are you average?

The Story of Ian & Larissa

very inspirational video, thanks to Mark for emailing it

http://stayonpost.com/2012/05/08/the-story-of-ian-larissa/

I have this photo on my pinterest account. It links to here: Famine in Baidoa, Somalia: 1992
Looking at it you can't help but be inspired to give more and store up less

fundraiser for Feed My Starving Children - Applebees

I was just notified of a fundraiser starting April 18th and then every 2nd Wednesday of the month through 2012.  Feel free to pass the information around to family and friends. All you have to do is bring the flyer (see below) to Applebees in Aurora, IL on the specific dates and 15% of your bill goes to Feed My Starving Children.

The letter below the flyer explains it all. _____________________

My name is Joyce Kalicki.  I am an individual that volunteered through my church, Word of Life, Naperville, to help pack meals for Feed My Starving Children.  As volunteers we were amazed at how many starving children this organization feeds.  The Feed My Starving Children in Illinois packed 77 million meals by using about 345,000 VOLUNTEERS!   The Feed My Starving Children location in Aurora, Illinois only has 8 full time and 12 part time employees.  The ladies of Word of Life Lutheran Church started looking for ways to support this amazing organization that does so much with so little money.  (A package of food that feeds six costs approximately $1.50!)

Applebees  Bar and Grill in Aurora, Illinois offered the program Dining to Donate.   With this program the community has the opportunity to support Feed My Starving Children by simply going out to eat!  This is something most of us do every week!  Applebees has partnered with us and is going to donate 15% of all food sales in which the dining party submits to the server the attached flyer (above).  The key is that it must be submitted to the Aurora Applebees on 59 on Wednesday April 18th, 2012 from 11am to 11pm.

Please consider joining this community effort and helping feed starving children in the United States and 69 other countries?  All you need do is advertise this fundraiser by speaking of it and passing on the attached official flyer from Applebees.  We as a community can EAT OUT and help starving children all over the world!  This means that if someone eats a $10.00 meal at Applebees of Aurora, Illinois on Wednesday, April 18, 2012 and submits the attached official Applebees flyer to the server Feed My Starving Children will receive $1.50.  This will allow FMSC to pack SIX meals for starving children.

Please consider partnering with us to raise money for Feed My Starving Children to help empower them to feed children all over the world.

If you have any questions please contact me.  I would love to hear from you.

Sincerely,
Joyce Kalicki
thekalickis@yahoo.com
(586)907-5125

not much going on

nope, haven't done anything regarding setting up a book club around here.

BUT, I am in another "Radical" book club. This will be my second one, and third time reading the book :)

It's a Tyndale one, 6 people from work, we were the spill over from those who signed up first.

that's all for now

mistake

well, I made a little mistake. I didn't end up giving $1097 in 2011. I let 2011 slip by without realize I need to actually GIVE that money in 2011 to get the doubled amount from Tyndale. I was so focused on typing the money in here until the last minute, that I didn't think about donating that last amount. So, I got $800 donated in 2011, therefore, Tyndale will donate $800 too. And, all is not lost, if Tyndale does it again for this year, then I can get the rest of it doubled :)

On to 2012.

I'm not sure if I'll continue blogging. But I did want to write this in here. So it's out there and perhaps more likely to happen.

I've been thinking about starting a women's Christian book club in my neighborhood. We could start with "Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire", move on to "Radical" and so many more good Christian books. The question is, how do I go about inviting my neighbors who I don't know. Do I put letters at their doors. Do I walk around knocking on doors. Do I put a flier out at a local establishment? And will anyone respond? Or, should I find out if there's a way to do it online. or, is anyone already doing it in the area, which, again, I could find out online.

help?

$1097 is the TOTAL for my 2011 donations to FMSC! w/Tyndales money that equals 8,214 meals!

So $1097 x 3.917 ($1 = 3.917 meals) = 4,296 meals + $1000 (because Tyndale doubles the donation, up to $1000), so that's $2097 x 3.917 = 8,214 meals!

very satisfying. However, I have felt weird this whole year about showing everyone how much I'm donating. It feels like I'm tooting my own horn and makes me uncomfortable. So I'm glad it's over, but I'm also glad I did it, and saw how much of a difference not eating out makes. And giving up haircuts, some clothing, some presents, etc. That money can go to something much more useful. And I want to think of other things I don't need, since we Americans can spend our money so frivolously.

I don't have any big speech to end this, this is it. It's been a pretty simple blog the whole year (much to my sisters amusement) and I'll finish it simply.

Hope this helps someone else out there to give more to others and less to themselves.

New Living Translation (NLT) Matthew 6:19-21 ¹⁹ “Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. ²⁰ Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹ Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.

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$1 donated to FeedMyStarvingChildren=4 meals (3.917 to be exact) To get the total number of meals that will go to Feed My Starving Children take the dollar amount times 3.917. $100 equals 391 meals.