The Social Poets: What Obama and Romney Should Be Talking About: These 2 Sick Little Girls: From Denny: It's time to stop the madness along with the childish political campaign bickering. Americans don't want to hear it anyway. There are bigger issues at stake like the lives of these two seriously ill little girls from Utah, Natalie and Alice Fish. In light of what this one American family is enduring should shame all the national politicians who are so self-absorbed they have not stopped long enough to notice. I'm so disgusted with the 2012 election's childish name-calling tone and enabling media encouraging it that I change the channel constantly. As a respite yesterday I went up on my page at Google + to catch up on those who friended me. Well, it turned out these little Fish girls' parents friended me (that's a link to their Google+ page). It's a good thing I always take the time to read a profile page or I might have missed this struggling life drama of a middle class family. These little girls are real troopers and have been living in and out of hospitals since they were born. Their parents are to be commended for going the distance with not just one child but now two with this rare problem. * * * Support Warriors Pearl Foundation - helping homeless female military veterans come home. Visit Denny Lyon Gifts @ CafePress.com - - see what's new!
*** How kids are impacted by this oil spill disaster and what they decided to do about it.
From Denny: It's difficult to watch the oil spill news these days when you see these poor Pelicans in my state of Louisiana all covered in oil. You wonder if they will survive. To date over a million dead birds have been found. How many more there were will never be known because BP blocked access for months to beaches littered with dead animals so the media was unable to film it.
This young boy, who lives in the middle of the state, Alexandria, Louisiana, decided he wasn't going to sit on the sidelines. He was determined he was going to figure out how to raise some money to help the oil slicked birds. When parents try to teach their kids how to be environmentally aware and care about others outside of themselves, this had to be one proud moment for this parent. He is just a regular kid who wanted to do something extraordinary. Take a listen:
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From Denny: Pull out the tissues because you are going to need them! If you are not crying your eyes out, wondering if you emptied out the tears reservoir, then you need to watch the hour long special of this story. Yes, it's that good. If you are in need of having your faith restored in the goodness of strangers, then this story is for you. These ordinary people will astound, amaze and delight your heart.
The entire town of Grafton, Wisconsin came to the aid of a single mother battling breast cancer who has 13 year old triplets. Two of those triplets are seriously ill with a life long degenerative disease and are already now in wheelchairs. They needed so much. A whole town of neighbors, many who lost their homes and their jobs, came together to help the Longoria family remodel their home so the kids could get around in wider halls and larger spaces.
It's quite an amazing story of what spiritual development is really all about: helping someone else when you have lost so much. There is a man in the process of losing his home because he's been out of work for two months. Yet he came and volunteered every day to renovate the house. There is a hotel owner who gave the family free rooms for the entire time it took to renovate the house.
There is an AIDS charity CEO, living on 40% less income now and facing an uncertain personal financial future, who showed up to organize and raise funding - cheerfully. Another story is of a mother who lost her son 19 years ago and today came to be the interior designer for this family's renovated home. She said this is the first time she has not felt emotional pain since the death of her child.
This first video is a clip that was featured on the news. The other video clips tell the story. The full story and more links are at Dateline and it's an hour show worth watching. It reminds me of a real life story to match the famous Christmas movie, "It's a Wonderful Life." What's so much fun about this story of giving is how the giving rolled into something bigger than the project itself. People got into the spirit of giving and the joy was contagious, drawing thousands of people to volunteer during construction or to help fund the project.
A Circle of Hands is a poem written by one of the volunteers to remember the "Hometown Heroes" project that healed the town.
*** THANKS for visiting, feel welcome to drop a comment or opinion, enjoy bookmarking this post on your favorite social site, a big shout out to awesome current subscribers – and if you are new to this blog, please subscribe in a reader or by email updates!
From Denny: It's celebrities like Tim McGraw and Faith Hill that make you smile with pride when they choose to share their wealth and get involved helping others. They are actively pursuing projects to help rebuild the Hurricane Katrina region that is still devastated five years after the storm hit.
He is from Louisiana and she is from Mississippi. It's a common love story here in the South known as "a Louisiana man and a Mississippi woman." And everyone looks at each other and grins knowingly...
The second video is a web exclusive and did not appear on TV.
Tim McGraw discusses his charity Neighbor's Keeper Fund which supports a variety of community charities, one right here in my home town of Baton Rouge, Louisiana for kids suffering from the trauma of the hurricane:
From Denny: If you missed this segment you will definitely want to watch it. Halle Berry grew up with an abusive father who battered her mother. Today, the actress is helping other women get strong, help heal them and their children and build new - and confident - lives.
From Denny: This is a really cool guy, a bicycle shop owner in South Dakota, took the idea from the national Cash for Clunkers and employed it for a local charity. He found a way to help finance a Bikes for Work program to help people who have no transportation be able to get to work.
With 20 million homes in foreclosure across America and millions out of work, there are still those who may have finally found work but at a much reduced income, many times up to 70% less. While people are adjusting to a chaotic economy and uncertain job environment there are still quality people out there like this man trying to do his part for his fellow man. This is such a heart-warming story!
From Denny: These folks came up with a great idea of how to help a friend or neighbor without the embarrassment of knowing it was you - GivingAnon.com.
"From the desperation of an empty bank account came the inspiration Lionel Thompson needed to help others who were stuck in a similar situation."
From Denny: Added those wonderful buttons for us to click on daily when we can to help feed hungry people throughout the world and fund free books for children. All by just clicking on these buttons, cool, isn't it?! :) We all can participate and please do when you think about it from time to time when reading a post. Thanks for visiting!
