This blog starts out like any other blog telling my experiences, but for some reason I just had trouble getting that on paper (or the screen). Bare with me to the bottom, I have to say that's the best part. This past weekend I had the opportunity to go to the community cupboard in town with a club at my school called Circle K. Circle K is a service club where there are lots of opportunities and events to do. At the community cupboard we didn't do the "normal" jobs, but I found that exciting! The first thing we did was fill emergency boxes for families that came in and don’t have anything to eat. This was a really unique opportunity because we went into the "store" to get the things. The store is where people who need food come and "shop." This cupboard was very fortunate and had lots of different foods to choose from, but sometimes that isn't always the case. People get to choose one item in each section. It was weird to see a shelf like a grocery store that didn't have the same brands all in one place. It was all mixed together with big numbers on them for the year they expire. It was an experience I will never forget. We also sorted books and that was fun because we got to organize them and there were so many! They had a book drive during the holidays and had books for the people that came in and shopped. We organized all the books that were left over so they'll have an option to get more when they come back next time. The final thing we did was write thank you cards for all the donations on a little post card that they'll mail out.
For some reason this blog is very hard to write. I feel like you (the reader) might not be as interested in a service activity as you would be in something else. So I'm going to tell you something else. Something that made me happy. (This is the pieces of happiness blog so this a piece of mine that I would like to share with you) I finally got to read a book! Not a college text book or something for a literature class, but something that I voluntarily wanted to read. Normally my mind is so full that I never have time to want to read, but I did! Right after I wrote that paragraph two days ago I went to take a test... now I am just coming back to the blog after having to take the test again and not being able to read my book. This is a very small scale on what could be yours or someone you know, but it isn't always easy to be happy. Even the happiest people can't always be happy (even if you have never seen them unhappy). There is ALWAYS something good in every day though. There is ALWAYS something there that can make you happy.. you just have to look! My book was something so small, but it made me so happy. On the days I couldn't read my book, I was disappointed, I was devastated that I couldn't pass the test, but there were things that made me happy. One day it was my friend stopping by my room and making me smile when I didn't think I had any left in me. Another day it was a big Domino's Pizza that I may have eaten all by myself! There are so many things that can make you happy and you can't let just one thing ruin your entire day. It's just a little bump in the road. If you think about it if one thing ruins your day for an hour, there is still 23 hours left in that day, which is over 23 things that can make you happy. Being happy doesn't always mean you have the happiest things and the happiest friends, it means you FOCUS on what makes you happy not sad. Don't think about how that girl (who can't do anything to you) said your hair looked bad. Who cares! Maybe it does, but maybe it doesn't, what does she know? Don't be upset when you fail one test in college... at the time it will feel like it's the end of the world, but it is no where near that. In reality it's actually the beginning... you're in college and it's one test. There will be more and there will be a way to get through it. As my mom says it happens to everyone. Having an attitude that focuses on the positive will make things like this seem much less terrible, even though its so hard. You have to practice with little things, like not being upset when you spill your milk, and work your way up to the big things. Happiness comes from looking at the positive things that are happening in your life. You just have to look for them and then you'll be surprised how happy you'll be! Stay warm and think positively, now when it's 30 degrees you can appreciate the "warmth" :)
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On MLK Day, I had the opportunity to participate in a leadership summit and a service project in the afternoon. The morning started out with a keynote speaker, Venus Ricks. She was wonderful! I enjoyed listening to all she had to say. The one thing that really stood out to me from her was that you need to make your volunteer experience deeper through research. When you go and volunteer, not knowing what it is for or only knowing a little is not enough. Being able to understand what you're doing makes the experience deeper. It makes it more meaningful for you and for whoever you are helping. Volunteering shouldn't be to solely benefit you and through research you can make it more about others. I thought that was really neat. I also "know" what I am doing, but I don't normally do the research and see all they have to offer. It's something I should do and experience so I know what exactly I am doing to impact others.
Stacy Zimmerman, someone who I have had the privilege to know at Elizabethtown College, also said a few words where she said you find joy through helping others. Helping others is one of the most impactful things you can do in your life that not only benefits you, but the people around you. The final speaker, Eric Walker, told us a quote that said if you had $86,400 in your bank account every day and every day after that you would get the same amount. It would never carry over to the next day, so you only ever have $86,400 in your bank account. What would you do with it? The significance to that number is that is how many seconds there are in a day. How are you going to use those seconds? To watch some tv on the couch with popcorn or go out and impact someone else's life. He also said that when you do something your mentality shouldn't be "I have to do this," but "I get to do this." Everything is an opportunity and you should live life that way. After this summit, I had the opportunity to go to ECHOS (Elizabethtown Community Housing and Outreach Services). While we were there, we packed bags for the people staying there to have something to eat during the day. I got to work with a nice group of RAs from my college! There was also a group of people that packed laundry bags where it had a tide pod, a dryer sheet, and three dollars in quarters so the people could wash their clothing. We were able to get a small tour of the building where the offices are and the clothing donations. Because of the cold day, they kept the shelter open (It normally closes during the day) so we were unable to see where they slept. At one point, the lady in charge needed help getting snacks from the other building, so I volunteered. I was able to see the kitchen while I was there and I learned that people come and make frozen meals for them. At ECHOS, they not only have a shelter, but help the people in the shelter get back on their feet and move into apartments eventually. It makes it so they're not just living there, but working to move on with their life and I think that is so neat! I really want to help some day with the moving team and help someone move into their apartment! I think it is so amazing how there are organizations like this all over the world. People assume that just because they live in a certain town and have clean water everyone else must be the same, but that is not the case! Towns don't have to be run down for people to not have homes. Elizabethtown is a great example! I live in Elizabethtown and yet there is still need around me, I just have to look! It would have been so easy for me to go my four years here at this school without knowing that there are homeless people in this town. You might be surprised with the amount of people that you live by who are in need. Even if it means they can't afford enough food, but have a home. If you are interested in helping at a homeless shelter, I'm sure there is one not too far from you! Just look it up :) I also added the link to their website below if you would like to check it out! Jennifer Gomez. There was no 13th day in the Twelve Days of Christmas but there sure is in the Twelve Days of Happiness! In fact, we’re going for 200 Days of Happiness! What? Not 365, you say? Some days you just have to lay around in your pajamas, eat pizza, watch movies, …. Ahhh…. but I digress. 200 just seems more doable somehow.
I am the guest blog extraordinaire for the 13th day in Twelve days of Happiness! Some of you may also know me as Cassidy’s mom. I signed up to help with a food drive for Operation Backpack in Pottstown the Saturday before Cassidy was leaving for her 2nd semester at college. So, of course, trying to maximize time, I brought her along! Operation Backpack assists food insecure children in the Pottstown and surrounding areas by providing a weekly backpack of food for them to eat over the weekend. We said that many, many times to shoppers entering the Redner’s food market in Pottstown. Karen at Operation Backpack organizes these food drives with the local super markets. We hand shoppers a piece of paper listing the types of food we collect, they shop and bring us a bag or whatever they can back out to us. We collect that in a cart and Karen brings it all back to Operation Backpack headquarters for distribution. That is just one way food gets collected for this very needed service. Operation Backpack is up to about 270 backpacks that get filled every week. That is 270 children, elementary to high school age, that don’t have enough food to eat over the weekend. In Pottstown, Norristown, Pottsgrove. Places near you. Just let that sink in for a minute. Our Coventry small group at Branch Life Church (shameless plug here) volunteers once a month to help pack the backpacks for that week. The leaders at Operation Backpack have this activity down to a science. It is amazing to watch it all in action! The teams that come every Wednesday can pack 270 backpacks in under an hour and a half. Then, the backpacks get transported to the schools every Thursday or Friday to give to the kids who then return the backpacks on Monday to get refilled. Needless to say, this is a very vital service in the area. The link to Operation Backpack’s website is below. It is a tremendous organization and we love volunteering with them. If you are local and want to donate food or come see the action, just drop a note to Pieces of Happiness. We’d love to have you! If you are looking for a church in the Pottstown area or need a later Sunday service (we meet at 5pm), the link is also below. We’d love to have you here as well! I've decided to do a new thing... guest bloggers!! I'm at college and I don't have as much time to write, but other people do! This doesn't mean I won't be blogging myself, because I definitely will. This is just an addition so if you want to read more it will be here every once in while! Guest bloggers can be anyone, anywhere. I don't even have to know you! It can also be a group of people who write one together! If you did a service project and you would like to share your experience or you made someone smile send in a post! It doesn't have to be too long either! (Just send it to the email and maybe a picture too). I'm super excited about this and I hope you are too :) Together we can make many people happy!! Make sure to check back tomorrow for the first guest blog! (Also, don't forget those cookies!! Make sure to give some cookies out next week if you missed last week and let me know!)
The idea of a Christmas jar has been going around since 2005. It's when you save coins throughout the entire year and during Christmas time give it to someone who could use it. It can be a stranger, a friend, or a even a family member. There's even a whole book about it and stories from others on the internet (which I put below). My first year adviser and professor told me about the Christmas jar and I really wanted to do it after she explained it to me! I am so grateful that she is my first year adviser. She made college feel like home and made me feel like I could do anything I set my mind to. She helped me excel in my first year and gave me confidence. She helped me beyond just my classes and into the social part of college and I am so glad she led me in the right direction. For our first year seminars at Elizabethtown we take a fun class that teaches us what we need to know to do well in college. My professor taught me Simple Living. I had heard of tiny homes before that class, but there is so much more to simple living! (Maybe I'll do some blogs on it later!) But her class has literally changed my life. Now, I feel like the whole "changed my life" thing you're probably saying sure maybe for now. But I strongly believe it has changed my life for my entire future (and in a good way). It not only has changed my actions, but the way I think. One day in class she asked us to write our life purpose and that was a big eye opener for me. In ten words write what you want to accomplish in your life. For me that was helping others and making others happy. In an office I can make others happy and help people, but not to the extent of what I really want to do. It was her class that made me realize I wanted to retire early and really think about how I can impact others. It was her class that made me want to write a blog. It was her class that made me realize I can do what I really want to do and live in way that I don't have to be poor doing it. Everything she has taught me left me excited to do it for myself. Living frugally is something that I seriously try to do in my life now. For our final project we wrote a research paper and had the option to choose a topic relating to simplicity and I chose happiness. I loved seeing the different ways others can be happy and how to make one happy. The Simple Living Movement is definitely something that makes people happy and it is a path that I want to take. My professor impacted and led me through so many things and I am so grateful for her!
Going all the way back to the Christmas Jar, grab a mason jar next time you're at the store or rinse out your spaghetti sauce jar and keep the lid and fill it up with coins as the year goes. Your coins could impact someone else's life and possibly help them in ways that you never thought was possible. Make sure to read stories of how it impacted others below! :) With the new year coming, I have been cleaning out a lot. I always wanted to get rid of my t-shirts, but every time I went through them I was only able to get rid of one or two because I didn't want to part with them just yet. I got the idea to make homemade dog toys with my extra t-shirts and that made it much easier to get rid of them. Knowing that they're going to be loved by a furry pet made me excited. I had about ten shirts that I decided I could part with. At first I was making the toys by myself and if I'm going to be honest it was not fun. It hurt a little with how much I had to pull them and I was getting tired of the same thing. As I was doing them on the couch my mom came and helped by tying the first knot while I braided the rest. My step dad eventually joined in too. It made it much better and more exciting. When we finished with the normal strips, we made some toys out of the scraps. It was a fun family time. In the end we made 30 dog toys. The toys felt real and I think I probably could sell them and actually make money. I brought them to the SPCA the other day and they were very thankful. I wanted to ask if I could give them to some dogs, but I didn't have the guts. When I got home that evening I looked at the scraps before throwing them away and thought I could probably make some cat toys so that is in process now :)
Here's the steps to making a dog toy: 1. Find an old t-shirt. 2. Lay it out flat and cut off the sleeves. 3. Cut small strips on the end and depending on the shirt you can rip it to the top or cut all the way through with the scissors. 4. Once you have 6-9 strips, tie a knot (preferably with different colors). 5. Braid the strips through evenly. 6. Tie a knot at the end. 7. Cut the end pieces and cut into smaller strips if necessary. 8. You have a dog toy! If you're interested in making a dog toy, there's different kinds of patterns online too! I'm sure any shelter would love to have them and you could even sell them to raise money for an animal shelter as well! 2 days ago I did something so easy that I know you have time to do it! I made some cookies and brought them to the police department. It costs no more than ten dollars! I've had this one on the calendar for awhile now, but to be honest it kept getting pushed to the side. I had the ingredients but "not the time." I finally decided "no time" will turn into "being in college and missed opportunity" so today was the day. I was planning on going to my grandma's house in the afternoon so I brought my cookie mix there. When I got there I turned on the oven, got a mixing pan out and started mixing. Within 5 minutes I was already putting the cookies on the tray to go in the oven. They took about 9 minutes to make and were ready when the timer buzzed! I had one more batch to put in once the others finished and they finished perfectly as well. I gave them about 2 minutes to cool and then they were ready to be wrapped on the plate. After that I wrote a quick letter to thank the police department which only took a minute. Now, I'm sure you're wondering why did I have to tell you the exact amount of time it took to do every little thing. Well that was simply because I wanted to encourage you that you really do have time and can do it! It only took around 30 minutes at most to make an entire batch of cookies, cooled and wrapped and while they were baking I had time to clean everything up! My grandma went with me to the police station (which because it's local only took 15 minutes at the most.) They were very grateful and the lady said they would enjoy them :) While we were leaving we saw an ambulance from a different township bringing in Dunkin Donuts and I thought that was so neat to see! It really doesn't take that much time to make someone's day and it even brings joy to you :) CHALLENGE: I would like to challenge you with the Cookie Giving Challenge (I may have just made it up but together we can make it a thing!) The next time you shop for groceries pick up a easy batch of cookie mix (make sure you have butter and an egg too) and make some cookies next week. Remember there is no excuse to say you have no time! You can bring it anywhere you would like: to your workplace, to a class, to the police station, to a fire station, to another workplace, to a gathering, to a neighbor, to a friend, to a stranger, literally to anyone you can think of. With this being said there is no excuse to say you don't know who to give it to because I'm sure there is something or someone by you or on your way to somewhere that you can bring it. The final excuse may be someone else will do it, but sadly that isn't usually true and YOU can make someone's day. Once you make some cookies fill out the form below and let me know you did it! If you want to send a picture of your beautiful cookies, send me an email! Let's see how many cookies we can give out!! My goal is 1,000 cookies and I know we can do it! With mine we have 24/1000! We can do it, YOU can do it!! Share this with your friends! I really hope you'll consider doing this. Together we can make so many people happy :) Before going to the food bank on Saturday, I took some friends and we went on a little drive to Marin's Attic. Marin's Attic is a thrift shop where all the proceeds go to domestic violence programs. I had recently cleaned out my closet and needed to give the clothes away so I thought this would be the perfect place! I had 2 bags of clothing that I was able to bring. While we were there we also shopped and looked around. They had information about what domestic violence is in little places throughout the store and you could definitely tell what their mission was, and I loved that. Apparently when we went they were having a sale and the entire store was 50% off!! I remembered that I needed some dress pants and a blazer for school and was able to get it for $15! (I was very excited about this!) I think they've maybe been worn once if at all! Anna and Alice (the 2 friends that went with me) also made out great! We all together bought 8 things and didn't spend over $40! Everyone there was also very nice and helpful :)
I strongly suggest looking into thrift shops and clothing stores that have a meaning before going out. This way your money will go to charity rather than just a business. It will help people and benefit you with a new purchase. If you have clothing or something you want to get rid of, you should consider donating to one of them. Normally places like this won't take worn clothing, so keep that in mind if you're planning on donating. Look up thrift shops near you and see which ones actually benefit others, I think you might be surprised. It's a fun experience and you get to see a new place! I included Marin's Attic's website below... they have 2 thrift stores (also Laurel's Loft) so you'll also see that on the website too:) This past Saturday I had the wonderful opportunity to go to the Honey Brook Food Pantry and help organize food. I have been to another smaller food pantry before, but this one was very well organized. We learned that people who are qualified to come, come once a month and pick out certain items as if they were shopping. There is so many options they get from personal hygiene items to fresh produce! Our job was to organize all the donated food. There was over 60 crates and boxes of food that we organized. I feel like it fit perfectly with the term "reverse shopping." We took shopping bags of food and checked the expiration date and then put them with the box it fit with best. There was a fruit box, a veggie box, a corn box, a green bean box, a soup box, a rice box, a mac and cheese box, a pasta box and so many more! It was amazing the amount of food that they had! At the end of our sorting, the person in charge showed us the front where the people shop. She said they check in with someone and then someone helps them go around and get everything. There is dairy, meats, veggies, personal hygiene, fresh produce and sometimes an extra section. This past Christmas they received toys where the parents where able to pick them out for their children. They received so much that today (the next time people come in) they get to give out even more toys. It was such a special opportunity being able to do it next to people I knew and loved. I did it with my high school youth group who I have missed very much! We were able to have laughs and joys as we sorted through the different foods. It is amazing the kinds of food that people donate! Some things expired in 2015, most likely because people have been cleaning out and just through it in with the rest and some cans and boxes were completely dented. They had a chart that showed how long things could last for after the expiration date and it was shocking in some cases. For example a lot of cans can go 2 years after the best by date! Keep that in mind when you're donating food to a food pantry! If you're interested in volunteering at a food pantry they almost always need help. Organizing food by yourself is not easy and its much better when you have someone to talk to. By us being there we made something that could last 3 hours turn into one and a half. I suggest helping some day at your local food pantry! It will be an experience for you and possibly an eye opening one as well! I put the Honey Brook Food Pantry's website below if you're interested in checking it out :) I've sat in front of a white screen for this blog probably around three times now. It got to the point where I had to pull out a pencil and paper and think. There wasn't much I could think of to write about for this small occasion, even though what it did could have made someone's entire day. This past week I delivered some puzzle kits to Hickory House Retirement Home in Honey Brook. I bought some books and markers from the dollar store and put a kit together with a nice note. The puzzle books from the dollar store are actually really good!! When I went to the retirement home I hoped that I could go and deliver the books directly to some patients, but instead I handed it over to someone to do it for me. She was very thankful and said that they would be excited for the books! I only had 5 books, but that's 5 people that will be happy!
While I was at school this past semester, one of the ladies from the retirement home where I help with bingo asked me to come and help organize her room. Of course, I made time in my schedule for her! I was so excited that she wanted me to come and help her and spend time with her. As I said before, I really do love spending time with old people haha. Right after class I went over to help her clean up and she remembered that I was coming and was excited. I was excited too! I noticed that she had a ton of puzzle books that she said she really enjoyed doing and I was glad to hear that, knowing I've donated puzzle books in the past. She also had every letter that has been made by kids and college students for her. I was so excited to see that and to see how appreciative she was of it. I feel like often times people think "oh they won't care for a construction paper handmade card," but that's not true at all. For some people it's all they get and it's important to have a connection with people. If you're interested in donating puzzle books or something like cards to a retirement home, there is probably one right by you! You just have to look it up. It's super easy and they'll be very grateful. Make sure to check their hours before you go though because there isn't always someone at the office :) |
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