shelters

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A new holiday for our most faithful friends

Hey all friends, family and followers:

 

Over on Chicago Now’s Bittersweet we were challenged to create a new holiday. So I came up with one I think many of you will appreciate! Please visit(link below) and let me know what you think.

http://www.chicagonow.com/bittersweet/2014/11/happy-homeless-pet-day-because-they-hurt-no-one-ever/#comment-54

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving and let’s take a break from all the violence, pain and sadness we are all being so inundated with lately. I think it’s OK to take a break from the darkness once in a while and no better time to do that than today. Sometimes during the break, we can refresh so that we are able to better deal with the dark times moving forward.

Check out Bittersweet and let me know who would be up for creating this new holiday!

Until next time …..

 

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Helping Clara Kirk help others

Dear friends and family,

This is the first time I have taken on a challenge like this one, but let me tell you, this is a challenge I am happy to take on.

I have committed to helping Clara Kirk, founder of Clara’s House and Clara’s Place in Chicago’s destitute Englewood neighborhood. She is the tiny 72-year-old woman you may have seen on the local news in October asking for help to turn the heat back on at her two shelters where dozens of abused and homeless children and their mothers have found refuge.

Though an anonymous donor has since come forward to pay the gas bill, she is still in need of funds to buy everything from toothpaste to bedding, towels, clothing. You name it, she said, anything that you have in your own house is what she needs.

On our worst day, these women and children have it much worse.

If you are reading this blog on your lap top or iPhone, you already know you have it way better than these poor children and women that Clara has dedicated her entire life to helping.

Do please help me to reach my goal of $500 by Dec. 21.

Link below. Until next time …..

http://www.stayclassy.org/fundraise?fcid=285059&fb_action_ids=10201680702593097&fb_action_types=og.likes&fb_source=other_multiline&action_object_map=%7B%2210201680702593097%22%3A170553579818167%7D&action_type_map=%7B%2210201680702593097%22%3A%22og.likes%22%7D&action_ref_map=%5B%5D

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Clara’s Heart

Hi friends and family,

I was touched by the stories of Mrs. Clara Kirk and her efforts to help abused and homeless women and children in the Englewood community. She needs more help then I could ever give, but I figure if God put it on my heart to write about her then maybe I can reach those who can help her further!

Please visit Bittersweet.

http://www.chicagonow.com/bittersweet/2013/11/a-heart-like-claras/

Until Next time…..

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I’ve added a new adventure! Won’t you all join me?

 

Well it’s a new year (in a few hours) and I have a new adventure!

I am now writing for ChicagoNow under the name of Bittersweet. On this new site I will share thoughts and spin words as I see fit in the moment. I do hope you all will follow me over there and keep this adventure we call life moving along together! I will not be canceling this site as it keeps my work all linked up and tidy!

For my first blog in the new location I shared thoughts on the old year and the new year. (I know not very original on this day when writers everywhere are covering this topic, but we all have had different experiences and will likely have different angles to discuss and share.)

Happy New Year to everyone. Stay safe and well.

Love each other!

Visit me at this link below and let’s keep our friendship going!

http://www.chicagonow.com/bittersweet/

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Mother and child on a cold Christmas Eve

I know I usually write once a week on Sunday or Monday, but I have this unwavering nagging in my heart. And I am filled with worry and sadness.

Remember the post I wrote a few weeks back about helping out someone this Christmas season with money?

Well, on Christmas Eve my family and I stopped in at a homeless shelter in Elgin Illinois on our way to the big Christmas Eve celebration with our family.  It was a typical cold and gray Chicago winter day.

I let my mind be free and did not have a real plan as we drove there as to how I’d find the person to help with new warm socks and $100 I had in my pocket. I just wanted to be in the moment and let the Holy Spirit guide me. I prayed before I went there. I asked God to lead me to the person who would most need a little extra help on that day. Well truth is, obviously, if they are eating at a homeless shelter on Christmas Eve they all need help. I prayed that God would lead me to the person who would use the money  in the best way for themselves.

Now, walking into the shelter there were quite a few men and women, different races and ages. All homeless. Then something, some energy, some supernatural source outside of my control led me to this beautiful little toddler  and her mom. (IVE DELETED THEIR NAMES TO PROTECT THEM).

I knelt down and talked to the mom and her beautiful, big blue eyed, light blonde  haired baby girl. She oozed sweetness.  Mom had her all dressed up in a little Christmas dress, red ruffle socks, she looked all ready for Santa Clause. They were eating a desert of pumpkin pie. Mom looked tired and weary, but it showed that with the obvious little she had, she took great care of her  baby girl, likely the only person in this whole world who gives her real, true, selfless love.

I commented on how pretty her girl was and asked how they were doing. I asked where they would sleep that night and the mom said they stay overnight in the shelter.

I asked her if I could do something for her and her daughter, if I could give them something. The mom looked at me a little suspicious. From my coat pocket I pulled out the new warm pair of fuzzy socks with $100 wrapped up in them. I opened up the socks just enough for her to see the $20 bills and said “I want to give this to you for you and your baby.” She was stunned. She said “This is so unexpected”, “I don’t know what possessed you this morning when you woke up to do this, but thank you, God Bless you.”

I really didn’t want her to feel bad and told her that we all need help sometimes and I was happy to help her and I hope it helps her and her baby.

We talked some more, she said she had been homeless for 4 months, she had been living with a boyfriend, the child’s dad, but he was abusive. She also said she has family in the area but that they were not an option to stay with. I asked what her plans were. I asked if she was looking for work, a place to live, she said all of the above.

I know they have to leave the shelter at 4 p.m. and then can return at 7 p.m. so I asked where do they go in those cold three hours. She said sometimes they’d go to the library.

Her baby started crying because she wanted the new socks her mom was holding onto in her tight grip. So now I felt bad, making her mom stress over her now crying baby. So, I gave the baby my gold necklace. This baby lit up, so happy!

Then I got a bit nervous, someone might notice me giving her money and put her in danger somehow. So I hugged her and her baby, said “Merry Christmas, God bless you.”

The baby followed us out toward the door……Mom came and got her and we said good-bye.

They went back to their pumpkin pie and I left and got into a nice, warm car, with my family and we all went to a wonderful Christmas party with loads of food, goodies and presents and lots and lots of love and laughter.

But I thought about the mother and her child, and where they were. And where were they the next night, the next night and where are they tonight? Are they safe? Are they warm?

I feel kind of guilty. My girls and I, even my dogs and cat, are warm and safe in our beds and we have a ton of  good food at our disposal.

Now what?

What do I do?

Did I help her or did I make things worse for her? Will she find a warm, safe, soft place for her and her baby to call home?

On Christmas Day, my daughter, Emily, and I went to see Les Miserables. There is a scene where a man rescues a fragile, tired woman living in the streets and trying to make money to care for her baby daughter. He picks her up just as she is about to collapse, he holds her tight and he says “rest.”

I pray someone gives this mother and child rest.

Please pray for them and all the other homeless people out in the cold tonight.

Love each other.

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The furry pieces of our heart

Last week went straight to the dogs!

No, seriously.

I worked on a number of stories last week and three of them had to do with dogs.

I worked on these stories while two of my own pups, Lucy and Minnie, rested at my feet. Awesome working conditions, huh?!

One story had to do with one man’s search for the link between dogs, humans and cancers. 2 Million Dogs raises awareness of the possible environmental links between dogs, humans and cancers. This mission was started by Luke Robinson after suffering the loss of his beautiful Pyrenees, named Malcolm to cancer.  He later put to rest another furry buddy named Murphy. He said he wants to know why his best friends-and zillions of other dogs, cats and humans die from cancer. (This full story will appear in Health and Family section of the Chicago Tribune Wednesday Oct. 10)

The other story had to do with how pet owners can learn a dog’s parentage through DNA testing. By learning exactly what breeds your dog is made of will help in knowing what illnesses, common injuries and other important information to watch out for. (The test cost about $150 and is available at most vet clinics, full story will be out next month in the Chicago Tribune)

The third story was  about  Shakira, a beautiful Siberian Husky with piercing blue eyes who disappeared from her family in Georgia five years ago. It’s unclear where she was for that five years, but she eventually was sent from a shelter in Georgia up to Harvard Illinois to a Siberian Husky rescue.  While at that shelter, she was scanned and an identification chip was found under her skin. The family back in Georgia was finally notified. The last time they had seen this beautiful dog was when she was just 1. They never knew what happened to her, but they  likely never stopped thinking about her or loving her.

So after receiving a call from the shelter that their dog was alive and well, Shakira’s human mamma drove 14 hours, straight through the night, to get her back. The reunion was swift and they turned around and headed right back home to where three children were waiting to reunite with their dog.

Wow!

Where was she all that time? Why was she not scanned by the shelter in Georgia five years ago? Or, if she was not at the shelter all that time, where was she? And how did a shelter in Harvard Illinois, more than 700 miles away from Georgia, get involved anyway?

Many questions went unanswered because the dog and her owner left so quickly after their reunion and Shakira’s owner never returned my calls for the story.

But on the important side, the family is reunited. In the photos provided by the McHenry County shelter,  the dog looked beautiful, healthy and her human mamma, she looked so happy, relieved, and well, tired.(story and photos on-line at ChicagoTribune.com)

Again, what was learned, what was observed here in this last week?

Well, first off, I can say that I for sure, without  a doubt, have the very best working conditions, the most attentive and loyal assistants.

When a human loved one or a pet gets cancer we want to know why. We need to feel that we are  doing what ever we can to learn how to save them. We fund studies, create organizations, participate in walks, to find the answers as to “why” and learn “how” can we fix them.

When we really love another person– or a pet– so much, we want to learn everything there is to know about them. We want to know how best to care for them and keep them with us for as long as possible.

There is no love like the love a parent has for her child —or for her pets. As if a child were lost to us, emotionally or physically, when a dog is lost, no matter how long he or she is away, or how far they travel, they never stop being part of our family.

And  when we love a pet so much -as we love our two-legged children- and suffer their loss only to learn they are still in this world with us, there is no distance too far to travel to retrieve that little furry piece of our heart.

Let’s see what this week’s news brings. See you next Monday!

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