40 Days for the Poor - Day 39 - Spirit Team

Seano's getting ready to be confirmed this spring. One thing the confirmandi need to do to prepare is to participate as a team in six different service/community activities. I was late getting Sean signed up for his Spirit Team but fortunately there is one other boy Sean knows who also homeschools on the team. Unfortunately, we seem to miss almost every activity for one reason or another. Hopefully, Sean will make it to the service project scheduled for this Saturday. There is a day shelter for the homeless located in the next little city south of us. This center feeds them, provides laundry facilities, job counseling, other types of counseling, Bible study, and lots of other things. Sean is going on Saturday from 10:00 to 12:30 to help make and serve lunch and to help with laundry and other sundry things. I am hoping nothing pops up that prevents him. We are going to be squeaking by with the required six!

I know he:

1 Helped serve food and drinks at last year's confirmation reception, which is held every year after the ceremony.

2. I'm pretty sure he went on one other spirit team activity at someone's house at some point back in September. I can not remember what it was. I think Rick or Josh drove him.

3. I know Sean's participated in at least one activity (probably two) after the once a month Youth Masses. The youth ministry always has some kind of activity going on.

4. Sean will probably be attending the March for Life -so that will count!

5. Sean is signed up to help out after a mass on Ash Wednesday. I wrote it down in my planner but unfortunately I didn't put in any detail so I don't know what it really is.

6. ??? Gotta come up with something!

40 Days for the Poor - Day 38 - Things I'd like to do

There are a few things I'd like to do in a spirit of charity that I've not yet done. They are in the back of my mind as in an unwritten future 'to do' list. One of these days when my life situation is a little different (when all the children have fledged perhaps?):

1. I'd like to be an Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion to the sick. I am already an EMHC. I used to be assigned to one mass every Sunday, but there was some kind of mix up and I kind of became a floater/substitute one. And lately, I've not done it all. But when Aunt Jackie lived here, before she was well enough to go to Mass on Sundays, I would bring the Eucharist home to her. If ever I am not swamped with work on Sunday afternoons, that would be a ministry I would dearly cherish doing.

2. Teaching English as a Second Language - I can't remember if I mentioned this before but my parish has a big TESOL ministry going on. I've always wanted to volunteer but I feel at this point in my life, I simply don't have enough free time. Once, before children, I attempted to teach English to a woman from El Salvador. I went to the Laubach training and found it very interesting, but we didn't last long, as I really wasn't a very good teacher and she really didn't have the time to study. She was busy trying to eke out survival with her several children and an abusive husband. And then I started having children and soon drifted away from it. But I've always wanted to try again. Some day!

3. Meals on Wheels - I know several families that do this. It is a family thing for some homeschoolers, to pile into the car and deliver these meals. That's definitely something I could do, if I didn't already have to drive all over kingdom come, it feels. I am afraid to commit to it. But, again, maybe when the kids are older.

40 Days for the Poor - Day 37 - Update on Hypothermia Shelter

First of all, I just have to say that I am laughing at myself and my inability to number these days correctly. I have again made a mistake which I've corrected. I really can't count! No wonder I am so intimidated by math! Also, I'm hoping I'll be able to finish this by Epiphany. The original plan was to finish on Christmas Eve. Now it's already New's Year, so Epiphany is plan C, I guess!


Back on Day 7, I talked about cooking for the homeless and how my parish participates in what is called a hypothermia shelter. Well, we got a notice from the folks who coordinate the whole effort and for some reason they've decided to no longer base the shelter at the UU church. They didn't say why, so I am a little bit curious. But, instead the shelter has shifted to a Catholic Church about 20 minutes away and an Episcopalian Church which is right down the road from us. The week that the Episcopalian Church is hosting and which our parish is responsible for meals happens to be at a time in January when I won't be quite as busy as later in the month. So it works out. On 1/8 I have signed up to bring two roast chickens and a bag of Clementines. But the neat thing is that the Episcopalian Church requires an hour training. I think it will be interesting to attend and see how the how the whole thing works. And since Will is going to be home still from college, he's volunteered to be an on site helper from 8:30pm to 12:30 a.m.

Poor Will, by the way. He got his wisdom teeth pulled on 12/27. He was feeling great the next day so he went out with friends and even ate pizza! Well, that was foolish. He came home in great pain, developed a fever and swelled up so much, we told him he looked like Orson Welles. He's been miserable ever since. Poor baby. He's sick of chicken broth and yogurt which is what he's been living on. I do hope today there is some improvement.

40 Days for the Poor - Day 36 - Loose change

I was reading the other day about a woman who is always broke. She manages her pennies right down to the last one and still doesn't have quite enough to cover every minor thing. She tries to be frugal and needs more ideas to stretch her dollars more. Right now, there's nothing she can do. Her husband works but doesn't make quite enough. It's hard for her to find a job because of where they live and because she doesn't have a degree. My heart went out to her because no matter what she does, she can't get ahead or even quite keep even.

I have been blessed all my life. I've never been in that situation. I'm spoiled. I'm so spoiled that in my house there are cans or bowls or dresser tops where there's lots of loose change. Anytime I want I can go dig through one of these places and come up with quarters, nickels and dimes. I have often thought that if I could get my act together I would round up all that loose change and give it to someone or some organization in need.

I have attempted to do this. We've just come through the pre-Christmas season (in Catholic terms Adent, the Christmas season starts on Christmas Eve and lasts until Epiphany) when there are lots of opportunities to give to charity. I mean, these opportunities are much more visible because people are thinking of being kind and generous to the less fortunate in the spirit of Christmas. But we also go through that same focus in Lent as well. The three things we should be doing during Lent are penance, prayer and almsgiving. My parish always participates in the Lenten Rice Bowl program. You get this little cardboard 'bowl' along with a calendar that lists all the days of Lent. Each day focuses on a different penance or prayer. You put all your loose change into the 'bowl' and on a certain day you turn it into the church, which collects all of them and gets it all to Catholic Relief Services.

I have two rice bowls of coins sitting in my house (on the upstairs hall bookcase to be precise)! I never seem to notice when the bowls are due, so I forget to turn them in! This year I am determined that I am going to notice WHEN these bowls go back to the church.

I also think that it would be a good project for us, if at some point other than Lent, we went through and gathered all the loose change in the house and perhaps donated it to Food for the Poor.

I should really be more aware, more conscious of the many material blessings I have been showered with all my life. I should make more of an effort to get off my patootie and help others. Hopefully, this will be a hallmark of 2013, through the intercession of Dorothy Day.

40 Days for the Poor - Day 35 - Do You Waste Food?

Will, or Eli, as he now prefers to be called, is home from college for Christmas break. Up in Boston he's developing a really strong feeling and ministry for the homeless. His school in right in downtown Boston. He likes city living, but there are plenty of homeless he sees every day. One thing he has mentioned a couple of times since coming home is just how important it is to never waste food. Food is a gift! He's been trying to just eat the awful cafeteria food at his school. Last year, when he was a Freshman, he didn't like it and ate out all the time spending way too much money. So this year he makes himself eat the cafeteria food every weekday. I do think he treats himself once in a while on the weekends to something else. He also has a little fridge and he'll buy some ready to eat foods from Trader Joe's. He's got a hot pot so he can heat up some soup or make himself some tea in his room. Anyway, passing the homeless every day and having his own diet restricted to not so great cafeteria food has made him realize just how precious food is.

I am terrible at wasting food. It is because I am such a poor planner. It seems like the back half of my fridge gets filled with half eaten jars of applesauce and salsa, jelly jars and left overs that no one ate. If I kept my fridge cleaner, I'd have a better handle on what food we have and how to eat it all more efficiently. It's the same way with my pantry shelves. They somehow always seem to become too crowded with things we don't actually want and we always seem to be out of or low on the things we do want. And there's no room to put the things we do want, because the shelves are too full of stuff that we don't want. Yet I'm the one buying everything pretty much, so it must be me who is messing up the works here! How to solve that? I really would like to be more organized in those two areas. I think we'd eat better and I wouldn't be wasting so much food. I bet I could save enough money by being more conscientious about what goes in and out of our fridge and pantry, that I could feed a whole other family of seven! It's that bad!

The thing is whenever you start cleaning out fridges and pantries you wind up wasting a lot of food! Some of the pantry items can go to a community food bank, it is true, but you have to get it there! That's always the rub for me, remembering to make time to do that. And the fridge is just shameful, all that waste that comes of there in order to start anew. So I do feel defeated before I even truly get started!

Anyway, Eli (Will! He'll always be Will to me!) is here for almost 4 weeks, so with him prodding me gently, perhaps I can get into a groove where I am more efficient and less wasteful when it comes to food.

40 Days for the Poor - Day 34 - Foster a Child

Today Sean turned 14! This morning his grandfather (and lady friend), two uncles, aunt and cousins came over to celebrate his birthday and have a belated Chanukah gathering. We had brunch. Unfortunately, I forgot that 1) Sean gets moody on his birthday and 2) he isn't a party person and he's never particularly enjoyed gatherings of this sort. Plus he woke up with a sore throat. So he was pretty gloomy until present time. His dad gave him a really cool stop motion movie kit. Or something, not sure if I really understand what exactly it is he gave him. I gave him some books. LOL. My dh and I have to coordinate more on these things!

Anyway, while we were doing the gift exchange it came up in the conversation that my father in law mentioned he'd been giving to a overseas foster children's program for over 30 years now. And I thought: hey, I can mention that in my 40 Days blog thing! We also do this. We are on our second child in Kenya, through the Christian Children's Foundation. Rick and I started this when we first got married. We are terrible though in that we never really write the child. We've only written two or three times to each child. Isn't that awful? But we do give each month (thanks to automatic withdrawal). It feels very remote, like we aren't really helping but every once in a while we get a letter, handwritten, telling us what is going on at the center where our child goes to school. So then I feel like maybe we are helping somewhat. It feels bad not to actually forge a connection. We are lousy pen pals.

Sorry this is probably disjointed. I am so tired my eyes are watering and I can only see out of one at a time! Good night!

40 Days for the Poor - Day 33 - Do You Pray for the Poor?

Oh my, I have that suffocating feeling I get right before Christmas. Just too much to do, too many details to remember, last minute shopping at impossibly crowded stores, last minute grocery shopping at impossibly crowded grocery stores, cleaning, clothes, Argh. Plus there are still other little things going on; like appointments for doctors and such. Seano had his birthday party last night. Cleaning, shopping and 1 doctors appt today, Saturday is confession and Chanukah brunch. I am just going to focus on those two days right now!

But in all this I am going to make time to say a rosary for those in Newtown, CT. My parish had a book opened in the entrance of the church last Sunday. Everyone (if they desired) was to sign it and say what and how they would pray for that community. Then they were going to send the book up to St. Rose of Lima parish (very near Sandy Hook school and the parish where the killer attended). But I haven't done it yet! Terrible of me! So today I am carving out time to do this. This a.m. will be really, really busy because we want to get to the stores when they open, but this afternoon before the doctors appt. I bet we'll have time to sit and pray for 20 minutes.

We often try to remember to pray for people in need every night when we say prayers together. We've got a number of people on our regular list and then some that come and go as we hear about them. Pretty much any time there's some kind of natural disaster or violent conflict somewhere we pray. We aren't that consistent and there's always room for improvement, but at least we try!

40 Days for the Poor - Day 32 - Local Family Favorite Charity

I have kind of lost my focus the last fews days.  Things are busy.  Hannah came home from the University of Dallas, Rick went away on business but comes home this evening.  Our regular schedule is winding down for the holiday break.  Becky has her last gymnastics class today until the new year.  Will is coming home tomorrow.  Josh is trying to write a big paper over this winter break.  We've signed him up with Write Guide.  Plus, you know CHRISTMAS is coming.  I've done a little shopping but not a whole lot.  Saturday we are having a Chanukah brunch with Rick's side of the family (also really need to go to confession that morning!).  Then Sunday we go to my side of the family's Christmas get together (must remember to bring two trays of finger foods).  Monday is Christmas Eve, which means frantic last minute shopping, Christmas Eve Mass at 6:00 p.m. etc.  Christmas Day we do the presents things.  Then I have to pick up Aunt Jackie and bring her back for Christmas dinner.  I am hoping Hannah willing to help with cooking that meal.

So in that list was my family's Christmas get together.  We used to exchange gifts but we've stopped that a while ago.  Now we just take what we would have spent (or more) and donate it to Service Source. At least I think that's who we'll donate to this year. It used to be called Central Fairfax Services, but I think they just changed their name. Anyway, this is an organization that my father was instrumental in founding and helping to run for many years. It provides services and job opportunities to adults with disabilities. There was a need to have some sort of organization to help out mentally disabled adults who had left the care of the school system and really didn't have any place to go, except to sit at home. My youngest sister was born with Down Syndrome. She's been attending CFS for decades now. So we all give annually to CFS or Service Source.

We also bring a toy to give to a child in the hospital over Christmas. This is in lieu of the 18 and under crowd all exchanging gifts. I'm a little sad about the no gifts thing, even though I am happy to donate a toy. But we really don't get together that often with the cousins, in spite of the fact that everyone lives fairly close by. Everyone is busy and taken up with their daily lives. So it actually was nice to get assigned a cousin or two to buy gifts for because you had to find out what they wanted and thereby get to know them a little better! But the donation thing is a good thing and much less of a headache when it comes to coordinating things, so it is okay. I just will make a big effort to catch with extended family members at the party!

40 Days for the Poor - Day 31 - Comforting the Sorrowful

Make a snowflake and send it to Sandy Hook to let those surviving children know, our hearts are with them.

Here's the link: http://www.ctpta.org/About-CT-PTA/SANDY-HOOK-FUND.html

40 Days for the Poor - Day 30 - Spiritual Works of Mercy

I have been focusing on the Corporal Works of Mercy, but the terrible events of yesterday, when an evilly sick man in Newtown, CT, murdered defenseless, innocent children and their caretakers, makes me think that the Spiritual Works of Mercy are of utter importance too.

The Spiritual Works of Mercy are:

1. To convert the sinner (shooting children is not a good thing)
2. To instruct the ignorant
3. To counsel the doubtful
4. To comfort the sorrowful (our job now after this tragedy)
5. To bear wrongs patiently
6. To forgive injuries (both 5 and 6 seem nearly impossible after something like what occurred yesterday happened).
7. To pray for the living and the dead.

Number 7 is the one I can do the most right now.

My heart goes out to the community reeling from this mass murder. I remember how shook up everyone in my community was over the VA Tech murders. This one seems even worse. Children! My God, little innocent children!!! It is too much to even comprehend!

Here is a prayer for peace written by John Paul II:

Lord Jesus Christ, who are called the Prince of Peace, who are yourself our peace and reconciliation, who so often said, "Peace to you," grant us peace. Make all men and women witnesses of truth, justice, and brotherly love. Banish from their hearts whatever might endanger peace. Enlighten our rulers that they may guarantee and defend the great gift of peace. May all peoples on the earth become as brothers and sisters. May longed-for peace blossom forth and reign always over us all.

And I found this one on the Creighton University website:

Coping With Tragedy In Our Community

It is unspeakable, dear Jesus. Someone from among our own community, suddenly gone. How can it be? It was an ordinary day until we heard the news and still we don't believe it.

Our hearts are filled with dread and uncertainty and we want to pull our children closer and hold them tighter. What do we say to them? To each other?

And from the confusion pounding in our ears as we pray, comes a grace. Your words surface: Take courage, it is I. Do not be afraid. You first called those words across the turbulent surface of the wind and water to your apostles who were huddled in terror in the boat. You say it now to us.

Take courage. You are inviting us to take on your courage. We don't understand what has happened. We have no words. We know only that we turn to you and ask for courage and you offer it.

It is I. I am with you always. Yes. We take a deep breath and feel your presence. You are with each of us right now and with us as a community of faith. It doesn't help us to understand but it helps us to calm our breathing.

Do not be afraid. Really? Dear Jesus, right now it feels like that is all we have to cling to! The panic may return, our bewilderment and uncertainty. But yet, your invitation is clear: Do not be afraid. That is for me. For all of us.

My dear ones, I know you will continue to grieve and be stunned by this loss. Your pain and confusion will only gradually recede. My assurance is that you don't need to feel this pain alone. I will be with you. And the good news I am offering you will give you hope.

Dear Jesus who understood fear and confusion so well, bless this community in our great hour of loss and need. Be with us as we gather to weep and mourn at your altar. We beg you for the the courage to delve into the silence, the wisdom to speak at the right time, and the fidelity to remember that you are with us in this great hour of need.

Amen.

And I found this prayer for the dead at Catholic Online:

God our Father,
Your power brings us to birth,
Your providence guides our lives,
and by Your command we return to dust.

Lord, those who die still live in Your presence,
their lives change but do not end.
I pray in hope for my family,
relatives and friends,
and for all the dead known to You alone.

In company with Christ,
Who died and now lives,
may they rejoice in Your kingdom,
where all our tears are wiped away.
Unite us together again in one family,
to sing Your praise forever and ever.

Amen.

40 Days for the Poor - Day 29 - Child and Forced Labor

Here's a list put out by the Department of Labor in 2010 stating which products are most likely to be made by Child/Forced Labor. Now, I have a little bit of a problem with the child labor thing. I do think if the child is forced to work in dangerous or exploitative conditions then that is very bad and calls for reform. I, however, don't see anything wrong with children being raised to work to help in a family farm or business. I think sometimes we in the 1st world go a little overboard about things like that. We have to make sure we aren't viewing the situation through culturally biased eyes. Children are capable of a lot more than we give them credit for. We truly seem to think that if kids can't spend all day in school and the rest of the time entertaining themselves, somehow it is abusive. I differ there. But that is just a quibble; there are many, many children who grow up in terrible situations where they are exploited, endangered and robbed of all freedom because of economic conditions or because ruthless adults use them.

40 Days for the Poor - Day 28 - Shop Fair Trade

I am trying to be more conscientious about shopping. Here's one way to do it - shop Fair Trade. Here's the link to Fair Trade USA.

And here's a handy link that explains some negative myths about Fair Trade.

40 Days for the Poor - Day 27 - Visiting the Imprisoned

It always shocks people I meet now, when I tell them I used to work with death row inmates! I have always, in a very visceral way, been one of those seamless garment Catholics. Even when I was going through my long desert experience of being a depressed agnostic, I never understood abortion and I never supported the death penalty. I just instinctively felt, from childhood, that we should be very cautious about taking people's lives. Being raised in a big Catholic family, children were viewed as gifts from God. To have an abortion or even to take birth control was seen as slapping God in the face or playing God. Children are created in his image and likeness, new souls parents are entrusted with caring for. God's children first, before your own. My father, who was a judge was anti death penalty and this partly stemmed from religious belief and cultural history. We know we can never know the state of someone else's soul. Even murderers should be given a chance at repentance. We know our human system of justice is very imperfect. Therefore, the state should be very reluctant to take its own citizen's lives. It is better that a 100 guilty men go free, than one innocent man suffer, as Benjamin Franklin put it. The state loses its legitimacy with every mistaken execution. We've now had a spate of death row inmates released because of new DNA findings that exonerated them. This shows just how inexact our legal system is! Anyway, the death penalty doesn't work. If it did our country would have the lowest murder rate, but instead it has one of the highest. It is a false solution to our problems.

But ever since I left law school, I have not done much for prisoners at all. Sometimes I fantasize about reading aloud to them, especially juvenile delinquents. I read an article once where someone's ministry was to come in and read to the prisoners books they never had read to them as a child. I personally am of the conviction that snuggling up with mom or dad and being read to is probably a pretty effective inoculation against a life in crime. But I got very busy with raising children and homeschooling and I never did do anything like that.

My church participates in something called Kairos Prison Ministry. The thing people do to help out is to bake cookies for prisoners. Then when someone goes into to minister to them, they bring the cookies along. I get easily intimidated by baking, silly as that sounds, and the instructions are very precise for these cookies as to size and what can go in them. So I've never done this, though I think some of my kids have. I'd like to try to participate at least once in this project. It is a fairly popular around here.

The one little, little thing I do is that I signed up to receive email alerts and updates from the Virginia Catholic Conference. They work on death penalty issues in Virginia and so occasionally I do what they say and send emails to my representatives when issues dealing with the death penalty come up.

But that's about it. Wimpy, I know. I am feeling the need to make a New Year's resolution that I will do something that fits in some way into the 'visiting the imprisoned' category this coming year.

I remember my sister volunteering in the Special Olympics one year, years ago. Some of the other volunteers were prisoners who had earned the privilege of helping out. It was a really good idea because the prisoners got really into it. When you are a prisoner is is very hard to feel like you can help anyone or do anything worthwhile. My sister and one of the inmates started exchanging letters but the guy got too romantic, so she stopped the correspondence. I think she was a little freaked out by him. This aside, writing to them is one option.

St Therese of Lisieux prayed for a notorious prisoner sentenced to death. Did she correspond with him? I don't recall. But of course prayer is always something we can do.

Out of time again! Time to wake Sean and get him ready for Aquinas Learning.

40 Days for the Poor - Day 26 - Christ loved the poor

And the Catholic Church loves those who love the poor. So many saints are reputed to have loved and served those in need. Look at this video of Cardinal Dolan presenting the cause for sainthood to the Catholic Bishops over at The Deacon's Bench.

Dorothy Day, pray for us!

40 Days for the Poor - Day 25 - Corporal Works of Mercy

Oops! I am really falling behind! Sunday and Monday were incredibly busy and then yesterday I really had to devote myself to helping Sean prep for his Aquinas Learning Day on Thursday. Today will also be taken up with that mostly (plus you know Becky and Josh need a little attention too!).

So I've got Days 25 to 28 to do! We'll see what I can get accomplished!

I was thinking about all this the other day and thought that I really should have framed this whole 40 Days things in terms of the Corporal Works of Mercy, which is the Catholic 'list' (Catholics love lists like this!) of the bodily or corporal works that we should do for our fellow man. They are:

1. To feed the hungry
2. To give drink to the thirsty
3. To clothe the naked
4. To shelter the homeless
5. To visit the sick
6. To visit the imprisoned
7. To bury the dead

I think I tend to emphasize the first four and maybe not do so much for the last three. In fact, right now I can't think of a thing I do for no. 7. I think that particular problem isn't as apparent now as it was in the past.

I know canned food drives, donations to places like Food for the Poor, and the like address feeding the poor and giving drink to the thirsty. In fact you can have a well dug for some poor village somewhere via Food for the Poor and give a whole village water to drink. Accessible drinking water makes such a huge difference!

I know giving donations and helping out with the local hypothermia shelter, assists the homeless. Food for the Poor and Habitat for Humanity are major charities that devote their time to getting housing for the homeless and poor.

I guess visiting the elderly in nursing homes is also visiting the sick. Sometimes, our parish youth group will make cards or little care packages for kids sick in the hospital. In fact, for our Giving Tree one of the kids bought a couple board games for an organization called Children in Need of Smiles or something like that! We aren't actually visiting, but we are trying to convey compassion and brighten their load a bit, perhaps ease their suffering a little.

One thing that we did recently (well, back in September) was participate in an Honor Guard with Becky's American Heritage Troop. We lined up at the airport with cheering signs and greeted a bunch of WWII veterans as they came back from a day touring Washington D.C. These men (and 1 woman!) are really getting up their in years and most of them were in wheelchairs. Their lives are so limited now. Honor Guard does a wonderful service to show our nation's gratitude towards these soldiers who helped preserve our country from the Nazis and the imperialism of the Japanese government at that time. We smiled and waved, shook their hands and hugged them. So in a way that was visiting the sick.

I'm out of time!

40 Days for the Poor - Day 24 - Giving Tree

Our parish has a giving tree every Advent. The Sunday after Thanksgiving they put a Christmas tree up in our narthex covered in little colored paper cut outs of Christmas bulbs. One each of these paper ornaments there is a label that tells about a particular charity. On the flip side it lists possible gifts you could give to the charity. As people come out of Mass and pass by the tree, they pick some of these paper ornaments off the tree. Then at some later weekend in Advent, everyone delivers the gifts they've bought per instructions on the little label to the parish activity center. In the activity center, each table is labeled with a different charity and you go and put your gifts on the appropriate table.

We've been participating in this every Advent since we started going to this parish, 11 years ago. I usually pick one paper ornament (that means charity) per member of the family. Then we have an annual family tradition of going shopping for our giving tree gifts. We did that yesterday. The gifts are due at the activity center tomorrow. This morning for the first time ever I actually helped set up the room to receive the donations tomorrow. And then I helped put Thank You paper ornaments up on the Giving Tree, to say thanks to all the parishioners who participate, which I believe is most of them. The lists of charities is long: crisis pregnancy center, toys for sick children, prison ministry, helping the homeless, the handicapped, troubled teens, immigrants and refugees. . . . not sure if I got quite all of them!

It's a good way to prepare for Christmas!

40 Days for the Poor - Day 23 - Giving Blood

Today I tried to give blood. I have O- and I also haven't done things like get tattoos in foreign countries, lived in England during the 80's (Mad Cow), used dirty needles or slept around. I've got clean blood! So blood donor places tend to call me up and ask me to come in when they are low on supplies.

I first started giving blood back in my early 20's. However, I gave up after a while because they'd turn me away saying I was anemic. I'd say: Really??? I was borderline all the time. So then I got married and started having babies and breastfeeding, etc. And thus, for many years, I was ineligible for that reason. Here and there, in between children and a short gap in breastfeeding, I was able to give. I remember donating for my dad a couple of times when he was having health struggles. But then I started to have female, peri-menopausal problems which again rendered me anemic. I had a little operation to fix that and now I am good to go! I donated blood for Josh's back surgery, just in case, but he didn't need it. Someone else did, I am sure! But for the last couple of years I have been trying to donate twice a year. I've given at the center near the hospital and I've also donated at the church blood drives. This time however, I went into a different donor place. I think that Friday at 3:00 (door closes at 4:00) is not a good time to go and give blood. The place was run by young girls (in their mid to late 20s)who all looked like they had worked a very long week and couldn't wait for the weekend. They were tired. They weren't all that professional. I warned them that I had difficult veins. I do. They always have to call in an older, more experienced nurse to get blood from my veins. At first they couldn't get anything and then apparently you are supposed to donate a pint in 15 minutes. If it takes longer than that, no good. My blood was coming out very slowly and I ran out of time. The nurse said maybe I was dehydrated. I was actually. I realized at that moment I had hardly had anything to drink except coffee. And coffee is really dehydrating! This is ironic because I have been trying conscientiously to drink more water. I developed a kidney stone and this can be a result of being dehydrated a lot. Gosh, while typing this my lips are drying out! Water! Anyway, so I've been trying to drink more water, but today was so busy with so many errands I basically just forgot.

So, alas, my attempt to give blood was a bust today. But I shall try again next time. And I will remember to drink lots of water and not go back to a place run by very tired and very young nurses.

Do you give blood? It is a wonderful thing to do for the ill and the injured.

40 Days for the Poor - Day 22 - Do you give money to people on the street?

Today while stopped at a traffic light a man came up to the window and asked for money. He was dressed in one of those yellow and orange reflective vests and he had a some kind of a badge pinned on his shirt. He also had a plastic bucket that was badly stamped with the words HELP THE HOMELESS, DISPLACED, FREE EVANGELICAL CHURCH. At least I think that was the name I saw on the bucket. It happened very quickly. I happened to have some loose change sitting in the little area between the seats so I gave it to him. He was probably legitimate. So I hope my little contribution helps someone somewhere. But the incident got me thinking. A lot of times when I am confronted by someone who obviously looks like an alcoholic or mentally deranged, I won't give money. I used to not be like that. I used to think that I should always be charitable no matter what. But then I witnessed a couple of situations where I realized I was actually contributing to someone's alcoholic or drug habit. Suddenly it occurred to me that money I give with good intentions could be the thing that kills that person or at the very least makes his plight worse. It felt like I was just giving money out of my own guilt and fear instead of really thinking about what I was doing.

My husband came to this realization too. He's downtown a lot more than I am and confronts this problem a lot more than I do too. He gives money if it feels right but he reserves the right to withhold too. And he often will offer to buy whoever it is a meal at the local sandwich shop, but he doesn't want to just hand over money if he suspects it's going for something other than food.

When I drive Becky to her summer music camp we have to pass through a very busy intersection. I often get stuck in the left lane there. There's a guy who's been begging there for ages. He's got a chair and a printed (as in it was printed by a printing company, not hand printed) saying that he's a vet. He also has a cell phone. He's often sitting on his chair chatting on his phone with his printed sign propped in front of him. I think because he's a mainstay for many years, I see people give him their change, but I have never done so. I just think he looks like he could use his powers for something with more dignity than begging on the street corner, you know? I feel like he's too slick. Is it a sin not to give to him? Maybe I should try to talk to him but actually you can't really talk at that particular intersection. God bless the man. Some part of me admires his chutzpah or whatever it is, but I just don't wanna give him my money!

Rick does try to give money annually to local homeless shelters to make up for the times he doesn't hand out money when asked. But, I don't know, every single time I am confronted with these types of encounters, I am left feeling a little helpless and guilty. I don't really know what is the best thing to do.

Well, one thing I can do of course is pray. I can pray for clarity on the subject. I can, of course, pray for the homeless.

Here's a prayer I found on Belief.Net
Prayer for the Homeless

O God, as Naomi and Ruth journeyed from one land to another seeking a home, we ask your blessing upon all who are homeless in this world. You promised to your chosen people a land flowing with milk and honey; so inspire us to desire the accomplishment of your will that we may work for the settlement of those who are homeless in a place of peace, protection, and nurture, flowing with opportunity, blessing, and hope. Amen.

40 Days for the Poor - Day 21 - Food for the Poor

This is our family's favorite charity. We first learned about it years ago when Hannah was about Becky's age now. A homeschooling mom who has lots of experience in theater proposed to put on a musical version of A Christmas Carol. (I might note that she's never done it since! I think it wiped her out!!!)

The idea was that the group would ask for donations. The goal was to get $2000 to buy a house for a homeless family in the Caribbean through an organization called Food for the Poor. I had never heard of it and was a bit suspicious. However, we did some research and it turns out that it has a very good rating. One of the best charities out there in terms of how many dollars go directly to the poor instead of for overhead costs. The Christmas Carol musical was a great success and the children did indeed raise enough money to buy a house for a family. And ever since Food for the Poor has played into our Christmas giving. We've done it different ways; sometimes the kids give a portion of Hannukah/Christmas to them; sometimes we donate in their name. The organization has become a bit like Heifer International, in that you give money for specific things like enough beans and rice to feed a family for a month or to buy them a chicken for eggs and that sort of thing.

So check out Food for the Poor for Christmas!

40 Days for the Poor - Day 20 - Pope Benedict's On the Service of Charity

Someone posted the link to Pope Benedict's Apostolic Letter to the bishops on Charity on an email list. It becomes official on December 10th.

I'm posting it here because it fits in with my theme and because I want to save the link for later, when I have time to really read it.