Love Project ~ 2012

I have been incredibly inspired by Glennon Melton of Momastery. She speaks from her heart, writing with such raw honesty that I cannot help but check her blog daily and her Momastery Facebook Fan page several times a day. She has created such a loyal following by sharing her thoughts and feelings on everything from parenting to faith, gay marriage, depression and alcoholism among other topics. I love so many things about her writing, but one thing stands out to me: her intense desire to help people.

I've always wanted to get more involved in my community. To help others who may not have a place to live or enough food to eat. But I haven't taken much action to make a difference. I blame it mostly on not knowing where to start and not having enough free time on my hands. But those are some pretty lame excuses. And I'm not going to use them anymore.

I read a post Glennon wrote back in October of last year entitled: Holiday Hands. She and her family contributed six $75 checks to go to six other families or individuals who needed it to help make their holiday a little brighter. She knew she'd get more than six requests for help, so she asked her followers to join in on the giving and contribute to another Monkee's request for help. (She calls her readers Monkees - you can read why here.) Her project helped so many people (300+ I believe) and it likely encouraged so many other similar projects to be born.

Simply put, it inspired me. I started to think about what I would like to do to give back to my community. I reflected on the fact that I like to get involved in a variety of causes, rather than only contribute to one. So I came up with what I thought was a unique idea. For the remaining months of the year, I'm going to pick a cause or event for that month and give. I may not always be able to do a financial contribution, but I can also give my time through volunteer work. This is still a bit of a work-in-progress since I haven't filled in every month yet with a cause, but here's what the calendar looks like so far:

February ~ Good Shepherd Alliance (planning on collecting items needed and donating at the end of the month)

March ~ Andy Sheets Memorial project

April ~ Cara Titter

May ~ Loudoun Lyme 5k

June ~ Nursing home volunteer work

July ~

August ~

September ~ Kailee's 5K run (the run is the first weekend in Oct, but I'd like to spend Sept raising money to donate the day of the race)

October ~

November ~

December ~

Do me a favor, and if you know someone or a family who is in need of funds towards a cause, please leave me a note in the comments so that I can put them on my calendar.

Thank you to Glennon and Momastery for inspiring me to give. Here's to filling up the rest of 2012 with my little LOVE project.

PS. Glennon: If you're ever free for coffee or a cuppa tea, I'd jump at the chance to thank you in person. :)