Show us your life: Favorite Charities!

In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.' "
Acts 20:35

I love to give  to people. Even if it is as something as simple as passing down my girls clothes to a family who has multiple children. I LOVE to give!

When I was praying about a new job. I sat in my car outside the Ronald McDonald house in Jackson and said, "Lord, If you bless me with a job that allows me to serve, I will"
Funny how I ended up at a church huh? Talk about being accountable!

Now that I feel I have my "homemaker feet" under me, a relationship with both of my girls that is amazing, grownup time with community friends, and a marriage that is solid and invested, I have started taking on projects with my favorite charities.

My first project is with the Jackson Zoo. Yes, the zoo is considered a charity. It is a non-profit organization that depends on donations, contributions and support from its community to bring awareness about wildlife to Mississippi. I am so pleased that I have been asked to chair "Dream Night at the Zoo" This event is one that moves you, unlike any other event. During Dream Night, families that have children that are physically ill, terminally ill, or have mental disabilities (I hate that term but the spectrum is so broad that we use it to describe in general)
get to tour the zoo for free, after hours. They are treated to a free meal, free snacks, free entertainment, free goody bags. Anything and Everything that can take place in 2 hours is free. They are given the ability to get out of the house and out of the hospitals and just be a family.

Last year I was blessed with meeting so many families that had multiple children. I remember this one family that had 5 kids. 1 amazingly special child. The dad stopped me and asked me who was in charge of this event. When I told him I was, his eyes filled up with tears and he just said, "Thank You so much for giving us this opportunity to be a family. We can't afford outings like this and still provide for our children. By doing this, they aren't missing out on the normalcy of life"

My heart sank. I never realized how much of an impact this event would have!

We were expecting 30 people last year for our first invitation only dream night. We had 75!

I am so excited that I get the chance to give back to these hardworking parents and these loving kids again! I am building my committee now, if you haven't had event experience, it is okay! If you feel lead to help out with this, just let me know! I would love to have you involved!

My second project is collecting blankets for the shelters here in Jackson. When I worked downtown I got to know a lot of the homeless people. Their stories were inspiring and I am so excited about this summer project. Starting in May, I am going to be collecting blankets for the shelters. I will continue to do this until October! At that point I plan to take Madyson to her first "serve your community" experience and go serve lunch to the homeless. We will deliver the blankets then, so that way they will have them when winter hits. Again, this is such a simple project that has huge impact! If you would like to jump on the blanket bandwagon, let me know! I would love to have allies all over!

Since the girls were born we have made it an effort to do a service project each year at Christmas time. This year it was Operation ShoeBox, we also have done the Angel Tree. A lot of times I hear people say things like, "oh I can't afford to adopt an angel child". Neither can I. I have 2 kids of my own and nieces and nephews galore. BUT that child, has nobody. I make it a practice not to eat out excessively in the coming months and put aside my money for this child. I have always been able to provide.

So there is a look at a few of my favorite charities. I soon hope to be able to take on Juvenile Diabetes with my best red-head friend Crystal, do the 3day breast cancer event for my mom and my mother in law, and tackle a support the arts campaign here in Mississippi.

Stay tuned!