A New Mission

In the month of July I chose the National Down Syndrome Society as the recipient of my ongoing Comments for a Cause.  I am thrilled to report that I received a total of 288 comments during the month on my blog and will be donating $144 to this great organization in honor of my brother in law, Carlton.   I am thrilled to have been a small part of this great organization and have met many with loved ones of those  who share  Trisomy 21 / Down Syndrome .  The underlying theme seems to be that these are, indeed, people with high worth and potential and I have been blessed by the wisdom and information that has been passed on through the comments on my blog.  Perhaps even more—I have been witness to the support system that is out there for those who have this in common.  Awesome community of friends.   Thank you all!!!

I have decided to honor my Native American friends, namely the Lakota in South Dakota, by donating to a wonderful organization in August by the name of Tree of Life Ministry.  I had the opportunity to volunteer for a week in February 2010 in Mission, South Dakota at the Rosebud Reservation.  The week changed my life.   I saw first hand what has happened to our Native Americans and it tore me up.  They, like many others in the US, struggle each day to survive.   The Tree of Life Ministry is doing a wonderful job of connecting with these people-bringing them much needed services in the way of home repairs, food, clothing, and other means of support.  I was thrilled to be a part of their ministry and hope that this month will allow my bloggy friends to help me support them!

The other really cool thing is that last month I posted a video (you can view it here) that was posted on Ted.com.   It details American’s Native Prisoners and is VERY eye opening.  One of my blogger friends, Jake, over at Poems and Ponderings was inspired after viewing it and wrote a great piece .  This week he is devoting the entire week to posting his pieces that honor our Native American friends.   You would do me a great favor if you stopped by his blog frequently this week.  He is an incredible writer and has a gift to put pen to paper, or in this case, fingers to keyboard, to create thought provoking and inspiring poetry.

The Tree of Life Relief ministry is a worthy charity and I hope you will take the time to view their website and enjoy the video that they have that shows a little of the beauty of the country and the work that they do.