We're back in business!

Okay, my last blog was a little depressing, I apologize. But just when you think there's no hope, alas, along come the requests. I decided to spend last Friday digging my heels in and contacting some organizations that have been on my radar for awhile in addition to refreshing the memories of those I'm already working with to let them know we're still here. And it worked! Just one day of effort will reach so many! Thank you Lord for giving me the strength to continue this journey and have faith that I can do it, even when I lose faith in myself. I've added 2 organizations who are already keeping me very busy and refreshed some contacts I've been working with to get help to some new families in need. There is so much good work to do!

And I have such wonderful news! A church from the city is moving into Clarence Center and they are looking to do a community outreach building! We've had conversations and all seems to be moving in the right direction that Wear 'n Share will soon have a new bigger home. Yeah!!!!

So let me share one more story to continue on this happy blog. This week I was so proud to be able to help a family who devotes their life to helping others. This family spends 3 years at a time in Tanzania helping with the relief/development initiative going on there to help families build their lives. Clothing is hard to come by there and very expensive so I was so happy to help clothe their children for their journey knowing that when they outgrow their clothing they will "pay it forward" by passing along their clothes to Tanzania children in need. It's what Wear 'n Share's "circle of giving" is all about!

The Good News and The Bad News

I always like to start with the bad news because then I can end on a happy note. So here it is.... Wear 'n Share has to temporarily stop taking donations. I never imagined in only 10 short months I would already be outgrowing a space I thougth I would be using for years to come. We're buried in boxes of clothing with nowhere to go. It really saddens me that we're sitting on all these beautiful clothing and we're not getting them to the families in need. This is my greatest distress. I have created this wonderful ministry, we have an amazing outpouring from of donations from a community so willing to help, and yet I'm having difficulty reaching the families who need it. So it's time to hit the groung running again and try to reach more churches and organizations to find them. I'm so perplexed when I do contact an organization who I know has families who need Wear 'n Share's help and they don't follow up. I try to think of the obvious reasons... lack of time and resources, not sure it they can trust me, etc., but aren't our children worth the time, sacrifice, and risk? God, please show me the way to cut through the red tape to help those in need. This ministry can only be successful if I'm reaching those that truly need the help. But I can't do it alone. I need the people who know the people and work with the people and live with the people who need the help to contact me so I can help them. I don't have my hand on the pulse of those in need. I'm counting on those that do to help me reach out to them. My hope is that no child in Buffalo and surrounding areas should be without clothing. I may not be able to break the cycle of poverty, but at least I can keep these children clothed. Or can I? Is this task too great? I once thought I could, but today I'm filled with doubt.

Okay, now the good news.... Wear 'n Share may soon be moving to a new space! Bigger and better with hanging bars and shelves! Our fate isn't yet certain, but it's looking promising. I'm hopeful that once in this new space, all the time I've been devoting to trying to relocate can be used to try to reach out to more organizations, churches and schools who help families in need. So I'm hopeful that soon my doubt will be replaced with joy at the new prospect of helping more children and expanding this ministry further. So I'll try to focus on the good news, which should bring good news to more families in need. Wear 'n Share is here people! Let us help!

Inspiration! Make 2010 the year to pay it forward....

It's finally here! The Extreme Makeover Home Addition Buffalo is airing this Sunday night at 8:00PM. Apparently we had the highest volunteer turnout in Makeover history! Although I'm not surprised. This city really steps up to the plate for people in need. This show was such an amazing experience to be part of and let me tell you why besides the obvious of getting to work side by side with Ty Pennington. Yes, ladies he is just as amazing in person! What was really cool about this show was its ability to inspire. I believe there were over 6000 volunteers working on this project, but not just the Powell home. Thanks to David Homes, the builder, and PUSH Buffalo, an organization which Delores Powell helped start, they decided just helping one family wasn't enough. They wanted to transform an entire neighborhood! I was fortunate enough to have a conversation with the Executive Producer of the show, who, by the way is so passionate about what they're doing and the people they're helping. He really wants to save the world one house at a time. Anyway, I was complimenting him on how great it was that he was transforming not just the Powell house, but the entire neighborhood and he said he couldn't take the credit, that it was David Homes who said they wouldn't take on this project unless the show would agree to let them do more than this one home- cool, huh?! So they started going door to door and asking their neighbors what they needed done on their homes and they did it. They gave someone who had no indoor plumbing for 2 years and had been using a hose for water an entire indoor plumbing system. They replaced roofs, siding, sidewalks, painted beautiful murals over buildings that had been tagged, added parks, rebuilt condemned houses and so much more. And it's still going on! PUSH Buffalo made it their personal mission to keep this going and bring pride back to the westside neighborhoods. Have you been to the Westside lately? There are some pretty amazing transformations going on there.
It's all about finding your gifts and talents and using them to help others which is what I've done with Wear 'n Share. Here's another example, a gentleman by the name of Dorian Gaskin who lives here in Buffalo teaches his trade to others and brought together other people like him with plumbing experience, carpentry, etc., anyone who had a talent they were willing to donate time to teach others and started an organization to get people who are unemployed the skills to find jobs and get back into the workforce and earning a living for their family. These people take their God-given talents and share them with others to help families in need. What are your talents? How can you use them to help others? Think about it. You can make a difference just by choosing to do so. So figure out what you're going to do this year to make 2010 your year of giving back.
I'll leave you with one more story about a woman who contacted me to volunteer for Wear 'n Share. She said her husband had been without a job for a year and she was working 3 jobs, one her own delivery business, trying to keep the family afloat. She knew things were tough for them, but she told me there are families out there that have it so much worse than they do, so she wanted to help me make deliveries. This is a family Wear 'n Share should be helping, but instead she took her talents (a delivery service) and decided to help families who are worse off than they are.
People like her and Dorian Gaskin, and David Homes and PUSH Buffalo. These are some of the heroes that inspire me to be a better person, to want to use my talents to help families in need. I'm hoping hearing about their good work will inspire you too. We all have the ability to make an impact on this world. What will yours be?

A "feel good day".

Today was a good day! Periodically I make deliveries to organizations that can utilize items I receive that don't fit my specific request needs. Today was the day to make those deliveries. I started with Everywoman Opportunity Center. They help women who have suffered hardships and are trying to start their lives over. They work on their interviewing skills, provide counselling, and also have a clothing closet which provides interviewing attire. Career clothing isn't necessarily what I'm in need of for the families Wear 'n Share helps so when I get these items in I pull them aside for this organization. My second stop was to the Boys & Girls Club of Buffalo. They were happy to find homes for our dance apparel and baseball pants and equipment we've received over the past few months. While there I was pleased to learn they were affiliated with CASA, a social service agency which has been on my radar, but I had not contacted yet. I passed along some marketing information to let them know about Wear 'n Share and what we do and they were very excited about using our services. Yeah! So a great connection was made to reach more children in need!
Last, but certainly not least, I stopped by St. Luke's Mission of Mercy. They are an amazing group who take in anyone, and I mean anyone, in need of help. They've helped so many people who would have nowhere else to turn and they take ANYTHING you are willing to donate as long as you can get it to them, which can sometimes be tricky, but once you've done it a few times you get the system down and get to know the right people. So, when I get items that don't actually fit the needs of the families I work with or I don't have the room to store, St. Luke's can benefit from these donations. I always leave there feeling enlightened somehow. I truly admire the work they're doing.
So today will definitely go down as a "feel good day". Delivery days always are, but there's something special about connecting with others who see the necessity for helping those who need help. There are some pretty amazing people out there and it restores your faith in humanity. Thank you for giving me the gift of this day.

Wear 'n Share made the news!

Yesterday was a really cool day! Erica Brason, Channel 2 News Anchor, interviewed me for their Good Neighbor Segment on Saturday Daybreak. It will be airing on January 23rd, sometime between 9-10:30AM. It was a great opportunity for me to talk about Wear 'n Share and hopefully reach more families in need and bring in more donations to help them. Yeah!!!! And of course I put in a plug for a larger space. Please, please let me reach someone who has an empty building they'd like to donate for this worthy cause.
On task for tomorrow....marketing. This week was a slow week for requests and no donations are coming in with our site closed until the 15th. A week like this causes me to panic a little. Am I not reaching enough people? Do I need more contacts? How do I find the families in need? I know I need a slow week every once in awhile to motivate me to contact more organizations and referrals. I think it's God's way of ensuring I keep my head in the game. There are so many worthy organizations out there who could use Wear 'n Share's services, so find them, share your vision with them, and reach the people who need our help. And so I will.

By providing for one, we can bring joy to many.

In my last excerpt I talked about the girl who needed a coat, so I put my plans aside for a day to put her needs first. And as always, by putting someone else first I was pleasantly taken care of in return.
I had two locations where my counselor worked out of and I couldn't get ahold of her to find out where to bring the items for this girl. I called my contact from Child & Family Services who originally connected me with her to see if she knew what location this counselor was working at on Friday. She said she wasn't sure, but I could drop the items off with her and someone from her organization would ensure they made it the client. Oh, and by the way, we'd like to give you 200 brand new books from an author who recently visited our organization if you're interested. Heck yeah! And what wonderful books they are! They're titled "So...what Color Were the Dinosaurs, Anyway?". It's a delightful twist to the idea that dinosaurs might have led to the birds we see today and even provides coloring pages at the end for children to create their own uniquely colored dinos. It's a great book about possibilities, dreams, and using the imagination. What a fabulous way to take children away for a little while and let them create their own world of dinosaurs. And now thanks to C&FS I can pass along this temporary relief from life's chaos to 200 children for them to enjoy. By providing for one, we can bring joy to many.

Putting life in perspective... what's really important?

I'm obsessive compulsive. Yes, I admit it. Not severely enough to need psychological help, but enough that it probably is the root of my migraines, but that's a topic for another day. There are benefits to being OCD. I'm very organized, my house is usually clean, and I'm usually the first person to respond to teacher's requests in my kids take home folders. But there are days like today where it can be an obstacle. When I have a plan for the day, I don't adapt well to change. I had plans for today, BIG plans. I was going to catch up on my piles of laundry, clean up the kid's playroom which has been in disarray for a week, get in a hardy workout (New Year's Resolution), go to the grocery store and make a few meals to freeze and keep for later. But last night I received an email from Child & Family Services Stanley G. Falk School looking for help for one of their students. It's an urgent request, a young girl who has been coming to school without a coat and in need of some other cold weather items like sweaters and pants, hats and mittens. I was just downtown yesterday making my deliveries and I usually make all deliveries once a week, but occasionally there's a situation like this one that requires immediate attention. So do I let my OCD control me and keep my very important plans intact or do I let life interrupt me to put someone else's needs first? I guess my laundry will still be there tomorrow and my kid's playroom can be messy for one more day, and the grocery store can wait, and my New Year's Resolution can start tomorrow and my family can eat boxed macaroni and cheese for dinner. I can change someones life today, give them warmth with a new coat and hope that they're going to be okay and let them know someone cares. Yes, I think my needs can wait until tomorrow.