Why donating blood is a GOOD thing

Below is the letter received from the Red Cross.  I'm blessed with O-Negative, so, I can help more people.  Donating is a very small part of anyone's day and it doesn't hurt.  If you're not already a donor, PLEASE consider it.  Thanks!!!

Dear Robert:

Thank you for giving blood with the American Red Cross on 1/31/2013. After first ensuring local needs were met, your double red cell donation was sent to St.-Elizabeth Health-Center in Youngstown, OH and Trumbull Memorial Hospital in Warren, OH to help patients in need. Your donation is on its way to changing lives!

Every day, patients receive blood for a variety of conditions including life-threatening illnesses, blood disorders and traumas. Your blood donations are critical to helping save patients' lives.

On behalf of the hospitals and patients we serve, thank you for being a Red Cross blood donor.

Sincerely,

Richard Benjamin, M.D., Ph.D.
Chief Medical Officer
American Red Cross

I couldn't come up with a "fitting" word...

Today was a pretty nice day. A week of nearly steady cloud wringing came to an end. The spare sump pump was unplugged. The sun struggled and managed to pop out for a bit. (Near Lake Erie, we get a lot of gray skies this time of year.) I solved most of the New York Times crossword puzzle...Saturdays are toughies! Got a great book at a garage sale for 25 cents and found a nearly new keyboard to replace the one onto which I spilled water and had my desktop doing things Bill Gates never could imagine. In the past 11 years, very few events have had a continuing pull on my attention: The Twin Towers, 2 Tsunamis and Sandy Storm. So much damage and so many lives lost/affected in such a short amount of time. When mass tragedy strikes, Americans pull together...without any prompting whatsoever. They just do it! It's who we are. Income, political persuasion, ethnicity, team loyalty, schooling, etc., matter not. People merely grab anything that will help and take it to those who lost out. There are no introductions and no prejudices. There are no language barriers. The eyes tell the stories. The eyes display the loss. They eyes convey the need. In turmoil, there are the sufferers and the bringers. No borders. Just helpers. Life must go on. It will. It always does. I could quickly fill several pages, but don't need to. You know of what I speak. At one time in your lives, you needed and received, no matter how small or large. At one time in your lives, you gave, no matter how small or large. Possessions were/are not always exchanged. Times such as this tells us why God invented hugs.........yep, 'nuff said there, eh? All that in mind, I caught a portion of the ABC news on my local affiliate. That particular segment centered on the New York Marathon's cancellation. Mayor Bloomberg, in my opinion, made the correct call. Few, if any, residents were involved in the running. They were busy in their own races against shock of loss, wet, hunger, cold, missing family and all that accompanies tragedy. Yet, the camera happened to focus on what appeared to be a nice looking blond lady that I guessed might have been in her early thirties. Her words were very close to, "We're upset, we're extremely mad that the race was called off. We traveled many miles, brought families and reserved hotel rooms." She was upset and vehement in her delivery of those words. (Here's where I couldn't come up with a "fitting word" to describe her audacity). In lieu of that, I will stifle the urge to introduce her neck to my knuckles. One wonders what could be done to satisfy this obviously self-entitled ------, ------, ------, ------. Even if the race COULD have been, the entrants would all have to run over, around and through the rubble. Did she consider that? I have to stop here, as I could go on for pages, but don't need to. All I can suggest is that she sue God and may she hope to never experience what she was so put out by. God bless America.

While the Coffee Brewed...

(Written 3-29-00, when I was with an Outreach Ministry that operated per Matthew 25:35)

Before the sun rises, MY world begins
Early morning is NOT for me
But I revel in the selfish quiet

It’s all I’ll have today

Today, I’ll hear the cries of hunger---the rasps of thirst
I’ll see the naked
Feel the loneliness of the imprisoned
And the despair of the afflicted

From that bleak rises a storm of compassion
Bolts of empathy powered by surges of caring
Surrounding me are the arms and hearts of those who TRULY care
They give…they love
They don’t stop

Can we help or save them all---or even SOME?
Are we on the right path?

Frustrated at times…I look to the sky
And there…..peering from behind a cloud

I see God and Matthew.....

I SEE GOD AND MATTHEW SMILE!

Giving to and Helping Others

What Prompts YOU to Give?

Years back, my “Taking on the World,” 20-ish daughter would pop over to help watch, “Life Goes On”, a TV show about a family raising a son with Down’s Syndrome, in addition to the healthy siblings. The stories were almost always touching, so I re-named it, “Make Me Cry”, reflecting my “tough” child’s weekly response. Oh, I too had my share of hard swallows!

Since then, we’ve had the likes of, *Touched By an Angel, *Joan of Arcadia, Extreme Makeover-Home Edition and now, Oprah’s, The Big Give. Granted, some *stories were created in the writing room, yet, I felt someone was indeed experiencing a similar problem. I hardly ever miss Extreme Makeover. On one hand, I am SO proud of how a community unites to rescue people from the cracks of life. On the other hand, it upsets me that perhaps nothing would happen without the intervention of Ty Pennington, his gang of “elves” and all the donating sponsors. Granted, donor companies get a tremendous amount of low-cost exposure, but that’s how the world spins today. On the third hand, maybe we truly are at the point of re-awakening the spirit of man helping man!

I spent 9 years with a ministry and food bank assisting a multitude of the poor, fire victims, homeless, abuse victims, drug/alcohol rehabs, physical/mental dependents, down-sized job loss, low income and anyone else needing help. There’s not enough space to say how easy it was to get sick or really upset at some of the conditions in which people barely exist. It can get to you, but you become as does the battlefield Medic who treats quickly to stop the bleeding, then moves on to the next of the oh so many wounded.

There’s a book in all of this, but for now, you just need to know that many outsiders could not/would not believe how much a small group could accomplish, but we had the records to bear witness. In many neighborhoods are small advocacy groups who sleep very little in the quest of helping others get at least some of what they need. Their budgets don’t allow for advertising, so you might have one on your street and not even be aware.

SO…what can YOU do? Your cupboard or pantry definitely has canned/boxed groceries that never got past the good intention of a new recipe. Included are items that you couldn’t pay the kids to eat. Donate them to the local food bank. Hunger goes beyond holidays! Dressers and closets teem with clothes worn once or never…some still tagged! There are utensils, duplicate dishes, pots and pans that will never cook tapioca on your stove. In the linen closet is a sheet, blanket, pillowcase or towel that will never get off the bottom of that pile. Walk around the house, garage and basement. Outside of holiday decorations, if you haven’t used it in a month, odds are you never will.

Open the phone book or go online to locate organizations that can re-use your serviceable offerings. Some will pick up. Ask for a tax deduction receipt. Donate clean goods, working appliances and unbroken furniture. If you belong to a church, tell them what you have available. Chances are, someone in the congregation or neighborhood needs it and not much gasoline will be used to transfer it. You can help and you’ll feel better for having done so. Also, it never hurts to say “hi” to a stranger, pass along a smile, give a hug and even volunteer. And, there you have it!