Day 257

Between work, evening meetings, and feeling a little under the weather, I used care2.com for my official giving.

I say official because Dona and I gave back in a different way today. We are working with Project Live Love to help with their Quarterly Live Love event - October 8th. We volunteered at their event in July and this time stepped up to lead a project. There's much work to do and we are really excited to be a part of it. If you'd like to join in the fun this time be sure to visit their site and register (there are a limited number of spots left).


On care2 I went through the click to donate section. I also signed petitions:

• to help end hunger for Hunger Action Month
• to keep our drinking water safe
• to end child trafficking in the US
• and to help end animal cruelty

The last thing I did today was help a fellow Giver with a special blog he is working on. Over the 9/11 weekend two families, of middle eastern descent, in his community were victims of vandalism. He has asked people to share comments with those families to make sure they know that they are a part of this community and that most people do not condemn them for the horrible 9/11 crimes. Check out his blog and please leave a comment for the victims: http://resolvetogive.wordpress.com/2011/09/13/post-christmas-resolution-day-263-%E2%80%93-in-support-of-each-other-please-comment/ 

Day 254

We knew we had to be up early, with enough reserved energy to interact with war veterans at the VA Hospital this morning. So although we'd headed out to the city last night, we had an early night.

Hands on Atlanta provided Chandni and I with the opportunity to spend time with the veterans at VA Hospital this morning, and we were excited!

We'd started off with a special church service, with a few patients, themed around forgiveness.
Considering that it was the tenth anniversary of 9/11, one of the patented led us in a moment to honor those who died that day, sacrificed their life for us that day, and served our country ten years ago on this day.

Soon after we moved to the renovated floor that held story boards for several of the patients there.

It was wonderful to hear from and see the stories of some of the greatest Heroes you will never come to know, unless you're here.

While some of the patients were able to share their stories with us, many weren't. We did, however, sense the gratitude as we thanked them for all that they've done.

It's not a typical day of volunteering for us, but it's an experience we enjoyed.
We even had Chris Draft (linebacker for the St. Louis Rams) join us with NFL memorabilia, stories, and gratitude for each veterans service!

We're looking forward to going back to the VA and aiding them in other projects soon!

"It was great talking with some of the Veterans as they shared stories with us, one even sang songs and yodeled for us!! We met their oldest veteran - 100years old, and some of the younger injured veterans from the Iraq war. We saw families coming in to visit and staff who treated the Veterans with love and respect. It was a heart warming experience..."
~ Chandni