This past month I was pretty excited to support Josh’s Yolka Project as my featured charity here at It’s Just Life. You can read more about it here but in a nutshell Josh is a 17 year old young man who was adopted from Russia when he was 4 1/2 years old. He knows first hand of the things that are lacking at the orphanages there and it is his goal to raise money for different things for those orphanages including Yolka (Christmas) presents. I learned about Josh and his project from his grandpa, John Kennedy, and have been pretty excited to be a very small part in raising money for this great cause. The recent news of Russia shutting down adoptions from the US came as a surprise to me and many others and it kind of made this even more important. Together this past month we were able to make a small difference and I donated $165 toward his project thanks to the abundance of comments on my blog in December. Way to go, Josh! Hope my little bit helps!
December was a month of much sadness as the world tried to make sense of the incomprehensible murders at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT. I think the reactions are pretty much all the same—what can we do? How can we help in some way? After doing quite a bit of research on where donations were being taken I finally decided to donate my Comments for a Cause in January to go to the United Way of Western Connecticut. So many of the families of the victims have memorial funds set up as well as the local family services center where counseling is being offered but I believe that by giving to the United Way in the area it will have more of an impact and will be accessible to ALL in Newtown who may need some extra help. If you are so inclined here is the direct link to the donation page. I have included a portion of text from their donation page below:
United Way of Western Connecticut is committed to providing support and resources where and when they become identified and needed. As people from our area and beyond respond to this heartbreaking tragedy, they are turning to United Way looking for ways to help. In response, United Way of Western Connecticut in partnership with Newtown Savings Bank has created the ‘Sandy Hook School Support Fund’ that will be able to provide support services to the families and community that has been affected.
Times like these bring a country together. There is no doubt about that. The heart wrenching pictures are still vivid in my mind of the events as they unfolded that day and while I cannot try to understand the grief that these families and the entire community felt I can do my small part to help . Join with me this month and comment freely on any post. I have a lot of them. Each comment will result in a 50 cent donation to the United Way fund that will go far to help all of those in that area who are affected. Let’s start 2013 off right and make a real effort this month to make a difference. Thank you!
This is the first time I have have done this but I am changing my Comments for a Cause for the month due to a need that I found out about that really hit very close to home. Please click here to be taken to the blog post that explains the new cause for January and February 2013.
