This is number three in what I hope will be on ongoing crusade to help us get back on track with knowing and appreciating our full potentials as the giving, honorable, loving human beings most are in reality.
Something most media's and political extremists would apparently love us to forget.
Hearing about our little darlings destroying property at the Foresthill park forced me to change the line: “as the giving, honorable, loving human beings we are in reality" to: “most are in reality” but I’m still sticking to my opinion that the vast majority of folks are on the positive side of things and as much as I’d love to suggest what should be done with whoever is acting like animals there, that’s all I’m going to say about that at this time.
So consider this, over 40,000 of our returning vets have been injured in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Irwin Stovroff a decorated World War II veteran, a former P.O.W., is answering the call to help ease the way for young vets who have already given so much.
The World War II hero was on his 35th bombing mission over France when his plane crashed behind enemy lines.
They captured him immediately. He figured this time he was not going to make it.
Irwin quickly threw away his dog tags, which identified him as Jewish and survived a year in a German P.O.W. camp.
Now 70 years later, the 89-year-old decorated hero is on a different mission. Irwin raised $3 million to provide service dogs to wounded soldiers, including the newly wounded returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. He began his group "Vets Helping Heroes," after learning there is no government program giving soldiers canine help. Retired lieutenant Colonel Kathy Champion, going blind from a mysterious virus contracted in Iraq, became a hermit in her own home. She quit school and quit her job.
Well, along came Irwin, who raised money to give Kathy her angel dog, telling everyone who would listen that her new friend granted her back the life she felt was taken from her.
Training these exceptional canines can cost as much as $70,000 per dog and takes 18 months beginning in the puppy stage. They look like any other Labrador, but they are so much more than that. After the extensive training, they are working therapy dogs, helping service men and women recover from the wounds of war.
Irwin Strovoff is far more than a true hero. He’s another example of the heights humans are capable of and willing to reach toward helping others. These wonderful, selfless people are out there in droves folks. We all need to start not only acknowledging them but holding them in the highest esteem.
Here’s some information on the organization Irwin started:
Who They Are
Vets Helping Heroes is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization created to solicit and provide funds for qualified training facilities so that they may provide assistance dogs and training to veterans and active-duty military personnel who have been wounded in the post 9/11 conflicts.
Their Mission
To provide a professionally trained assistance dog prepared by a qualified instructor to every disabled American veteran or active-duty military personnel wounded in the post 911 conflicts enabling them to return to a life of dignity and self-reliance whether they are visually impaired or have other special needs that would benefit from an assistance dog.
How The Heroes Benefit
Assistance dogs provide independence and service to a veteran 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. In addition, they are a source of much needed enjoyment as beloved "family members" - running with children, providing comfort for spouses, and the security of knowing that they can even provide such services as predicting an oncoming seizure.
How can I help this organization?
Writing this story up, I thought to add everything I could find to enable folks to contribute or help them.
I eventually decided the best thing I could do is simply give their web address, so you can log in, find out all you want to know, then contact them, donate, contribute or just enjoy the website they’ve created.
So here ya go:
http://www.vetshelpingheroes.org/
Again. PLEASE DO NOT E-MAIL ME. Take the time and effort to read the directions below and add to the conversation for all to enjoy.
Thanks....
Now click on the "Comments" link at the bottom of this blog and add your response or thoughts for others to see when they click on the "Comments" link (TRY IT RIGHT NOW!). It makes it far more interesting if we make it a conversation, instead of just my bullshit. Thank you to those who take the time and effort to do so.....
COME ON..........DO IT!!!
Friday, February 24, 2012
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Run for Parkinson’s disease…
So this is number two in what I hope will be on ongoing crusade to help us get back on track with knowing and appreciating our full potentials as the giving, honorable, loving human beings we all are in reality.
Something the media's would apparently love us to forget.
His name is Sam Fox. In the span of two months this past fall, he ran and hiked 2,400 miles on the Pacific Crest Trail, from Canada to Mexico. Through thick forests, over snowy mountains, and past sandy desserts, covering almost 43 miles every day, for 61 straight days. He did all of this in an effort to honor His Mother, Lucy Fox, who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease a decade ago, and to raise funds for Parkinson’s disease research/awareness. To date, he has raised over $170,000 that will go toward a cure for this terrible disease.
Pacific Crest Trail Stats….
Stretches 2,650 miles from Manning Provincial Park in British Columbia all the way to Campo, CA, at the Mexican border.
Climbs 60 major mountain passes
Descends 19 major canyons
Passes more than 1,000 lakes
Traverses 3 National Monuments, 7 National Parks, 24 National Forests
Fewer people have successfully thru-hiked the PCT than have reached the summit of Mt. Everest.
Sam was born in Rhode Island, and he is 24 years old. He attended South Kingstown (RI) Public Schools and then the Wheeler School, in Providence. At Wheeler he earned 15 varsity letters in 4 sports. Sam captained eight teams, he was the Rhode Island High School State Champion in the high jump in 2005, and was presented with the Scholar Athlete award upon graduation in 2005.
Sam continued his athletic career at Yale University where he was a 4-year varsity letterman in Track and Field. He won a gold medal in the High Jump at the 2007 Penn Relays, and earned All Ivy and All East recognition in 2009, while also qualifying for the NCAA East Regional Championships (all in the high jump).
Sam is a 2007 graduate of the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS), in glacier mountaineering. As an experienced outdoorsman, Sam has run, hiked, biked, skied, and climbed in the Alps, the Rockies, the Canadian and American Cascades, the Sierras, the White Mountains, and the Himalayas.
He had been hiking, climbing, camping, skiing for as long as he could remember. In recent years, while out on various solo trips, he said he discovered a cardiovascular and pain endurance threshold he didn’t know he possessed. For this particular challenge; running the entire length of the Pacific Crest Trail, he’d certainly need a healthy tolerance for both. His training regimen was intense, mixing extreme mileage with extreme terrain, peppering in sleep deprivation, altitude training and injury tolerance. It took place on roads, trails across the country (Grand Canyon, Yosemite, Mt. Rainier, the Colorado Rockies) through deserts, mountains, and forests. Also taking place in weight rooms, in the back of his car, in the mud and in the snow. He said most importantly it took place in his own mind, which had to be conditioned right along with his body.
His mother was diagnosed with Parkinson’s more than 10 years ago now. While he had seen changes in his mother’s life, her hobbies, and often times her ability to do the things she used to love so much, he’d not seen changes in who she is.
He had said his mother was certainly an inspiration to him, but not because she is bravely fighting Parkinson’s, it is because there was never any doubt that she would face and defeat whatever challenge arose. He didn’t dedicate his training and efforts on the trail to her battle with a terrible disease, He simply dedicate them to her, for being his mom, for all that she’s done and all that she is.
He said simply……Thanks Mom.
So while it was his Dad who helped spark his love of adventure and the outdoors, it is his mother’s lessons about hard work and toughness that he’d call upon during the long days and nights on the trail. Those lessons would be what would carry him through the cold, rain, blisters and breaks, steeps, mud, and wracking exhaustion, for 2650 miles with (at the least) an ironic smile.
Obviously, this is a young man we all should not only be proud of but use as proof that the vast majority of American youth are intelligent, driven, caring people who will willingly and with great pride lead the country and world toward greatness.
So the next time you hear some doom and gloom idiot say something like: “The youth are going to hell in a hand basket. They don’t respect their elders anymore and are just plain lazy.” You can just smile knowingly and consider the ignorant source.
And from all who suffer from this devastating disease, I’m going to take it upon myself to give this young man a mental standing ovation and to shout out a great big THANK YOU SAM FOX, on their behalf.
Again. PLEASE DO NOT E-MAIL ME. Take the time and effort to read the directions below and add to the conversation for all to enjoy.
Thanks....
Now click on the "Comments" link at the bottom of this blog and add your response or thoughts for others to see when they click on the "Comments" link (TRY IT RIGHT NOW!). It makes it far more interesting if we make it a conversation, instead of just my bullshit. Thank you to those who take the time and effort to do so.....
COME ON..........DO IT!!!
Something the media's would apparently love us to forget.
His name is Sam Fox. In the span of two months this past fall, he ran and hiked 2,400 miles on the Pacific Crest Trail, from Canada to Mexico. Through thick forests, over snowy mountains, and past sandy desserts, covering almost 43 miles every day, for 61 straight days. He did all of this in an effort to honor His Mother, Lucy Fox, who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease a decade ago, and to raise funds for Parkinson’s disease research/awareness. To date, he has raised over $170,000 that will go toward a cure for this terrible disease.
Pacific Crest Trail Stats….
Stretches 2,650 miles from Manning Provincial Park in British Columbia all the way to Campo, CA, at the Mexican border.
Climbs 60 major mountain passes
Descends 19 major canyons
Passes more than 1,000 lakes
Traverses 3 National Monuments, 7 National Parks, 24 National Forests
Fewer people have successfully thru-hiked the PCT than have reached the summit of Mt. Everest.
Sam was born in Rhode Island, and he is 24 years old. He attended South Kingstown (RI) Public Schools and then the Wheeler School, in Providence. At Wheeler he earned 15 varsity letters in 4 sports. Sam captained eight teams, he was the Rhode Island High School State Champion in the high jump in 2005, and was presented with the Scholar Athlete award upon graduation in 2005.
Sam continued his athletic career at Yale University where he was a 4-year varsity letterman in Track and Field. He won a gold medal in the High Jump at the 2007 Penn Relays, and earned All Ivy and All East recognition in 2009, while also qualifying for the NCAA East Regional Championships (all in the high jump).
Sam is a 2007 graduate of the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS), in glacier mountaineering. As an experienced outdoorsman, Sam has run, hiked, biked, skied, and climbed in the Alps, the Rockies, the Canadian and American Cascades, the Sierras, the White Mountains, and the Himalayas.
He had been hiking, climbing, camping, skiing for as long as he could remember. In recent years, while out on various solo trips, he said he discovered a cardiovascular and pain endurance threshold he didn’t know he possessed. For this particular challenge; running the entire length of the Pacific Crest Trail, he’d certainly need a healthy tolerance for both. His training regimen was intense, mixing extreme mileage with extreme terrain, peppering in sleep deprivation, altitude training and injury tolerance. It took place on roads, trails across the country (Grand Canyon, Yosemite, Mt. Rainier, the Colorado Rockies) through deserts, mountains, and forests. Also taking place in weight rooms, in the back of his car, in the mud and in the snow. He said most importantly it took place in his own mind, which had to be conditioned right along with his body.
His mother was diagnosed with Parkinson’s more than 10 years ago now. While he had seen changes in his mother’s life, her hobbies, and often times her ability to do the things she used to love so much, he’d not seen changes in who she is.
He had said his mother was certainly an inspiration to him, but not because she is bravely fighting Parkinson’s, it is because there was never any doubt that she would face and defeat whatever challenge arose. He didn’t dedicate his training and efforts on the trail to her battle with a terrible disease, He simply dedicate them to her, for being his mom, for all that she’s done and all that she is.
He said simply……Thanks Mom.
So while it was his Dad who helped spark his love of adventure and the outdoors, it is his mother’s lessons about hard work and toughness that he’d call upon during the long days and nights on the trail. Those lessons would be what would carry him through the cold, rain, blisters and breaks, steeps, mud, and wracking exhaustion, for 2650 miles with (at the least) an ironic smile.
Obviously, this is a young man we all should not only be proud of but use as proof that the vast majority of American youth are intelligent, driven, caring people who will willingly and with great pride lead the country and world toward greatness.
So the next time you hear some doom and gloom idiot say something like: “The youth are going to hell in a hand basket. They don’t respect their elders anymore and are just plain lazy.” You can just smile knowingly and consider the ignorant source.
And from all who suffer from this devastating disease, I’m going to take it upon myself to give this young man a mental standing ovation and to shout out a great big THANK YOU SAM FOX, on their behalf.
Again. PLEASE DO NOT E-MAIL ME. Take the time and effort to read the directions below and add to the conversation for all to enjoy.
Thanks....
Now click on the "Comments" link at the bottom of this blog and add your response or thoughts for others to see when they click on the "Comments" link (TRY IT RIGHT NOW!). It makes it far more interesting if we make it a conversation, instead of just my bullshit. Thank you to those who take the time and effort to do so.....
COME ON..........DO IT!!!
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Amazing people doing amazing things....
I've written about this before but I think in todays world of almost exclusively super negative news and commentary, all of us need to realize the truth is far from what we're daily fed.
Here's the deal, as I've said before, there are far far more creative, intelligent, forward looking, often times miraculously good things happening every moment than bad. My best guess would be for every bad thing happening, there are hundreds, if not thousands of great things happening not only in America but throughout the world. Every moment of every day.
Our entire information system is flat ass lazy. It's far easier for them to run out and take pictures of some poor soul murdered, they're hoping with his guts hanging out, than to search out all the good things happening.
So I've decided to make this my latest obsession. To search the Internet, Newspapers, or just listen to regular folk's stories and present just the good side of life for once. If for no other reason than to attempt a balancing act between the bad and the good, although I believe my side of the scales will always be setting on the table, while the bad side is waving franticly to be let down, scared of the heights.
So this is number one in what I hope will be on ongoing crusade to help us get back on track with knowing and appreciating our full potentials as the giving, honorable, loving human beings we all are in reality. Something the media's would apparently love us to forget.
One I've personally heard about for years would be Paul Newman's Business model.
What kind of a business would intentionally give away everything it makes and not keep one cent of profit? Well, that would be Paul Newman's kind of business. If you don't have Paul Newman's face on a product somewhere in your kitchen, then you know somebody who does. He gave us a lot of joy and fine performances in life. And while he's gone now, it's what he is still giving away that is still making news and making a difference.
How long can a corporation last when it gives everything away? Of course, it turned out to be a hugely successful experiment. Americans have been buying up everything with Paul Newman's picture on it for years, and Newman's Own, the company he founded, has now surpassed $300 million in charitable giving. That money has made a difference for thousands of charities, focusing on kids, education and nutrition for close to 30 years. It all started in Paul Newman's kitchen. He used to make his own salad dressing because he thought store bought had no taste and he used to give away a few bottles to friends at Christmas time. That idea exploded. So did the eventual list of products. Among his favorite charities is a landmark he founded, the Hole in the Wall Camps for kids with serious medical conditions.
What could be better than to hold your hand out to people who are less fortunate than you are? That's simply the way he chose to look at life.
The Hole in the Wall organization started with just 300 campers back in 1988 and has now helped over 200,000 children and families, just by giving them a safe place to be kids and get away from their illnesses for a while. Recently, Paul Newman's widow, Joanne Woodard, was joined by a number of celebrities and friends gathering to celebrate this $300 million milestone. Paul Newman was a husband and father and friend, a better than average looking race car driver, and he was a great actor who wanted to be remembered as a man who made a difference. That much is assured.
I'm guessing we would all agree three hundred million dollars toward charities makes him a man who truly made a difference.
Again. PLEASE DO NOT E-MAIL ME. Take the time and effort to read the directions below and add to the conversation for all to enjoy.
Thanks....
Now click on the "Comments" link at the bottom of this blog and add your response or thoughts for others to see when they click on the "Comments" link (TRY IT RIGHT NOW!). It makes it far more interesting if we make it a conversation, instead of just my bullshit. Thank you to those who take the time and effort to do so.....
COME ON..........DO IT!!!
Here's the deal, as I've said before, there are far far more creative, intelligent, forward looking, often times miraculously good things happening every moment than bad. My best guess would be for every bad thing happening, there are hundreds, if not thousands of great things happening not only in America but throughout the world. Every moment of every day.
Our entire information system is flat ass lazy. It's far easier for them to run out and take pictures of some poor soul murdered, they're hoping with his guts hanging out, than to search out all the good things happening.
So I've decided to make this my latest obsession. To search the Internet, Newspapers, or just listen to regular folk's stories and present just the good side of life for once. If for no other reason than to attempt a balancing act between the bad and the good, although I believe my side of the scales will always be setting on the table, while the bad side is waving franticly to be let down, scared of the heights.
So this is number one in what I hope will be on ongoing crusade to help us get back on track with knowing and appreciating our full potentials as the giving, honorable, loving human beings we all are in reality. Something the media's would apparently love us to forget.
One I've personally heard about for years would be Paul Newman's Business model.
What kind of a business would intentionally give away everything it makes and not keep one cent of profit? Well, that would be Paul Newman's kind of business. If you don't have Paul Newman's face on a product somewhere in your kitchen, then you know somebody who does. He gave us a lot of joy and fine performances in life. And while he's gone now, it's what he is still giving away that is still making news and making a difference.
How long can a corporation last when it gives everything away? Of course, it turned out to be a hugely successful experiment. Americans have been buying up everything with Paul Newman's picture on it for years, and Newman's Own, the company he founded, has now surpassed $300 million in charitable giving. That money has made a difference for thousands of charities, focusing on kids, education and nutrition for close to 30 years. It all started in Paul Newman's kitchen. He used to make his own salad dressing because he thought store bought had no taste and he used to give away a few bottles to friends at Christmas time. That idea exploded. So did the eventual list of products. Among his favorite charities is a landmark he founded, the Hole in the Wall Camps for kids with serious medical conditions.
What could be better than to hold your hand out to people who are less fortunate than you are? That's simply the way he chose to look at life.
The Hole in the Wall organization started with just 300 campers back in 1988 and has now helped over 200,000 children and families, just by giving them a safe place to be kids and get away from their illnesses for a while. Recently, Paul Newman's widow, Joanne Woodard, was joined by a number of celebrities and friends gathering to celebrate this $300 million milestone. Paul Newman was a husband and father and friend, a better than average looking race car driver, and he was a great actor who wanted to be remembered as a man who made a difference. That much is assured.
I'm guessing we would all agree three hundred million dollars toward charities makes him a man who truly made a difference.
Again. PLEASE DO NOT E-MAIL ME. Take the time and effort to read the directions below and add to the conversation for all to enjoy.
Thanks....
Now click on the "Comments" link at the bottom of this blog and add your response or thoughts for others to see when they click on the "Comments" link (TRY IT RIGHT NOW!). It makes it far more interesting if we make it a conversation, instead of just my bullshit. Thank you to those who take the time and effort to do so.....
COME ON..........DO IT!!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
