Charity
I’m not going to post a tab here, so that I can collect donations for myself. Although I would have good reason; since the recession, I spend much of my time scrimping and scrapping, much like many other people I know. But I’m quick to remind myself that there are lots of people who are worse off than me.
My heart is close to the homeless, particularly those in my town. Southern Indiana is chocked full of homeless people living under bridges. Many have lost hope completely; others, simply don’t know how to change their circumstances. I’m a former resident of the Haven House, which is the homeless shelter in my town.
Because of the discipline and structure that I gleaned from staying there, I was able to carry those valuable tools with me throughout my life. While I was in a housing program, known as, Transitional Housing, I was able to write my children’s book, “Peanut Butter Soup“, to inspire kids to reach for something greater in their lives, as well as having the opportunities to reach them in the areas of anti-bullying, being kind to the obese, the elderly, and impressing them to respecting all people of different races, creeds, and religions.
I’ve never let my limitations or titles placed upon me by others to define me, or hold me back in life. I want to do what I can for my community, and really change the system, because it is obvious that the current one is not working.
But I’m only one woman, and as much as I’d like to do, I simply cannot do alone. I’ve been able to accomplish quite a bit without a penny in my pocket: I simply do not give up. But, that said, monetary donations and contributions are crucial where the reconstruction and rebuilding of others’ lives are concerned, particularly those who are homeless.
For these reasons, I am posting the website address to the homeless shelter in my town, the Haven House. This particular shelter is very close to my heart, as are the residents. Many of the residents are caught in the vicious cycle of ongoing, perpetuated tragedies. If we can bring more money into the program, we can develop better programs that will not only help the residents there, but give them the life skills they need to succeed in life.
There is a Donate to Paypal tab located at the site. Any and all contributions are distributed directly to Haven House Organization, so that the funds can be allocated as needed.
Thank you so much your your care in this matter, and thank you in advance if you would like to contribute. Every penny makes a difference. I’ll be posting a tab at the top of the page here, so that it acts as a permalink, and will remain there.
♥
m o n o c h r o m e j u n k i e † 
Happy to see another picture of a sunset! beautiful! What kind of camera do you use? Also, fantastic post! I did one similar but about Children International, a non profit organization that provides medical, educationa, and other assistance to needy families all over the world. It’s important to get the word out there that people need help and if there is anything we can do to help…we should. I really want to volunteer at a homeless shelter to help serve breakfast or something. I do not have any money right now but I know that does not mean that I can’t help in some way. I’m sorry to hear that you were homeless at one point. I lived in my friends bedroom on a seperate matress on the floor for quite a while. I’ve always considered that to be pretty homeless due to being unable to pay rent and her having to steal toilet paper from walmart so we could have some lol! I love that you used your experience to write a childrens book. How wonderful! How did you go about getting it published? I feel that we can become motivated and inspired by going through really hard times. I used all that anger, frustration, insecurity, etc to push myself to continue with school. Though it has taken me like 5 years to get my Associates Degree I never stopped taking a class here and a class there. I will be graduating this summer by the grace of God. 🙂 We will both get where we want to be…our road has just been harder than others!
February 12, 2013 at 10:48 pm
Hey, congratulations on that degree, again. We’ll be getting our degrees around the same time (Lord willing). 🙂 I know you can do it- you have that extra gusto for life, and that kind of thing trails people wherever they go. My camera’s a Canon EOS 600DRebel t3i (3ti?) – 18 MP. I’m self taught at everything I do- I wouldn’t want a photography education interfering with my art (wink). And good for you to help people like you do- THAT speaks to me. On volunteering (food lines, etc.), knowing you, you DO know the power of sharing smiles with strangers. That would be totally awesome of you to do that, and, feed their souls with your smile. I make it a daily practice to go out of my way to smile at strangers- grocery store, in my car, standing in line at the bank- the list goes on. You never know just what your kind smile will mean to someone. I wish you all the best, M&M, and I say, go for it. 🙂 You should think about perhaps creating a Kickstarter account (www.kickstarter.com) in the future. You have the drive and tenacity! And I for one would support you. I’m thinking about doing the same thing, trying to raise $5,000 or so, so I can volunteer in the Ecuadorian rain forest. Children 12 and younger are prostituting on the streets to support their drug habits. I want to go, and take my “Photo-Therapy” with me. We’ll see. 😉 Thanks for encouraging me in that department. You’ve inspired me to add that posting as a fixed tab at the top of my pages. On being published, it’s a company called “Authorhouse”, and it’s P.O.D. (Same publishers that produced Legally Blonde.) I wrote that book and published it (paid for Library of Congress number, copyright, and manuscript submission) all while on Food Stamps. It wasn’t easy, and I had to scrimp and scrap- bigtime; but I wanted to show people that they could do something with their lives if they only tried. It was my way of “giving back to the system” as well. Let me know how you’re doing in school, and when you get close to graduating. WTG, again. 🙂
February 13, 2013 at 12:55 am