There is something you can do to help...

Each day, I make a decision about when to post which day from the book 100 Days of Giving, and I could not have ever anticipated that years later I would be simultaneously writing and posting about the impact of devastating flooding in my current community while flooding was ravaging another one of the communities I love. The trauma left behind after flooding is significant and indescribable. A perpetrator-less crime of the heart.

100 Days of Giving is about hope, healing and simple gifts in times of difficulty, and now that the flood waters in Colorado are beginning to recede we can look to the stories of other communities ravaged by flood waters to find hope and healing in simple gifts...

Each day of the 100 Days of Giving includes a daily reflection for you to consider. Today, I am going to give you another example of putting the words into action for you. Each day in 100 Days of Giving offers you an opportunity to read about alternative giving options as well as some questions to consider...enjoy...

To read: Day 40 - The day the floods hit Austin, Minnesota

Now that 100 Days of Giving is available as an e-book you can purchase it for $3.99 at Smashwords: 100 Days of Giving e-book at Smashwords (see sidebar for limited time coupon code for 25% off) or for your Kindle at 100 Days of Giving e-book at Amazon and get all of the daily experiences, journaling exercises and stories.

Today's Giving Thought: "Give everything you can"

Day 40 - For your daily giving journal:

• What did you give today?
• What extraordinary opportunity did you create or support today?

Please feel free to write about your experience in the comments section, share with someone else, or keep to yourself...whatever works for you, just keep in mind that one of the most important part of giving is being open to receiving and the more you share with others, the more you will receive in return. As difficult as receiving may be for you, it is an essential part of giving, so challenge yourself and give receiving a try, or a "do...there is no try, only do."

Now that 100 Days of Giving is available as an e-book you can purchase it for $3.99 at Smashwords: 100 Days of Giving e-book at Smashwords  see coupon in sidebar for Smashwords and get all of the daily experiences, journaling exercises and stories.

To read Day 40 click on this link: 100 Days of Giving - Day 40

THE 25% COUPON EXPIRES ON SEPTEMBER 26TH AT SMASHWORDS 

DON'T MISS OUT!

See details on the left column

To read about all 100 days's giving experiences you can download the e-book in a variety of formats at: 100 Days of Giving at Smashwords
or through Amazon for your Kindle: 100 Days of Giving e-book at Amazon

And now available "From The Eye of The Hurricane" eBook a collection of short stories and poems that sets the stage for, and provides the back-story for "100 Days of Giving"

From The Eye of The Hurricane available at Smashwords

From The Eye of the Hurricane eBook for Kindle at Amazon

Day 78 ❦ Sometimes Even a Small Gift Can Make Difference

Day 78 ❦ Sometimes Even a Small Gift Can Make Difference

The Gift: Personal Care Items for the Emergency Shelf

As you may have ascertained, I get to travel a lot. Often I have the privilege of traveling to crazy great places and have experiences with which I could fill books. But the fun and adventure comes at a price. There are always trade-offs right? The problem with traveling for work is that oftentimes, the trade-offs are not so apparent to someone who has just asked me where I have been lately. I am not going to spend any time listing the trade-offs for so many reasons, I just want there to be a stated awareness that the work that accompanies the travel can be difficult, draining and downright dirty.

I am fortunate that most of the times I am traveling for work I am staying in hotels - although the times I get to stay in people’s homes are special; hotels give me the respite that I need to recharge for another full-board day of work the next day. I will learn later in my life why I need that recharging time but for now, during this exercise, 100 Days of Giving,  I have not yet learned why I need my alone time so desperately. When I get back to my room I may just sit for an hour or so trying to clear my mind and refresh my thoughts for the next day. I always have visions of sitting and writing or reading, but the truth is that my brain is usually spent and even drawing a bath seems like it would take too much brain power.

Day 47 ❦ Give and regain a sense of “normalcy”

Day 47 ❦ Give and regain a sense of “normalcy”

The Gift: All of the change in the bottom of my purse dumped into the March of Dimes container

It has been several days since I have written about the aftermath of the floods and the damage that we are seeing as the flood waters recede. Everywhere in town, there are piles of household goods, furniture, yard waste, carpets, drywall - everything and anything. The piles are being cleaned up daily, but they reemerge the next day. This weekend there will be a focused volunteer effort on cleaning homes and people are arriving from all over the midwest. It will be quite a sight and certainly a welcome relief - fatigue is thick in the air.

We are all tired especially knowing how much more there is to do before the weather turns very cold and it becomes even more difficult to do relief work. My husband has been spending hours with people who have lost everything and providing counseling to some of the relief workers too. While the flood waters covered the area it was easier to comprehend that we were under a state of emergency, but now as people can move around town and debris is removed, it is becoming more and more difficult to remember the devastation, yet the fatigue remains, the grief is beginning and there is much work yet to be done.

I am finding myself clinging onto anything that resembles “normalcy” and so when I am standing in line at the grocery store and I see the March of Dimes donation box I smile, thinking back to a time that seems so long ago now, when Shannon asked the clerk about what the March of Dimes was and she so gladly gave. It seems so normal to dump out my purse and put all of the change from the bottom into the donation box.

❦ Give and regain a sense of “normalcy

Day 42 ❦ Time can be a valuable gift

Day 42 ❦ Time can be a valuable gift

The Gift: Time, time, time

There is a sense of surrealness that begins to take over the community. It is palpable as you drive around town, there are many homes and people whose lives were only minorly inconvenienced by the flood and then there are a huge number of people whose lives will never be the same. During this “in-between” time (the time between the devastation and being able to help) those of us who still have homes and whose lives are close to normal again just try to pick up and continue on where we left off. Perhaps we have someone staying with us, or perhaps we are garnering the support for the monumental work that will be ahead of us once the water recedes and we can finally go in and begin helping, but for all intents and purposes, life comes back to normal when the electricity is restored.

For me the electricity came back on last night and so we started the process of cleaning everything out of our refrigerator and throwing stuff from the freezer. There wasn’t much left since I had used most of my back-up stores to cook for the multitude of guests over the past few days. In addition to my husband working non-stop for the Red Cross doing counseling, the other relief effort we are coordinating is the huge number of Rotarians who have called to offer their assistance.

In fact, one of the first calls I received was from the current chair of the World Community Service Committee which oversees grants, and Lee tells me that the leadership of the District got together and would like to see me write a grant to support the flood victims...so I add that to my “to-do” list since it is too early to think about that, but we are also coordinating Rotarians along with other volunteers around the region who are being organized to come here in two weeks to begin cleaning brigades. Our group will be organized out of a nearby church and so any Rotarian who is interested in coming to help is connecting with me and I am co-ordinating their visit - they need to bring a list of things to use to clean, ensure that they have their Tetanus shot up to date and be wearing specific clothing so that they don’t injure themselves. As of today (3 days after the flood began) I have 60 Rotarians on the list so far of people who are joining in a massive effort to clean 500 properties.

The Red Cross is expert at the overall organization of these efforts and give us all a lot of guidance about how to assist in a meaningful manner. It is very interesting and informative to witness. Very impressive really. Helping to coordinate this part of the relief effort gives me a lot of relief and makes me feel like I am actually doing something. Today again, giving my gift of time gives me a lot of relief.

❦ Time can be a valuable gift

Day 41 ❦ A community bonds through giving of themselves

Day 41 ❦ A community bonds through giving of themselves

The Gift: Time

This morning we wake up to an eerie silence marred only by the sounds of generators echoing throughout the town...and of course, the helicopters. We have made the national news and my phone is ringing off the hook. Although the electricity has been cut and the entire town is cloaked in darkness, I still have a phone that functions because I have an old-fashioned land line for just this occasion. Most of the newer phones are cordless and when the electricity goes out - so does the phone service. Not here, not today and my phone is ringing off the hook. We have no television and although I have a radio - I have no pictures. It is nearly impossible to get around town and since I have a front row seat to the flooding here, I have only a small glimpse of what is really happening - days later when I see some of the photos, I am speechless. My phone is ringing off the hook with friends and family calling from all over the world to check in on us,  asking how they can help. We all feel so helpless because there is nothing we can do at the moment except prepare ourselves for the work ahead, and, to give of our time to support those who have lost everything...we need to just listen.

My husband is a mental health responder for Red Cross and he gets called in to work first thing in the morning - he ended up taking several weeks off of work because there was no way to get there from here, so he jumped right in volunteering for the Red Cross and started working as one of a team in a mobile van that traveled around to assess, and support those impacted.

We would learn later that 283 houses and 84 businesses were destroyed and at least 2 people had died, estimates of the damage aren’t even being talked about because the water is continuing to rise, albeit slower. When the water crests today the Cedar River hit record crest levels of 23.4 feet and the Turtle Creek crested at 14 feet. Main Street is at least 5 feet underwater and access to the hospital has been cut off for most of the community.

There is absolutely no damage to my home, however survivor guilt is beginning to sink in as the people whose homes are completely underwater on the other side of the street are coming to my yard and just staring at the devastation. And as their losses sink in, they want to process, talk to anyone, everyone and here I am. I have my cookstove running full-time right now making coffee and set up all of the lawn chairs I have on my yard.  I sit outside all day sharing coffee and listening to stories as people process the magnitude of the force that is Mother Nature.

❦ A community bonds through giving of themselves