For those who regularly read my blog, you may remember my post announcing my recent kidney donation.  I wanted to let you know that the surgery went well for both my recipient and for me.  Now I am back at home resting.  While I do not yet have the energy to get back into my regular blogging, I did want to share this with you.

On Tuesday, I had the pleasure of meeting all donors and recipients involved in the donor chain.  It was so neat to hear each story and how they became involved in kidney transplantation.

We gathered at the Clarian Transplant Unit at Indiana University Hospital on IUPUI’s campus.  Many of the medical and professional staff members were present, as well.

The story of the donor chain was recorded by the marketing department of Clarian Health Partners, as well as one of Indianapolis’ local new station, WTHR.  If you are interested, make sure to watch WTHR on Christmas Eve.  If I receive more information about the airing of the story, I will be share to post it.

View this video in High Quality

With less than two months until the Opening Ceremonies of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games, the Ismaili Muslim community had its first taste of Olympic fever in Ontario.

Thursday afternoon, the Olympic torch made its way through the Don Mills neighbourhood of Toronto, carried by President Mohamed Manji of the Ismaili Council for Canada. The Don Mills community gathered outside the Westin Prince as President Manji, donning the iconic torchbearer’s uniform and a proud Canadian smile, ran past flashing cameras through a cheering crowd.

President Manji waves at the residents of Don Mills as he carries the Olympic Torch along York Mills Road in Toronto. Photo: Moez Visram

“I am deeply touched by this special honour,” said President Manji. “In today’s world, the Olympic ideals to serve peace, friendship and international understanding are more important now than ever before in the history of our world. Hope, humility, tolerance, pluralism, the creation of a peaceful and better world through sport, the spirit of volunteering one’s time to help those less fortunate — these are the values of the Olympic Truce and the Olympic Movement, and these are the values that our community lives by, as do all Canadians.”

Earlier in the afternoon, Don Mills community members gathered at the Westin ballrooms to celebrate the milestone. In the spirit of sharing and camaraderie, the Ismaili community partnered with the Flemingdon Food Bank to host the pre-torch event. Attendees were encouraged to bring one or two non-perishable food items to donate towards the cause.

A joint initiative planned by the Ismaili Councils for Canada and Ontario, the partnership with the Flemingdon Food Bank was an opportunity to extend a hand of friendship and make a contribution, together with fellow members of the Don Mills community, as they celebrated this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Olympic Torch-Bearer, President Mohamed Manji, is surrounded by athletes who competed in the Canadian Ismaili Games in Vancouver and the Golden Jubilee Games in Nairobi. Held in 2008, both Games emphasised about the pursuit of excellence and unity amongst peoples. Photo: Moez Visram

“Our relationship with the Flemingdon Food Bank was a natural one,” explained Ismaili Council for Ontario Member Alim Somani. “Having worked with them for this year’s Ramadan Food Drive, where we were able to collectively raise ten thousand pounds of food, we felt that this was the perfect opportunity to celebrate with the Don Mills community and contribute back, especially at this time of year.”

The Flemingdon Food Drive is one of many community engagement opportunities that have been made possible with the help of the Ismaili community’s relationship with the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (VANOC), which goes back several years. The community has hosted VANOC meetings at the Ismaili Centre, Burnaby, while VANOC assisted the community with the Canadian Ismaili Games held in Vancouver in 2008. A number of upcoming pre-Olympic events are also planned and Ismaili volunteers will be actively engaged during the Games.

At the end of his run, President Manji passes the Olympic flame to the next runner by lighting her torch. Photo: Moez Visram

In September, the Ismaili community and VANOC hosted Her Excellency the Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean, Governor General of Canada, at the Ismaili Centre, Burnaby for a youth dialogue as part of the Olympic Truce. The Truce is a traditional part of the Olympic Games promoting the Olympic ideals of peace, friendship and international understanding. In the lead up to the Games, the Ismaili community will also be participating in the Spirit of Burnaby Olympic Torch Celebration, and Malik Talib, Vice-President of the Ismaili Council for Canada, along with many other Ismailis, will be participating in the Torch Relay as it crosses the country.

The synergy of values between the VANOC and the Ismaili community has helped to forge a strong and dynamic partnership. With a strong history of voluntarism, and years of involvement in the rich civic life that Canada has to offer, the Ismaili community looks forward to being active contributors to the Olympic Games, as Canada welcomes the world to Vancouver in 2010.

The Ismaili

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You must give some time to your fellow men. Even if it’s a little thing, do something for others – something for which you get no pay but the privilege of doing it.

~ Albert Schweitzer

The first time I rang the bells, I stood outside the entrance to Sears in Glenbrook Mall. The fountain before me usually got all the coins, but on this night those nickels and dimes found their way into the red kettle mounted on a stand beside me.

Two things I learned my first time ringing the bells:

1) That shit is hard! The bells I used that night were the muted kind. Less annoying to the shoppers and merchants, but you gotta really shake them things to make them jingle. When my arms started aching and my wrists seized up, I checked my watch; I’d been at it a whopping ten minutes. It was going to be a long night . . .

2) Most people are crabby. Especially in the mall. I’d smile and say “Merry Christmas!” or “Good evening!” if people glanced my way and made eye contact, but only a few responded in kind. Most just scowled and walked on by . . .

But not the family with the little guy in the stroller. He really wanted to put his change in my kettle, so they wheeled him over. I leaned the kettle down so he could reach it better, and then let him ring my bell before he and his parents wandered off toward Macy’s. The boy had cerebral palsy and a killer smile.

I had arranged with the local Salvation Army volunteer coordinator to ring the following morning at a grocery store. The sun broke through the clouds every once in a while, but added little heat to the air. The wind chill factor was about ten below zero, and I wore enough layers to where I resembled me back in my fat dad days. A lady with bobby pinned hair and a fur coat offered to buy me some Starbucks. I showed her my sixty four ounce insulated mug of hot chocolate and declined. She just shook her head, dropped in a folded dollar bill, and went about her busy day.

The next day, I met Manga Lady. Sitting on the bench next to my post by the automatic doors, she drew fan-fiction sketches of Cardcaptor Sakura. She mistook me for a fan when I commented on her wicked skills – how she kept the eyes big and the mouths small – and started rambling on and on about the love triangle her character had found himself involved in. I just smiled, shook my head, and thanked the baby Jesus when her bus showed up.

Later that same morning, I met Placement Guy. He had walked over from the McDonald’s across the street where his sister worked and he hoped to gain a bit of employment. They told him they could maybe give him five to ten hours a week, tops, and he figured that would be enough to keep the people in charge of his “placement” happy. It showed he had potential. And gave him just enough free time to prepare for his GED exam. He wore a button-up shirt under a zip-up hoodie that wasn’t zipped, and all that shivering made his voice shaky. He bummed my phone to call his mom and I overheard as he made plans to maybe get together over the holidays. I hope they worked it out. I told him that I too was out of work and wished him the best in the days ahead.

And then there was the family that reminded me of the clowns. I helped them to their car the following night at the Community Harvest Food Bank distribution center. I pushed the cart plumb full with over 120 pounds of canned foods, ramen noodles and frozen turkey. And I laughed out loud when I noticed four kids piled up in the back seat where the food had to go because the trunk was crammed with Toys for Tots. No way were they going to be wearing seat belts. As they climbed out and began running around the car . . . well, I thought of the clowns at the circus that pile out of a car way too small to hold so many clowns. We managed, and they drove away with the back of the car scraping the ground when they hit the bumps.

So many faces.

So many stories.

So many people in need. And so many people willing to lend a hand. It made the weeks leading up to Christmas more than a drudgery of days. Those hours spent swinging a bell or pushing a cart meant something. To me. And to those who will find a helping hand when they need it most.

This has not been the most pleasant of years for me and mine. But all that gets lost in the din of the bell ringer . . .

[Flickr photo is by ndrwfgg and is protected]

• Something cute.
• Something that made me laugh almost till I peed myself.
• Being paired with an extreme extrovert today for my kitchen duty training and being able to handle it with a sense of humour. After the first hour of non-stop (lame) jokes, quick jumps and skips from topic to topic, seeming non-sequiturs, too many people in the kitchen (including the big, beautiful black therapy dog holding his rag doll and nudging my leg to play) and the radio playing, I finally just told my trainer, “I’m an introvert. I stopped being able to process anything you’re telling me about 15 minutes ago. I see your lips moving, but have no idea what you’re saying anymore.” God, it feels good just to be honest. It feels good not to pretend it isn’t happening. It feels good not to make it all my problem and all my fault. This is how I am…how about you meet ME halfway?
• Getting off shift at 8:00 and knowing Sylvain was at the condo waiting for me. Since he has two weeks off work, he is spending multiple evenings and breakfasts with me!!!
• My first tears as I was driving home tonight and it hit me: the sweet woman in room # …whom I have already begun to feel fondly toward…has not very much longer to live. None of them do. That has started to sink in.

Friday  night I had the pleasure of participating in “Santa Night”  a (very fun) fundraiser for the National Cervical Cancer Coalition which providees support,education and service to those in need. More than ever I’ve been inspired by people who give of themselves to help the people in their communities and beyond to better the lives of those in need. So when my friend Mandy asked me if I could help out with this event I was honored and ready to do anything to help. (even dress up in an elf costume and sing out of tune.) So that night a busload of Santa’s Elves went from one designated bar to another caroling, spreading merriment and raising money for the NCCC. I was amazed at the response of the people we met. They were all laughing and singing along. Afterward they gladly dropped cash into our ELF hats. The first gentleman I approached gave me $25 and that set the tone for the rest of a very exciting and successful night.  I can’t say enough about the people I met that night. All of the elves worked very hard, had a lot of fun and looked good doing it. Which is not always easy in an elf suit. They were truly Santa’s helpers. And to Mandy who organized and worked so tirelessly on making this event. I can’t say enough about how you inspire me and so many others. You’ve motivated me to do so much more with my time and leave the best footprint possible on the places I’ve travelled.

By the way, it’s never to late to give of yourself and your time. Here are some links that I highly recommend.

http://www.nccc-online.org/

http://www.newyorkcares.org

http://www.njcares.org/

• The sun’s birthday! Happy Solstice and Shab-e Yalda!
• Today I met with the volunteer coordinator at the hospice to talk about how I might help out between now and when I do my training in February for the positions that involve working with patients one-on-one. I arrived for our meeting quite sure that reception was the only job I was comfortable with at this point. When she said they had a much greater need for kitchen help, I found myself saying YES to that in spite of my apprehensions around whether I could handle it. Lord knows I love to cook for others AND love to keep things clean and tidy, so maybe it’s not such a stretch.
• Looking forward to my training tomorrow under a volunteer who also happens to be a chef and pastry chef.
• Thanks to Melissa’s post about her experiences taking food orders from people who could not communicate, I am also looking forward to that part of my new volunteer job. I was warned today that some patients–especially those with brain cancer–may not be able to communicate their food preferences or wishes, and was given suggestions on how best to deal with this.
• Getting a generous Christmas cheque from my mom, which I’ve earmarked for the gasoline it will take to get to my new volunteer job.

Not every nurse works in the hospital setting; however, the general public tends to associate the image of a nurse with a hospital. In addition, most people picture nurses working strictly with sick people – they are not aware of other areas of nursing that involve providing services to people who are not necessarily “sick”. Throughout my life and career as a nurse, I’ve volunteered my time on numerous occasions in a variety of different settings such as free community health clinics, food banks, domestic violence shelters, and group homes for at-risk youths. I’ve also participated in numerous fundraising events and volunteered with Habitat for Humanity and AmeriCorps. By volunteering, I have had the opportunity to work in the community with people from a variety of cultural, racial, and socioeconomic backgrounds, which is much different than working with the same people when they are patients!

According to the American Nurses Association’s Code of Ethics for Nurses, we are responsible for promoting, advocating for, and striving to protect and promote health in clients. Furthermore, nurses are expected to be caring, courageous, and culturally competent when taking care of clients. Volunteering may be an excellent way for nurses to further develop these qualities and better fulfill their duties and obligations to all clients. Numerous other professions engage in volunteerism through their organizations – for some, it is even a requirement. Perhaps this should be the case with nursing. If we are oblivious of other cultures, ethnicities, and poverty, how can we provide what is best for our patients? Volunteering may help make the nurses of today, and in the future, more aware.

• Community Emergency Response Teams
• American Red Cross
• Medical Reserve Corps

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Blacklist Investigation of #iranelection, Austinheap, Haystack Network, & Censorship Research Center

Iraq denies Iranian oilfield incursion

Iran detains filmmaker: report

Activist Threaten Not To Participate in Mourning (not English)

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White Rose Luncheon

What do Arlene Schnitzer, Gert Boyle, Vera Katz and Barbara Roberts all have in common?

They are past White Rose Luncheon Honorees.

Nominations are now open for 2010 White Rose Luncheon Women of Achievement.  If you know a woman who lives or works in Oregon and has made exceptional contributions to her community, we’d love to hear about her.

White Rose Honorees are selected on the basis of volunteerism, professional excellence and contributions to the community as a whole.

And this year, we’re excited to add a youth award component to our luncheon. A young woman (under age 24) will be honored based on her own volunteerism and contributions to her community.

Learn more about this prestigious award and how you can nominate a woman (and young woman!) of achievement today!  Nominations due by January 29th.

Saturday, December 5, the youth of Dumaguete and Siquijor Island did not sit idly and wonder how to make a positive impact in  their communities. 

Instead, they grabbed rice sack,

plastic bag

or mangrove seedling

and set to work in their communities

to complete a total of seven environmental projects for International Volunteer Day. Two projects had already been completed in advance.

Some youth groups centered on trash clean-up in Dumaguete’s beaches, riverbeds,

or streets.

A separate group of youth and adult volunteers planted 500 mangrove seedlings in Banilad. The theme of “Volunteering for our Planet” was timely, given the recent onslaught of tropical typhoons here in the Philippines.  As such, the activities planned for the Philippines concentrated on raising awareness of climate change and environmental issues, but better yet, focus on inspiring action.  Participating volunteer groups included Calvary Chapel, GP Rehab, Federation of Habitat Youth Organizations, Oriental Negros Children’s Advocacy Network (ONCAN) including over six provincial NGOs, Silliman University, Silliman University Habitat for Humanity Campus Chapter, Siquijor State College, St Paul University, and  Barangay Talay Purok Habicore Youth Association.

The afternoon culminated with a recognition ceremony in Freedom Park.
International Volunteer Day was established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1985.  It’s now a global celebration, with thousands of events held worldwide to pay tribute to the volunteer spirit.  Dumaguete proudly joined other Filipino cities in this international event. Amazingly, each UN-backed steering committee was only given 5,000php as start-up capital.

The organizing regional steering committee this year was headed by VIDA volunteer Nicole Cooper and Peace Corps volunteers David Eisenhart, Karen Gados, David Lumsden and Elizabeth Singler.

One may argue that one action cannot even scratch the surface of climate impact. But as these volunteers discovered last Saturday, not only the more the merrier, but the greater the impact.  What would Dumaguete City look like if International Volunteer Day occurred every month?

The Limits of Celebrity Endorsement in Volunteer Engagement

These days, when a trend is at its fever pitch, it’s trendy to say it “jumped the shark.” That’s from the 1977 Happy Days episode where Fonzie water skis over a giant great white. Since then, the scene has become synonymous with absurd developments that signal the beginning of the end. The show may have limped along for years more, but creatively speaking it was all downhill from there.

Ironically, the Happy Days show that aired the following week has become equally influential – at least to those who care about social change. That was the one where The Fonz and Co. sign up for library cards in order to meet more girls. When the caper works like a charm, Fonzie exclaims: “Libraries are cool!”

To this day, Henry Winkler – the actor who played Fonzie – speaks proudly about the impact of his words on viewers. As he told an audience in 2002, when the show aired, “Library cards issued after that one liner went up 500 percent in the U.S. Who knew!”

Over time, Fonzie-at-the-library became a trope for marketers and fundraisers about the potential of celebrity campaigns to influence consumers to act in the public interest.

There was just one problem: There was no Fonzie Effect – at least not on the scale that everyone assumes. Not only has the American Library Association not been able to find any references to a surge in library cards, but there wasn’t even a national system in place to measure card registrations at the time.

Continue reading…

]]> http://the44diaries.wordpress.com/2009/12/17/first-lady-michelle-obama-delivers-toys-for-tots/ Thu, 17 Dec 2009 13:44:41 +0000 audiegrl http://the44diaries.wordpress.com/2009/12/17/first-lady-michelle-obama-delivers-toys-for-tots/

First Lady Michelle Obama praised the soldiers and volunteers who worked on the Marine Corps program.

First Lady Michelle Obama visits the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve’s Toy for Tots warehouse in Stafford, VA to deliver some of the more than 500 toys collected during a White House drive. The program helps make sure needy children have something to unwrap on Christmas morning. The first lady was told about an abundance of toys for younger children. She asked the public to think about needy older children when shopping for toys to donate.

more about "The First Lady Delivers Toys for Tots…", posted with vodpod

Days Until My 50th Birthday: 3,651
Abstinence from Compulsive Eating: 2 Months, 1 day (62 days)

Holiday Eating Season Countdown: 17 days

      After yesterday’s ups and downs, I was getting ready for volunteering this morning and I had an epiphany: Despite the disappointments of the day, life at forty-plus-one-day is really good. I was contacted by friends and family on my birthday to wish me well. I had no problem making one more day of abstinence, despite my worry. Most important, I have purpose in my life, a sense of direction. Life at 40 is where I wanted it to be; it didn’t matter if people recognized my “Big Day”. Today, I realized I recognized my “Big Life”, something much more important than 24 hours in the grand scheme of things.

      I had a good half-day volunteering today, and I met the person I am going to be working under, finally. I got some work done, which I hope made her (and the office manager’s) life easier. Before I met her, the office manager had me work in the kitchen. I helped make and bag dozens upon dozens of of sandwiches with a handful of volunteers. These men were from different parts of the community, and each had a wonderful story. We had conversations about work, sports, current events–everything. The five of us made sandwiches down the table from about a dozen specially-abled adults. I normally am uncomfortable around people who aren’t like me. This discomfort was gone in a moment, and I felt so connected with everyone in that area. I smiled a lot and was happy.
      By the time we all finished, there were a thousand sandwiches in the refrigerator for the needy. I had lunch in the office (I brought it) and got a chance to talk to one of the volunteer coordinators more. He’s a really great guy–he was who got me onto the tour. I like the people in the office, as well. Good people all around from different backgrounds, they all share the same overarching desire: To serve the community.
      I also donated the three knit hats I made and have started another. It’s getting faster to crochet them. I hope I can finish this hat tonight and get another started tomorrow, completing about half of it while I am taking my lunch break.

      Today is also the day I get my Blue Recovery Coin for 60 days of abstinence. I’m pleased that I am getting an easy ride right now on abstinence; this is telling me I need to work that Fourth Step while I am not facing barely-surmountable challenges and compulsive urges. Perhaps it’s because I’m so excited about getting the coin today. We’re going over the Eighth Tradition tonight at meeting, and I pre-read the section today. I’m thinking about volunteerism and how I’m holding back doing more for OA because I’m in a holding pattern at Step Four and I’ve only had two months of abstinence. I think I’ll volunteer to backup open the room at the beginning of the year. I really do need to do more for OA, considering it was the reason I am doing at all for Saint Vincent de Paul.
      I’m thinking about whether or not I sound or seem like a cultist convert to some people. I know it shouldn’t matter, but sometimes I think about that. Am I content with life, or am I so energetically pro-OA that some worry I’m on the verge of proselytizing it as the One True Answer?
Well, no program is for everyone. For me, however, it’s the first program that works–only because it addressed more than just my self-esteem and the list of foods and portions I was allowed put in my mouth.
      I suppose when I really admitted down to my toes that I was “powerless over food”, it came to me as an understanding that I was a parishioner of the Church of the Calorie, a member in good standing of the Cult of the Refrigerator-Freezer. My life was the next fix of cookies and candy and all things which cause adult-onset diabetes. I spoke the prayer regularly, “There is a measure of taste: It’s called the Calorie”. I advised through action the use of food as a medicine and journey and a destination, and I was held deep within its clutches.
      Sure, I have a Higher Power. Sure, I have my Agnostic Third Step Prayer (“I release my self-serving will to the Universe so that I can be inspired to be humane to myself and others”), yet I say the Third Step Prayer as it’s written in group. Sure, I don’t speak the word G-d unless it’s in the text I am reading. Sure, I don’t say it for the Serenity Prayer in meeting because I just am uncomfortable doing it and it’s mentioned once, right at the beginning of the Serenity Prayer. I don’t mean offense when I don’t say the word, I just don’t feel true to my own OA recovery if I do it. It distracts me from my recovery when I do–it shouldn’t, and I hope it won’t forever. For now, it does. I have no hatred it’s said, and I revel knowing that people say it with such relief and joy, a quiet thanks to their Higher Power for holding their hands through meeting and every day they face abstinence. Faith is beautiful in all of its aspects.
      I guess I just appreciate so much that, within abstinence, my attention shifted. I never knew I was so focused on food. I thought I ate “normally” and did not understand why my body didn’t understand and simply melt the weight because of it. My awareness was so limited by the food. Now that my eyes are opening (I’m on the path, not at the destination), I am seeing the opportunities in my life. I am taking them, now.
      All because I stopped putting energy into procuring and hiding and eating and replacing and sneaking and excusing my food. Yes, it’s frustrating to face off with things I once enjoyed, knowing the only answer is to say, “It’s not on-plan for me.” My husband is a sweet fellow who likes to share. Before, I would “share” (defined as “gorge myself on and swipe more of”) what he offered. Currently, I have to make trade offs or simply reject it because the behavior of absentmindedly taking bites is part of my compulsion. I have to think about it, now. Can I fit it into my food plan? If yes, I do; if no, I have to let it go. Yes, it ends up being a bit of a production as I think about it, but I’d rather think about it and fit my smaller clothing again than not think about it and wonder why the plackets and arm holes of my largest shirts are straining as soon as I put them on.
      For me, Overeaters Anonymous addresses something once missing in me. My spiritual pilot light was struggling and was nearly out. It’s now burning bright, and I feel so fortunate that I was able to get here in my life before my health was irreparably damaged. I want to feed that karma, I am thankful I was ready to make the changes I needed to.
      Those changes triggered more changes; the changes which followed have triggered even more. In the end, I realized I like who I am after sixty days (and a bit) of giving up my “I deserve this food!” attitude and taking on a food plan that has no emotional investment in making me happy. In exchange, I am content.
      With overflowing excitement thrown in sometimes.

      My name is Jess, and I am a compulsive overeater. I can’t do this alone, and I am so thankful I have so many in my life who mean so much to me.

The OA Promise
I put my hand in yours
and together we can do
what we could never do alone.
No longer is there a sense of hopelessness.
No longer must we depend upon
our own unsteady willpower.
We are all together now,
reaching out for power and strength
greater than ours.
And as we join together,
We find love and understanding
Beyond our wildest dreams.

My recent election to the Board of Directors for a local nonprofit organization has inspired me to think more about the boards of nonprofit organization.  Check out this post that announces my new position with Trusted Mentors.  You may also want to check out this other post about fundraising and a nonprofit board.

Today, I’m interested in identifying key information for board orientation.  I recommend providing the following information to any new board member…

General Organizational Information

• Bylaws and other founding documents
• Mission and Vision Statements
• Organizational Chart with Staff Details
• Strategic Plan and other supporting documents

Board Information

• Job Description for Board Members, with expectations and responsibilities
• Board Structure, with job descriptions for positions and committees
• Contact list for all Board Members, including position, term length, and preferred communication
• Meeting minutes from the past twelve months

Scheduling Information

• Upcoming dates, times, and locations for board meetings
• Important dates for the organization, including special events, press conferences, etc.

Financial Information

• Financial reports from (at least) the last twelve months
• Most recent audited financial statements
• Financial policies, covering budgeting, auditing, investing, and other financial activities

Other Critical Information

• Any and all executive policies, approved (or pending approval) by the Board
• Sample of marketing materials (including brochures, donor/volunteer correspondence, media coverage, etc.)
• Sample of case expressions (i.e. reasoning for supporting the organization)

General Nonprofit Information

• Concise comparison between nonprofit and for-profit corporation models
• Brief overview of nonprofit sector
• Identification of other nonprofits that are relevant to the organization’s activities
• List of free resources about nonprofits

What other information should be provided to new board members?!?  Please leave a comment with your ideas!

26 Operations Done Over Six Days Gave 13 People New Kidneys In Huge Lifesaving Effort

Posted by Audiegrl

Kidney donors (left to right) Bill Singleton, Lucien Boyd, Sylvia Glaser, Kelvina Hudgens, Pamela Hull and Tom Otten attend a news conference at Georgetown University Hospital in Washington D.C. on Dec. 15.

A hospice nurse who handed homemade cookies to her operating team. A retired stockbroker who had volunteered with the National Kidney Foundation and decided to walk the talk. And a woman inspired by President Barack Obama’s call to volunteer. They all donated a kidney with nothing to gain — they didn’t have a friend or loved one in the marathon chain of transplants that they helped make possible.

“It feels wonderful,” Sylvia Glaser, 69, the hospice nurse, said Tuesday at a news conference where most of the donors and recipients met for the first time. “You are giving someone a life, and there is no substitute for that.”

“It’s not like I’m doing anything courageous,” Bill Singleton, 62, the kidney foundation volunteer, told The Associated Press before his surgery. “If I don’t volunteer, who will?”

Kidney exchanges widen the pool of potential donors for the hardest-to-transplant patients — minorities as well as people whose immune systems have become abnormally primed to attack a donated kidney. What happens: Patients find a friend or relative who isn’t compatible with them but will donate on their behalf, and the pairs are mixed to find the most matches.

Roxanne Boyd Williams, left, cries as she meets her kidney donor Tom Otten, a suburban St. Louis police officer, in an emotional reunion at the Georgetown University Hospital in Washington D.C. on Dec. 11. Otten's wife, Irene, also received a kidney as part of the donor chain.

“People keep wanting to know why, why, why,” Glaser, the Gaithersburg, MD, nurse said before her surgery. “It sounds very trite but you pass through this world, and what do you ever do that makes a difference?”

The AP documented weeks of the complex logistics as Melancon’s team initially planned for a 16-way exchange, juggled donors and recipients for the best matches — and emerged with a record-setting exchange: Twenty-six operations over six days this month at Georgetown and nearby Washington Hospital Center.

Ten of the 13 recipients were African-American, Asian or Hispanic. And five were patients who never would have received a kidney under the traditional system, because they needed an extra blood-cleansing treatment to remove those hyperactive immune cells, treatment that only a handful of hospitals in the country offer.

Kidney transplant recipient Solomon Weldeghebriel, second from left, with kidney donor Bill Singleton, right, holds his children Mahor, 5, left, and daughter Simona Weldeghebriel, 3

The exchange started with a 45-year-old Maryland woman inspired by President Obama. She asked to remain anonymous but told The AP: “I just wanted to help someone out that needed my help, to give them a better life.”

More @

Days until my 40th Birthday: 1
Abstinence from Compulsive Eating: 1 Month, 29 days (60 days)

Holiday Eating Season Countdown: 19 days

      Wow, December 14 is a big milestone day for me.

      At midnight, I successfully reached 60 days of abstinence. Though I have to stay abstinent until Wednesday evening to receive my 60-Day Recovery Coin, the hard work of getting to 60 days is done. Last night, I looked at the three coins I already have–my welcome coin, my 24 Hours of Abstinence coin, and my 30-Day coin. As I was looking at them, I thought about how far I’ve come. While it may not seem like much in the grand scheme of lifelong recovery, each day I put between me and daily insane eating is another day I feel awake and alive. The promises I would always make myself (“Next year I’ll be goal weight”) are coming true day by day this year. I’m learning about what I can do, what I want to become, and who I really am at my core.
      It has also been two months to the day I started being food abstinent. On the thirteenth of October, I absentmindedly yet ravenously ate cake leavings and went out of my food plan for the day. After the fact, I realized I had done it, and I even journaled it. From then to now, I’ve figured out how to eat out at restaurants and have, in my head, a sense of what a serving is for about fifty different foods. Ten months to go until my first OA birthday, if I can chain together days into weeks into months.
      Today is the last day I’m pre-40. I’m not terribly bothered by it. I’ve been saying I’m 40 for three years now, rounding up. I’m not sure what I will be saying in five years, on the day before I turn forty-five, but I’m not going to worry about it right now. It’s nearly two-thousand days until that day arrives. I hope that I will be too busy being a person I want to be to particularly worry about it.
      I’ve got no amazing story because my husband, M—, has taken the day off and is stressing out getting the dishes done and our son out of the house. I am also disturbed by something I cannot control, so I have to let it go. My ex-spouse has a fourth child on the way with a third woman he started dating a couple of months ago. He is a year and five days older than me, and while I am ready to slide into the role of grandmother in the next ten years, he’s going to have a newborn and a seventeen-year-old with a woman who is seventeen years younger than him.
      I cannot control this, but I feel sad because one more child is being born into poverty. The two of them already have six children they are taking care of between them. I need that serenity right now, especially after going to the dining room for families with my supervisor (it was Christmas picture day) and seeing a line snaking outside, filled with hungry parents and children. I cannot change it all. I cannot change any of it. I just don’t understand and it’s sad, because I’m worried I’ll be homeless with a child if the economy takes another dive.
      I need to remember that’s what I have control over. That’s what I can choose to change or not change. My desire is to help a charity help the community. I can do that, and I will do that.

      My name is Jess. May I receive today the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

“As soon as you trust yourself,” the great writer Goethe once said, “you will know how to live.” Again and again, we hear stories that testify to this truth.

Consider this one, coming from William James, pioneering American psychologist and philosopher who struggled with self-trust. As a young man William James was in the grip of the free will-determinism controversy: are humans mere machines, predetermined in everything they do, or is freedom of the will a reality? This ancient question only amplified the chronic instability that he experienced in his family of origin; it gnawed at him, tore at him; and then, after a series of health issues and the death of a beloved, free-spirited cousin, the bottom fell out. “Whilst in this state of philosophic pessimism and general depression of spirits about my prospects,” he wrote, “I went one evening into a dressing room in the twilight to procure some article that was there, when suddenly there fell upon me without warning, just as if it came out of the darkness, a horrible fear of my own existence. Simultaneously there arose in my mind the image of an epileptic patient whom I had seen in the asylum, a black-haired youth with greenish skin … who used to sit all day on one of the benches, or rather shelves against the wall, with his knees drawn up against his chin, and the coarse gray undershirt, which was his only garment, drawn over them enclosing his entire figure. He sat there like a sort of sculptured Egyptian cat or Peruvian mummy, moving nothing but his black eyes and looking absolutely non-human. This image and my fear entered into a species of combination with each other. That shape am I, I felt, potentially. Nothing that I possess can defend me against that fate, if the hour for it should strike for me as it struck for him.” James continues, “After this the universe was changed for me altogether, I awoke morning after morning with a horrible dread at the pit of my stomach, and with a sense of the insecurity of life that I never knew before, and that I have never felt since. It was like a revelation; and though the immediate feelings passed away, the experience has made me sympathetic with the morbid feelings of others ever since. It gradually faded, but for months I was unable to go out into the dark alone. In general I dreaded to be left alone. I remember wondering how other people could live, how I myself had ever lived, so unconscious of that pit of insecurity beneath the surface of life.” That’s William James’ horrible vision. Self-trust destroyed. Fear of his own existence, of his own body and mind potentially working against him, potentially becoming inert, mummified, non-human, green. The pit of insecurity beneath the surface of life, revealed. Self-trust completely stripped away, together with knowledge of how possibly to live.

Yet the story does not end there. Around fifteen years after the horrible vision of the green-skinned patient in the asylum, in 1884, William James would stand before Harvard Divinity students, Unitarian ministers-in-training all, and present a lecture entitled “The Dilemma of Determinism,” defending freedom of the will against determinism, commending self-trust, pointing out, among many other things, that the very existence of regret—the feeling we get when we do something which we wish we hadn’t—suggests that deep within we know we are not puppets whose strings are pulled by forces beyond us. Freedom is a reality we know deep within, said James, even if our intellects may be tangled up by the complexities of philosophical debate or paralyzed by the lack of indisputable evidence to decide the matter once and for all. Something happened to William James that gave him his life back. Something happened that gave him a voice, got him up there to speak before our Harvard spiritual ancestors, made him the pioneering psychologist and philosopher that we know him as today.

It was something he read, several weeks after the horrible vision. An essay by French philosopher Charles Renouvier, in which he defines free will as “the sustaining of a thought because I chose to when I might have had other thoughts”—in which he says that to recognize this capacity is itself a free act. This is what James seized on. This is what turned things around. In his journal he would write, “My first act of free will shall be to believe in free will. For the remainder of the year, I will abstain from the mere speculation and [the brooding] in which my nature takes most delight and voluntarily cultivate the feeling of moral freedom, by reading books favorable to it, as well as by acting.” Inspired by Charles Renouvier, William James planted a seed of soul, and he carefully cultivated it, and it grew into self-trust, and this self-trust taught him how to live.

That’s what we’re talking about today, in this third installment of the “Planting Seeds of Soul” series: building self-trust by encouraging and increasing the feeling of being free, of being able to summon inner forces to act. As meditation teacher Warren Lee Cohen puts it, “By building accomplishment onto accomplishment, you can cultivate this very capacity to do anything that you set your mind to, creating a new kind of ‘muscle’ in your soul.” That’s the goal.

And the achievement of this can’t be overestimated. To be able to say no when it would be easier to go along; to be able to say yes when it would be easier to stay safe; to be able to replace an unhealthy habit with one that is healthier; to be able to adjust the course one is on: without some sense of control over our lives, we fall into despair. Freedom undeveloped and unfulfilled festers. To ourselves, we become as fearsome and strange as the figure of William James’ horrible vision.

We’ve just got to have a sense of our freedom. Jonathan Haidt talks about this in our study book from last year, The Happiness Hypothesis. He cites a classic psychological study in which benefits were given to residents “on two floors of a nursing home—plants in their rooms, and a movie screening one night a week. But on one floor, these benefits came with a sense of control. The residents were allowed to choose which plants they wanted, and they were responsible for watering them. They were also allowed to choose as a group which night would be movie night. On the other floor, the same benefits were simply doled out: the nurses chose the plants and watered them; the nurses decided which night was movie night. This small arrangement had big results: On the floor with increased control, residents were happier, more active, and more alert (as rated by the nurses, not just the residents), and these benefits were still visible eighteen months later. Most amazingly, at the eighteen-month follow-up, residents of the floor given control had better health and half as many deaths (15 percent to 30 percent).” Jonathan Haidt’s conclusion? “Changing an institution’s environment to increase the sense of control among its workers, students, patients, or other users was one of the most effective possible ways to increase their sense of engagement, energy, and happiness.”

Even the smallest arrangements in the direction of expanding control have big results. Jonathan Haidt cites yet another classic study, in which people were exposed to loud bursts of random noise. “Subjects in one group were told they could terminate the noise by pressing a button, but they were asked not to do it unless absolutely necessary. None of them ended up pressing the button, yet the belief that they had some form of control made the noise less distressing. Later in the experiment, when they were given difficult puzzles to work on, they were far more persistent than the other subjects, who were exposed to the loud bursts of noise without any sense of control.” There’s just a Hanukkah subtext to all of this. Take from people a sense of control, and it is as if you have stormed their temple, ruined their religion of the spirit, banished them to the mountains; but give it back to them, or help them to rediscover it for themselves, even in the smallest ways, and the temple is restored, the temple is rededicated, and at the center of it all is the miracle of willpower, the miracle oil in the lamp, lighting up the dark.

It’s why town hall meetings and congregational meetings matter. Why volunteerism matters, and financial generosity. Each is an opportunity for people to increase their sense of engagement and energy, and here too science reveals big results. Studies show that if you participate regularly in congregational life, chances are you will be healthier and happier and live longer. Plant the willpower seed, and good things grow. It can happen institutionally, and it can happen personally. Practice the soul exercises I’m sharing with you on a monthly basis. Make a Happiness Pledge, or continue working on the one you committed to this past April, as I am: my pledge is refraining from eating beef and poultry and pork for all sorts of sustainability reasons—feeling good about this change in my diet, feeling better, although I have to admit, I fell off the wagon pretty badly during Thanksgiving, thanks to our music director Don Milton III and the amazingly deliciously tempting turkey he cooked…. But perfectionism is not the point. It never is. It just paralyzes the will, but what we want is to strengthen it, plant the seed and help it grow. What counts is effort. Show up, and keep on showing up. With every exercise of will, to increase the feeling of being free, of being able to summon inner forces to act.

Even and especially when we’re not really sure what it is we ultimately want, or what’s ultimately best. As Barbara Sher says in her fantastic book I Could Do Anything If I Only Knew What It Was, “many of us get stopped. Every time we resolve to change our lives, every time we go to pick up the baton and get into the race [to pursue our unique destiny and potential], something happens. For some mysterious reason our determination melts. We look at the baton and think ‘This race isn’t it.’ And we put down the baton, uneasy because time is slipping away, frightened that we’ll never find ‘it.’”

Determination melts. Willpower drains away. We become the green-skinned horrible vision. And it IS horrible, this sense of personal powerlessness which translates into doing nothing, because in this way we lose all sorts of precious opportunities. We lose our way. “Action,” says Barbara Sher, “is absolutely essential for people who don’t know what they want.” “I can give you four good reasons,” she says, and they are:

#1: Action helps you think. “By exposing you to real-life experiences and seeing how they feel to you, action will help you do much better thinking than you could ever hope to do sitting still and weighing all the theoretical factors. Even action in the wrong direction is informative.”

Reason #2: Action raises your self-esteem. “Most inaction,” says Barbara Sher, “isn’t solely about indecision—it’s because of fear. But every time you want to do something that scares you, and you dare to do it, your self-esteem goes up a few degrees. When you’re fearful but you step forward anyway, you do yourself a great service.”

Action helps you think, it raises your self-esteem, and now, reason #3: it brings good luck into your life. “Try it,” says Barbara Sher. “Set a goal, any goal, and start doing everything you can to achieve it. I guarantee you, your life will change. You might not get where you thought you were going, but you could easily wind up somewhere better. You’ll get breaks you never could have planned for because you never knew they existed.”

Finally, reason #4: Action builds self-trust. “Sometimes,” she says, “your wishes or your timing look a bit odd, but if they feel right, stick with them. You can trust your animal instincts. The animal inside us knows how fast to move and how much we can carry. And it tells us things that don’t always make sense—at first.” Like Jessie in our story from earlier—our forty-five-year-old lady in a straight skirt and sensible shoes—sometimes, to get to the point where you can make the big practical change in your life in Atlanta, Georgia, you have to go to Bear Grease, Minnesota first, and you have to race sled dogs. You just have to.

And there’s the four good reasons for action even when we’re not really sure what it is we ultimately want, or what’s ultimately best. It’s the quote from Goethe, exactly: “As soon as you trust yourself, you will know how to live.”

And now it’s time to introduce this month’s soul-raising exercise.

It’s extremely simple—deceptively so. Choose a simple task that you will do each and every day at exactly the same time, like turning a ring once around your finger at noon, or shifting a set of keys from one pocket to another right in the middle of your sermon. As meditation teacher Warren Cohen says, “The task is better if it serves no obvious or current purpose in your life—in other words, you do the task in and of itself, out of a certain dedication just to doing it.” This guarantees that the complete focus is on doing what William James did: voluntarily cultivating the feeling of freedom, without reference to anything beyond it.

Four basic steps:

Step one: Choose the task and the time you will do it every day. It’s best if the task is simple and can be done without making you look too weird. (NOT, for example, doing the American Bat Face on your daily MARTA trip… You all remember the American Bat Face, right?) Choose a good task and create a plan in which you do it along with the other two exercises—you don’t want to forget about the review of the day and the clear thinking assignment. Remember, each exercise complements and balances the others; practicing any one of them requires practicing them all.

That’s step one—step two is: do it, and keep track of how it goes, in your journal or with friends, or both. Be sure to celebrate your successes. If you forget, do the task as soon as you remember. It’s never too late.

Step one, step two, and now step three: As you get more proficient at performing one task, add another. “Work your way up to three simple tasks per day, each of which you aim to do at its own specific time. Try spreading them out through the day and thus also learning about which parts of the day are better times for you to engage your will and which pose the most challenges” (Warren Lee Cohen).

Finally, step four, which comes into play after some practice, and you notice a subtle feeling of inner confidence developing. When this happens, direct your attention to the feeling of freedom; try to become aware of where it is centered in your body; direct this feeling to well up into your head and then pour down, down your spinal cord. Let your confidence enliven the rest of your body. Light up like a miracle Hanukkah lamp.

It’s about rededicating the temple of yourself. Rebuilding, restoring, making things whole. Believing in freedom to be free. Going to Bear Grease, Minnesota to figure out what to do here in Atlanta, Georgia. Turning the ring once around your finger at noon, clapping three times at 3 o’clock, practicing faithfully whatever small task you end up choosing, following the increasing feeling of will force into the vibrant larger life that waits for you.

Days until my 40th Birthday: 2
Abstinence from Compulsive Eating: 1 Month, 28 days (59 days)

Holiday Eating Season Countdown: 20 days

      Though my current official OA birthday is October 14, 2009 at midnight, tonight, I will have made sixty days of abstinence. Well, if I can make it Just for Today.

      Down to my toes, I know I can make one day of abstinence. I’m learning more and more every day about my relationship with food, I’m learning I can leave it behind. I’m learning that getting into that emotional eating state is still a real threat to my abstinence.
      Take yesterday, for example. Before I found out that I was overshooting the calories count Belgian chocolates by about 100 calories, I had a choice. I chose to play with the calories of my food than be completely honest with myself. After all, abstinence isn’t a race–it’s more like a charity 5K. Everyone who succeeds today is a winner, and everyone we help because of OA wins, too.
      But yesterday, in my heart, I cheated. I tried to cut a corner, and I felt like a cheater for it. I had a reasonable argument–in the section I put those calories, I could go up to a level of fat commensurate with those calories. The grain product I chose had no fat, so I moved about 15 calories per hundred under that umbrella and slid the rest into discretionary calories. Now, considering that my plan is overgenerous with the discretionary calories (I can have a beer or a slice of cake or a couple of cookies or a piece of candy and often two out of that list if I’m careful the rest of the day about butter and salad dressings), I understand why I felt guilty. I mean, I have enough calories in my bank to have a beer and a serving of cake (a realistic serving, not a restaurant serving) every day.
      This was so I could have a second peppermint sandwich cookie.
      I was so head-on insistent on that second one, I realized that I hit a compulsion wall. I knew I should only have one. But one was not enough. I wanted two. I felt two would satisfy that desire for cookies because it does whenever I use discretionary calories to “purchase” them. I was pissed off because I was two calories worth of breath mints I had had that morning away from having precisely what I wanted to eat yesterday. I knew I could have had bare pasta. I should have set it aside. But I wanted what I wanted, and I was willing to break my food-group limit abstinence for it, even if I was not near to breaking calorie abstinence for the day.
      I’ve given up butter in my life so I can have these trade-offs, and I loved butter on everything. I don’t eat chips or bread at restaurants because that could easily turn into discretionary calories. I make big trade offs to get what I want, but those are trade-offs that are okay because they’re trading fat-for-fat, sugar-for-sugar, and the like.
      Well, I learned a lot about myself on Day 59:
      (1) Don’t weigh myself anywhere else but a doctor’s office or gym with a professional scale. I will get discouraged if it’s not what I want to see, and I will face off with binge urges and lose;
      (2) If I want to make weight goals, I have to make exercise goals. Right now, I am one step up from fully sedentary. This doesn’t mean I “work out for 30 or 60 minutes”. This, like committing to OA, has to be a commitment to a long-term goal. My first goal is to prepare for a 10K (6.2 miles) charity run by mid-year 2010. My second goal is to prepare for the 2011 Arizona Rock ‘n’ Roll half-Marathon (13.1 miles). My third goal is to prepare to complete my first-ever full marathon (26.2 miles) by the end of 2012;
      (3) Staying within my food plan as it is written is abstinence, even if I’m within calorie count. I worked this plan out as-is for a reason–so I could eat in a healthy manner. I could drink 2000 calories of vodka per day instead of eat (Drunkorexia), but that would land me in a place where I’d need AA and OA at the same time. No, I chose this nutrition plan because it does not deny me the frivolous foods–though it limits them to one serving instead of five or ten servings;
      (4) I now know what breaking abstinence feels like, emotionally. It sucks out loud. And I am so thankful to my Higher Power for letting this be a dry run to find out what it would be like. I hated the guilt feeling that I betrayed myself for a stupid cookie because I wanted to undo the two calories of breath mints I had earlier. This is an excellent reminder that just because my OA birthday is currently October 14, 2009, it may not always be. It will be only as long as I remember I want abstinence and sanity more.

      So, today is it. Today is the day I earn my Blue Recovery Coin. Of course, I have to stay abstinent until Wednesday night to actually get my hands on it (Oh–and I need to remember to put an extra dollar in the basket this week to ensure we can stay a chip meeting), but I should be fine.
      Today, I read Thank God It’s Lunch Time by Steve, and his most recent entry was about being a sponsor whose sponsees aren’t using one of their most important tools. It’s interesting that a sponsor could face the same challenges I am, though from the other side. It’s a good read, especially for anyone dealing with sponsor-sponsee issues.
      I’m still thinking about that bracelet love2eatinpa made to celebrate her abstinence milestones. I have some leather cord and pony beads–I should make myself one.
      OA Charlie is doing great, too. He’s over halfway through week two of abstinence–a big challenge during the holidays.
      Oh, and my hat made on the knitting Jenny is going well. My husband made a baby hat and is making a kid’s hat from the camo yarn we have left over. I’m finding that these ones really do require bulky yarn, which I do not really have much of. But I like the stretchyness of the hats, so I guess I will use three strands of standard four-ply yarn next time to simulate two bulky strands and see if it makes a nice, warm hat. I also think I’ll make my mother’s hat and scarf on them, then crochet my dad’s hat and scarf (his yarn is standard, not bulky).
      I am going to challenge myself to make twelve hats on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. They take me several hours, and I’m not sure that I can. Well, if I don’t, I will go ahead and extend the 12 Donation Hats of Christmas to the 12 days of Christmas and set my goal to finish on Twelfth Night, or January 5, 2010.
      I’m looking forward to getting into a rhythm of volunteering this upcoming week. It’s like my life is completely changing as I turn 40. It’s staggering. Last year, I was mopey and worried and stressed and really unhappy. And I was binge eating and promising I would help the community but never did. I promised myself I would learn crafts or skills but never did any of them.
      As I turn 40, I’m volunteering and attending OA and am slowly but surely making things for the needy. I do still have responsibilities I need to complete this week, despite having less-than-pleasant moments with the scale and food plan challenges. All’s well that ended well this time, and the message I was given was clear: Anything worth doing, having, or being is worth working for.

      I’m Jess, and I am a compulsive overeater. May I find today the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

Days until my 40th Birthday: 3
Abstinence from Compulsive Eating: 1 Month, 27 days (58 days)

Holiday Eating Season Countdown: 21 days

      Well, today was good and bad.

      I made abstinence officially, even though I shifted fifty calories I normally would count as discretionary into a food group they could reasonably be tucked into. I’m far under-calories for the day (by about 350 calories) and still have about 40 discretionary calories left on top of that.
      I found a few scales at the big blue department store and at an electronics store. The problem I had is that those scales said I gained weight from the first scale I stepped on two weeks ago. So I was disappointed and unhappy because there is no way I could gain weight on this program.
      M— reminded me that spring scales are notoriously inaccurate and that I was probably wearing different clothes the first time. Also, I had not returned to the first one which gave me that magnificent reading. At this point, I really just need to go to my physician and get weighed.
      Why didn’t we buy a scale? Because OA encourages people not to weigh themselves more than once per month because the weighing can discourage abstinence and become a compulsion, in itself. I know myself, and both of those are true. I am discouraged because of the inconsistency between scales and I know that I would weigh myself several times per day and get more discouraged. I can’t break stride, and I almost did today.
      I feel guilty moving those calories, even though I am well within abstinence calories today. I feel frustrated that I didn’t lose the weight, even though I knew that I should be walking or swimming or running.
      I think I’m going to take on a challenge I never would have before OA and start training for my first marathon. I always wanted to do one just to have done one–even though I’m not really a runner. The way I see it, if I can get into walking five miles per day on the treadmill for two months then add an extra mile every few weeks, I might be able to do it. I’d love to do a half-century, but they tend to involve hill climbs, and I can’t get a bike to go up a hill. But I think maybe I ought to try for that, too. Maybe finally bike in the Solvang Century, though I think do the half-century or quarter-century. Then again, maybe I could try to train for a triathlon.
      First, I think I’ll start getting myself able to do 10K fun runs by walking them on a treadmill. That should be a couple of hours of brisk walking to get used to going that far.
      I’m giving a nod to love2eatinpa, who’s asked me to put an email sign-up link. So, it’s up.
      I finished a crocheted hat and now I am working on a hat using a Jenny (round) knitting loom. It’s interesting.

      OH! OH! Breaking FANTASTIC NEWS!!!
      I just found an actual website with actual nutrition facts information sheet on Leonidas chocolates! Thirty grams is 160 calories (155 calories per thirty grams of for the dark chocolates. which this was), and the candy I ate tonight (there was its twin still left in the box) weighed only 20 grams on my food scale. Therefore, instead of it being 250 calories (which seemed a little much), that candy was less than 150 calories–just like the other two candies I had over the last three days. Therefore, I’m not only well-within abstinence today, I am well within it on my discretionary calories!
      With the 90 “found” calories, I have now slid the 50 questionable calories back into discretionary calories; instead of having 40 discretionary calories left and guilt, I have 80 calories left and total relief. What wonderful news.
      Just for Today, I’m doing well. And I got a really huge warning today that ended up turning out fine. Abstinence, for me, is about staying 100% in my food plan and not playing with the numbers to get a little more of this or that which I don’t need. This was all over one damned cookie. Next time, I don’t play with my calories to give in to my petty desire to have two cookies instead of one. I need to live within my dietary means or I will end up being so discouraged I will sabotage myself. Abstinence is worth more to me than one freaking cookie, and I totally lost sight of that this evening.
      My name is Jess and I am a compulsive overeater. And a compulsive lots-of-other-things-er. I’m going to give thanks right now for the things that OA has given me–community (like love2eatinpa and Steve and OA Charlie and my home group and my Monday group), perceived time (I feel like I have time, but it’s really just a change of mindset because of OA), and purpose.

What is the role of the nonprofit board in fundraising?

I suggest that it is a critical role – one that cannot be ignored or avoided.  The following ideas are informed by my fundraising experience and the coursework from the Principles and Techniques of Fundraising, offered by the Fund Raising School at the Center on Philanthropy.

Why should board members be the first constituency group to financially support their nonprofit organization?

• The board is the leadership of the nonprofit organization.  If the leaders don’t support the organization, why would anyone else?
• The board is a group of volunteers.  Of course, the staff members will sing the praises of their respective organization; they have a vested interest!  If a board member really “vouches” for an organization, it is often perceived as more genuine.
• The board is critical in the cultivation and solicitation of other donors.  How can a board member ask someone else to support an organization if the board member doesn’t!?!

Why should board members be involved in raising funds from other sources?

• The board has connections that staff members do not.  This can help with initial introductions and other critical components of the fundraising process.
• The board provides critical information and an important perspective.  How does the community perceive this organization?  What fundraising strategies work with particular types of people?
• The board brings additional skills.  Some individuals are great at telling stories.  Others are comfortable always meeting new people.  Some may enjoy building relationships one-on-one.  All of these skills are useful in the development cycle.

Ultimately, the board has a legal responsibility to lead the nonprofit organization.  (Check out this quick summary of legal duties, compiled by Board Source.)  For most nonprofit organizations, the financial viability of an organization is dependent upon fundraising.  So, the real question is:  why wouldn’t a board member be responsible for the organization’s fundraising?

Can you think of other reasons why board members should be involved in their nonprofit’s fundraising?  Please leave a comment!