Change Becomes Change

Starting Again

I can't believe that it's a year since we started Change Becomes Change as part of our family Lenten project to do nice deeds for others. We've all learned a lot over the past year and have grown closer as a family in our service journey.

I know we're doing good work in our community and I see little signs that our efforts are also making an impression on the children. We had a special family Valentine's dinner and we each shared what we love about our family. My son said: that we help others.

That kid knows just how to get me all choked up

That same evening we started talking about what we wanted to do for Lent this year. Do we want to make a sacrifice and give something up? Do we want to serve others? It was a unanimous decision to find ways to touch another life each of the next 40 days in a special way.

We generated some new ideas and the kids offered up some of their favorites like feeding the hungry, calling grandparents more often, filling other people's buckets and picking up trash. I was pleased to see that they could reflect back on the past year and recall some of the good deeds they'd accomplished and how good it felt to help.

For today, they bought food for the hungry after school and made special notes for their grandparents who are coming to visit. We'll be sharing some of the new ideas that we're excited about very soon...so stay tuned.

We'd also love to hear of some new ideas you have to get your children involved in helping others. What have you done with your family? 

Here are some of our favorite ways that we've helped others this past year:

Doing Good with One Click

The Little Things That Count

Feeding the Homeless

Building a Hunger Garden

I Blame Plastics

What exactly do I blame plastics for? Things I don't even know about yet. Things that scare me. The unknown and known.

I grew up on plastics. Remember Tupperware parties? Little People? Plastic dolls? I had jellies on my feet, plastic head bands for my long locks, and those clear plastic purses popular in the early 80's. During my college years, my caffeine of choice was diet coke delivered in an Arco AM/PM plastic 32oz sipper cup that went thru the dishwasher daily (those were meant to be heated up to the point that the shape gets distorted, right?).

My life wasn't all plastic though. Starting in high school, I wore cheap drug store makeup, frequented fast food and never heard of organic food until the last decade. We used the usual chemical-laden cleaners in our the house, raid to kill our annual visits of summer-rain ants, and played outdoors in Southern California until our lungs hurt when we took a deep breath.

Don't get me wrong - I had a wonderful childhood and have many special memories with my loving parents. My childhood was probably pretty similar to most children of the 70's. I know that if my parents knew then, what we know today, things would have been a lot different.

If my parents knew that exposure to all that BPA (bisphenolA) found in many plastics would prevent me from ovulating, and cost my husband and I thousands of dollars trying to conceive our son, my childhood would have looked different. Our toy box would be filled with wooden, glass or cloth toys from companies who have proven to make high quality toys for children.

If we knew then that exposure to chemicals in cleaners, foods and personal products could affect my immune and reproductive system function, lead to cancer, or negatively affect my nervous system, I am certain that we would've used baking soda and vinegar to clean our house, sought out pesticide-free food options, and avoided slathering petroleum from a tub all over ourselves (you know, the "V" brand we used to remove eye makeup & moisten chapped lips).

But they didn't know. Knowledge and awareness of these issues weren't where they are today. Options weren't what they are now. Today, we know better. We have options. We get to make informed choices for our children.

Because we know, we keep chemicals out of our house, buy organic foods as much as possible and certainly the "dirty dozen", buy toys and other items for our children only from trusted brands, and have fallen in love with glass, stainless steel and other BPA-free food containers.

So, now that you know the dangers and risks with chemicals, what changes will you make? Please leave a comment and share your thoughts with us.


To learn more about the dangers of chemicals, please visit the Environmental Working Group HERE. And discover safe, green toys for your children from Healthy Child Healthy World HERE.

Recycling Surprises

Last week we shared 7 Surprising Things You Can Recycle and hope that you found one or two new ways to give something a second (or third) life. Now we want to hear from you. Yes!

Please leave a comment below and tell us, what has been your biggest recycling surprise? Could be something you'd been recycling and found out you couldn't...or something you hadn't been recycling and learned you could. Or something funny about recycling.

No strict rules here! Just an opportunity to share. Thanks!

Changing the world, one cent at a time by voting with my dollar

I'm pleased to be sharing this post with you today from my friend and co-worker, Kelly Orehovec. Kelly has her own blog, I am what I eat, where she writes about her thoughts and wishes on food. Welcome, Kelly - thanks for sharing your thoughts with us here too!

In 2010, I want to vote with my dollars. Reluctant to spend money on wants, (as opposed to needs), voting with my dollars is a change for me. Organic and local food? Want, not a need. Dry Cleaning? Want, not a need. Delivery services? Want, not a need right now.

In 2010, I will continue to explore ways to vote with my dollars; it will be a balancing act and I am up for the tightrope walk! Here are some ways that I will vote with my dollars this month:

• The Oregon Unemployment rate was 11% in November 2009 and that number seems to be holding steady. I lost my job in March 2009 and one of the biggest challenges I faced was finding the appropriate (clean) interviewing clothes. I have one suit and my one income family did not pay for dry cleaning. I wish that I would have known about Plaza Cleaners. The idea to dry clean interviewing clothes for free started in New York City and so far, Plaza Cleaners is the only Portland, Oregon drycleaners that offers this service. I thankfully have a fabulous job now and when I have clothes to dry clean, I take my clothes to them because of their generosity and green practices—they use GreenEarth, a cleaning solution that is odorless, environmentally friendly and gentle.

• Mu husband and I are experimenting with the 100 mile diet (every other week). One of the most asked questions we get is, “Isn’t it expensive?”. I don’t think that it has to be if you are willing to dig a little bit for local food information, barter with friends and take swift advantage of deals. Groupon is new on my radar and recently, I bought $50 worth of Spud! groceries for $25! Spud is especially appealing to me because they are the only grocery retailer in North America that publishes the distance that each of their products travels from where it is grown or made to get to me. Information that is unbelievably hard to come by these days!

• Speaking of spuds, we have been eating low cost potato “seconds” from my friend at Gathering Together Farm. The potatoes taste delicious; they are not pretty. Building relationships with people to barter, trade and work with to keep costs down lets me save money so I can vote with my dollars at other places at different times of the year. For example, because of our “seconds” eating, Gathering Together Farm is our first stop at the Portland Farmers Market.

I want to learn from you. What are some ways that you vote with your dollars and save money at the same time?

Small Donations Can Be Lessons in Sharing

Do your kids have too much stuff too? How many closets in your house are overflowing with games and toys that get played with a handful of times each year? How do you manage the growing amount of "stuff", especially as gift-giving holidays and birthdays come around?

Like we do each time this year around our house, we're going through the children's toys, games, books, stuffies, and puzzles to decide which ones will continue to be enjoyed, and which will be donated so that someone else can enjoy them. We do the same thing with clothes and winter gear, but the kids don't get involved with that process much, other than trying things on.

The type-A organizer in me started doing this clothes-closet-cleanout with each change in season many years ago since they outgrow them so quickly when they're young.

And it felt great. For a few reasons. Getting rid of the clutter feels good and I love to admire their closets after a good cleanout. While they don't get the same pleasure out of saying goodbye to their clutter, I mean gently-loved toys, that I do, we all like that warm fuzzy in our hearts that we feel when we share them with other children who don't have as much.

This year, we cleaned out their closets a few weeks before Christmas "in preparation for new things" and to help other families out. We'll do a second round after Christmas because new presents that need a home in a crowded closet are a big motivation to find donations.

The Lessons Learned

I'll admit, we started this tradition when the children were young and have always involved them so there's no struggles or challenges. And I don't ask them about giving up their most beloved treasures. I know that this can be an emotional process for some children and have heard from parents that it's just easier to go through their toys when they're not home. For those of us who have an easier time with this, it's a great way to teach important lessons of sharing and being grateful for what we have.

For other families, maybe those lessons can be learned by letting your child buy or make a small gift to give another child or to donate. That one small act might, and those warm fuzzies, might make it a little easier for them next time.

Sharing a Smile

This put a smile on my face. If it does the same for you, then pass it along to someone you want to share a smile with.

If you can't see the video in your email, CLICK HERE.

Have a great day

Shopping Locally Made Easier

For some of us living in suburbs or communities without a thriving arts and crafts community, it can be a challenge to buy clothing, accessories, home decor or gifts locally. As much as we may want to support our local businesses, growers, markets and craftspeople - it's sometimes really hard.

But let's just take a step back and think about this another way. Maybe we can take small steps towards buying locally. Helping our local communities is a good thing for so many reasons...and it feels really good. So, what do you think of these ideas?

1. Maybe for some of us this year, buying local means buying "made in the USA" instead of imported items
2. For us in the North West, maybe we support local wineries, artists and companies with items from our "Made in Oregon" (or Washington, or whatever your state is) stores
3. Could we support local services, restaurants and businesses with gift certificates
4. Here's one I like (hint, hint!): Browse the "local" section on Etsy.com for bonus points on local AND handmade goods
5. Something we're taking great pleasure in this year is making presents at home with what you already have, can find in nature, cook, bake or find locally (I'll be sharing these with you soon)

So, do these ideas work for you? What other ideas do you have to get a little closer to "local" (and a little farther from those big global guys)?

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Labor Day: Day of Appreciation

Times are tough for many folks right now, no doubt. For some, it may be a challenge to put together a meaningful list of things they're grateful for.

Even still, let's turn this Labor Day into a day of giving thanks.

A day for giving thanks to our employer for the opportunity to have work - because so many people don't. 

A day of showing appreciation to the workers who show up with a smile at our favorite coffee shop, grocery store or gas station.

A day to acknowledge the village it takes to raise our children: teachers, doctors, nurses, neighbors, friends and family.

A day to thank the volunteer workers who give so much of themselves at the food pantry, shelter or hospital.

A day to be grateful for the organizations who work hard to take care of our sick, hungry and homeless.

How can you show your appreciation today?

Making it easy to make a difference

I don't know about you, but sometimes our family life becomes so busy, hectic and crazy that it's difficult to find time or energy to help other people out...no matter how badly we really want to. While it's a lot easier to do nothing, I tend to go the other way and try my best to find time to do it all! Unfortunately this usually ends with the entire family feeling over-scheduled, stressed out and not very happy with me.

Recently I found a copy of Debbie Tenzer's book, Do One Nice Thing: Little Things You Can Do to Make the World a Lot Nicer, in which she shared one simple thought that really stuck with me. 

"I can't end hunger, but I can donate cans to a food bank. I can't fix needy schools, but I can give them my kids' old books. I can't end the war, but I can send a phone card so a soldier can be comforted by calling home."

Simple. Easy. Do-able!

It's easy for me to forget all that we already do to help others in our efforts to make change happen. Like a lot of people, I have pretty high goals when it comes to making impact so it's helpful for me to be reminded that I can't do it all. Not alone, anyways. And then I remind myself that this is the very reason why I started this blog: to provide ideas for others to join us in doing simple things that add up to meaningful change.

And we can do it together!

Read more stories about easy ways to make a difference:

Good Deeds Rewarded With a Free Hotel Night
Finding Time To Help Others
It's The Little Things. And They're Easier Than We Think.

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Lessons Learned at a Summer Party

I know, parties aren't for teaching moments but, rather for letting your hair down, having some fun and relaxing with friends. And we did that too. But at our company summer soiree this past weekend, there were some important lessons learned.

Those that know our son Patrick know that his blessings are in the form of academics more so than athletics. He enjoys sports - almost all sports and even persuaded his dad last weekend to take him to the X Games 3D movie instead of packing for our camping trip. He has passion for sports, but his interest is stronger than his ability in most cases.

At this party, he enjoyed playing tag with one of the older boys and tossing a beach ball around with one of the little girls, but then the athletic boys showed up and things changed. These boys were playing football and, even though Patrick hasn't had much exposure to football (one of a handful of forbidden sports in my house due to potential danger during play - although I love watching college football!) he wanted to be a part of that fun.

In fear of having to rush him to the hospital with a bloody nose or some other injury, I watched this interest turn into action over just a few minutes. He patiently observed the boys toss the ball and run a few plays, ignoring the other children he was originally playing with. There were laughs, celebratory hooray's and lots of fun happening. I watched his excitement building inside. And then he made his move.

He apparently felt that he had observed enough and had learned all he needed to know to play football with these boys. Patrick asked one of them if he could throw the ball to him. Knowing that my son had never even picked up a football, let alone throw something that wasn't perfectly round like a baseball, I wanted to run over and rescue him from further damage to his self-esteem. But the ball was in his hands before I was even half way there. And it happened - he threw the ball just about how I expected.

But he didn't see anything wrong with it and didn't seem affected by the other boys' reactions. He still wanted to play. In fact, he begged and pleaded until he persuaded the boys to give him one more chance. They told him that if he could catch the ball from the other side of the yard, he could play. From their snickers, it was obvious that they assumed there was no way this kid was going to catch that ball based on his throw. No way! So they kept instructing him to move back, move back, and keep going until he was a good 30 yards away. With little effort, one of the boys threw the ball right at him...and he caught it!

While I wanted to jump up and down and make a really big deal about this, he simply ran over and asked what was next. He took on that challenge knowing he'd catch it. He had to. He knew it. He had so much more confidence in himself than his parents did. It was awesome. Just amazing.

Sensing what was going on, one of the dads huddled the boys together, including Patrick, and called plays to run. He was thoughtful to give each boy roles that they could succeed in. Patrick was a running back and quickly understood his mission. What fun he had!

Who knew that on this night, we would all learn a few things at the company summer party. We learned that our son is capable of more than we think. And to have more confidence in his physical abilities. Those boys likely learned that they should be careful not to underestimate the incredible power of desire. Patrick picked up some new social skills and earned a few well-deserved self-esteem points that he so badly needs.

Unfortunately, he also learned more than I'd like about the forbidden sport. I'll overlook that for now.