What new memories will you create today?

100 Days of Giving
available as an e-book now on Amazon
and Smashwords

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. I began the exercise of giving every day at a time when I could have used a little push to get underway; we often need that little extra encouragement, accountability, support...whatever you want to call it, so this time around I am giving to all of you a few questions to respond to, journal about or contemplate related to your individual daily giving experience. If the questions stir something in you - great, if they do not - great, write about that. The most important part is to do something...and as one of my favorite mentors Yoda said, "There is no try, only do." Each day in 100 Days of Giving offers you an opportunity to read about alternative giving options as well as some reflections and questions to consider...

Today's Giving Thought: "Giving Creates Memories."

Day 25 - For your daily giving journal:

• What did you give today?
• What memories did you help to create?

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 and get all of the daily experiences, journaling exercises and stories.

To read Day 25 click on this link: Day 25 in 100 Days of Giving

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

Day 53 ❦ Give in a way that multiplies

Day 53 ❦ Give in a way that multiplies

The Gift: 4 Sumner School Cookbooks

I am currently active on my children’s Parent Teacher Council...something that would make people who knew me pre-kids laugh. Me, on the PTC or PTA! One thing I learned when I moved from Boulder to rural Minnesota was that one passionate, committed person could really make a difference. In a larger community like Boulder or Baltimore - it is still possible to have an impact, but it is far more difficult. I learned this because when we moved to Austin, we moved into a school district with a high level of poverty and the elementary school continues to have a high percentage of free and reduced lunch participants (65% in 2011).

Arriving in town the day before my oldest was going to start kindergarten I was astonished to see that her elementary school was surrounded by asphalt and had no playground equipment...well...that needed to change, and the sooner the better.

So I got active in the major fund-raising arm of the elementary school and shortly after I set my mind on putting in a playground, we had raised the $34,000 to make it so. Today, almost 18 years later it is so much fun to drive by and see children playing on the fruits of our labor.
During the playground focused years, the PTC developed a strong fund-raising mechanism and began using those funds to support significant programs for the school.

When my younger daughter arrived at the elementary school 11 years later, there was still a lot to be done and the PTC decided to expand the playground equipment - requiring an additional $25,000...so I dug in and we raised the funds.

One of the most fun and effective fund-raisers we conducted was for families to submit recipes and to put together a cookbook. I submitted some of our family favorites and when the books were published, I did what most other contributing cooks did and purchased a case of the cookbooks which I am now enjoying giving away as gifts. I love it when a gift can give several times over - this one gives a minimum of 4 times and that is just so satisfying, even if I can only count is as one gift for this exercise.

❦ Give in a way that multiplies

Day 25 ❦ Giving creates memories

Day 25

The Gift(s): A set of cookbooks.

Today we had a going away party for our exchange student, Nina. All of her host families and many of her friends came to say goodbye. It is hard to even write this without missing her. The most difficult part of hosting an exchange student is saying goodbye for the last time. No matter how much time goes by, I miss all of the students we have hosted. We will miss Nina deeply.

Nina loves to cook. We spent many, many hours cooking all kinds of traditional Danish, French and American meals. Our daughter Alison, returned from her year on exchange to France with fantastic French cooking skills and she has enjoyed sharing her skills with us - so the three of us have really enjoyed cooking together, feeding the masses and watching the delight on the faces of our guests as we bring out course after course of spectacular food. Nina, by the way, does not like the word spectacular. But spectacular is one of the best adjectives to describe what the three of us cooked up.

When Alison was in France, she also enjoyed cooking traditional American meals for her families and has shared that some of her fondest memories are those of preparing a Thanksgiving meal, baking chocolate chip cookies or brownies for her families - or whipping up macaroni and cheese that I would occasionally send her. She brought as a gift for her families a cookbook that we have used in our family for years. I wanted Nina to be able to share these same types of fond memories with her family in Denmark - so what better than to give her a couple of cookbooks. I really enjoyed giving this gift and hope that it will provide her many, many more hours of fun cooking for her friends and family in Denmark.

  ❦ Giving creates memories.