Kevin Alexander Lopez Sango

Several weeks ago we had the privilege of hearing a man speak as a representative of Compassion International. As a child, he had been sponsored by a family and became part of the Leadership Development program.

He encouraged us to show mercy and compassion to the poor by sponsoring a child. We have talked about it in the past and finally decided it was time.

Well, today we got Kevin Alexander Lopez Sango’s information packet in the mail today. I am so excited to get to know this little guy better! He is in kindergarten in Ecuador and lives with his grandmother.

It is going to be such a great journey to help Kevin and his grandmother and see God bless their lives; I can’t wait to write my first letter!!!

A Place Called HOPE

I have been spending my afternoons in the HOPE room at school. It is a place for homeless (or nearly homeless) students to come and relax. We have lots of food, clothes, toiletries, etc. to give them and snacks, games, books, and movies to keep us busy!

Yesterday, a new family came to hang out. A brother (11th grade) and sister (9th grade) came for the first time and we discovered that the family was not sure where they would be staying after today. The brother has high-functioning autism. When the mom came to pick them up, we let her grab all the food she could carry. It was such a blessing to be able to provide such a huge need for this family. Thank you to everyone who has donated cans and other food to our supply!

For the last 24 hours, I’ve been thinking about the ways that other people have provided for my family in similar situations. When I was young, my parents didn’t have much more than an awesome fixer upper and a never-ending rotation of hand-me-down cars. We had so little money left for food that it was a relief when a family friend came by with a pallet of tomato soup. It’s a miracle I can still eat tomato soup.

Last year, I was left homeless when our apartment had a fire the morning we were supposed to move in (or so we were told). Two months later, repairs had not been made and it was too late to find a reasonably priced short-term lease in Manhattan for the rest of the school year! I still cannot express my gratitude towards the friends and family who let me sleep on their couches for the semester.

In fact, my homelessness last year is what inspired me to start this blog; I lived out of four bags for four months.

Now that I’ve been able to unpack my bags and live in one place for awhile, I can say that in every valley of life, there is a place called hope. I am thankful God allowed my season of homelessness to end, but I am glad to be able to share that with my HOPE room kids. Hopefully there will be an opportunity for me to share with them at some point.

One step closer to being a “real” teacher!

Kohls is giving away money to the schools who get the most votes, so head over to this link to vote for Sunrise Mountain High School!

Sunrise Mountain High School is entering into its 2nd school year. While it is in a new building, it serves a student body who are considered “under-privilaged” and come from families who are not involved in their children’s education. I am excited to join the Sunrise Mountain faculty this year buy teaching 4 Physics courses as well as supporting 12th grade students who have not passed the state science exam yet. I know that a grant like this will give students the opportunities they deserve to explore the world through the lens of science!

Check out the pictures of my classroom to help me with ideas for getting my first classroom set up and decorated!

Also, I’ll be writing a series on my first year as a teacher at Just Call Me Ms Frizzle, so please sign up for posts to be emailed to you or subscribe to the feed in order to keep up with me and my class!

We Are The World

Last night, I fell asleep to the sound of the Opening Ceremonies of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. I love the Olympics. I think it is such a wonderful time when athletes come together to compete, increase awareness of their sport, and share their love for their sport with people from all over the world.

As a tribute to Haiti and honoring the one month anniversary of the earthquake, Lionel Richie & friends remade the song “We Are The World”. Originally, the song was dedicated to Africa and sung by 80′s legends such as Michael Jackson and Tina Turner. This go around, over 25 major recording artists collaborated to make a video just for Haitian survivors. It’s really special when artists can get together and sing together (and not for the spotlight)!

Here’s the video they shared at the Opening Ceremonies last night:

And just for fun, here’s the original:

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[Read more at My Life In Four Bags]

Haiti Update

I haven’t written much lately, but here’s something I really wanted to share. Last week I had the opportunity to participate in a conference call with Bright Hope International about what is being done in the post-earthquake Haiti. We even got to hear from people in Port au Prince via satellite!

Donald Ferrell (a Bright Hope project manager), Craig Dyer, and Mike Rudder (in Haiti) all gave short presentations. Rudder, who only arrived in Haiti a week and a half ago, said he was, “amazed by the devastation…the number of buildings down is beyond comprehension.” Pastor Jeff Delucian traveled to Port au Prince from Pinon to check on local churches when he discovered 2100 people camped out on a garbage dump who had not be helped by other organizations. Since Bright Hope’s mission is to help people who are struggling with extreme poverty and they have been working in that capacity within Haiti’s borders for 15 years, they were well equipped to help these people with financial and physical aid and relief. They have been flying food and supplies into Haiti, just north of the capitol city, in order to bus them where people need them. So far, they have sent 240,000 meals and $1,000,000 worth of medicine.

It was wonderful to be involved in such a remarkable conversation. It is amazing to hear how people in Haiti are living such selfless lives in order to meet the most basic needs of their neighbors.

To learn more about Bright Hope’s progress in Haiti, check out their blog.

Haiti: Where To Give

When I posted about Haiti last night, I had no idea how to help.

Well, hubby and I talked and prayed late in the night about the people of Haiti and how we can help. We decided to give money to Bright Hope International, a small US-based organization who is committed to helping the poor around the world. You can give to their general Haitian relief fund, but we decided to purchase several Med Packs, a supply of medical and sanitary things that people will need during this time of chaos. Here is the description of what Bright Hope is doing with donations:

As a result of the devastating earthquake in Haiti, all general donations to Bright Hope will be designated for relief in this crisis torn country. In addition to a direct financial donation, you may also sponsor a Med Pack ($30) – a box of basic medical and sanitary supplies that will be critical for individuals while the Haiti infrastructure is in disarray. Thank you for considering one or both of these options.

You can purchase multiple or single Med Packs and/or donate as little or as much as you can. In college I helped raise money to support Bright Hope’s role in the relief post-Hurricane Katrina and am thankful they have invested themselves in helping in disaster relief once again.

Another organization we discussed giving money to was World Vision. We have both donated to this charity organization in several ways in the past: a previous campaign to bring care and education to AIDS ridden villages in Africa as well as an ongoing project to bring clean water to developing nations. This is an incredible organization, but ultimately we chose to support Bright Hope because they were already set up in Haiti helping poor people and will continue to support the Haitian people even once the basic clean up and restoration of the country has been completed.

There are dozens of organizations working together to bring aid to Haiti. ABCNews has compiled a short list, while Charity Navigator has ranked the organizations helping Haiti that you can trust to give your money to.

Since the earthquake has weighed so heavily on my mind lately, I think I am going to write a few more posts on it. One will probably be about the earthquake itself – the science behind it and the implications of the large magnitude. Another will be about the reactions of other people towards the devastation and how we can all make a difference by working together.

SocialVibe Giveaway!

So after I posted the first time about the SocialVibe Charity:Water badge on the blog, I had hoped you would help raise money for clean water wells in developing nations. You didn’t. So, to encourage you to do so, I’ll give you a gift for helping out. It’s kind of like a bribe.

The first 5 people to participate will receive a corn bag. What’s a corn bag?

courtesy of http://rasonlinestore.com/cat/images/cornbags5.JPG

[I promise your corn bag will be in a funky cool fabric]

A corn bag is a fabric bag filled with feed corn. You zap it in the microwave and then it stays warm for about 30 minutes. Put it in your lap on a cold day or throw it under the covers before you go to bed on a cold night. They’re also handy for helping to relax knots or other sore spots.

I don’t know what I’d do without corn bags. So…if you’re in the first 5 to click on the SocialVibe badge to the right and perform 6 short activities (it will probably take you 2 minutes) and then comment below, I’ll send you a corn bag.

It’s that simple.

[comments will be withheld until Saturday morning, so go ahead and click even if you think you might not be in the top 5]

P.S. I’m linking up to this week’s DIY Day!

SocialVibe & Charity:Water

If you’ll notice to the right of this post there’s a badge for Charity:Water. [If you're reading on Facebook or in a reader, kindly click on the post so you can view it through WordPress]

I would love if you would take 2 minutes to click on the badge and do 6 quick activities to raise money for Charity:Water, the organization I help to support. Most basically, Charity:Water helps people in developing nations get access to clean water – something so simple has reversed the trends of ugly disease in these countries.

For more information on Charity:Water, visit their website. Under the project section, they’ve got some great videos that describe their mission. To join SocialVibe and do activities to raise money for the charity of your choice, go to http://www.socialvibe.com.