Jackets, Hats, and Mittens

     Today's wet, cold, nasty weather got me thinking about how lucky I am to at least be able to put on some extra layers and find a way to stay warm.  It also had me thinking about how many people don't have such a simple luxury.  I decided that at least I could make a difference for a few of them.

     So my daughter Hannah and I went over to the local Target and went shopping for kids' winter coats, hats, and mittens.  We picked out a bunch of winter items like these, mostly for children between 18 months and 5 years.  Then we drove over to the offices of Twin Oaks Community Services (formerly  Family Service of Burlington County) and delivered them our purchases.  Twin Oaks runs literally dozens of programs to assist people of all ages.  Among those they serve, there are many children who hardly have a stable home, much less nutritious food to eat or warm clothes in the winter.  We were glad to be able to help some of them today.

     On a completely separate note, over the course of this past year of kindness, I've gotten to know a number of people around the country who are doing or have done similar efforts to mine.  In fact, one of them, Eric Winger of Oregon, is nearing completion of 2 years of daily kindness acts and blogging.  Today he wrote a great piece summarizing some of the things he's learned over the past 2 years.  I thought it was worth sharing.  Here's a link.

Sharing the Spoils

     Just before I left for my cruise, I attended our Rotary club's annual $10,000 Raffle Dinner.  Our biggest fundraiser of the year, we sell 200 tickets @ $200 each and during the dinner we draw each of the numbered tickets.  The first and every 20th ticket wins $250 and the final ticket drawn wins $10,000.  It's always an exciting event, especially if your number makes it deep into the evening.

     Well, this year my ticket made it to the final five!  Though it was somewhat anticlimactic, the final five ticket holders agreed to split the winnings so we each walked away with $2000.  (Just for fun, the last 5 tickets were still picked and mine would have been the ultimate winner!).  

     Since it was all "found" money, here's what I decided to do with my winnings.  First, I split it 50/50 with my wife.  Then I took my half ($1000) and decided that I would use half of that ($500) for my kindness project.  With an extra $500 I figured I could do some really nice things.

     Today, I used about $82 of that money to buy diapers to be donated to Twin Oaks Community Services.  I've made contributions there before and they go to teen mothers and others who struggle mightily to make ends meet.  I was able to buy more than 500 diapers with that money.  It's fun to have a pot of money I can use to make life easier for some who are far less fortunate.