As with all
of my previous Challenges, I will donate one package of bar soap for every book
that I read, chapter books on up. I have been donating Ivory brand soap, and I
only ever get the 10-bar packs. Other brands are welcome, too, but as the soap
is most often being donated to women at GoServ Global’s Birthing Center in
Haiti and their newborn babies, gentler brands or those soaps marked as being
for sensitive skin are ideal. They will not; however, turn away full bar soaps
of any brand.
For the
extra feature of my Challenge, instead of donating a one-time amount of money
per book, I am going to do something a little different. Including the picture
book in the above photo, there are 18 books. With that number in mind, I will be
completing a combination totaling 18. This will include individual events (e.g.
donating money to an organization, purchasing a material item to support an
organization) and donations of time (e.g. packing food). Let’s say that I
donate $50 to a local charity and volunteer at the local Humane Society for two
hours. This would be 1 event + 2 hours of
time = 3 total. So, in that case, I would have 3 of 18 books represented.
I will be
tracking these events and donations of time in the Comments below. It’s not to
brag or be prideful, but to hold myself accountable. I don’t know if it’ll take
me the rest of the year to complete this or into next year, but it WILL get
accomplished! If you support organizations with time and/or financial support,
please share which organizations those are and why you support them. Keep
spreading love and kindness!
TYPE: Event
ReplyDeleteCOUNT: 1/18
DESCRIPTION: I made a monetary donation to the General Fund at my home church by "The Reading Rutabaga."
TOTAL: 1/18 books represented
TYPE: Time
ReplyDeleteCOUNT: 1.5/18
DESCRIPTION: A devastating 7.2-magnitude earthquake struck Haiti on August 14, 2021. Reports have been coming out of Les Cayes, Haiti, which is the small town with a small airport that GoServ's co-founder (Ken) flies in and out of, as it is most near where GoServ Global serves in Haiti. My parents, especially my mom, have been working tirelessly with organizations to obtain donations that will be directed to GoServ's Birthing Center and Consolation Center (the latter which is nearest the orphanages and has its own clinic). I helped my mom sort a plethora of donated medical supplies, and more donations are to come!
TOTAL: 2.5 books represented
TYPE: Event
ReplyDeleteCOUNT: 1/18
DESCRIPTION: I made a monetary donation to the Haiti Fund at my home church in memory of a childhood friend's grandmother on 08/22/2021.
TOTAL: 3.5/18 books represented
TYPE: Time
ReplyDeleteCOUNT: 1/18
DESCRIPTION: I traveled with my mom to a warehouse to collect medical supply donations for Haiti. We spent one hour boxing up donations to take with us that will soon be taken to Iowa and sent off on a shipping container to Haiti. I did NOT include travel time. Time spent includes the time in the warehouse only.
TOTAL: 4.5/18 books represented
The warehouse visit took place on Wednesday, Aug. 25.
DeleteTYPE: Time
ReplyDeleteCOUNT: 2/18
DESCRIPTION: On Monday, Aug. 30, I helped my mom sort medical supplies into boxes. I didn't count the number of boxes, but there are a lot. We got everything boxed up, taped shut and labeled (so they know in Haiti what contents are in which box). One of the boxes contains bar soap donated by Tonya B.
TOTAL: 6.5/18 books represented
TYPE: Time
ReplyDeleteCOUNT: 2.5/18
DESCRIPTION: On Thursday, Oct. 21, I helped tie quilts at my home church. I was one of only three volunteers in attendance that day, so it was a very small crowd. That's not necessarily a bad thing in an ongoing pandemic, but depending on how many quilts they'd like to have ready to donate to various organizations, continued small attendance numbers like that may strike them as alarming, even for our aging country church.
TOTAL: 9/18 books represented
TYPE: Time
ReplyDeleteCOUNT: 2.5/18
DESCRIPTION: On Thursday, Nov. 11, I again helped tie quilts at my home church. I was one of five volunteers that day. We tied five quilts, equivalent to one quilt for each attendee. One of the other congregants made a note that that amount was a record for one quilting session!
TOTAL: 11.5/18 books represented
TYPE: Time
ReplyDeleteCOUNT: 2/18
DESCRIPTION: Our two-point parish's secretary resigned back in September, meaning that a volunteer was needed from each congregation to update the respective WELCA booklet. For my home church, this task came my way. While I didn't re-vamp the layout, I did tweak things here and there, plus updated what needed updating. I also proofread the draft and only tonight made what I expect are the final additions/corrections that needed to be made. I spent some time on a few different evenings updating and discussing changes with people (via email and in-person). My count time reflects total time spent and not per session.
TOTAL: 13.5/18 books represented
TYPE: Event
ReplyDeleteCOUNT: 1/18
DESCRIPTION: I am clearly behind on tracking my events/donations of time, but these are tougher ones to include. I made a monetary donation to my home church's Haiti Fund in memory of my paternal grandfather on 09/12/2021. His health wasn't robust, but what took his life was something unexpected. He'd been admitted to the hospital for one issue that required emergency surgery, but when they opened him up, there was a far more devastating issue, and it was irreparable. My grandpa was 89 1/2 years old.
TOTAL: 14.5/18 books represented
TYPE: Event
ReplyDeleteCOUNT: 1/18
DESCRIPTION: I made a monetary donation to my home church's Haiti Fund in memory of a neighbor and longtime family friend on 11/07/2021. This neighbor was around my parents' ages, and his death was unexpected, to say the least. His first wife passed away less than three years ago, and their sons were my brothers' best friends growing up. This late neighbor had just remarried this summer, so he was still a newlywed.
TOTAL: 15.5/18 books represented
TYPE: Event
ReplyDeleteCOUNT: 1/18
DESCRIPTION: On Jan. 16, 2022, I made a monetary donation to my home church's General Fund. In the memo line, I noted that it's a "Happy New Year" gift.
TOTAL: 16.5/18 books represented
TYPE: Event
ReplyDeleteCOUNT: 1/18
DESCRIPTION: On Feb. 28, 2022, I made a monetary donation to my home church's Sunday School Fund in memory of a former teacher. He was my Phy. Ed. teacher throughout elementary school. He had endured a short battle with cancer. He was 82 years old.
TOTAL: 17.5/18 books represented
TYPE: Event
ReplyDeleteCOUNT: 1/18
DESCRIPTION: I have a check already written out for this Sunday's church offering. Written in the memo line is, "LDR Eastern Europe Crisis."
TOTAL: 18.5/18 books represented
GOAL ACCOMPLISHED! While this definitely doesn't mean that I'll stop donating money through my home church or other credible organizations, I will not be holding myself accountable on this post any longer. If I do this again, it'll be tracked on a different post.
ReplyDeletePlease continue to spread kindness and love. Show compassion and grace in a world that doesn't always. Be a light in the darkness!