Two Ways for You to Help Ronald McDonald House!

One week from today is when I will be preparing a meal for the guests of Ronald McDonald House.  If you would like to help me cover the cost of food, I'd be very grateful.  It's not too late!  Just click on the "Donate" button on the right side of your screen, and you'll be taken to a PayPal page where you can donate any amount. (THE FUNDRAISER IS NOW COMPLETE, AND THE BUTTON HAS BEEN REMOVED.  THANK YOU!)

I received an email today from somebody who works for one of RMHC's partner agencies, with this information:

Headed into the holiday season, I thought you and your readers might be interested to know about a campaign to help children and families in need. Sharecare, an online health and wellness platform co-founded by Dr. Oz, is supporting the Ronald McDonald House Charities^® by donating to help continue care given to families and children battling illnesses.

I saw on your “Be a Part of Project Advent!” post that you are a strong supporter of this foundation, so I thought you might enjoy another chance to help.

Sharecare will guarantee a $5,000 donation, but they are also conducting a Facebook campaign to reach 100K fans by December 31. If they reach that goal, Sharecare will double the donation to $10,000!

We would be honored by your support in featuring this initiative on your blog. Below are the details, and we also have two banner images available that you can use to link to the Sharecare Facebook fan page: http://www.facebook.com/SharecareNow.

 There you go!  Two ways you can help Ronald McDonald House without even having to stand up from your computer!

Project Advent, Day 12: Red Cross

It's really gratifying, as a blogger, to have moments when you find out that what you are writing is reaching people.  I have friends who I know are reading, but it's especially exciting to find out that you're being read by people outside of that circle.  Yesterday, I felt lousy.  I took the kids out to lunch at Dickey's, where kids eat free on Sundays, so that I wouldn't have to cook anything, and so they'd be out of the house and let Courtney get to sleep, since she had to work last night.  While I was there, I had two very cool encounters.

The first was with a friend who I very seldom see in real life anymore, but who was there with her family.  I'd only posted my blog entry about two hours before, but she'd already seen it, and told me that she hoped I'd feel better soon.  Thanks, Melissa!

The second was as I was getting the kids seated at our table.  From the next table over, I heard a man quietly tell his wife, "That's the guy I was telling you about, with the Advent blog."  I took a sneak peek a minute later, and it was a man I'd never seen before.  Thanks for reading, friend!

I actually had something else lined up for today, but then it fell through over the weekend.  Although there are lots of deserving organizations to volunteer for, many of them require a background check or some training, two things that I didn't have time for if I was going to line something up in time for today!  Writing another check wasn't an option, either, because I'm a little busted until payday on Thursday.  I put out a call for help on Facebook, and quickly got this response from Lauren, a friend from high school:

My husband is the chairman of the board of the Red Cross. That's right, I am bragging. He said to call Molly. She can hook you up. You can tell her Bill said to call.

That's just what I did!  I called Molly this morning, dropped Bill's name, and visited the Lubbock office of the Red Cross today during my lunchtime.

I don't know if the Red Cross has done this in the past, but they have a really neat program this year.  As a gift in a loved one's honor, you can choose from a whole range of needed services that your money will sponsor, from a care kit for a wounded veteran, to a day of hot meals from the disaster relief truck, or blankets for disaster survivors.  There is a website where you can learn more, or purchase gifts, but there's also a printed catalog that the Red Cross office had a box full of.  What they needed help with was addressing these catalogs for delivery to members of their board, and to some of their larger donors.  Molly set me up with a list, a box of mailing labels, and a pen, and set me to work.  It was a pretty long list, but I had just enough time to handwrite each label and then stick them all to catalogs before I had to go.  There were actually quite a few names on that list of people I know, so if you get information from Red Cross in the next few days, and it has a really horribly hand-lettered label on it, chances are I wrote it.

Now, I've taken a "mine is not to question why" approach to any tasks I've been given at the sites where I'm volunteering, but today's experience did give me an idea for a follow-up project.  When Project Advent is finished, I think I'll visit the Red Cross again and show them how to do a mail merge from Word!

Twelve days down, twelve to go...

Gratitude Project: From 1 John 3:1, "Behold what manner of love the Father has given unto us, that we should be called the sons of God."
Have you thought of what a gift that is?  And we can approach Him in prayer whenever we wish to, and avail ourselves of his endless forgiveness.  That's what I'm thankful for today.

Project Advent, Day 11: Donation to Texas Boys Ranch

Crud, you guys...  I am sick.  My chest feels like it's been stuffed full of kerosene-soaked sawdust, and somebody is holding a match to it each time I breathe.  I really don't like missing church this time of year, when our sanctuary is so beautiful, our fantastic choir is singing Christmas songs, and the Advent candles are being lit.  But I gave the Holwerdas a rare pajama Sunday today, because I need the rest, and I don't feel like being Patient Zero in a flu outbreak at FUMC.  I think I may have brought this on myself with all of the extra time outside yesterday and Friday.

Fortunately, I planned ahead for this contingency!  Actually, I'd planned to use this as a free day to take Courtney on a date one night next weekend, but it turns out she's working all next weekend, so...  Anyway, I dropped a donation to the Texas Boys Ranch in the mailbox.  I know it doesn't go out until tomorrow, but I'm still counting it.

The Boys Ranch has been a part of Lubbock as far back as I can remember.  It turns out that it's exactly as old as I am, since it was opened in 1975.  They are a faith-based residential facility for children aged 4-18, where abused and neglected children live in groups with house parents, and are given help through counseling, therapy, and even vocational training.  It is also an actual, working 460 acre ranch, where the children get to take part in the responsibilities of running the ranch.  Last year, for the first time in their history, they made the decision to open their doors to girls, too, so that siblings can stay together at the ranch.  They have helped hundreds of Lubbock's children. 

OK, I'm going to take some Mucinex and head back to bed so that I can do something tomorrow.

Gratitude Project: I get blasted by one or two good colds per year, but I'm blessed with very good health overall.  Really, better than I deserve, given how little attention I've paid to maintaining it over the years.  When we're sick, we often pray for healing, but when was the last time you prayed to thank God on a day you were healthy?  Today, I'm going to lift a prayer of gratitude for all the healthy days I have.

Project Advent, Day 10: The Haven Animal Care Shelter

I don't especially like animals.  There, I said it.  This shouldn't be such a big thing, but there are people who treat this admission as something on par with saying that my hobby is pushing old ladies down staircases.  I mean, I don't hate animals, and I'm certainly not cruel to them, I just don't really like them.  There was one puppy who made a temporary crack in my shell, but I kind of got over that the longer he stayed with us.

Before I started Project Advent, I asked my friends for suggestions of things that I could do, and one of them suggested Lubbock's Haven Animal Care Shelter.  I was ready to brush off the suggestion, but then I realized that it was actually kind of perfect for this project.  It's not something that I would usually do on my own, and it's a place that needs help.  They are a donation-funded no-kill shelter for abused, neglected, abandoned, or ownerless animals.

The Haven has regular volunteer times on Saturdays from 9-5.  I called last week to see if we needed to let them know when we'd be there, and they told me just to show up, so that's what Blake and I did this morning.  Today was their annual photos with Santa event at PetSmart, where they send volunteers to that store to let people take photos of their pets with Santa.  Because of that, there were fewer volunteers than usual at the actual shelter.

Blake and I walked into the office and introduced ourselves to Angela, the volunteer coordinator.  After we'd signed in, she gave us some jobs.  I would be making the rounds to the animal buildings and putting out food.  This place doesn't look like much when you pull in, but here's a picture of it from above.  All of those buildings are part of the Haven, and they all have animals that need feeding.



View Larger Map

You may notice that I said the feeding was my job, but I didn't say anything about what Blake did.  His assignment was to help with socializing two new puppies, which is an official way of saying: PUPPY PLAYTIME!

 

That's right - while dad was out in the cold, slogging it with sacks of food, Blake was rolling around with a sharpei mix named Santa Paws, and his sister, Christie.  Nice work if you can get it.

The Haven is a really interesting and unique facility.  They don't just house dogs and cats, but nearly any pet that needs shelter.  I asked if they had room for our canine visitor, but they currently don't.  Oh well.  Merry Christmas, dogs.

Gratitude Project:  I've noted this before, but I'm always amazed by the reservoir of love that my children show me.  I know that so far in this project I've mentioned being thankful for their perspective and for the other people who love them, but this is about what they give back to me.  To be really honest, I am struggling a lot with Jack right now.  There's sweetness in him, but it's inside a lot of other stuff that I just can't, for the life of me, make my way through.  When he went to bed tonight, we were both really upset with each other.  But I know that when he wakes up, he's going to come running to me with open arms, ready to start a new day.  It's humbling.

Project Advent, Day 9: Salvation Army Bell Ringer

When I was in Boy Scouts, there was a song that we used to sing around the campfire, and its chorus went like this:

Salvation Arrrmy!  Salvation Arrrmy!
Put a nickel in the drum, save another drunken bum!
Salvation Arrrmy!  Salvation Arrrmy!
Put a nickel in the drum, and you'll be saved!

My mom tried to convince me that it would be much nicer if we sang it as "Put a nickel in the tin, save another soul from sin," but have you ever tried to convince a group of teenage boys to do the nice thing?  Yeah, right.

So, anyway, I have some karmic debt to repay to the Salvation Army.  My dad was actually a big supporter of the SA, doing lots of volunteer work with them for several years.  I decided that I would serve them today as that most iconic of Christmas sights - a bell ringer outside of a store.  And so it was that I showed up outside of WalMart a few minutes before noon to relieve James, the ringer who'd been there all morning.

There's not much to it - James gave me his red apron and his bell, phoned the coordinator at Salvation Army to let her know we were switching, and then took off.  I started ringing.

Sometimes, service means playing games with sweet kids.  Those hours go fast.  Sometimes, service means ringing a bell in thirty-five degree weather, in the shade of a WalMart entrance.  Those hours go sloooow.  Here are tricks to make the time pass more quickly:

• Smile and wave at kids as they enter the store with their moms.
• Enjoy that this WalMart is close to Tech, so you get to watch lots of cute college girls coming in.
• Count all of the people wearing UT gear.  Wonder how many of them actually went to UT.
• If the bell should happen to slip out of your gloved hand and drop to the ground, pick it up and say to whoever is nearby, "Aw man, now I've gotta start all over..." and then count out loud as you start ringing again.
• Remember that you know a word that means "the ringing or sounding of bells": tintinnabulation!
• Watch cute college girls walking back out again.
• Whenever somebody on a cell phone walks past you, ring your bell louder and more unceasingly.  Just go crazy with it, like Will Ferrell on a cowbell, and see how many of them have to ask whoever they're talking with to repeat themselves.

I'm here to tell you that people do still drop money in those kettles.  I couldn't keep any sort of count while I was out there, but a lot of people dropped in at least some change, and quite a few tucked folded bills in there.  James came back from his lunch, we switched back, and I wished him well before heading back to the office.

I actually thought that I was smiling when I self-shot this picture, but I was so cold that I may not really have been able to feel my face.  More than once, I thought that I should have worn a hat, but it doesn't seem right when I'm doing public service to deprive the public of the sight of my hair.  You don't hide your light under a bushel!  Plus, it's the only part of me in this picture that doesn't look like The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come.

Gratitude Project: Tonight is my company Christmas party, and I'm really looking forward to it.  Vista Bank always puts on a really fun party.  I'm thankful to work with good, strong, honest people, and to have an employer who has always treated me fairly, and allowed me to put my family first.  Not to mention the fact that they don't get on me when I occasionally need a lunch break a teensy bit longer than an hour in order to do a service project.

Project Advent, Day 8: Women's Protective Services

UPDATE ON THE PAYPAL BUTTON: Several people reported that the button to make PayPal donations for the Ronald McDonald House dinner wasn't working correctly.  After working on this with PayPal support, it appears to be working correctly, and several donations have come through.  However, some people are still reporting trouble.  If you would like to donate, and the button isn't working correctly for you, please feel free to contact me to set up an alternate method, or just PayPal it to me without using the button.

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I write about my kids a lot, right?  Sometimes, I'm proud of them.  Sometimes, they make me crazy.  In good times and bad, though, I'm always glad to have them.  When you're doing well, it's easy to take for granted the parts of your life that you are blessed to have.

Here is a sad, sad fact about the city I live in.  The Lubbock region has the highest confirmed rate of child abuse per capita in the State of Texas for 2008 and 2009 at 22.7 per 1,000 kids vs. the state average of 10.5 per 1,000 kids.  Nearly 1,200 children were in foster care in the Lubbock region last year.  This hurts me to know.

Since we are in the season of Advent, and since Advent is why I'm doing this project, there's an article that I'd like to share with you, about looking at Joseph as a model of honorable fatherhood.  When he was faced with a situation that was difficult to explain at best, and possibly dangerous at worst, Joseph took heed of what the angel told him.  He loved and raised Jesus as his own son, although he knew that Jesus was not his son, but the Son of God.  How different is our world because Joseph was the man in Jesus's life, raising Him and caring for Him until He was an adult, until He was ready to begin His ministry?

I am no Joseph.  I wouldn't even dare to make that comparison.  But I can try to be a positive part of a child's life.  Tonight I visited the Women's Protective Services shelter for their weekly mentoring night.  Here's a description from their website:

Mentoring

Children are changed by growing up with violence and abuse at home. One of the top 10 ways a child can be changed by violence at home is that they are denied a father and positive role model. Mentoring is an opportunity to make a measureable difference in the life of a battered child. Women’s Protective Services of Lubbock, Inc. is seeking outgoing, dedicated individuals to Mentor at WPS.

What do volunteers do?

Mentors meet every Thursday from 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm and interact with the children that reside at WPS and helping them have fun. Activities range from arts and crafts, board games, movie nights, pizza parties, play basketball, football and go on field trips. Mentors will work with one to a few children at a time.

The focus of the program is to provide a buddy to someone who needs a positive role model at a difficult time in their lives.

An hour of service!  It's like they were trying to tailor-make an opportunity for me to include them in Project Advent!

Courtney was scheduled to work tonight, so I needed someplace to drop my own kids first.  My friend Ann, who I have known for 30 years (!), told me that she'd be happy to babysit if I needed to be kidless for one of my projects, and was very kind to let the junior Holwerdas come join her and her two kids tonight.  My kids were really excited to have an evening to play with John and Caroline, who they are already friends with at church!  Ann gave the kids a really fun evening - they had pizza, did a special Advent craft, and played together.

I'm afraid I have to be a little bit vague on some of the details of tonight's project.  When I arrived at the shelter, I signed a confidentiality agreement, agreeing that I wouldn't discuss anything about the people, situations, or anything else that I heard or saw while I was there, but I think I can still talk about what we did.  Every Thursday, there are activities planned for the kids while their moms attend groups.  The kids were watching Merry Madagascar when I got there, and eating popcorn.  As some of them started to get bored with the movie, I went with them into the playroom, where we played different board games for a while, until the movie ended and the rest of the kids joined us.  We all played together for a while more, and then their moms were coming to pick them up.  The hour passed really quickly.

I'm going to carry this evening with me for a while.  There was a teenaged boy who I was playing Jenga with, and a little girl came and sat in his lap.  I asked if she was his sister, and he said, "No, she just feels safe with me."  I played with another child, and asked their name.  It was the same as one of my children.

Gratitude Project: Be real before God... My heart really hurts tonight.  I was only with these kids for one hour, and I feel like it was literally the very least bare minimum that I could do.  They need and deserve so much more.

But I also have much to be thankful for.  Today, it's something a little silly and maybe even kind of vain, but I got some new dress shoes.  My first new pair of black shoes in nearly five years.  It turns out that having three kids is kind of expensive, so there's not always money for that stuff, you know?  Anyway, I'm thankful that I have the means and opportunity to have some new shoes today.

Be a Part of Project Advent!

Dear Friends,
I've certainly enjoyed Project Advent so far.  If you have enjoyed reading about it, I'd like to invite you to help me out with an upcoming project.

If you are unfamiliar with Ronald McDonald House, here is a brief quote from their mission statement, as given at their website:

The mission of Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC) is to create, find and support programs that directly improve the health and well being of children.

Although there are several charitable endeavors that they are involved in, the Houses are probably what they are best known for.  Ronald McDonald Houses offer an affordable place to stay for families who have to travel to be with hospitalized children.  Maybe they will be there for a night, and maybe they'll be there for months, but the RMHC gives them comfortable surroundings in a very tough time.

Although I have never personally known anybody who had to use RMHC's services, it is still an organization that is special to me.  In 1990, when I was finishing the requirements to earn my Eagle Scout rank, I worked with the administrators of Lubbock's House to plan and perform a service project for them.  My team did three days of landscaping, repairs, and cleaning, and finished it by preparing dinner for the guests.  On Monday, December 19th, I'll be returning to the House and making dinner for the guests once more.

I need to prepare enough food for 40-50 people, and they have requested that it not be pasta or lasagna, as they have lots of people prepare those foods.  The kitchen is a good one, with four ovens, two ranges, and any other necessary appliances, so I have a good facility to work in.  I'm planning a menu of delicious foods that I can prepare myself, so that I can make my budget go as far as possible.

What I need help with is raising money to cover the cost of food. If you can contribute anything at all, I will be very appreciative.  Every cent that you send me will go towards this project.  If I receive more money than I need for the dinner, then I will write a check to RMHC for the extra amount.  I'll even write a blog post to provide an accounting of the money sent to me and how it is spent, so that you'll trust me to be accountable with it.

To donate, just click on the Donate button below to make a contribution through PayPal.  I believe it will show up on your credit card statement as "LWDM-ProjectAdvent."  I will also have this button available on the right edge of the blog until the 19th, so that it's easy to find.

THE FUNDRAISER IS NOW COMPLETE, AND THE BUTTON HAS BEEN REMOVED.  THANK YOU FOR HELPING ME!

Thank you, friends, for helping me make this happen. God bless you!


Danny