Hope For Haiti

By Dave Ramsey
Jan. 31, 2010

Sometimes it may seem like hope is hard to find.

Just look at the situation in Haiti. New heartbreaking stories come out every day. Current estimates on casualties range anywhere from 100,000 to 200,000 people.

For a country that was already the poorest nation in the west, this earthquake must be the final blow, right?

Truth is, Haiti does have hope. Blake Thompson, Senior Producer of The Dave Ramsey Show, saw glimmers of hope all throughout Haiti during his visit to the devastated country last week.

 He saw hope in the resilient nature of the Haitian people and in the miracles he encountered while he was there.

Blake traveled to Haiti with SafeWaterNexus—a Tennessee-based nonprofit organization—to provide food to orphanages, medical supplies to tent cities, and respond to any other immediate needs they encountered.

When the group arrived in Port au Prince, the center of the earthquake’s devastation, he was overwhelmed by what he saw. “It looked like a massive bomb blew up the city,” Blake said.

“There were piles of buildings everywhere, bodies in the streets, and homeless people for miles and miles. The smell was terrible.”

 

One Incredible Story

While he was on the ground in Haiti, Blake provided updates to thousands of people through Dave Ramsey’s Facebook and Twitter pages.

One evening, he was checking messages and stumbled across a comment from an old college friend he had not seen in nearly two decades.

“He said a Haitian family in his church was just devastated because their father and mother are preachers in a community outside of Port Au Prince. The parents had more than 100 people staying in their crumbling church, all of them without food and water for nine days.

This family was begging my friend to help, but he didn’t know what to do. He said it was a long shot, but he sent me the address of the church in case we could get over there.”

That night, Blake prayed and developed a plan with the guys from SafeWaterNexus. The next morning, they hired a driver and a mini-bus.

“We drove to the airport, where a lot of crisis groups and nonprofits had set up headquarters, and asked them to donate any food or water they had left over,” he said.

They loaded the mini-bus with the supplies and drove through Port au Prince trying to find the pastor’s address in the middle of all the rubble. “Some roads had been totally blocked by collapsed buildings or bodies in the streets. So we had to back up and find another way,” Blake said.

 “Our driver had to create roads by driving on sidewalks and on any other area he could get us through. He even drove down a steep, curvy staircase with the bus at one point.”

After an hour of navigating through a devastated Port au Prince, they finally found the pastor’s address—a battered, old wooden church. On the front gate, a sign read “Need Help.”

When the group arrived, the pastor exited the building with his hands in the air, exclaiming, “God bless! God bless! God bless!”

Blake introduced himself to the pastor, who was extremely grateful. “He thanked us and told us God blessed him and his people that day,” Blake said.

The group unloaded enough food, water and medical supplies for more than 150 people. Afterward, they helped make sure more supplies would be coming soon.

 

“We Will Be Going Back.”

Not surprisingly, that story was just one of the many stories Blake

experienced while in Haiti. They did a lot in a short amount of time, but they still had so much more to do.

“We had an agenda, pages long, that we wanted to get to,” Blake said. “But we will be going back.”

Since returning home, Blake says everyone wants to know how to help. The answer is really simple. “Prayer and money,” he said. “Give money to an organization that is making a difference and helping people right now.

SafeWaterNexus is a great place to start. That organization was on the ground in Haiti and putting donated funds to use within days.”

Regardless of whom you donate your money to, make sure the organization has a plan for the supplies when they hit the ground.

“We saw rotting food at the airport because too many people would drop the food off and have no way to get it into the city,” Blake said.

“The organization needs to be physically capable of taking the food, water and supplies to the people. SafeWaterNexus, Samaritan’s Purse and World Vision were some of the organizations that were organized and doing great things down there.”

Most importantly, Blake said he saw prayer work in amazing ways. “God was there. I’m still trying to comprehend that. But we’re told all through Scripture that we don’t understand some things about God.

What I do understand is that we were in Haiti—and the other organizations helping out were in Haiti—because of God. We reflected God to those people.”

The challenge for us is to reflect God as well—even if we can’t volunteer on the ground. How, then, can we reflect God? The answer is simple: Give like no one else.

We can’t single-handedly restore hope to Haiti. Its resilient people will once again need to pick themselves up. But we can make a difference—a major difference—by giving like no one else.

Yes, it sounds so simple, but it’s the foundation of what Dave teaches, and it’s the reason Blake traveled to Haiti to help.

Give like no one else.

*Follow @safewaternexus on Twitter for ongoing Haiti information.

 

Source: Dave Ramsey

 

Editor’s Note: Photo credits: Esther Havens

We would like to know what you think. dan@youngchronicle.com  

Play Him off Keyboard DOG *ORIGINAL*

Hero of the Week – 7 year old Charlie Simpson

By Dan Samaria
Publisher/GCC
Jan. 25, 2010

Editor’s Note: Each Week we will be Honoring people or groups that are making a difference in helping others especially during this tough times in America.

When we as Americans are put through a test, we come out in flying colors on the other side.

We would like to know what you think. And if you know someone or group that we can Honor. You can contact us at  dan@youngchronicle.com

This week we will be honoring: Charlie Simpson.  Here is his story:

 

By Warren McLean Bundanoon

Australia     

The other day I posed the question: “who is the more sustaining? Those who only care about themselves, or those who look out for others?”

The story of Charlie Simpson, gives me hope it is the latter.

Young Charlie, all of seven years old, saw the images of the Haiti earthquake survivors and wanted to do something to help. He told his folks he wanted to organize a sponsored bike-a-thon around his local park in London, UK.

He hoped to raise £500 ($800 USD). At the time of writing he’d amassed donations for UNICEF worth over £67,800 ($109,000 USD).

According to a spokesperson for the UK branch of the United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEF, Charlie now holds the record for most funds raised in a single day.

When Charlie had raised just £9,000, UNICEF told BBC News (see video here, with Charlie also being interviewed) that money could help 900 families protect themselves from waterborne diseases.

We assume £70,500 (as it now stands, by the time we had this post written up) goes much further.

To get up to his eight kilometers (five miles) of cycling, Charlie rode laps around South Park in Fulham with his dad and a friend.

The BBC reported that at the 1.5 mile mark Charlie was finding it “quite tiring.” But on he went. (See BBC News footage of Charlie pedaling in his park.)

“My name is Charlie Simpson, I want to do a Sponsored Bike Ride for Haiti because there was a big earthquake and loads of people have lost their lives. I want to make some money to buy food, water and tents for everyone in Haiti.”

From his Just Giving page, which is still open for donations? So if you want to help UNICEF support the children of Haiti, go donate, so that Charlie’s passionate pedaling feat is appropriately rewarded.

Go Charlie, you rock.

Put a bicycle in the right hands, and its power to do good never ceases to amaze.

Source: Tree Hugger    Just Giving

Cookie Thief

By Dan Samaria
Publisher/GCC
Jan. 31, 2010

Do you know what “Joylogy” means? It is the study of caring, sharing, and listening and Sacrifice.

This was written by Mr. Jeineke in 1975

We would like to know what you think: dan@youngchronicle.com

What is a Joyologist? A joyologist then would be one who studies joy logy. Frankly our world could use a great many joyologists whose mission in life is to actively research the effects of discussing and sharing joy.

The research could branch out into how joy affects our careers, family lives, and friendships. The very act of doing the active research should spread jubilation throughout the world and bring about positive results. What a fun job!

All one needs to start with is to share the words joyism, joy logy, and joyologis with others. Use the words daily and make them a part of the world’s vocabulary.

The upcoming year is going to challenge us all. Here is something we need to think, this is from an unknown reader. It is called: Cookie Thief     

 

 

By Valerie Cox 

A woman was waiting at an airport one night, with several long hours before her flight. She hunted for a book in the airport shops, bought a bag of cookies and found a place to drop.
She was engrossed in her book but happened to see, that the man sitting beside her, as bold as could be. . .grabbed a cookie or two from the bag in between, which she tried to ignore to avoid a scene.
So she munched the cookies and watched the clock, as the gutsy cookie thief diminished her stock. She was getting more irritated as the minutes ticked by, thinking, “If I wasn’t so nice, I would blacken his eye.”

With each cookie she took, he took one too, when only one was left, she wondered what he would do. With a smile on his face, and a nervous laugh, he took the last cookie and broke it in half.

He offered her half, as he ate the other, she snatched it from him and thought… oooh, brother. This guy has some nerve and he’s also rude, why he didn’t even show any gratitude!

She had never known when she had been so galled, and sighed with relief when her flight was called. She gathered her belongings and headed to the gate, refusing to look back at the thieving ingrate.

She boarded the plane, and sank in her seat, then she sought her book, which was almost complete. As she reached in her baggage, she gasped with surprise, there was her bag of cookies, in front of her eyes.

If mine are here, she moaned in despair, the others were his, and he tried to share. Too late to apologize, she realized with grief, that she was the rude one, the ingrate, the thief.

How many times in our lives have we absolutely known that something was a certain way, only to discover later that what we believed to be true … was not?

 

Source: Joyology

Fighting Childhood Obesity

Child’s Target Heart Rate

By Reggie Reyes
Jan. 19. 2010

I often have parents come to me for help with their teenager who is overweight. They assure me their child exercises on a regular basis and eats relatively well.

My first line of questioning typically reveals the need for stress management, better sleep habits and improved nutrition.

Assuming the parents agree to address these issues, my fact-finding switches focus to the type and intensity of their exercise routine. In most cases, the child is not exercising long enough and at a low intensity.

Kids need at least 60 minutes a day of vigorous activity to maintain a healthy body weight. For the younger kids, I suggest using the talk test.

This test assumes kids are training at the right intensity if their heart rate is high enough to make it difficult to hold a regular conversation. For teenagers, I recommend training in their target heart rate zone.

 

Tips for finding your target heart rate zone, after the jump…

Target Heart Rate (HR) Training Zone

In order to achieve the health and fitness benefits of exercise, kids should be training at a heart rate training intensity of 70-90 percent of their predicted maximum for up to an hour a day.

In order to define your target zone, you need to first calculate your predicted maximum heart rate. There are several formulas that calculate your maximum heart rate.

I recommend using the simplest formula of 220 – AGE for men and 226 – AGE for women. As soon as the predicted maximum heart rate is established, simply calculate the percentage for the recommended training zone by multiplying it by 70 percent and then 90 percent, and dividing these values by 4. This will give you a heart rate range for 15 seconds.

 

Here’s an example using my 15-year-old daughter Marissa.

Predicted Maximum HR = 226 – (15) = 211
70 percent Zone: 211 x 70% / 4 = 36.93 beats per 15 seconds
90 percent Zone: 211 x 70% / 4 = 47.48 beats per 15 seconds

Therefore, my daughter Marissa should be accumulating 60 minutes of daily exercise intense enough to elicit a heart rate response of 36 – 47 beats every 15 seconds.

 

How to Take Your Heart Rate

To find your pulse in your wrist, hold your left hand in front of you with your thumb up and palm towards you. Place the tips of your first two fingers of your right hand on the groove of your left wrist in line with the bottom of your left thumb.

Gently feel for your pulse. When you have found a steady beat, count how many beats you feel in 15 seconds. Compare this number to the desired heart rate training zone.

If the number is too low, it’s time to increase the intensity of your exercise. Have your kids try this every 10-15 minutes during an intense activity; the heart can’t lie!

Source: Parent Dish

 

Editor’s Note: Reggie Reyes is a certified kinesiologist and personal trainer. He is the president and founder of pt4kids, a company that creates specialized training programs for kids all ages and fitness levels.

We would like to know what you think. dan@youngchronicle.com

Will You March for Life with Palin and Huckabee?

By Fox nation
Jan. 24, 2010

Hundreds of thousands of Americans are expected to attend tomorrow’s National March for Life, which takes place annually on the anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision. 

Americans United for Life Action, in an effort to bolster the real March for Life, launched the first-ever Virtual March for Life http://www.virtualmarchforlife.com/ earlier this week.

This innovative online campaign allows people to create an avatar of themselves and “march” online. The Virtual March for Life currently boasts 45,000 Americans and is growing by the minute.

As part of this effort, the Virtual March for Life is featuring prominent leaders who are lending their support to the cause.
 
“The healthcare bill as currently written will unravel long-standing federal policy by allowing public funds to be used for abortion. Because of the magnitude of this threat, this year’s national March for Life will be the most important in history.

We created the Virtual March for Life to encourage people to be here tomorrow and to give voice to countless Americans who can’t be in Washington but wish they could.

We are encouraging everyone to click and be heard,” said Dr. Charmaine Yoest, President and CEO of Americans United for Life Action. Read more here.
 
ALSO:
 
50,000 Join Virtual March for Life

Read The Full Article

 

 

Editor’s Note: We would like to know what you think. dan@youngchronicle.com

America and Others Rushes to Earthquake Victims

By Daniel Wetter
Jan. 19, 2010

More than 3,242 miles and an entire continent separate the small country of Haiti and Sacramento, California. But people in the Golden State’s capital immediately geared up to send help to the poorest country in the northern hemisphere when it was struck by a 7.0 earthquake on Tuesday.

“People are reaching deep down and giving what they can,” said Tanya Davis, the Christian Service Director at St. Francis High School in Sacramento.

The school is holding a “free dress” fundraiser, where students donate money and get to wear regular clothes, rather than their uniforms, to school one day.

One of the students at St. Francis has family in Haiti. She spoke at an assembly where she admitted that she is worried, but is still living up to what her family said briefly in a phone call to the U.S. after the quake hit:

“We don’t need tears, we need prayers,” she said. The school is hoping to raise more than $5,000 to help families in Haiti.

Devastation

Haiti is an impoverished island, with little money for help or services. The 7.0 quake devastated the entire country, even crumbling its National Palace in the capital city of Port-au-Prince.

More than 2 million people will need food aid, according to the UN’s World Food Program. So far only a few thousand have been able to get aid because of transportation and infrastructure damage.

In Port-au-Prince, 30 per cent of the buildings were damaged. In other areas, more than 50 per cent of the buildings were damaged or destroyed. The U.S. is sending 10,000 troops immediately to help restore order and distribute food.

“I’ve directed my administration to launch a swift, coordinated, and aggressive effort to save lives and support the recovery in Haiti,” President Obama said on Thursday.

“This is one of those moments that calls out for American leadership.”

The Red Cross has also jumped into action on both the local and national levels.

“We are facilitating information to people,” said Trista Jensen of the Sacramento Sierra Red Cross. They will also be helping with financial donations and other food and water donations.

The Red Cross is recommending that people give financially to help the most, and says that people should not try to go to Haiti and help on their own.

“We’re just asking people to be generous,” said Sharol Josephson of Bayside Church in Granite Bay, California. Bayside Church will be donating 10 per cent of its Radical Generosity Fund to the relief efforts in Haiti. Bayside was one of the first churches to start a fund for Haiti relief.

Nationwide Effort

As efforts move from rescue to recovery, schools, churches, and other organizations throughout the U.S. will begin to raise money and other donations to send to Haiti.

Scholastic Kid Reporters are covering relief efforts in their areas and will be sending in stories over the next two weeks. Check back often to find out what’s going on around the country to help the people of Haiti. 

For background on the country of Haiti, check out this article from The New Book of Knowledge, Grolier Online.

You can find also the history of Haiti and its people in this article, also from The New Book of Knowledge.

Source: Scholastic News Online

 

Editor’s Note: People look at debris of a building in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on January 13, a day after a 7.3 magnitude earthquake struck the country. (Photo: Orlando Barría /EFE/NewsCom)

We would like to know what you think. dan@youngchronicle.com

Holding Kids Back?

By Jackie Morgan MacDougall
Jan. 18, 2009

With every stage of childhood comes a new dilemma. I remember when breastfeeding seemed like the biggest challenge in the world and things like potty training and finding a preschool brought me to my knees.

My sisters would giggle as I would pace and stress about whatever stage my kids might be in, thinking “just you wait ’til they’re teenagers.”

Why it is that no one warns you about the seemingly-simple decisions that can keep you up at night, wondering if one wrong move can send your kid into therapy until he’s 30.

Our quandary du jour involves our 4-year-old son and the possibility of kindergarten this fall. In our school district, the cutoff date is December 2, his birthday September 26.

While he’s a bright kid, his tantrums, need for daily naps, and regular desire for cuddles after being scolded make me think this kid needs another year in the safe environment of preschool.

While it used to be that parents would automatically send a child if he made the cutoff, parents now often hold a kid back for a variety of reasons, least of which are academic.

In asking around, I’ve gotten a mixed bag of passionate opinions and a little insight into the minds of some parents who will do anything to help their kid succeed.

 

We held one out of kindergarten due to age – he was two weeks away from the deadline. Why make him struggle forever? It has worked out great for academic reasons. — Liz

 

Two of my children started school right after they turned five. My fifth grader has straight A’s and our second grader is the top reader in his class. Both are the youngest in the class.

 

Why not enter your child into school when he/she is at the age of five? If they don’t do well then have them do a repeat of that year. Our children’s success has more to do with the involvement of the parents.                                    — Heather

 

While kindergarten readiness tests, school expectations and following your instinct are three suggestions in deciding whether your child is ready, even the experts don’t necessarily agree.

The National Association for Education of Young Children advises parents to follow age guidelines in their school districts unless there are very unique, extenuating circumstances. That’s the opposite recommendation of many educators I’ve spoken to.

In doing my research, I read a wide range of arguments but even many of the articles flip-flopped back and forth with opinions on whether to hold a kid back.

Thanks for the help, people! But one thing experts do agree on is that each child is different, and it’s best to make the decision based on where they are, with the help of your potential school.

But there are parents like Tim who made the tough decision a couple of years into his child’s school years. “When we moved from public to private, we had our middle child repeat 2nd grade.

He was a little immature and he would have been 6 months younger than anyone in his new class. It has worked out great. A little weird for him at first, he had to be convinced he wasn’t being “held back.” Now that he’s in 7th, it’s not even an issue.”

But it doesn’t stop in elementary school. One guy – we’ll call him Steve — I talked to revealed that in 7^th grade, his dad made the decision to hold him back in school. His reasoning?

It would give him a leg up in competitive sports, potentially paving the way for a full scholarship to the college of his choice. His dad wasn’t wrong in that he did in fact receive a full scholarship. But I couldn’t help but wonder…

Does holding a kid back help them succeed or just create another thing for them to blame us for later?

Steve’s dad isn’t the only one to pull that move. Melissa shared something that happened at her kid’s school, “There was one high school football player that was supposed to be on Varsity last season, since he was a junior.

Well, he knew that he wouldn’t START the games as a Varsity player, so he had his parents hold him back a year (so he could repeat his sophomore year) just so he would be able to start for the JV team.”

And while that’s not the norm in most communities, Melissa shared the complications of a situation more close to home. “My 13-year old son was born in May. His first cousin was born four months later in September.

My sister-in-law held him backs a year. Now my nephew feels strange/awkward that he is also 13, but one year behind my son in school.”

While we’re leaning to keeping our little man in preschool for one extra year, I guess this is another one of those parenting dilemmas where there is no right answer. We just cross our fingers and hope they don’t hate us later.

Source: Family

Editor’s Note: Jackie Morgan MacDougall, on the never-ending quest for balance, enjoys life in Los Angeles with her husband, Jeff, and their three small kids. Read more of her take on parenting, kids and everything else on The Silver Whining.

We would like to know what you think. dan@youngchronicle.com

$57 million for Haiti

By Nekesa Mumbi Moody   
AP Music Writer
Jan. 23, 2010

NEW YORK – Organizers for the all-star “Hope for Haiti Now” telethon say the event raised a record-setting $57 million — and counting.

The two-hour telethon aired Friday night on the major networks and dozens of other channels, including MTV, Bravo, and PBS, and was also streamed live online.

Stars like Brad Pitt, Beyonce, Madonna, Bruce Springsteen and more used their presence to encourage donations for Haiti, following a Jan. 12 earthquake that killed an estimated 200,000 people.

A statement released Saturday said the money raised was a record. It does not include donations by corporations or via iTunes, where people are able to buy performances of the event for 99 cents.

People can still donate via text, phone or through the “Hope for Haiti” Web site.

 

Source: Yahoo News

 

Editor’s Note: we would like to know what you think. dan@youngchronicle.com

Next Page »