Thankful Thursdays: Gimme an N!

A few weeks ago, I started a weekly countdown of six things I am most thankful for, each of which begin with the letters of the word "THANKS".   In the last three weeks, I've counted off three major blessings I enjoy:

Today
Health
Abode

This week, I am thankful for two things (because it's hard to limit myself to just one blessing per week):

necessities (and niceties)

We are so blessed in this country and in this era, we don't even begin to comprehend how much we have and that we take for granted.  Most of us have never gone without a meal or been forced to sleep without a roof over our heads or lack clothing to keep us covered and warm.

We have all that we need, and most of what we want, to boot. Unfortunately, the more we have, the more we want.  My desire is to learn to give as freely as I've been prospered, knowing I cannot out-give our creator.  He tells us this in the 3rd chapter of Malachi:

"Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.."

Even the poorest among our nation are rich compared to almost anywhere else in the world.  I hope we all take time to take stock of what we have been blessed with, and generously share with others who are not as fortunate.  

Between now and the end of the year, it's so easy to find ways to give back:  angel trees are full of children's wishlists; animal shelters need old towels and blankets along with food; free coat giveaways abound: fruit baskets are prepared and delivered to shut-ins; soup kitchens and food pantries need helpers and donations of fresh foods and canned goods.  And most importantly, share your faith.  That can be the best gift of all.  I hope we all find a way to make a difference in another person's life, anonymously or personally, both now and throughout the year because those who need help need it year-round, not just at this season.

So what are YOU most thankful for today?  Extra credit if it starts with the letter "N!"

Happy thanks-giving,

What really happens before a school supply giveaway

I have always been inspired by those who undertake giveaway events like school supplies, Christmas gifts, coats, shoes, and of course, food. I believe it is putting into practice the idea of "As we do to the least of them, we also do to Him."

If you have ever helped serve in a soup kitchen, food pantry or a one-day giveaway activity, you've  felt the adrenaline rush of greeting visitors, helping them select their item(s) and the incredible good feeling from knowing you've helped make someone's life just a tiny bit easier.

It is more blessed to give than receive.  If you don't think so, just hand a sack of new school supplies to a kid and watch him peer inside.  Watch his eyes light up when he realizes it's all there, and it's all new, and it's all his.

If you haven't done any of these things, you really, really should. But be forewarned it can be addictive, contagious and infectious. You'll get hooked and you'll be pressuring your friends to try it too.

Throughout the year, our congregation helps people in our community who need food, clothing and shelter. And for the third year in a row, last Saturday we provided free school supplies to local school children, so they are all set to head back to school. The first year we helped 150 children; the next year it was 225. This year, we helped over 350 children.

But this isn't about the giveaway day itself.  Have you ever wonder what happens before the big day?

Here's a peek behind the scenes along with my heartfelt thanks to all who do so much to make it look so effortless on the big day.  For 5 or 6 weeks before we open our doors and give it all away, we have dozens of "worker bees" out scouting the sales and buying supplies, others counting and organizing the incoming supplies repeatedly for several weeks. Aside from the thrill of bargain hunting, it is work, plain and simple. But these men and women love this project, and they undertake the necessary tasks willingly and cheerfully.  As one of the coordinators, I am indebted to them - we could not do what we do without all of them.

In the final few days, that beehive becomes a swarm of activity, with people doing a final count of every item, budgeting our donations to get any fill-in items, then labeling, packing and preparing everything for a smooth giveaway event.

In addition to the giveaway, we also do something a little unusual.  At the same time we are taking in school supplies, we stuff apple baskets with "wish list" items requested by our own schoolteachers.  Our "Apples for Teachers" program is also in its third year.  We have around a dozen public and private school teachers from kindergarten to high school, who are saddling up and heading back to their classrooms, prepared to teach, counsel, mentor and lead by example.

So we ask them to let us honor them by providing supplies they purchase out of pocket. In early July we put each requested item on a paper apple and hang it on a bulletin board and stand back. The apples literally FLY off the board as members latch on to the opportunity to do a little something for these men and women.

Our giveaway weekend wraps up with a Sunday evening ice cream social and presentation of these overflowing baskets to each teacher, along with prayers and best wishes for a safe and productive school year.

It doesn't seem like it can be time to be undertaking all these activities again, but the calendar says otherwise.

And after the event is over, it still ain't over.  Many stores continue to offer specials on supplies, and in a few weeks, those same retailers will mark down their overstocked items to almost nothing just to get it out the door.  We have some indefatigable shoppers who scavenge those markdown racks week after week, continuing to buy notebooks and folders and rulers and crayons to have a starter pile for the following year.  They make veteran post-holiday shoppers look like bush-leaguers when it comes to bargain hunting, and their efforts have made it possible for us to expand and grow our giveaway every year and help more children.  God bless them, every one.

I hope that peek into the pre-giveaway activities will inspire you to get involved with something in your area.  Or do as I did three years ago, and send out an innocent email to a few friends, asking them, "What if we tried to help some schoolkids this year?"  and see where it leads you.  It can be a very rewarding journey!

Happy volunteering,


P.S. If the apple basket idea is triggering some plans in your mind, I can heartily recommend Shipley Baskets for genuine bushel baskets. They are a Tennessee company with terrific products and superb customer service. And no, they had no idea I was going to say something kind about them, and they didn't offer me anything in return for an endorsement.

Searching for a good cause?

Most of us would like to find ways to save money on items we buy every day, AND get a little of our purchase price sent to a charity, especially one of our choice, right?  It sounds too good to be true, but it's not.

But let me start off with a disclaimer:  this is entirely my voluntary opinion - no one approached me and asked me for a plug.  I just want to share it in the hopes that more people will take advantage of this little-used tool.

Second disclaimer:  I am a hardcore Google user.  I don't know if they keep track of who uses their search engine the most, but my guess is if they do, I'm on a very short list of people they keep a wary eye on.  On a light day I might run around 100 searches; on a hard-hitting day I can easily run a few thousand - my history logs don't lie.   I almost never bother to type he URL into my browser window, even when I know where I'm going.  So yeah it can be said Google and I are tight.  But it's not a completely exclusive relationship.

As much as I like Google (and generally ignore Yahoo, Bing and every other also-ran search engine), I do have a GoodSearch box on my toolbar.  If you're not aware, GoodSearch and GoodShop's motto is "You Search, We Give."  They've been around for quite a while, they are legit, and they give you flexibility to decide who to give your charitable click monies to.  They run off Yahoo's search (which is not my favorite, but it's pretty handy for basic searches.)

The GoodSearch tool lets you direct donations from your online purchases at places like Amazon, Target and eBay to the charity you choose.  (And you can change charities as often as you wish.)

If you're looking for a charity to help out, our congregation provides office space for a free counseling service called Search For Truth (SFT Awareness.)  Their main sponsor is Burnette Chapel Church of Christ, so I designated them as my charity of choice, and my search pennies would go to help fund this worthy program.

I suspect my Amazon and eBay purchases contribute more to them via the GoodShop program than my search engine clicks, but I figure every little bit helps.

I encourage you to check out GoodSearch.  Adding the search box to your toolbar is easy and free. Remembering to use it is the hard part!  Look up your favorite charity(ies) and see if they're listed, and start clicking.  When you want to purchase anything from a GoodShop participating store, just check to make sure the little alert comes up stating how much of a percentage will go to the charity of your choice, then shop away.

Happy searching!

Binge and purge: Can it ever be a good thing?

By no means is this post intended to make light of a tragic and serious medical condition.  Those who binge and purge to control their weight need our compassion and our encouragement to get help and get healthy.

But this isn't about that.  It's about a shopping binge.  And a closet purge.  (Or, as the Thrifty Decor Chick calls it, a "decrapification.")

First the binge.

I recently used my lunch hour to look for a new dress for a special dinner.  Tried on a few at one of my favorite chain boutiques,  but--of course--the ones I liked had price tags with numbers that hovered just under two Benjamins apiece.   Yes, I know that's nowhere near designer dress prices, but I'm an ordinary girl living in an ordinary world.  And speaking for ordinary girls everywhere, it makes us squirmy to pay full price for a dress we're going to wear for a season or two.    So I hit a nearby department store and hit the motherlode:  scads of winter and spring dresses in my size that I liked, all marked down or on sale.  Tried on a dozen or two, sent "how do I look?" cell phone pics to swimmer girl and with her help, selected four finalists.

Not naming any names, but....

The sum total for the quartet was about the price of one dress at the other place, which I still heart.  Just not at full price.

 So I felt pretty thrifty, although I guess I could have bought just one dress.  However, in my defense, experience has taught me when I find a dress (or dresses) I like at a price I like, buy it (or them.  Because it could be a long dry spell before that happens again.

Then the purge.
Our walk-in closet is in the space our former "master" bathroom occupied.  It is 40 inches deep and  80 inches long.  (When we added on a new bath, we made the new shower nearly as large as the entire old bathroom.)  Moving the closet to this space, as diminutive as it is by today's closet standards, freed up another 2 or 3 feet in the bedroom, and made the former wall of closet doors a usable wall.

However, as much as I love the new closet, its size regulates how much clothing we can hang (and therefore, hang onto.)  I'm just not a closet stuffer, so Mr. Official and I each have 80 nice wood hangers, and a self-imposed rule: if you don't have any extra hangers when a new item comes home, then something has to go to charity.  Simple as that.  That's where the purge came in.  The four new dresses meant four somethings had to go.  I took the opportunity to give away some less-favorite dresses and blouses before they become completely out-of-fashion (another rule of mine - why wait to give it away until no one else would be caught dead in it?)  Then I keep the purge going and went through all my clothes - sweaters, socks, t-shirts, nightgowns, everything.  Including several pairs of shoes that I had to admit I just don't wear any more.  Basically anything that was too big, or too tight, or pinches or binds, or otherwise makes me regret wearing.  They were all targeted for elimination.

When I was done, four bags were filled with items to donate, and one bag was filled with tired, grungy, unmatched, torn and otherwise unwearable items.  Off to the trash with it, because I don't need any more rags. My efforts motivated Mr. Official, and he cleared out three bags of clothing to donate, too. (Which is good, because sometimes he sneaks his dry cleaning hangers into his side of the closet, so he won't have to get rid of anything. Yes, that's called cheating.)

So I guess the conclusion is that an occasional binge and purge can be a good thing.  As long as we're talking about keeping our wardrobes updated and passing along the things we no longer need or use.  Speaking of which, I think I hear the linen closet calling for some purging, too...

Happy decluttering!