending a check and written request to:

St. Jude's Ranch for Children
ATTN:  Donor Office
P.O. Box 60100
Boulder City, NV  89006-0100

Reducing waste, helping kids in need, saving trees...sounds like a great way to start the year, doesn't it?

The Society of Secret Santas

First and foremost:  If you're planning to send holiday cards to Holiday Mail for Heroes, your submissions must be postmarked by tomorrow, December 9th.  Details are found here.  Thank you to everyone who has helped to spread the word about this program, and about why you can't send the cards straight to Walter Reed Hospital.  I'll run this same information next fall too.

Recently I learned about an organization (though I use the term loosely) that tickled every funnybone I have as well as making me feel good.  Who wouldn't love to be a member of the Society of Secret Santas?  I'd love to be able to say that I belong to that - not that you're supposed to tell people if you do.

Have you ever, especially at the holidays, done something generous for a person or organization in need?  I'm sure you have.  But have you ever done it anonymously, refusing to identify yourself even when asked?

Congratulations.  You're a Secret Santa.

The original Secret Santa, at least as far as the Society is concerned, was Larry Stewart.  For twenty years he gave, selflessly and anonymously, until three months before his death when his identity was finally made known.  The Society today tries to build upon the legacy of Larry, and mobilize Secret Santas everywhere to make their communities a better place.

Anyone can be a Secret Santa, whether you celebrate Christmas or not.  You just have to abide by certain rules while you're out doing your...do-gooding.  You must remain anonymous (that's the whole point, you're Santa Claus!), you must have a sense of humor, you must be humble and compassionate and kind.  Really, it's not hard.  You're limited only by your own financial and physical resources and energy. 

How do you find the people and groups who need a Secret Santa?  There are all sorts of ways!  You could subscribe to Debbie Tenzer's mailing list at Do One Nice Thing.  My local paper runs a Be An Angel campaign every year to support local non-profits; I bet your local media outlets do something similar.  You can usually find ways to outreach through your house of worship, school, or community programs. 

Oh, and you can follow this blog, because you might have noticed I post stuff like that here. ;)

To conclude, a small follow-up to my last post, in which I told you about a young man named Nate in need of funds to pay for his cancer surgery:  There have been a few new donations since my post, but Nate still needs more than $50,000 to be able to afford the surgery that will save his life.  If you're looking for a place to start your Secret Santa work, this would probably be perfect.

Give Forward

I got a bit distracted from doing today's post, largely on account of my buddy Andrea's acquisition of The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword and our mutual desire to see what wonders it contained.  But upon perusing my Twitter feed, I saw a message from Linkara, asking for support for a fan of his.  I quite like Linkara; more than once I've thought that if I had a little brother, I'd kind of want one like him.  This is a good example of why.

So I clicked on his link.  It took me to Give Forward, which is a charity website designed for helping those in need of medical treatments or otherwise in a financial crisis.  I was curious about this, so I investigated a little farther, and here's what I learned.

What you do is establish a fund for your loved one.  Describe the situation, explain what you've done to solve the problem so far, upload photos, and tell the world how much money is needed.  Set a deadline by which the money needs to be raised.  Then spread the word, providing the link to that page, and urge your friends and family members to do the same.  (The loved one doesn't have to be human, either - many have used the site to raise funds for medical treatments for their beloved pets.)

On your Give Forward page, people have the option of contributing to your fund.  They can use a credit or debit card; if you want to make it even easier for them to give, set up a PayPal account and make that an option as well.  (This also makes it easier for you to receive the money - if you have a PayPal account connected to your fund, the money will be sent directly to it; otherwise, you have to wait for a check to be mailed.)  Once your end date passes, the Give Forward website will take a 7% service fee off of what you raise, to cover processing charges, and give you the rest.

Does it really work?  By the looks of this page, yes it does.  According to the site stats, they have raised more than $8 million for medical treatments and other needs thus far.  If you're having misgivings, I hope it helps to know that they have an A- rating with the Better Business Bureau, and the only reason for the minus is the fact that they were just started in the past year.  They also received a good write-up from Good.is, a website dedicated to this sort of thing.

As for that guy whose situation brought the site to my attention in the first place?  His name is Nate.  He's 28 years old, and he has very aggressive cancer.  He needs surgery to remove masses from his lungs, but can't get it on his own; the medical center has informed him that he's received the maximum amount of care he can get through their charity program.  He needs $60,000; at the time of this writing, he's just shy of $10,000.

Can you help save Nate?  Any amount would be gratefully accepted.  Read his story here...and thanks.

Reminders and Popcorn

First, just want to point out that you only have a few more days to enter my giveaway!  Come on, it's really easy and the competition is light.  You can totally take them.

Second, I also want to mention that the deadline is approaching to submit your holiday cards to Holiday Mail for Heroes.  Remember, send holiday cards to them, not to "Any Recovering Soldier c/o Walter Reed Hospital."  For the details, click here.  And when you see someone on your Facebook friends list, Twitter feed, and other places telling others to send the cards to Walter Reed Hospital, please give them the corrected information.  The cards they send to WRH will only be destroyed unopened.

Moving on, the remainder of this post is chiefly directed at my local readers.  So the rest of you can go get some coffee or something.

Some months ago, I posted about my love for a local movie theater, the Roxy, which is also a historical landmark.  As I mentioned in that other post, I've been going to the Roxy for as long as I can remember.  The movies are just three bucks a pop and the refreshments are priced similarly.  It's a beloved part of our regional landscape.

I belong to their mailing list, so every week I get an update about their upcoming shows.  The current email reminded me about one of the neat things they do every year, and I'm passing it on for those who don't know.

Every year, the Roxy shows a family-friendly Christmas movie at no charge.  One night, one showing.  No admission fee.  The catch?  Every person who shows up to see the film must bring a non-perishable food item, which is then used to stock the shelves at the Northampton Area Food Bank.  This year, they will be showing The Polar Express, starring Tom Hanks, on Thursday, December 8th at 7:30 p.m.  The doors will open at 7:00 p.m. 

So, to recap:  good movie, free admission, just bring a can of soup or vegetables so that someone less fortunate than yourself gets to enjoy a hot meal this winter.  Could this be any more of a win-win situation?  I think not!  Spread the word!

Is the Phillie Phanatic considered Philabundant?

So one of my high school classmates (hi, Christine) recently contacted me on Facebook to alert me to the existence of Philabundance.  Very helpful, this, especially since I needed a blog topic!  No, seriously, I love being told about stuff like this, and only partly so I can pass the details on to my readers.

Philabundance assists people living in the Delaware Valley, which is a vaguely defined region in southeastern Pennsylvania, plus Delaware and part of New Jersey.  Nine counties benefit from the efforts of Philabundance, which provides for "low-income residents who are at risk of hunger and malnutrition, of which 23% are children and 16% are senior citizens."  They offer both direct services and also distribute the food through food banks and similar agencies.

For the 2011 holiday season, they've partnered with two big names - Dunkin' Donuts and 6 ABC News.  If you click on that link, you'll be taken to a schedule of all sorts of events, from supermarket collections to a Facebook promotion, all of which will help Philabundance.

But remember, the need for food isn't limited to the holiday season; it's an ongoing problem.  So you can pick any time of the year to get involved, be it with Philabundance or with a food program closer to where you live.  Donate money, or give of your time, or conduct a food drive of your own.  Or Philabundance offers other ways in which you can help, including hosting a donation button on your personal website and purchasing some of their fundraising merchandise.  These are great because you can do them no matter where you live!  Man, I love the power of the internet.

Speaking of which, I'm going to conclude this post by saying hello to all of the new readers I've acquired since I joined Tumblr and BloggersBase.  Thanks for stopping by!  And I hope you'll all drop by for Monday's post, which is going to be something a liiiiittle different.  (Hint:  I'm giving something away!  Something shiny!)

A coat is a hug you can take with you

Okay, I kind of just made that up.

Anyway, with the approach of the winter giving season, things are getting busy at my dear little fair trade store.  In my spare time, such as it is, I'm trying to do some cleaning out around my house.  One thing that the husband and I have in excess is coats; more coats than two people can realistically wear.  So I turned to the internet, which is where I get most of the answers to my questions anyway.

This led to my discovery of One Warm Coat.  It's pretty simple, and of course, in the simplicity lies the brilliance.  It's a great way to dispose of your clean and gently used coats and ensure that they will go to people who really need them.

Want to donate a coat?  Click on the Donate button and select "Donate a Coat."  (You can also donate money.)  Type in your zip code and the maximum number of miles you're willing to travel to donate your coats to a coat drive, then see what pops up.  You can donate not only coats but gloves, mittens, scarves, hats, and even sweaters and sweatshirts.

Want to run a coat drive of your own?  Great project for school clubs, Scout groups, and that sort of thing.   Check out the guidebook and from there, you'll be able to get in touch with a participating agency close to you.

If your house is like mine, you've got closets to clean, and One Warm Coat is going to make it easy to do so in a way that will help other people.  Let's get started!

Food bank off the beaten path

I'm a born and bred resident of Lehigh County, for better or worse.  A fair chunk of my readership hails from the same place.  So occasionally, I like to talk about something that's relevant to the area.

In the case of today's post, though, I hope the interest transcends our region. 

Being hungry is something that many people experience, of course.  WorldHunger.org estimates that there are around 925 million people in the world who are undernourished, many of them children.  Considering that the world population just exceeded 7 billion in the past week, that's roughly one out of every seven people who aren't getting enough to eat.

Now, here in the United States, there are many Native American communities who are among those in need of food.  According to the American Psychological Assocation, Native Americans make up almost a full one-fourth of American citizens living in poverty.  Vaguely relatedly, November is Native American Heritage Month, which makes this an ideal time to bring the matter to public attention.

My home county has a rich history regarding Native Americans.  Our very name is of Native American origin, in fact; the county is named after the Lehigh River, which runs through it.  The word Lehigh is taken from the Native word Lechauwekink, which means "where there are forks."  Several Native trails forked around this area.

Our Native heritage is best preserved by a small museum in the city of Allentown, the Museum of Indian Culture.  Founded by a woman whose parents were both of Lenni Lenape ancestry (you might know them better as the Delaware), this is a non-profit organization dedicated to educating people about the area's Native history.

Where the two things - Native Americans and fighting hunger - collide is in the museum's own food bank, the Three Sisters Harvest.  For more than five years, this food bank has been distributing food items to area Native American families who desperately need them.  Like many food banks, they're feeling the pinch of the economic downturns we've all been suffering.

I'll be honest:  I did not know this food bank even existed, which makes me feel like I don't pay close enough attention to what goes on around me.  I knew the museum existed, because I visited it as a child on a school trip, but while doing research on my latest post for the Allentown Genealogy Examiner, I stumbled across their website and started looking at what they have to offer. 

And I thought, if I've lived here all my life and I didn't know they provide this food bank, how many other people don't know about it either?  So I'm telling my readers about it today.

If you live here in Lehigh County, or near enough that you can visit, you can support the food bank by dropping off items on their list of requests.  These can be delivered to the museum during their normal hours of operation or during any of their special events.  If you live farther away, or don't have time to shop/make a delivery, click on that link to get the mailing address in order to send either a financial donation or a gift card that will enable them to purchase fresh items for the families they help.

Thanksgiving is coming.  Let's share the bounty.

More Mail for Service Members

Once again, please spread the word about Holiday Mail for Heroes. In addition to that, Debbie Tenzer of Do One Nice Thing has provided her friends with some other avenues by which you can spread some end-of-year cheer to our hardworking service personnel.

If you're like me, you've got a ton of leftover Halloween candy. I only had three kids ring my bell all evening! So here's a great way to keep it from going to waste (or on your hips): Send it to Operation Gratitude, which will share it with our deployed servicemen and women. They also accept other items too, but only until December 5th. Find shipping guidelines, addresses, and other important information here.

Do you clip coupons? Find yourself with coupons for products you don't use or need? Consider sending them to the Overseas Coupon Program, which will make them available to military families stationed in other parts of the world. This will help the families of our personnel stretch their budgets and buy things they need. Even expired coupons are accepted!

Operation Birthday Cakes, via the website BakeMeAWish.com, will send birthday cakes to deployed military personnel.

With Cup of Joe for a Joe, you can provide a cup of coffee to a man or woman in the military for just two dollars. Or adopt a whole platoon for thirty dollars! Something warm to drink can warm their hearts. Okay, that was a little cheesy, but you know what I mean.

Debbie, who is awesome like that, has several other ways you can support our military troops. To read more of them, visit Do One Nice Thing.

Capes, Socks, and T-Shirts

No, I'm not proposing that as a new superhero uniform.  That's a scary thought.

Instead, I'm using today's blog post to tell you about three different opportunities to do something good for someone else.  In the case of the first story, it's for a specific individual.  You might have heard by now about Mike Meyer, a special needs Superman fan in Missouri.  Mike, who looks up to the Man of Steel, had amassed a large collection of comics and memorabilia - a large portion of which was recently stolen.  The call is presently out on the internet for geeks of all sorts to unite as one (we're so good at doing that, just look at how we rallied behind the adorable Katie last year) and help remind Mike that there are a lot more heroes than villains in our world. 

For details, I will redirect you to my article on the subject at AngryWeb, which includes contact information.  I do want to stress that you need not be a Superman fan or specifically donate a Superman-related piece of memorabilia.  If you can, and you will, that's fantastic.  But you can also just send Mike a note, or a card, or a drawing.  The important thing is to show him that people really do care, and that not everyone is going to take advantage of him the way his thief did.

Now, about the socks.  No Nonsense is a fairly well known brand of undergarments, socks, hosiery, et cetera.  They are currently running a very cool promotion on Facebook - every time someone "likes" their page, that person has the option of clicking a button (once per person).  Every person who clicks will donate, at no charge to themselves, a pair of socks to a needy family in the United States.  If you have a Facebook account, check out this page to like it and donate your socks, and spread the word to your friends.  They're hoping to make one million sock donations, and they're not even at a tenth of the way there, so let's warm some feet!

(I know, that sounded a little dorky.)

Finally, I was recently alerted to the existence of Sevenly.org.  It's an interesting premise, and a great way to support causes that mean a lot to you.  Every week, for seven days, Sevenly (get that? seven days on Sevenly) will showcase a t-shirt - just one shirt.  Limited edition, even!  When you purchase that shirt, they donate $7 (there's that number again) to the charity of the week.  Recent causes benefitting from shirt purchases included Water.org and Soles4Souls.  The shirts are designed by artists from around the world.

Okay, so maybe a cape, socks and a t-shirt doesn't make for a good superhero uniform.  But at least they can make you feel like a superhero.

Walking the Line

My friend Rachel (she of the recent guest blog post) is going to need new sneakers.

Rachel is participating in an Out of the Darkness walk, to benefit the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.  Scary to think about, but approximately once every minute, someone in the United States attempts to commit suicide.  Approximately once every fifteen minutes, someone succeeds in their attempt.  The AFSP performs research and education programs that are designed to help reduce these numbers, preferably down to zero.

You can sponsor Rachel here.  I did.  I hope you will too.

After Irene

As promised, I'm devoting today's blog post to letting you know about how you can help with the post-Irene cleanup.  Like with any natural disaster or other large, life-changing situation, there's got to be a lot of money spent to help make things better now that it's over...and there's bound to be some lowlife scum who try to capitalize on this by pretending to be raising money for a good cause when that cause is really their own bank account.

Make no mistake, it's a mess.  Flooding and ruined buildings, and I already commented on the (thankfully relatively small but nevertheless devastating) loss of life.  But it wasn't as bad as it could be, and that's in no small part due to the excellent job done by authorities in preparing and evacuating and whatnot.  Still, it's a mess, and one that we all have to clean up together.

Charity Navigator, which I know I've mentioned more than once on this blog, has a blog of their own and has a very helpful post listing several charities to which you can donate with complete faith that your money will be used to help those who were affected by the hurricane.  I do want to give special props to the ASPCA, who mobilized to transplant shelter animals out of the path of danger.  (In a similar vein, props go likewise to the shelters in New York, who welcomed household pets with open arms.  Speaking as someone who would not go to a shelter if I couldn't bring my cats, I know how much this meant to a lot of people.)

But if you'd like to do something a bit more personal, a bit more direct, I do have one suggestion.  This comes by way of sci-fi author John Scalzi, who I mentioned a while back as breaking open the Cooks Source scandal to the world.  He linked his Twitter followers to the blog of fellow author Kate Messner, who wrote a post about a small-town library in the Adirondacks that's in desperate need of help.  The Wells Memorial Library in Upper Jay, New York lost pretty nearly its entire children's collection to flooding, because the books were on low shelves where children could reach them and, unfortunately, so could floodwaters.  So they're looking for donations of both money and books.  Contact information is all in that blog post, along with that of a bookstore local to the library that knows exactly what they need and can help you make a donation that will really benefit the library.

Please spread the word - and if you know of any other projects like this one, send them my way!

Home is Where You Hang Your Hat

This is a very important, very personal appeal.  I need your help.  Actually, I need your hats.  I want to tell you about Shayla, who has been my friend for over fifteen years.  We have known each other through some very rough times (and of course, some very good ones), and right now she's having a really rough time.  She's an active member of the internet community - heck, that's how we met in the first place - so that seems like the logical place to seek help.

Shayla has a medical condition called Pseudotumor Cerebri, also known as Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension.  To put it in layman's terms, her body creates too much spinal fluid, and without the assistance of daily medication, it would crush her brain.  As it is, she's lost her peripheral vision and suffers from chronic fatigue and a smorgasbord of other side effects from the condition.  She does the best she can with it; I've known her long enough to vouch for that.

This year, she's developed some complications and had to have surgery to remove a brain tumor that was, thankfully, benign.  She also was in the hospital with a kidney stone, which was caused by the medication she takes for her chronic condition.  The good news is, all her actual medical-related bills have been covered.  The bad news is, some very big other expenses have not.

You see, unfortunately, all this time in the hospital meant that Shayla couldn't complete her spring semester in college, and the incomplete status is posing a potential threat to her financial aid - which is the money she quite literally lives on, uses to pay her rent and support herself and her two adorable kitties.  She does have a very good landlord who allows her to pay the rent six months at a time, scheduled around when the financial aid arrives, but because of the current situation there's no way the money will come through (even if she wins her appeal) by the time it's due on September first.

Because of the brain surgery, Shayla shaved her head.  So she had the rather clever idea to raise the money via a hat auction.  What she's requesting are donations of handcrafted hats - quilted, knitted, crocheted, tatted lace, whatever anyone can create in a short amount of time, because this has to happen fast.  Donations are being accepted now and the actual auction will take place starting on August 24th.  I believe it will be done via the internet, so expect an update on the situation next week with the link.


Here's where I'm looking for your help.  I am requesting that every single person who reads this blog post help in at least one of three ways:

1.  Make and donate a hat.  Any size, any craft - heck, Shayla even suggested origami paper hats!  Send your completed hat to:

Shayla Dunn

2841 Moland Street #10

Madison, WI  53704

2.  Can't make a hat?  Would you be willing to make a financial donation toward helping Shayla keep a roof over her head?  Anything upwards of one dollar would be gratefully welcomed.  Shayla has a FundRazr account which you can find right here if you'd like to make an online monetary contribution.

3.  Please, please, if you do nothing else - boost the signal.  Send your friends to this blog post, especially if they're creative types who would be willing to assist with the hat auction.  Post it on Facebook, on Twitter, wherever. 

I've seen the power of the mighty internet work wonders.  I've seen what happens when we unite.  I'm asking the internet community to come together again, and help one of our own.  Shayla needs some love right now, so let's give it to her.  It's a great chance to really make a difference for one person!

Soldiers' Angels

I'm a bit of a grumpalupagus right now, because this is the second time I'm writing this blog post. Somehow, my internet signal failing caused the original draft to disappear, even though it was saving as I went. So I'm annoyed. But it is what it is, so on we go.

Today's post is once again courtesy of a signal boost from Debbie Tenzer of Do One Nice Thing. Debbie has alerted her friends and followers to the existence of Soldiers' Angels, an organization providing support and comfort to American military personnel and veterans and their families. If you're looking for a good project either for yourself, your family, or a group (Scout troop, school club, et cetera), this site has plenty of options.

For example, there's their Six Months of Christmas. From June to December, they request contributions each month of a particular item to be included in holiday care packages. For the month of August, they need blankets. Or there's the Cards Plus Team, which sends greeting cards to soldiers, families, and even other Angels for special occasions or in times of need or grief. You can also adopt a soldier, in which you make the commitment to send weekly letters and monthly care packages to the military personnel assigned to you. Or you can just browse the store, where you can purchase items for yourself or deployed military. All purchases benefit the Soldiers' Angels and the store is managed through Amazon.com, so you can shop with confidence.

What Debbie wanted her readers to know about is the program called Operation Comfort Food, which is specifically designed to help the medical teams in Afghanistan. They have to fly injured and sick soldiers to Landstuhl Hospital in Germany, a seven-hour flight with no available food until they reach the hospital - and if the dining services are closed when they arrive, not even then. So the call is going out to request snacks for the patients in transit.

The medics are asking for dried fruit, energy bars, trail mix, beef jerky, nuts, and individual drink mixes - you know, the little pouches that you dump into a bottle of water to turn it into lemonade or iced tea or similar. Important: Please make sure all your contributions remain in their original factory packaging! Individual servings are best. They also request that you enclose a card or note offering your support and good wishes for the soldiers; even if you can't send the package, just the note itself will do some good.

Pack up your contribution and send it to:

Soldiers' Angels
112 Greenhill Road
Ramseur, NC 27316
Attn: Deployed Medical Support Project

Please note that this is not a military address, so please do not use an APO/FPO box for the package. Also, if you want a receipt for tax purposes, be sure to enclose your name and address, and an approximate value for your contribution, and Soldiers' Angels will send you the receipt.

As always, thanks to Debbie for passing the word. Please share this information with anyone you think might be interested!

Team Tweetup and the Leukemia War

Today's blog post will be unusually short, on account of a headache. But I'm taking the time to fulfill a promise I made to one Michael Andreano.

Mike is the leader of my local group of tweeps - Twitter users, that is. Once a month he picks a location and tries to herd us to that location for food and hanging out. I've only managed to attend one such Tweetup, but I stay in the loop on Twitter and these are nice people.

More recently, Mike has spearheaded "Team Tweetup," harnessing the power of our local tweetdom to raise funds for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. As one of the tweeps, I'm mostly helping by spreading the word about the events being organized.

This is the main site. You can read all about it there - who Mike is, why he's doing this, how you can help, what the money can accomplish. The next event is this Saturday, May 7th, when a local restaurant will provide a Greek lunch for ticketholders. Become a ticketholder here. I'm hoping to be there.

Keep up the good work, Mike. Go Team Tweetup!