The Joy of Giving and the Impact it Can Have on You

There have been several times in my life when my family has been in dire need of assistance and it has always amazed me how people have come to our rescue. When I was 2 weeks from giving birth to our 7 year old daughter, Earl lost his job. We were living paycheck to paycheck and at the time we had 10 people in our house, we had NO savings to fall back on.

I made a couple trips to the Food Bank, which I never in my life would have dreamed I would be doing, and we had to get Medicaid and HEAP to survive the winter. Earl and I did not want to ask family for help, but his mom helped us out with gas and a truck payment or two, one of his sisters helped out with groceries for Thanksgiving, my ex-husband even bought us a Christmas Tree, and my brother sent us some money for bills.

At Christmas that year we had a nurse at the Ped. office give us $500.00, a couple hundred dollars in groceries and some small gifts she had accumulated over the year from clearance sales and such. I will never forget the impact that her giving has had on us. All she asked in return is that we keep her name anonymous and that every year at Christmas we try to help someone else out. Since this experience we have always tried to help people out in small ways. (we still can't afford anything big) The best thing we have done though is to teach our kids to help others.

My younger kids are some of the most giving children I have ever seen. I have seen pure joy in their little faces when they have donated toys, canned goods and by collecting money to give to the Red Cross.

So when I was reading the Blog, A Very Mary Design , today and I saw her posting on giving and about Girls for Gender Equity, I was inspired and wanted to join in on the fun and share the information on this wonderful way we can all help 6 young ladies have a great start at college.

"Girls for Gender Equity humbly requests a donation for a College Shower, our annual event to celebrate the teen girls in our Sisters in Strength program who will graduate from high school and continue their academic success in college. Each girl has spent time in our program learning skills that will help her reach to future goals and internalizing that education is a key element to one's success.To help prepare these six young women for the transition to college, we are asking you to contribute to the care package that each girl will receive. Examples of care package items include:

Personal care items (bath and beauty products)
Home goods (bedding, dorm furniture, kitchen accessories)
Clothing and shoes
Gift Certificates (books, food, school supplies)

To honor this generosity, we will list you as a supporter on our website, post your 200x200 pixel ad on the Sisters in Strength MySpace page, and mention your donation in our monthly e-newsletter. Please send your contribution to our office by May 1, 2008. This request comes during Women's History Month because we know that with your support these girls can also make history."

Education is so important and theses girls deserve a great start as they continue in their education. I am so proud of them for moving on to become educated women and I hope you are too and can find it in your heart to help them out!

If you are interested in helping, email Mandy (mandy@ggenyc.org ) for more info.

Thanks!!

Sherry