On January 12, much of Haiti was destroyed, thousands and thousands of Haitians killed.
On that same day, by coincidence, we happened to write on our blog about bitches giving back—about the ways we can all be philanthropists, even when we’re on a budget. Many of you wrote in, describing the bold and creative and compassionate ways you care for others.
We’ve already profiled one of our fans and the ways that she gives back and we’ve decided to add this as a regular Saturday feature to our Bitches on a Budget blog.
We’re asking you to write in and tell us about what you do for others. Tell us about your acts of kindness and how helping others makes you feel. Do you spend time caring for aging parents or ill relatives? Do you volunteer in a soup kitchen, at a school, a nursing home or a pet shelter? Work in your community garden, at your local library, clearing litter from the side of the road?
Share your stories in the comment section at the top of this post. We’re excited to read them!
Next Saturday we’ll start to share your stories and pictures in this space.
This entry was posted
on Saturday, January 30th, 2010 at 12:01 am.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
5 Responses to “B’s Give Back. Saturday Profiles.”
Shortly before my third birthday, my father died, leaving myself and 6 month old sister and a bereaved wife. I spent the greater part of my adult life trying to make sense of the seemingly senseless loss of life, he was only 27 when he died. And then I became pregnant, and the circle of life completed for me (for the first of 5 times!). In that moment I grew to appreciate that it was not for me to understand, rather, to grow through my experience and help others with similar circumstances of love and loss to have faith that despite losing their loved ones, that Love never ends. Love is a currency we vie for as humans, in many of our relationships, and when we achieve it, we revel in it. When that person’s context, their body, changes – that is to say, that their energy leaves their body, the energy continues, energy is of this earth, and it becomes something else: sunshine kissing your cheeks on a humid july day, rain pitter pattering, the fragrance of pumpkin cookies baking or even a well-timed song that conjures up sacred memories. Remembering our loved ones is the active loving context after death. Our senses perceive so much more than our minds can when grieving. After publishing the children’s bereavement book, “That Place” I began working with bereavement camps, speaking at local schools, and for every copy sold I donate a copy in memory of a bereaved loved one to a local public library or a bereavement organization. I began the conversation of Love after my own loss, I share it with those who have lost, and they create it for themselves and their families. There is none greater than a dialogue of love and rememberance. Love Never Ends. Kd Larson
Through a reconnection via Facebook, a high school friend started working at Provisions, our local food pantry. She posted a list of items needed asking her friends to please donate, so I stopped by the pantry to make a donation the week before Thanksgiving, they were overwhelmed with clients, so I got trained in 10 minutes and given my first family to help them shop…now I’m there every Tuesday and love my new job! My 16 year old daughter came with me over Christmas break, she was a huge help crating eggs, stocking shelves and is planning on joining me this summer. I am amazed how much our local farmers and private owned grocery store donates to keep our pantry going! I have been truly blessed to have been given the opportunity to spend my Tuesdays and my boss makes sure I’m off on Tuesdays to volunteer! This is the coolest thing I have ever done!
Personally, I try to donate a little bit here and there, to different friends who are raising money for different causes. I run with The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Team in Training every other year and fundraise for them. But what I really want to spotlight is the annual Clothes Swap that my friends and I have.
It started as a small idea to be shared among myself, my roommate at the time, and her sister. We had loads of extra clothes and decided to get together to swap them. The Clothes Swap has grown exponentially and is now held in my house. About 10-20 of us get together and bring all sorts of items to swap — clothes, home decor, linens, small appliances, DVDs, books, magazines, CDs, shoes, accessories, bath & body items, and, lately, children’s apparel & toys. It takes over the whole house. We have two hanging racks set up and even bedrooms become dressing rooms. At the end of the day, everybody leaves with at least a few items, sometimes three bags worth. Then over the next week, I go through the piles and put them in different charity categories — Dress for Success, the Fairy Godmother Project, homeless shelters, animal shelters, libraries, women’s shelters, and the Salvation Army or Goodwill. Finally, I take them to the respective places, and the cycle of setting aside giveaways starts again.
It’s a wonderful way for all of us to get together, to rid our house of items that we don’t need/use, and to help support organizations that we like.
I was a medical social worker for 17 years and loved helping others and making a difference in peoples lives. I stopped in 2001. Now, i spend 4-5 days a month volunteering for Damascus Help delivering food to people who are in need. I also work at a Soup Kitchen once every 5 weeks. It makes me feel so good to help others out who are not as fortunate as me. It also makes me very appreciative of everything I have and so grateful.
Two years ago, I took in a foster child. Needless to say, I fell in love with her immmediately. This gorgeous young lady will be 4 next weekend. We adopted eachother on May 18, 2009. It was the best thing that has ever happened to me. A lot of people want to say how lucky my daughter is, or how much of hero I am. I do not feel like a hero, as I am a woman who wanted a child. Also, I believe I am the lucky one. We make a glorious little family.
How these bitches give back: It is January, and we have already donated close to $300 to the adoption resource center in our area. Further, a deduction is taken from each of my paychecks to be donated to this center. We have also started donating our time to the center, participating in fundraisers and activities to benefit children in foster care who are awaiting a family. Finally, we are getting ourselves together so we can take in a foster child to expand our family.
In the final chapter of our book we come to your very favorite bitch—no, not you! Your dog. Pamper the Bitch reminds you that sweet yapping Maxie still deserves some special treatment (even when your bankbook is whimpering). But you’ve gotta...
Back by popular demand the best brownies you’ll ever make. Period.
Food fashions fade in and out like pouffy skirts. It’s kind of tricky to know when to bite. The latest seems to be a hot and sweet tongue teasing, and we’re here to...
Butterflies and Plants: Partners in Evolution 2008 Smithsonian Institution
It’s been unrelentingly hot where we live. Too hot to walk. Too hot to bike. Too hot to…ok, we won’t go there. So, we’re on the hunt for other...
Make the sexiest summer cocktails using St-Germain. The most delicious liqueur ever made.
Made from hand harvested elderflowers the flavor is divine.
We’re totally crazy for St-Germain –it’s not too sweet, softly floral but not...
With summer vacation on our door we’re thinking about ways to save during your week off and one way is to mix up when and what you eat:
Break the mold and eat fancy for lunch:
We can think of nothing more luxurious than dressing up and and...
Remember our trip to wine country and all the free wines we got to taste in the Anderson Valley? Our original plan was to spend a few nights in Mendocino and completely pass on Napa and Sonoma. Not because we don’t love Napa and Sonoma, but we...
Yesterday, The Star-Ledger of New Jersey, wrote a glowing review of Bitches on a Budget. Obviously, whenever anyone says something nice about our message we feel happy, but when someone who is a terrific writer says something nice about our...
We were thinking about all the money a gal spends on make-up and grooming products. You know: the Sephora binge and shame jaunts; the Duane Reade/CVS/Walgreen hair accessory pick-me-up-basket-fill-ups; the Avon lady calling and you buying all...
We’re always stumped when it comes to Father’s Day gifts.
Ludlum books (which you’ll never want to read), golf tees (whatever they are), car detailing kits (hey, what’s a car wash for?) are all big fat yawns. Besides what do...
When Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace prize it piqued our interest. While we’re optimists by nature, we found ourselves a little worried. You know when a story climaxes too soon, the end result isn’t very satisfying. And we have very high...
Shortly before my third birthday, my father died, leaving myself and 6 month old sister and a bereaved wife. I spent the greater part of my adult life trying to make sense of the seemingly senseless loss of life, he was only 27 when he died. And then I became pregnant, and the circle of life completed for me (for the first of 5 times!). In that moment I grew to appreciate that it was not for me to understand, rather, to grow through my experience and help others with similar circumstances of love and loss to have faith that despite losing their loved ones, that Love never ends. Love is a currency we vie for as humans, in many of our relationships, and when we achieve it, we revel in it. When that person’s context, their body, changes – that is to say, that their energy leaves their body, the energy continues, energy is of this earth, and it becomes something else: sunshine kissing your cheeks on a humid july day, rain pitter pattering, the fragrance of pumpkin cookies baking or even a well-timed song that conjures up sacred memories. Remembering our loved ones is the active loving context after death. Our senses perceive so much more than our minds can when grieving. After publishing the children’s bereavement book, “That Place” I began working with bereavement camps, speaking at local schools, and for every copy sold I donate a copy in memory of a bereaved loved one to a local public library or a bereavement organization. I began the conversation of Love after my own loss, I share it with those who have lost, and they create it for themselves and their families. There is none greater than a dialogue of love and rememberance. Love Never Ends. Kd Larson
Through a reconnection via Facebook, a high school friend started working at Provisions, our local food pantry. She posted a list of items needed asking her friends to please donate, so I stopped by the pantry to make a donation the week before Thanksgiving, they were overwhelmed with clients, so I got trained in 10 minutes and given my first family to help them shop…now I’m there every Tuesday and love my new job!
My 16 year old daughter came with me over Christmas break, she was a huge help crating eggs, stocking shelves and is planning on joining me this summer. I am amazed how much our local farmers and private owned grocery store donates to keep our pantry going! I have been truly blessed to have been given the opportunity to spend my Tuesdays and my boss makes sure I’m off on Tuesdays to volunteer! This is the coolest thing I have ever done!
Personally, I try to donate a little bit here and there, to different friends who are raising money for different causes. I run with The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Team in Training every other year and fundraise for them. But what I really want to spotlight is the annual Clothes Swap that my friends and I have.
It started as a small idea to be shared among myself, my roommate at the time, and her sister. We had loads of extra clothes and decided to get together to swap them. The Clothes Swap has grown exponentially and is now held in my house. About 10-20 of us get together and bring all sorts of items to swap — clothes, home decor, linens, small appliances, DVDs, books, magazines, CDs, shoes, accessories, bath & body items, and, lately, children’s apparel & toys. It takes over the whole house. We have two hanging racks set up and even bedrooms become dressing rooms. At the end of the day, everybody leaves with at least a few items, sometimes three bags worth. Then over the next week, I go through the piles and put them in different charity categories — Dress for Success, the Fairy Godmother Project, homeless shelters, animal shelters, libraries, women’s shelters, and the Salvation Army or Goodwill. Finally, I take them to the respective places, and the cycle of setting aside giveaways starts again.
It’s a wonderful way for all of us to get together, to rid our house of items that we don’t need/use, and to help support organizations that we like.
I was a medical social worker for 17 years and loved helping others and making a difference in peoples lives. I stopped in 2001. Now, i spend 4-5 days a month volunteering for Damascus Help delivering food to people who are in need. I also work at a Soup Kitchen once every 5 weeks. It makes me feel so good to help others out who are not as fortunate as me. It also makes me very appreciative of everything I have and so grateful.
Two years ago, I took in a foster child. Needless to say, I fell in love with her immmediately. This gorgeous young lady will be 4 next weekend. We adopted eachother on May 18, 2009. It was the best thing that has ever happened to me. A lot of people want to say how lucky my daughter is, or how much of hero I am. I do not feel like a hero, as I am a woman who wanted a child. Also, I believe I am the lucky one. We make a glorious little family.
How these bitches give back: It is January, and we have already donated close to $300 to the adoption resource center in our area. Further, a deduction is taken from each of my paychecks to be donated to this center. We have also started donating our time to the center, participating in fundraisers and activities to benefit children in foster care who are awaiting a family. Finally, we are getting ourselves together so we can take in a foster child to expand our family.