Blanket Drive!

My Dojo has started up a new program called  Karma Kids and my Sensei asked me to help out if I had some spare time... well I saw an episode of Pit Boss on t.v. about a balnket drive for the local animal shelter and immideatly fell in love with the idea! I thought that a blanket drive is so easy to do, and so involving that it would be the PERFECT first Karma Kids activity! We will collecting used/new blankets and bath towels for our friends down at the Clagary Humane Society at our Second Annual New Years Kick Off. So far we have heard back from a ton of Dojo families who have already dug through thier clossets for a donation! Hurray! Did you know that shelter animals who have a blanket/ towel to lay are are more calm and relaxed bacause they can nest? This relaxed behaviour makes the animals more likely to be adopted! Which means more animals find fur-ever homes, and less are euthinized! Every animal deserves a loving home <3 If you have any old blankets or towels lying around your house, the perfect place to donate them to is your local animal shelter!

Kelsey

Love Bomb





  "Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries.

Without them humanity cannot survive." 

Dalai Lama

      

       For the the past 5 months I have been volunteering, along with hundreds of other people around the world on with a website called dropalovebomb.com. Every thurdsay the Love Bomb crew (volunteers) recieve an email about someone who is down on their luck, struggling through death, illness, debt and the crew will visit this persons blog and leave encouraging comments to show there are people everywhere wishing them hope. The stories of these poor people always hits home. At a time when someone is at their lowest low its heartwarming to see so many people jump to the oppourtunity to say a few words to make that persons day.

         

             The blog post from the recipients are hard to forget... like Vee, a mother of 2 (and one on the way) who's husband passed away from a heart attack in his early thirties. This Valetines Day, the day "bean" is due to arrive,  I will be thinking about her and wish her to keep strong as she welcomes her third child into the world. http://veronking2003.blogspot.com/2010/12/bittersweet.html

         Or the Blogger "Lovlie Lupie" who recently passed away from a long struggle with Lupus. Her husband, now raising their two young children by himself still ocasionally blogs on her site, writing her letters about his life now that shes gone, his struggles as a single parent... I cry every time I read the posts. http://lovelylupie.blogspot.com/2010/11/andys-update.html

        ... or Lehua, who lost her father and her grandfather within the short span of a few months, and is now dealing with the reality that her other grandfather is very ill and may not get better. Her creativity and passion for her family are expressed on beautiful scrapbook pages she makes. Her strength and expression of love for her life and all things in it inspire me. http://www.thegirlandboy.com/2010/12/on-life.html

             

            These Love Bombs are one of the biggest higlights of my week, every week. I encourage you to join the Love Bomb team and send some hope to people when they need it the most. You dont need to blog to be a volunteer, all you need is an email address and a heart <3 Visit www.dropalovebomb.com to register, and if you are really feeling the love: Love bomb has partnered with Love Drop, which will be accepting donations and giving money raised to 12 families throughout 2011. Anything from a dollar a month to corporate sponsorship is available. Visit www.lovedrop.us to get involved.

 **If you are outside of the US, keep in mind the money donated is in US dollars and goes toward American families. If you are located outside of the USA and like the donation idea, maybe try and create your own way to make a difference for families in your community if you want your money to stay local.**

Please become a member of the Love Bomb Team!

There is nothing more human you can do than be empathetic, express love and show compassion!

Kelsey

Remembrance

         Yesterday was Remembrance Day, and something I read in the news paper made me pretty upset... only 10% of all Canadians wore a Poppy. The whole purpose of the Poppy is to say "I remember the veterans, I remember the sacrifice, Thank You." Poppies are found EVERYWHERE. In every mall, every grocery store, gas station and corner.  Veterans, cadets, military personnel, and volunteers stand for hours to "sell" poppies and 90% of the masses made no effort to wear one. There have been so many people on the radio and in the news explaining why they would not be sporting a Poppy... the excuses are pathetic. Many people didn't want to wear a poppy because they always "fall off and they lose them." Its a lot easier to replace a lost poppy, than replace the life of the soldier who died for you and their country. So whats the big deal if you might have to donate a couple of times to ensure your lapel is proudly sporting a poppy? The money is going to the Poppy Fund, where the organization then distributes the donations in ways to help out the Veterans that our country forgets for the other 364 days during the year. The amount of Veterans who are homeless, or living in devastating poverty is absolutely appalling. Our government needs to step it up and do something more. Another lame excuse I heard was that people don't carry cash anymore, so they never had change to make a donation. "my dog ate my homework" is a better excuse than that. You can sign up online on the Poppy Fund website, and make donations the "plastic" way. You can even be signed up to give monthly donations that are done automatically from your account. This is 2010... everyone has a plastic card of some kind. If you drop 99 cents on an itunes download for the latest and greatest song, you should be more than willing to drop a couple bucks on some of our countries greatest citizens. 

             For those 10% who wore a poppy like I did, Thank You. Thank you for remembering, thank you for showing your support, thank you for not letting our Veterans think that we have better things to do then take the time, and the small amount of change to show our gratitude towards them. For the 90% of you who didn't, for whatever the the reason. I hope that you reconsider your actions next year. Maybe reading this has shown you how pathetic your excuses are, and hopefully some of you will take action by putting that plastic card to good use (for once) and make a donation to the Poppy Fund. 

Thank you to all of my relatives who gave their lives for mine. I am proud to carry on your legacy, and your name in a country that is free because of what you sacrificed. I have not forgotten.