To Be Given A Future

Yesterday I had the honor of attending the ribbon cutting for an apartment building. A nonprofit organization was able to purchase a vacant, foreclosed property in a neighborhood suffering from blight and renovate the building to provide homes for four families experiencing homelessness. Not only was this small apartment building going to help the four [...]

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What Would Happen If There Were No Volunteers?

Last week I spoke with elementary school students about homelessness. Every class I visit is always attentive for their “special guest” and our conversations can be an insightful treat. One second grade boy stopped me in my tracks when he asked “What would happen if there were no volunteers?” I find myself returning to his [...]

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A Real Life Parable Made Me Think

After church started on Easter Sunday, an Asian man in his 30’s sat down in the pew in front of me. I had the feeling he was homeless but it wasn’t obvious. I handed him my bulletin and showed him where we were. When it came time for the offering, I couldn’t help but watch. [...]

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Volunteer Victory

“I know this is going to sound dumb, but I’m really going to miss all the emails, editing, and back-and-forth of working with you the last few weeks.”

Wow! I didn’t know what to say to this volunteer. We had just sat down to celebrate the success of my organization’s annual fundraiser, but these simple [...]

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Why Do I Care?

Last week I wondered. Why do I care about the historic preservation of a building? Why do I care if the affordable housing community is built? Why do I care that there are homeless people living on our streets? None of these outcomes will change my life directly.

Most of the time, it’s not easy to [...]

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Not Seeing the Big Circle Around Us

Yesterday my boys went to their first practice for the track team. My oldest ran up a steep hill three times with ease. The younger one kept smiling and running with enthusiasm. I was proud of their dedication.

At the end the coach called the team together. There must be more than 80 kids from 1st [...]

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One Small Way

Last year, my friend Christine gave me a book, Through the Eye of the Storm by Cholene Espinoza. She buys them by the case and gives them away because all the proceeds go to building a community education center to serve the Katrina survivors in Mississippi. The book is written by a phenomenal pilot who [...]

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Am I the Kind of Person Who Can Do This?

If you had asked me last week if I could survive three additional boys living with us, I would have said no. I’m not that kind of person. Deep down in my heart, I know for sure I am not that kind of person. If I was, I would have had more kids!

I tried to [...]

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Handing Out Fliers for Help

Yesterday I spent three hours at an upscale, expensive organic store. I was not shopping, I was handing out fliers and collecting canned food for our City’s Holiday Drive. My family handed fliers out to just about every person who entered the store. We added a little comment, “There’s a box in cafe for a [...]

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