Helping The Tornado Victims Of The South

With all of the devastating destruction and tragedy that has hit the South from the tornadoes that ravaged so many on April 27, 2011, I felt a blog was in order to spread awareness of the need for donations and help for those affected by this cataclysmic event.

The National Weather Service released a statement saying that the event was an ‘outbreak of historic proportions.’ The death toll soared to at least 233, including 149 in Alabama, 32 in Mississippi, 30 in Tennessee, 13 in Georgia, eight in Virginia and one in Kentucky. As of this writing on Thursday morning, the Storm Prediction Center had preliminarily recorded 164 tornadoes (unconfirmed) and 343 damaging wind and 182 large hail reports. With assessments on-going, the number of recorded tornadoes may continue to increase. The outbreak is also likely to challenge the all-time 24-hour record of 148 tornado touchdowns that occurred on April 3-4, 1974. 

 

There are many ways you can help. Here is a list I have compiled from resources across the internet.

 

You can help the Tornado victims by joining the FOX 5 Care Force.

It's a joint effort by FOX 5, Publix and the American Red Cross. Donations are being accepted at all metro area Publix stores. Just make your contribution at the check out line. The money goes directly to the Red Cross disaster relief fund.

 

Donate to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Efforts

 

The Red Cross is on the ground providing shelter and relief to survivors.

• To donate to the relief efforts online, click here. 
• Call 1-800-RED-CROSS
• Text "REDCROSS" to 90999 to make a $10 donation

Donate to the Salvation Army Emergency Disaster Services

The Salvation Army has teams of responders providing food and support for victims throughout Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee.

• Call 1-800-SAL-ARMY to donate and designate “April 2011 Tornado Outbreak."
• Text “GIVE” to 80888 to make a $10 donation
• Send checks to The Salvation Army Disaster Relief, P.O. Box 100339, Atlanta, GA 30384-0339. Please designate “April 2011 Tornado Outbreak.”

Donate to the Alabama Governor's Emergency Relief Fund

To help tornado victims in Alabama, donate by check or credit card here.
Your employer or community organization can donate goods here.

Mississippi Disaster Recovery Fund

The governor's office has created the fund to serve as a clearinghouse for donations and volunteer help.
Visit mississippi.relief.com to give or volunteer.

Save The Children

The relief effort providing food, medical care and education to children is accepting donations online at Donate to Save The Children . People can also call 1-800-728-3843 during business hours.

Volunteer Opportunities

The Corporation for National and Community Service, a federal agency, helps coordinate community service and volunteer efforts throughout the country. Visit serve.gov for more information.

If you know of any other ways to help please comment below and share them!

Blessings

~TBVG~

Handicap Van Resources For Families In Need

With so many families struggling and in need of Handicap Accessible Vans to care for their families medical needs. I decided to go on a mission to find resources to help them. Below is what I have found along my journey and I hope that it will offers some assistance to a family in need.

The Special Kids Fund gives donated vans to families with disabled children.

A family must qualify for the program based upon financial need. 

For more information, email  info@SpecialKidsFund.org or call (732) 397-5056.

Midwest Mobility offers donated handicap vans and other similar vehicles to needy families throughout the states of Illinois and Wisconsin. If you live in Illinois, call (800) 809-3738. 

Those in Wisconsin should call (866) 520-8267.

 Another way to get help is through a government grant.

The United States government has many grants available for obtaining financial assistance to meet the needs of disabled individuals. Many of these grants are available to private citizens and can be used for purchasing mobility equipment, including handicapped vans. While certain requirements may need to be met to establish eligibility, these grants can provide a lot of help and possibly make the research effort worth while.

CLICK HERE TO SEARCH FOR GRANTS AVAILABLE

Contact nearby churches. They should be a good source of information for local charities that might have a free wheelchair van available for you. Church officials could have the inside track on a member looking to directly donate a vehicle to a needy person or family.

CLICK HERE FOR A CHURCH LOCATOR 

Blessings To All

~TBVG~

Being A Teen On The Streets

With so many of our teenagers ending up on the streets, some in trouble, some on drugs, with nowhere to go and no one to turn to I wanted to post a blog today for them.

I know how it is as I myself ended up across the country out in Texas as a teenager and I was homeless. I hitchhiked many times, slept under bridge overpasses, in an old abandoned bus, on the beaches, on sidewalks and in allies and I ate in soup kitchens, bathed in gas station bathrooms, and begged for change from strangers. I was attacked by 3 guys on south beach in Corpus Christi one time and ended up out in Houston where I was almost sucked into a life of prostitution by a Pimp named Sergio among many other horrible things.

Ending up in Houston was the best thing for me because that is where a lady whom saw me on Westheimer one day reached out to me and told me about The Covenant House and I walked in and they took me in and for once in quite awhile I felt safe. 

The streets can be a scary dangerous place especially for kids. If you ever see a teen in trouble and on the streets or know of any teen who needs help please tell them about The Covenant House. Give them a chance to get off the streets and get their life on track.

 CLICK HERE TO VISIT THEIR WEBSITE

AS PER THEIR SITE:

Among the services Covenant House provides are:

• Street outreach
• Health/Medical care
• GED High school diploma
• Job readiness and vocational training
• Drug abuse treatment and prevention
• Legal aid
• Mother/child services
• Transitional housing
• Life-skills training

More than just a homeless shelter  

Covenant House is a leading advocate on behalf of street youth – for those who can’t speak up for themselves – at local, state, national, and international levels of government. We are a member of the Non-Government Organization (NGO) Board of Directors of UNICEF, and have taken on a prominent role in The Campaign for U.S. Ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).

Covenant House Locations and Services Help Thousands of Homeless Kids 

Our facilities are located in Anchorage, Atlanta, Atlantic City, Detroit, Fort Lauderdale, Houston, Los Angeles, Managua, Mexico City, Milpas Altas, Newark, New Orleans, New York, Oakland, Orlando, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Tegucigalpa, Toronto, Vancouver, and Washington, D.C.
Last year, Covenant House Street Outreach Teams and Residential and Community Service Center Programs cared for over 70,000 at-risk and homeless kids in 21 cities in the United States, Canada, and Central America.

And for needy kids all across the U.S. and in Mexico – kids who aren’t near one of our sites and need immediate help – Covenant House also operates two 24-hour crisis hotlines. Every year, NINELINE in the U.S. and Acercatel in Mexico promptly respond to over 60,000 crisis calls from frightened youth – and many of the caring adults in their lives.

Learn more about us:

• Mission and Vision
• History
• Institute
• Employment
• Financials
• Leadership
• About Covenant House in Spanish
• Email Sign up
• Contact Us

If you want to help the youth today even more become a part of Wish Upon A Teen.

 CLICK HERE TO VIEW THEIR WEBSITE

Please if you know of any of our youth who needs help tell them about Covenant House. Who knows what could have happened to me if that lady had not reached out to me that day so many years ago and told me about them. I may not have even been alive today to write this blog.

~Blessings~

TBVG

Budget Cuts Affecting Our Classrooms DonorsChoose.Org Can Help!

I have personally seen how Budget Cuts are affecting the classrooms in public schools. Due to a lack of funding I have seen programs and projects dropped at my 2 oldest childrens High School and Middle School already this school year.

Traditional fundraisers are simply played out and in this time of such economic distress people simply will not purchase the over priced wrapping paper, candles, candy etc. that is being sold. Not only because everyone is struggling to make ends meet but because only a small portion of those funds go directly to the classrooms.

So in my quest to find a way to assist one of my oldest Daughter's Teachers in getting what they need to be able to fund their classroom projects this year I found an amazing website which I want to share with all of you today!

Whether you are a teacher, a parent of school aged children or simply a supporter of education this site is for all of you!

 This a great way for Teachers to campaign for what they need and allow their students parents and families assist them in meeting that goal. I think this would certainly bring in more support than traditional fundraisers as I said which are failing miserably and limited in how many people they can reach and only a small portion of the money actually goes to the Students. 

With donorschoose.org they can reach a broader audience from virtually anywhere across the internet and with this all proceeds go directly to the classroom!

CLICK HERE TO SEE HOW IT WORKS

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE IMPACT THEY HAVE MADE IN CLASSROOMS

CLICK HERE TO SUPPORT DONORSCHOOSE.ORG

TEACHERS CLICK HERE TO START A PROJECT FOR YOUR CLASSROOM

SUPPORTERS OF THE CLASSROOMS CLICK HERE TO CREATE YOUR PAGE

Here's to hoping that many Teachers & Students will be able to get what they need for every classroom!

Blessings

~TBVG~

Need help with food? Angel Food Ministries! If you eat you qualify!

Times are so hard for so many with the economy in the USA now and even being able to feed our families has become a struggle.

So today I wanted to bring to your attention a wonderful place that is helping to ease that burden of worrying about being able to afford to feed our families here in the United States.

That would be the most wonderful Angel Food Ministries!

As per their site:

Angel Food Ministries is a non-profit, non-denominational organization dedicated to providing food relief and financial support to communities throughout the United States

 

ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS

There are no qualifications, minimums, income restrictions, or applications.

CLICK HERE FOR FULL DETAILS

You can even order your food selections online!

They also accept Food Stamps.

Menus change every month so a variety is to be found as well!

Here are just a few images of some of the things they offer which are at a fraction of the cost of what you would pay at the grocery store!

 This is a great little box here for the kiddos to snack on after school!

 

They even have Holiday Food Boxes!

 I hope that this will help many of you whom really are in a bind and struggling but still have to feed your family! I personally have not ordered from them yet, but I found my host site online today and today is the deadline for ordering in my area, and I think I might just order a box or two myself! 

Blessings

~TBVG~

Tired of unwanted phonecalls? Put a stop to them today!

Today I wanted to share with you all a way to put a stop to all those annoying unwanted phone calls!

"The National Do Not Call registry gives you a choice as to whether or not you would like telemarketers to contact you via telephone at your home.  Registering only takes a few minutes and prevents most telemarkets from contacting you.  Your number will remain on the registry permanently because of the Do-Not-Call Improvement Act of 2007. Read more about it at http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/tcpa.html. Click here to register your personal home phone number or mobile phone and you should see a reduction in telemarketing calls within 31 days."

Although this service is for the United States there are more availbale to others. I will list some of those I have found so far below.

• Do Not Call Register (Australia)
• National Do Not Call List (Canada)
• New Zealand Name Removal Service
• Telephone Preference Service (United Kingdom)
• National Do Not Call / Disturb Directory of India (India)

I personally registered my cell phone and hone phone with the  National Do Not Call Registry and within just a couple weeks the phone calls were cut down by at least 50% and have gotten less and less over time.

Here's hoping we all can eliminate those annoying phone calls!

Blessings

~TBVG~

9/11 A Day Of Remembrance & Reflection Worldwide

It is with great sadness that I begin my day reflecting upon the tragedy that shook the very foundation of The United States Of America nine years ago today on September 11, 2001 when 19 Al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked  four planes and began a series of suicide attacks.

                

At 8:46 a.m., American Airlines Flight 11 was crashed into the World Trade Center's North Tower, followed by United Airlines Flight 175 which hit the South Tower at 9:03 a.m. Another group of hijackers flew American Airlines Flight 77 into the Pentagon at 9:37 a.m. A fourth flight, United Airlines Flight 93 crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania at 10:03 a.m, after the passengers on board engaged in a fight with the hijackers. Its ultimate target was thought to be either the Capitol (the meeting place of the United States Congress) or the White House.

The destruction and fatalities of these attacks were devastating, and the aftermath and lingering effects of such a tragic event as this is not something that time can ever truly heal. Even though it is 9 years later the pain is still ever present and not something that can subside so easily. So many still mourn the loss of their loved ones, children whom are growing up without their parents struggling to understand why, communities still shaken, people suffering from PTSD from the attacks, families still coping with the fact they never even found their loved ones remains and so many are still trying to comprehend the how and why of the whole situation.

I ask that today everyone put their issues and differences to the side and allow this to be a day of remembrance and reflection not overshadowed by all the religious and political tension that is on the forefront right now. Also keeping in mind that not only were Americans affected by the Tragedy of 9/11 but other countries were as well. There were also lives lost that day whom were not Americans, more than 90 countries lost citizens in the attacks on the World Trade Center alone. So this really is a day of remembrance and reflection not just nationwide for Americans but worldwide for everyone.

 CLICK HERE TO VISIT FAMILIES OF SEPTEMBER 11TH

CLICK HERE TO VISIT THE CHILDREN OF SEPTEMBER 11TH 

 

CLICK HERE TO VISIT CSPAN FOR TODAY'S HIGHLIGHTS/EVENTS

CLICK HERE TO VISIT UNITED WE SERVE

CLICK HERE FOR EXPERIENCE PROJECTS I REMEMBER SEPTEMBER 11TH

In closing I will say my thoughts are with you all today and I pray that one day the world will come together in complete Unity. That everyone will embrace their is only one race THE HUMAN RACE, there is no right religion ALL RELIGIONS HAVE MERIT, war & terrorism ARE PROBLEMS NOT SOLUTIONS and love is unconditional and should be given TO EVERYBODY.

Blessings TO ALL

~TBVG~