Just a few years ago, I was nervously waiting on my connecting flights to Bogota, Colombia with a 17 month old nursing baby on my hip. My first leg of the flight was from Lexington, Kentucky to Chicago, Illinois; O’Hare was noisy, busy, and in my eyes, germ ridden. It wasn’t a vacation for us, you see in my former life I was an Army wife (in my former, former life I was an Navy Nuclear Electrician but that’s a story for another day) and we were traveling to stay with my (now ex-) husband. If traveling alone internationally wasn’t stressful enough, I was going to be in Colombia for months. I’d heard stories and watched news reports about the Colombian Cartel and FARC (“revolutionaries” that hated U.S. presence and involvement in Colombia). I was terrified, but we hadn’t seen him in months and we were trying to keep our family together. Our layover in Chicago was over 6 hours, which is uncomfortable enough when traveling alone, but I was trying to keep a baby entertained too. What would I do while waiting on our connecting flight? I remembered there was a USO facility in the airport.
Category: social good
Encouraging Family Volunteerism
“This post was sponsored by generationOn” as part of an Influencer Activation for Influence Central”
Saturday, November 21 was the 25th annual Family Volunteer Day. Thousands of families participated together in activities to encourage community service and giving during the holiday season. It’s strategically scheduled on the Saturday before Thanksgiving to help kick off the holiday season in a positive manner by giving rather than receiving. The event is organized by generationOn and Disney Friends for Change. In my previous post, I suggested several activities that your family could use for inspiration for Family Volunteer Day. Today I’m sharing what our family did in honor of Family Volunteer Day and encouraging family volunteerism this holiday season.
Tips For Improving Efficiency & Productivity Using The TPS Model
This post was created in partnership with Toyota. All opinions contained in this post are my own, and do not reflect the views or opinions of Toyota.
Have you ever stopped and looked at a situation that seemed insurmountable? Have you ever thought “there is no way I can do all of that!
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“? Most days are like that for me. Juggling my business and my writing with my five year old’s school, sports, theater, and other activities often consumes more time than I have to give. Then there’s the long list of other motherly duties: cooking, cleaning, laundry, taking care of the pets.
Toyota has been in a sharing mood. They’ve been recognized for monetary and in kind donations, but now they’re giving away something even more valuable–their management process. That probably sounds strange to you, but the continuous improvement model they use is called the Toyota Production System (TPS), and they’re using it to help other companies maximize their potential by identifying inefficiencies, improve processes, and achieve success. There are lots of different techniques and methodologies to achieving continuous improvement — each one working differently for each industry and application. For example, you can visit this site to look more into the different software available that will help create continuous achievement.
Continue reading Tips For Improving Efficiency & Productivity Using The TPS Model
Family Volunteer Day Ideas
“This post was sponsored by generationOn” as part of an Influencer Activation for Influence Central”
Personally, I believe one of the most important values that a parent can teach a child is kindness and to encourage volunteerism; this includes leading children by example. Families might not have extra money, but budgeting a few hours of time to a local cause or community organization is almost always feasible. Family Volunteer Day is scheduled for November 21, 2015. Do you have any plans to volunteer as a family? I’m sharing a few ideas to help you get your children excited about volunteering and Family Volunteer Day.
Macy’s Rwanda Path To Peace Project
This post is sponsored by Everywhere Agency; however, all thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.
I was just 13 years old when the Rwandan genocide began; I was preoccupied, daydreaming about college and getting my driver’s license, completely oblivious to problems going on in a tiny country in the heart of Africa. Nearly one million people were massacred during one of the world’s worst genocides; many of the killings were neighbor against neighbor. Hatred between Hutus and Tutsis resulted in the loss of nearly 20% of the country’s population. It wasn’t until I was in college that I really learned about the genocide in Rwanda, and I began to truly fathom how hard life could be in developing nations.
This Little Light Of Mine: Electrify Africa
One of the first songs that I remember learning as a child was, “This Little Light Of Mine”. My grandmother would sing it to me over and over; she still sings it to my son. What does this song really mean? As a Christian, I am called to let my light shine all over the world around me. We are taught to guide people toward the light, figuratively and literally. What if you could help others find the light?
Continue reading This Little Light Of Mine: Electrify Africa
Thanks & Giving: ONE Campaign Petition for GAVI
One of the most valuable gifts we can give to someone else that we can’t get back is our time. What if just a few seconds of your time could alter the life of child in need? I’m not asking you to donate money, clothes, or food. I want you to take a few minutes to read this and just a few seconds to act. On Friday, November 14th the ONE campaign will deliver a petition to the White House asking for help replenishing GAVI (Vaccine Alliance) vaccines. Did you know that every 20 seconds a child dies of a vaccine preventable disease? These vaccines would be available to over 6 million children.
I believe that #everyparent regardless of where they are should be able to watch their child grow up and live a healthy life.
Moments like this……..
Continue reading Thanks & Giving: ONE Campaign Petition for GAVI