Giving Back


Neighbors Helping Neighbors
April 30th, 2011 | Comments
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We’re thrilled to see how social media is helping victims of the latest disasters and want to share a post we wrote some months ago encouraging neighbors to use Facebook to organize their blocks. If you haven’t already, join us on Facebook to promote Neighbor to Neighbor Plan B.

 

All of us are looking for ways to make the world a better place. But how? You hear a lot about social good. Doing good. Social media doing good. And, it’s an abstract idea. Or you went on Jumo (the social network for doing good founded by the co-founder of Facebook) and you can’t figure out how it really impacts your life.

We have an idea.

Have you ever thought of yourself as a community organizing type?  Yeah. We know you’re not really interested in putting up placards, riling up passions, or running for President.

A fan wrote in today to tell us how in her neighborhood they have an online community board that connects neighbors in need.  It got us to thinking. Everyone we know is on Facebook. (It’s true, even our 88 year old aunt is a stalker.) What if you were to get together a few neighbors and set up a neighborhood group or page and called it,  ”The 800 Block on Orange Street in Jackson Township”.  Let your neighbors know that it exists (just tell the biggest busy body on the street — we’re sure the word will spread).

Then when the next big storm hits, or power fails, or heat wave strikes, those in need can post and those who are available can help.

Charity begins at home.






B’s Give Back: Book, Books, Books
April 3rd, 2010 | 2 Comments
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Spring cleaning is on everyone’s mind and what to do with all those used paperbacks that aren’t keepers is everyone’s dilemma. Take a cue from today’s Queen B’ Janet — she and her friends go out of their way to collect books and bring them to seniors.

“I read a lot and so do most of my friends. We frequent library sales and garage sales and buy tons of books. When we are done with them, I collect bags of them from my friends and take them to local senior centers. They love when I show up with them. Never throw away books. There is always someone who is happy for something new to read.”

Every weekend we bring you examples of women who find creative, meaningful ways to give. Click ‘comments’ above and tell us what you do! You might be featured here as an inspiration next Saturday.






B’s Give Back: True Beauty
March 20th, 2010 | 2 Comments
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Saturday is the day we share your stories about giving to others.

Please write in and tell us about what you do. How do you use your particular talents/strengths/skills to help others? When money and time are tight, how can you get creative about giving back?

Today we’re featuring the lovely Emma Bains, who lives on the Mississippi Gulf Coast and works her magic at Tanya Tancredi Salon and Spa in Gulfport, Mississippi.

Emma writes:

As an esthetician, I have the God-given talents to help others look and feel better about their appearance. As an esthetician who has lost two immediate family members to cancer, I want to give to others struggling with their illness and hopefully make them feel a little better in the process. Thus, the reason I volunteer my services to conduct the American Cancer Society’s, Look Good Feel Better classes in my community. My services include teaching patients to apply makeup donated by caring companies that conceals the effects of chemotherapy and radiation treatments. It’s amazing what teaching a woman how to correctly draw an eyebrow, where one once grew, can do for her self-confidence! Also, I teach them about proper skincare during their treatment periods and how to help make it look, and feel, normal.

Being a southern girl, my grandmother and my mother, always taught me to never go out in public without my lipstick!  As unnecessary as I perceived this to be then, I came to understand that the reasoning behind their “nagging” was it would make me feel better, and I would be better motivated to take on my day!  The LGFB program reinforces these same beliefs.  My goal is to be their motivator, and remind them how beautiful they are, even with no hair!

As a Bitch on a Budget, and a single mother, I have tightened my (already tight) financial belt, to the point that my contributions to charities were getting smaller. However, volunteering my time to LGFB fills that void. Teaching LGFB actually gives me a spiritual uplift when I see these beautiful, strong women smiling, laughing and leaving the classes with newfound confidence in their appearance, and attitudes toward fighting their cancer. I leave knowing they are going to beat their cancers too! If anything, I am the one who leaves with a new feeling of self-worth, and to these heroic women, I am thankful.

So, while I was looking to give back to my community during tight times, it is giving back to me too!

Thanks for this empowering message, Emma.

Now, readers, tell us how YOU give back. Click “comments” above. Inspire us!






B’s Give Back: It Adds Up
March 13th, 2010 | 2 Comments
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A modern B knows what she needs and knows how to get it. She also knows that other people need things, too–that we’ve got to look out for one another. Every weekend we bring you examples of women who find creative, meaningful ways to give to others, even when money and time are tight. To tell us how you help, click “Comments” above– you might be featured here next week.

Since it’s tax season, today we’re featuring one generous accountant, a woman with compassion for those on society’s margins—a woman who looks past the bottom line.

Tracey A Hennessey writes:

Accountants tend to be pricey. I try my hardest to keep my prices to a minimum. In addition to tax preparation, I also do a plethora of other things, including immigration assistance.

During tax season, I have three low-income senior housing residences that I visit, and I do the tax returns for any of the residents there for free.  I also prepare taxes for anyone in residence at our local homeless shelter, regardless of the time of year.

With regards to immigration, there is a petition that can be processed for the battered spouse of a US Citizen, called a VAWA petition.  (Violence Against Women Act)  Having been a battered spouse, I know

Tracey & daughter. "She's a B that can field-strip a firearm," says proud mom.

the heartache, the frustration and the living in fear that these women go thru. I can’t imagine adding fear of deportation and losing your children on top of that.  In these cases, I process their applications for about 25% of the normal rate, so that they will be able to stand up in court and fight for their rights – without fear of ICE showing up.

Alas, we can’t all be Tracy. (We have a hard time telling a W-2 from R2D2, and when we hear “withholding” we think of our men in sour moods.) But we can take Tracey’s lead and look out for each other. So tell us: What do you give? How do you use your particular skills to help those who need a boost?






B’s Give Back: The Power of Art
March 6th, 2010 | 6 Comments
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A modern woman is in touch with her own needs– and the needs of others. That said, it’s easy to give back when time and money are plentiful. We wonder: when cash is tight, when we feel so overburdened ourselves, how can we find the energy/time/resources to help others? With this question in mind, every weekend we bring you examples of women who find creative, meaningful ways to give. Click ‘comments’ above and tell us what you do! You might be featured here as an inspiration next Saturday.

Today’s Queen B of Giving Back is Veronica, who writes about bringing art (and her whole family) to a children’s shelter:

I volunteer at a children’s shelter teaching art on the weekends. I bring my two girls (ages 6 and 10) and now my husband comes too. we go every other Saturday. the kids range in age from 12-18. some are working to go back to their biological home while others are up for adoption. however we all know how hard it is for a teenager to be adopted. the shelter is also a SAFE PLACE for runaways and sometimes the kids that come in are runaways from other states. this shelter works REALLY hard at reuniting the children with their families as long as it is safe for the children. the staff at this shelter are really the parents of these children, as well as the mentors that volunteer their time every week. we love going and some of the children have been there since I started teaching. some of the things we have done include – soap, candles, frames, lots of painting, paper mache, shaving cream art, origami, Xmas crafts, paper making….i usually ask the kids what they want and try to accommodate them. as a family we have also cooked meals with the children, played board games and just hung out. my children love going to the shelter as much as my DH and I do. we would strongly encourage families to volunteer together if possible…the benefits are priceless.

How do YOU give back?






B’s Give Back: Looking Out for Little Ones
February 21st, 2010 | 5 Comments
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Each weekend, we feature one B who’s making a difference in her community. We wonder: how can we give back, especially when money is short? When we feel so overburdened ourselves, how can we find the energy/time/resources to help others? With these questions in mind, we bring you examples of women who find creative, meaningful ways to give. Click ‘comments’ above and tell what you do! You might be featured here as inspiration next week.

Today’s Queen B of Giving Back is Kelly Stirling, a native of New Orleans who now lives in Westchester County, NY. She volunteers for CASA and strongly encourages others to do the same. Here’s her powerful message:

I am a volunteer CASA — Court Appointed Special Advocate — and work with children who have been abused and/or neglected by their parents or guardians consequently ending up in the foster care system.  It’s extremely rewarding, but heart breaking at the same time.

Each year, approximately 780,000 children IN THE US are caught up in the court and child welfare maze because they are unable to live safely at home.  Imagine what it would be like to lose your parents, not because of something you did, but because they can’t—or won’t—take care of you. Now, into these children’s lives come dozens of strangers: police, foster parents, therapists, social workers, judges, lawyers, and more.  CASA volunteers are appointed by judges to watch over and advocate for abused and neglected children, to make sure they don’t get lost in the overburdened legal and social service system or languish in an inappropriate group or foster home.  They stay with each case until it is closed and the child is placed in a safe, permanent home. For many abused children, their CASA volunteer will be the one constant adult presence—the one adult who cares only for them.  Last year, more than 68,000 CASA volunteers served more than 240,000 abused and neglected children through 1,018 program offices.  CASA volunteers have helped more than two million abused children since the first program was established in 1977.

Being a CASA volunteer does not require any special education or background, simply the desire to help abused and neglected children find safe, permanent homes.

CASA is a wonderful organization, with chapters all across the country.  I can’t encourage everyone enough to be apart of it.

Helping one another is good, but helping our own great!  And I feel we all have a responsibility to look out for the children of our communities; there are far too many of them needlessly falling through the cracks.

p.s. We’ve just learned Kelly also has a cool business! She helps keeps kids safe AND makes women more beautiful. Talk about raising the bar. Check her out at http://OnCallStylist.com.






B’s Give Back– Message from a Funky O
February 13th, 2010 | 10 Comments
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Saturday is the day we share your stories about giving to others.

Please write in and tell us about what you do for others. 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, clear litter from the side of the road? Add your story in the comment section in the upper right of this post.

Today, Becky Haugh reminds us about blood donation: a way to give without spending a dime.

She writes:

I’m… a big advocate of blood donation…. I’ve never personally been a recipient of a blood transfusion or have known someone close to need one – but since the husband and myself really can’t drop large checks to charity, we try to give in ways that aren’t monetary in nature. For me, it’s donating blood. If you plan it out right, you can donate blood up to 6 times per year. I’m going to try to hit 6 donations this year. Sure, it’s not much, but you can’t buy blood and so many people (in this country and abroad) need blood – especially when you are a funky O type like myself.