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Sunday, January 6, 2013

My December Journey

30 Days of Giving – Dec 1:  Bought 4 chicken tender strips at Fry’s and gave them to a homeless man sitting outside on a bench with all his belongings in a grocery cart.

30 Days of Giving - Dec 2: Stopped at Sprouts and picked up a small bunch of sunflowers along with my produce and then hit Starbucks for some green tea. They're always so incredibly nice & friendly at the Starbucks drive-thru. Guess who got the sunflowers?

30 Days of Giving - Dec 3: Recently attended a cardmaking "workshop" so I took all my non-glittery Christmas type cards (as per specs from WRMC) from that and wrote a heartfelt message of hope, thanks and recovery then sent them off to Walter Reed Medical Center to brighten a service member's day.

30 Days of Giving - Dec 4: Giving doesn’t have to cost a thing. It can be a kind word or hug when someone’s down or as simple as today’s “gift.” An employee in a neighboring office had to get to an event and her car battery died. She’s now enjoying her luncheon event and I got a little breather from my day.

30 Days of Giving - Dec 5: Picked up the cutest little live poinsettia plant in what must be a 2 inch pot and left it at a public bus stop on the bench with a note that said, "If you found this, enjoy! Happy holidays."

30 Days of Giving - Dec 6: One of the easiest ways to give - volunteer. Our Children's Miracle Network Radiothon on 94.9 MIXFM is taking place today & tomorrow and I've been here since 5:15AM.

30 Days of Giving - Dec 7: Unexpected emotions as I just made an online donation to Honor Flight Tucson in memory of my dad Jack B Guinn, a WWII vet.
http://honorflightsaz.org/

30 Days of Giving - Dec 8: I don't really care if it goes to beer, cigarettes, rot-gut whiskey, a hooker or whatever, he had nothing and I had cash.

30 Days of Giving - Dec 9: Gave the gift of time to a harried mother with a cranky, tired kid today in Wal-Mart when I told her I'd pull her basket through the line behind me so she could take her daughter to the restroom. She was even happier when I told her to get in line ahead of me. I actually think it may have been a gift for all of us in line.

30 Days of Giving - Dec 10: It's not much today but I made a huge pot of ham, potato & broccoli soup yesterday and brought a Tupperware container to each of my kids today to share with their families.

30 Days of Giving - Dec 11: Getting ready to head out to meet my work team at an elementary school on Tucson's south side where we'll be fitting and giving bike helmets away to all the students. A few hours of "work" there and then off to a holiday lunch and white elephant gift exchange. Double giving today! LOL

30 Days of Giving - Dec 12: I really appreciate the people I work with day in and day out. If I'm gonna spend so much time here, at least it's with good people. They each got a little homemade deliciousness from me today. Thanks team!

30 Days of Giving - Dec 13: My networking group, The Beta Group (Tucson) is having our annual holiday luncheon today and each of us is bringing unwrapped gifts for the children at Primavera. Hoping to put a smile on a few kids' faces.

30 Days of Giving - Dec 14: I feel so helpless, so hopeless on this tragic day and am desperate to help and ease the pain even in a small way. I just made a donation and encourage anyone searching for a way to help to do the same.
http://www.newtownyouthandfamilyservices.org/index.php

30 Days of Giving - Dec 15: Gave the gift of a few hours of uninterrupted Christmas shopping to my daughter and son-in-law this evening as I took care of the kids. After yesterday's ugliness I think this may have been a gift to myself as well.

30 Days of Giving - Dec 16: Gave a little gift of enlightenment yesterday. I let someone off the hook and I feel somewhat liberated and empowered. Just more evidence that giving does something for both the receiver and the giver.

30 Days of Giving - Dec 17: Left a little bag of home baked Christmas treats and a note on top of my garbage can when I wheeled it to the street late last night. It's still there this morning....hoping it stays until the trash man comes to get my trash this morning.

30 Days of Giving - Dec 18: Went to a thrift store during my lunch (Speedway Outlet is A-mazing) and purchased several blankets and towels (items on their wish list) and then took them over to Hope Animal Shelter, a local non-profit no-kill cat/dog shelter.

30 Days of Giving - Dec 19: Hope that nice, young Salvation Army bell ringer has a sweet tooth. Gave her a Whitman Sampler on my way out of the grocery store tonight.

30 Days of Giving - Dec 20: Picked up 4 generic Christmas cards, signed them "A random greeting from a random person" along with a nice little wish for them, wrote "For you" on the envelope and left one under the windshield wiper of 4 different cars.

30 Days of Giving - Dec 21: Bought 6 Christmas-y board books at the dollar store, put each in a festive, shiny bag and walked in to our children’s ER where there just happened to be 5 little ones waiting to be seen. Handed one to each child or parent and told them I hope they feel better soon.

30 Days of Giving - Dec 22: Busy, busy day. Babysitting for a good chunk of the day and then shopping only to get home at 10pm so it's a bit of a fail today. It's quite a stretch and all I've got but I at least gave a family the chance to know what happened to their beloved pet when I called Animal Control to have them pick up a pretty little cat laying dead in the middle of Ina Rd. At least there will be a record of this cat/location in the book of dead animals that were picked up in their front office. Sadly I've had to check that book a few times. Like I said...this entry is a stretch.

30 Days of Giving - Dec 23: Crazy countdown rush and I forgot to post yesterday's giving. Had a little Mylar snowman balloon on a stick in my car yesterday and saw a little one so obviously tired of shopping. Approached mom trying to get her child in the car and asked if she could have the balloon. No more fussing and she willingly got in the car.

30 Days of Giving - Dec 24: Got so caught up in my own thing that I've let this slide a bit! Let's see - Dec 24 I bought 4 pairs of men's white athletic/work socks and while shopping I only managed to give one pair away to a guy standing at an intersection asking for money. I really MEANT to give them all out but the rest got buried on my front seat during my shopping frenzy.

30 Days of Giving - Dec 25: Sounds like a cop-out to use Christmas gift giving as one of my "gifts" but it really isn't. I work so hard to make Christmas morning fun and memorable. Everyone comes over in the morning at a pre-arranged time and there's good breakfast stuff and coffee. Then on to the living room where everyone goes for their stockings that are filled to the brim with little treats, toys and strange things (and a tangerine/cutie and nuts in the shell!!). That takes a good 10 minutes and then the crazy chaos begins. So while I could just say I gave gifts on Dec 25 what I really gave were irreplaceable memories and traditions.

30 Days of Giving - Dec 26: Brought tamales and beans in to work to share with my coworkers so I guess I gave them lunch. The week between Christmas and New Year’s is typically really slow so I thought the few of us there this week might enjoy them.

30 Days of Giving - Dec 27: It was freezing cold and raining this afternoon when I stopped at Sprouts for a few things on my way home. I ran across the parking lot to return my cart to the store and while hurrying back to the warmth of my vehicle, an older woman (older than me!) was opening her trunk to put her groceries in and was getting pretty wet in the process. I said, "Here, let me help." and quickly grabbed a few bags and put them in her trunk. It was kind of an odd moment but it warmed us both just a little.

30 Days of Giving - Dec 28: Bought five $1 AZ Lottery scratchers last night and just handed them all out to random employees on my way to the cafeteria for lunch. That was fun!

30 Days of Giving - Dec 29: Had a coupon for a free Fry's rotisserie chicken in my purse when I ran to the store this evening to get some cheese for my Texas chili (ALL the Navarros are chili-making fools now that we've got our hands on some American Meat Market hot chorizo!!). Anyway, a guy who looked like he'd been working hard all day was checking the chickens out so I gave him my coupon and told him it was on me.

30 Days of Giving - Dec 30: Took several dollars worth of pennies from my coin crock and dropped them as I walked the path of the Christina-Taylor Green Memorial River Park. Hoping this brings some excitement to a little one taking a family walk along the CDO wash tomorrow morning. **Thanks for joining me on this one Lesley Young

30 Days of Giving – Wrap Up: Day 30 of my 30 day experiment has come and gone so there is no outward, obvious gift to others on this last day of 2012. I started this personal challenge to give in some way for 30 consecutive days in an effort to possibly influence others and elicit a change within myself. I wasn’t looking for praise or “likes” but more to hopefully make you (and me!) think for a minute about how easy it is to be giving and thoughtful. In this world that has proven to sometimes be so hateful and violent, maybe we can all work towards a kinder, gentler 2013. 

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