Celebrating Christmas at School for Children in Poverty

Ellen DeGeneres and Justin Bieber  recently spotlighted a school in Las Vegas by donating thousands of dollars and toys. It is a wonderful gift. The school has helped parents and children from that school with clothing, food, rental assistance and a myriad of other needs.
It got me to thinking about the use of donations at Christmas.
I was one of those poor kids . I remember the Salvation Army bringing Thanksgiving to our house and my father wanting them to take it back and my mother asking him not to do it. My father didn't like surprises and control freak that he was, his pride was more important than warm coats for his six kids.
Christmas is a great time to give.
I work in a school full of poor kids. They wear shoes which are too small or too big. Last year I bought a new winter jacket for one boy in my class and his parents made him give it to his little brother. So I bought him another one. Meeting the needs of one child doesn't always meet the needs of the others.
Another student showed up wearing a sweatshirt. She told me she didn't have a coat. It was 38 degrees that morning. Recently a little girl told me her mom sold her clothes to another girl in my class-they needed the money. The other girl showed up at school wearing her favorite dress. She pointed it out to me with a little sadness.
People do what they need to do to survive.
Our kids need warm clothing, new uniforms, new shoes, dental care, medical care and food. They need books to read, markers, colored pencils, crayons and notebooks. Some schools provide theses things-others don't. Most of my kids ask me if they can have glue, scissors, crayons and paper to take home. I let them when I have it. I consider them staples of childhood.

If you really want to donate during the holidays -don't.
Call up a school and tell them you would like to help out during the year. Get in touch with a teacher you know, or the social worker. Tell them you would like to help a child when the need arises. Don't give an amount.
Last year I paid for new glasses for a little boy who desperately needed them. I bought backpacks in the middle of the year for boys who did not have them. I bought a pair of shoes for a little girl who so dearly wanted a pair of flats like the other girls but only had tennis shoes.
I remember wearing hand me downs that were not even hand me downs from my sister. If it weren't for my first grade teacher, who used to put bags of clothing in my hands on the way out the door, I wonder what I would have worn?

I support four people. My salary is not great. The needs of kids don't start and stop at Christmas. Donations controlled by school districts or administration do not always get to kids when they need something. Every teacher I know buys necessities for kids in poor neighborhood schools. I just lost one of my best students because her mom lost her job and they were evicted. She cried. I did too. I tried to find a way to help her mom.  Bah, humbug-no rental assistance around here! If I could have turned to a benefactor to hold them over another month, maybe something good could have happened, Instead, they moved to an ever poorer part of town. I forgot that was possible!

If you really want to make a difference hang on to your money. Offer year round. I have a list of teachers who have children who will need the help in the months to come.
Christmas magic comes and goes but a pair of shoes that fit, pants that don't have to be pinned together, socks without holes(or socks at all), a sweater to keep warm in the classroom, kids remember. There is nothing worse than coming to school worrying about the necessities of life.
I just wish teachers had access to a fund like that, without a lot of red tape. Our kids learn better when they don't have to worry about the basic necessities .

Beware of Family Gifts...

In November a 70 woman died while skydiving near Las Vegas Nevada. Her family gave her the gift adventure for her 70th birthday. Two days ago another woman died in a helicopter crash over the Grand Canyon, after receiving the flight as an anniversary gift from her family.
Now I'm not saying this is a trend here but I am starting to wonder if, as an older person, I'd want to take a look at it?
These are some pretty unusual gifts. Maybe a scarf would have been more appropriate?

Pack Mentality and the Euro

Britain, Sweden and Czechoslovakia have decided the Euro agreement is not a good one for their countries. As in any group think there are times when it leads the lemmings off the cliff into their own self destruction. Perhaps we ought to be paying more attention to those countries who take the divided path? Those countries, civilizations or individuals who forge the untraveled road are often those with vision. What a quandary we live in! Group consensus leading to extinction or learning to ask the unspoken questions aloud and accept the consequences from the lemmings??

Human nature-More like the beast?

I never believed in such a thing as bad luck but I do wonder if there is some kind of energy we emit which attracts negativity?  Nature has a way of handling wounded animals. A predator eventually finds it-and it is toast. Is this what happens to humans as well?
I recently read a story about a man who is homeless in Las Vegas. He wrote of losing his job, then his wife and then his family. He found it difficult to recover.
He recently worked in construction. When the bust occurred  he lost a 60,000 plus a year job and his life fell apart. Another woman who was homeless had been a teacher. She has a Master's degree. She lost her job and is now living on the streets. She says she could never have imagined how it happened.
Our "safety net" for human lives has disintegrated. Those with jobs seem to think it is some personal flaw in an individual which precipitates the bad things that happen to other people.
I read these stories and I look outside at the 30 degree weather and I wonder how people survive?
It is really in our nature to turn away from those who suffer?
I used to think it wasn't. I used to think humanity was defined by the fact we as a culture, took care of others less fortunate.
Our capacity to care for other humans was the dividing line between humanity and  animal nature.
Is this no longer true? Are we no longer any different from animals trying to survive in this world?

Republican candidates- is the media kidding???

There isn't a one of them who ISN"T whacko. From Rick Perry's ignorance to Herman Cain's deceptive lying and adulterous behavior, to Michelle Bachman's delusional observations to Mitt Romney's "Bush style let them eat cake" stance. Newt has been around for ages. He left his wife when she was dying of cancer, remember?
Each week the news anoints a new king.
What-are they joking? Is this the best the Republicans can do?
The news agencies aren't "reporting" Each day we are treated with another, "Republic on top of the garbage heap story" as if this is all supposed to be normal.

News agencies act like this is all normal. Thus we are supposed to go along with this charade as if it is.
American citizens are either really, truly, stupid or the owners of these media outlets had such a sparse gene pool to pick from,who will rubber stamp their corporate greed, that this is what we have????
When politicians decide it is better to keep quiet than to tell us what they believe you know we are all in big trouble here.

I am not a voting Republican but if I were I would suggest the party wipe the current slate clean and look for a few articulate, thoughtful and intelligent candidates to sell the party.  The Republican candidates are an indictment showing the stupidity to which are country's intelligence and moral values have sunk.
Not to say the democrats aren't there as well. We just haven't seen THAT road show yet.

When the "other guy" isn't paying attention

Yesterday I was rear ended on the freeway. In Las Vegas, the speed limit is considered optional. People breeze by my granny speed limit of 65 easily driving 80 and 90 miles per hour. My maintaining the speed limit even in the right lane, is considered a nuisance by most drivers. I have seen the aftermath of a hit at ninety miles an hour by a mega truck, four wheels at the height of an airline passenger plane. I don't care to be on the receiving end of that. Las Vegas has some of the highest insurance rates in the nation. Rightly so. Rarely are the police out on the freeways enforcing the speed limit.
My "fender bender" occurred on the way to a class at 4pm in the afternoon. Traffic was moving at the breezy speed limit of 55 around a dangerous point on the freeway. It slowed to almost a stop. I had plenty of room and a friend of mine, going to the same class was in front of me. I could see the driver behind me coming up too fast but there was nothing   I could do about it. I remember thinking, " Let him slow down" before he smashed into the back of me. Where do you stop in bumper to bumper traffic?  Nowhere. You get off at the next exit.
I have driven a car for over 40 years. In all that time I have never had an accident that was my fault. I had a guy run a red light and hit me head on. I had a school bus run a red light and total my car. I had a woman back up at a drive in, driving one of those mega trucks and smash the crap out of my van.
Each time it is a nightmare. Waiting for cops, (who will not attend a fender bender)
reporting to the insurance company, waiting for repairs.
Having only one car, each morning I pray nothing happens to it.
I reported the accident. I wait now for the process to begin.
Life is full of irritants, reminding me of how little control we have over so much of it.
I suppose we can live life seeing that all the time and feeling frustrated, we can resign ourselves to that fact or we can play the fool and live life as if nothing else matters but the fact we have another day on this earth.
I still struggling with which one I want .

Self Employed?

I keep racking my brains. There is something out there I can do as a self employed individual. Each day I drive to work in the morning and I generate lists of ideas. I haven't discovered what it is yet but I know it is out there. After years of working for others there has got to be a way. Why put in 15 hour days with an anxiety level of 150% for employers who see employees as the enemy?
There has got to be a way.
I know I have one more job in me that will benefit from my give it all work ethic.
I just haven't discovered it yet.
Any ideas??