My first day as a member of Microgiving.org

I am nervous and excited to be asking for help from complete strangers. I have worked hard all my life to become successfull without much guidance. Nearly everything I have learned has been through books.
However, I am grateful to several people who have been helpful in my life. First and foremost was my 12th grade teacher who really made a difference. She was the first person to notice that I had talents and provided encouragment. She also helped me to work out where to live when things became too difficult. She listened and councelled. I felt special and valued for the first time in my life. Her love and compassion helped me to believe that I was worthwhile. Though I still struggle sometimes, she is the main reason that I have done as well as I have.
Even though the relationships with my last two boyfriends didn't work out, both of them helped me to feel like my opinions, values, and preferences mattered. I am much more confident about having and expressing my own needs as a result.
My good friend Ricky has been my favorite dance partner and is also the one who turned my onto the path toward debt freedom. By telling me about the book "The Total Money Makeover" by Dave Ramsey, he gave me the information that I had been looking for for years!
I was supposed to become debt free this year and I was really looking forward to being able to have the freedom to help others. Unfortunately, that changed when I was laid off in 2009. I was able to do ok for a while, but now that I have lost even more income I have to move to a smaller and cheaper place next month. The problem is that the cheapest places are still more than I can afford and are further from a disabled relative than I want to be.
Nonetheless, I am doing everything that I can think of to become fully employed and earning what I was making before I was laid off. I am hoping that happens sooner rather than later!
I am looking forward to meeting other members of this community and hopefully glean and give some ideas of mutual benefit! 

Starting to help!

Hi! I am a participant of the COPE Coalition and I have been participating in it for the past 3 years. The COPE coalition is a group of people (very committed community members and hard working agencies) working together to create a healthy environment for families and youth. We do a lot of things and talk about a lot of topics, like domestic violence and teen pregnancy, among other important topics in our community. But, our main focus is to prevent drug use on youth since this could be a starting point for the other topics and even an ending point.
Since the country is going through so many problems, the funds for our group are very limited now. I’m here trying new things to help the coalition to keep up with their work, before we lose all that we have worked for all this years.
I don’t expect great things to happen, I try to do great things and hope for the best. It is something I learned from my community work with this awesome team. But right know all I can do is hope for the help and support of those out there that may not know much about us, but believe in our cause.
Much Respect :)
Youth Council Volunteer

Helping Hands Holiday Charity Benefit

Amy and I took part in the Holiday Run for Helping hands.  She didn't get the day off as we had hoped but the run was set to start at 1 PM and she didn't need to be into work till 2 PM so we hoped we could do the run and get her back in time to go to work.  We have only missed one Helping Hands run and that was the year I didn't have a wheelchair or a scooter and was seriously limited in mobility  I am able to get around now and we sure didn't want to miss one that helps children who have been abused or neglected.

Here are a few pics from that run:














Here is the article from the local newspaper

Annual Toy Run at Helping Hands makes children's Christmas brighter

As the bikes rode in and the children began to see the toys and teddy bears attached to the bikes, their eyes lit up with joy. The sight of hundreds of bikes, while overwhelming, brought such excitement.

As each biker parked their bike, they gathered their gifts and made a steady stream into Helping Hands, leaving their gifts on a table. Each wore a smile knowing they were making a child's holiday a little brighter.

"It is really great to see so many people show up even when things are really hard," said Director of Helping Hands Carmen Landy. "It is really awesome. We are blessed to see them over and over; they don't stop coming no matter how tough things get with the economy. Today is a remarkable turnout, and everybody's spirits are so high."

Landy thanked everyone who has supported Helping Hands over the past year and invites anybody who is interested in adopting a child for Christmas to give her a call at 648-3456.

"We get new children all the way up until Christmas Day," said Landy.

Helping Hands is a United Way agency that provides 24-hour residential care to child victims of abuse, abandonment or neglect. Residents' ages range from birth to 21 years old.

For more information about Dixie Thunder of Aiken ABATE, visit www.dixiethunderaiken.com.

Contact Rachel Johnson at rjohnson@aikenstandard.com.

Original Article is here-->>http://www.aikenstandard.com/results/1206Toy

More expenses I didn't need

More expenses I didn't needArgh!  Our tires were chewed up in the aftermath of the tornado.  It hit right behind the place we were sheltering so there was quite a bit of debris and all the roads in the area were filled with debris and downed trees that we had to slam the brakes for or swerve sharply to avoid.
One tire took a slice all the way around the tread, the other has some serious wear from skidding.  We never buy  new tires because we can't afford them and being rural our tread gets lots of wear and tear.  Our tires were not good to begin with but now they are dangerous.

As we had feared our local used tire shop was out of business so we had to get our tire into the city and buy a brand new one and that cost us $71 which came out of our grocery funds.  Amy doesn't get paid again till the 24th so we are in a financial mess right now.  We will have to replace the other tire when she gets paid.  It might hold out for a week and if the used tire shop isn't up and running that will mean another $71 plus the gas to get there.

These are the things that cause us to become unstable.  We have just enough to cover our basics and we can't handle out of budget expenses like this.  It always put something behind and throws us out of stability till we catch back up.

Before anyone asks...no we are not seeking local aid and will not. We just had an F3 tornado in a tiny town and our town has suffered damage of a type it has not been seen in ages.  Most here were unprepared because the monster came out of nowhere and there wasn't enough warning.  This is a low income rural community people lost everything and others are without power.  They need what little food supplies are available through churches and pantries.

Oh...the more we learn about how much our little community was affected...it's devastating but towns folk are indeed coming together to help each other.