Charity Miles...

I’ve been on a diet this week (Thanksgiving Food Hangover) and that means that I’ve been working out.

Today I happened to notice mention of an app called Charity Miles. Naturally, the title intrigued me and I began to hunt down said app.

Charity Miles is an app that tracks your outdoor activities (i.e. running, walking or biking) and donates money to charity per mile that you complete. How awesome is that?!

They have a list of charities that you choose from before you start your workout, once your charity is selected you start your workout (must be outside, no treadmills etc because it uses gps) and it starts tracking your miles.

I tested it out on my lunch break today - I ran for Stand Up to Cancer.

25 cents per mile for walkers and runners

10 cents per mile for bike riders

A little can go a long way…and you’re already going to work out today right? So why not do some good for someone else while you are doing good for yourself?

According to their website, the Charity Miles challenge launched June 2012 and will end May 31, 2013...so get going!

*I believe it’s only available for Androids and iPhones right now – and you have to have a FaceBook account to use it because it links through there. It looks like enough people have complained about the FaceBook aspect in their reviews that this may change sometime in the future.

Full of Reason…to work out while helping charities.

Win Win.

 

Love,

Elyse

 

Wrapped in Love...

Giving gifts is absolutely one of my favorite parts of Christmas. I especially love giving gifts that give back to others. Unfortunately, it’s not likely that I will do all of my shopping on these websites and it’s not likely that you will either.

But…I’ve got great news! Not only can you purchase gifts for those that you love but you can show love to orphaned and impoverished children all over the world through Love Without Boundaries at the same time.

If you’re planning on doing some shopping on Amazon.com, first go to www.lovewithoutboundaries.com and scroll down until you see the Amazon logo on the bottom left of the page. Click the logo to enter Amazon's website, do your shopping, and Love Without Boundaries will get a minimum of 4% cash back on all of your Amazon purchases to help children in need. 

Win – Win.

Gift giving wrapped in Love.

 

Love,

Elyse

Love146...

This blog has always been a place where I come to discuss inspiration, hope and reasons to get involved.

As I sat at my computer this evening wasting time on some of my favorite shopping websites, I happened to notice that one shop noted that they are partnered with Love146. I had never heard of this organization so I decided to head over to their website to see what it is all about.

A couple of things…

-          If you’re anything like me…you will tear up when you read the history, the stories and the statistics on their website…have a Kleenex close by.

-          Child slavery and sex trafficking is something we hear about all of the time but sometimes the concept slips out of reality for us because we’re only exposed to it on television shows and movies…we pretend it’s made up because the reality is too devastating to dwell on.

I’m not going to relay all of the information that I gleaned from the website or paraphrase the stories…you should go read them. It’s been a little awhile since I have felt so moved by an organization’s cause, story and purpose.

Read all about it here… http://www.love146.org/

Get Involved here… http://www.love146.org/get-involved

Multi-task here (Christmas Shopping and Supporting an Amazing Cause? Yes please!)… https://love146.definingapparel.com/products_results.php

What if #146 was your daughter…son …sister…brother…niece…nephew…the possibilities are endless and the results…devastating.

 

Love,

Elyse

 

Because you can...

Imagine that today I told you that you have ALS and even though you feel fine now eventually you would likely wake up without the ability to walk, talk or do any normal activities on your own. Devastating…terrifying…and a reality for those who are diagnosed with ALS.

The saying is “walk a mile in their shoes” and for many of those with ALS, they can’t…and that’s why people like my sister Courtney are walking to raise money to support those with ALS. She is walking because she can…because she cares… and because we should support these amazing individuals who are battling ALS every day.

So take a few minutes and check out Courtney’s walk fundraising page through the ALS Association (Arizona Chapter). This organization is an essential support system for those with ALS and they are doing amazing work for these individuals and their loved ones.

The site: http://webaz.alsa.org/site/TR?px=3110909&pg=personal&fr_id=8152&et=rWM1zOcwRbDJnnfcEbJqlQ&s_tafId=165707

This isn’t the first time I’ve talked about supporting this cause – if you want to check out more information about ALS visit my blog from last year:

http://fullofreason.blogspot.com/2011/09/walk-away.html

(Gary - Battling ALS like a rock star and Courtney - Raising funds for ALS like a rock star)

 

Love,

Elyse

Hope is Alive...

The Full of Reason website was born from personal loss and the emotions that I experienced afterwards. Losing someone is never easy but it’s even more difficult when they choose to leave. My goal is to find people, websites, organizations and stories that I can share on this site to remind us all that there is a world full of reasons to hope, love and live.

This week sevenly.org has collaborated with the organization To Write Love on Her Arms (a website always listed on the side bar of this site) to raise money for suicide prevention and therapy for teenagers. I always admire and support sites that donate money to charities and TWLOHA is near and dear to me.

The message?

Hope is Alive.

You can purchase clothing or accessories on Sevenly’s website www.sevenly.org to support TWLOHA this week – the fundraising ends on Monday for this particular cause. If you can’t get to it this week but want to purchase something to support TWLOHA then you can also visit their website’s store any time http://twloha.zambooie.com/ .

If you haven’t, I’d recommend that you read through the organization’s vision and the story behind how they got started http://www.twloha.com/vision/ .

Be full of reason.
Choose to reason.

Love,

Elyse

You can live life dying or you can die living life...

Sometimes I ask God so many questions that I don’t realize when he’s providing answers. I get so busy asking and complaining to him that he has to figure out how to get my attention while I’m busy avoiding the answers.

Lately, I have been talking to God a lot about direction, purpose and the future. I have also spent a lot of time whining about things that are probably not significant enough to whine about more than once…but I do.

It was during my lunch break…surfing the internet (avoiding doing class work or anything productive) that I came across an article about a little girl named Avery. I think it was the fact that this baby’s headline had something to do with a bucket list that I paused to read the article.

Avery had spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) from birth and was estimated to only have 18 months to live. Her parents are the rare and amazing type of people that take a devastating and paralyzing situation and turn it into something magical. They decided to work on Avery’s bucket list while she was alive and they would be sure to help her cross off as much as possible. They also created a blog written from Avery’s perspective so that they could share milestones with family and friends and spread awareness about SMA at the same time. Not only is Avery’s blog sweet and funny but Miss Avery has crossed more off of her bucket list than most adults ever will.

The quote that struck me while I read through her blog was, “You can live life dying or you can die living life”. Okay God…I’m listening…that makes sense. But it’s more than that…it’s so easy to save inspirational quotes, to pin them to your walls and to wear them on your clothes…but when do we start living them? When does the way we “want” to live, become the way that we start living?

Avery passed away yesterday afternoon and while she leaves behind devastated family, friends and admirers… she also leaves behind a legacy of awareness and love at just 5 months old.

How are you living life today?

http://averycan.blogspot.com/

Love,
Elyse

I Have Hope...and I'm not afraid to use it.

The Invisible Children campaign is an organization that I have supported and admired for some time now. Their website link does not ever leave the recommendations section of this page because it’s an issue that is always important.  If you have never checked out their site, go to the right hand side of this blog under “Be Someone’s Reason” for the link.

Today it seems that the Facebook world has lit up with people posting the Kony 2012 film and spreading the message to as many of their friends and family as possible. I can think of no better way to utilize a social networking site and it inspired me to sit down and watch the film too.

Watch the film here (it’s worth your time):

Here’s what you need to know –

Your voice matters.

These “invisible” children need us to be their voice and hope.

Recognize the problem…spread their story…make it known…make it important…make Kony’s name/face/history so recognizable that the problem cannot be ignored and he has nowhere left to hide.

It is so easy to brush off problems that aren’t directly affecting us…to say that someone else will take care of it eventually. But this is a problem that can only be solved by utilizing power in numbers.

Let’s make this issue THE issue of 2012 and bring more than just hope to those children and families who are suffering.

Read more about Kony 2012 and get involved here: http://s3.amazonaws.com/kony2012/kony_5.html

Make purchases to support the cause here: http://invisiblechildrenstore.myshopify.com/

Love,

Elyse

30 Hour Famine

Since I have never participated in a Famine event before I thought it would be best to periodically jot things down throughout the experience.

The Famine began officially at midnight of the 29^th and went until 6am of the 31^st. I was allowed to have liquids only during this time.

Monday

7:30am: I’m not hungry yet which is strange since I’m typically ready to eat a small city by the time I sit down to work.

10:30am: Hungry but not bad. I had a combo of orange juice and milk (which always grosses my husband out) that seemed to help around breakfast time.

2:00pm: I’m pretty hungry now. Coffee and Crystal Lite are not very filling. This is a good experience…a lesson in reality and appreciation.

3:30pm: It’s the end of my work day and I’m tired with a slight headache but still truckin’…

Tuesday

7:30am: Much to my surprise, I’m not hungry yet. It was a long evening of being hungry but God blessed me with a full night of sound sleep. I weighed in when this started just to see if there would be much impact and I am 4.5 pounds lighter this morning. I cannot imagine a child losing that much weight in a day because they don’t have food.

This was definitely a learning experience for me. One that I think I need to make a tradition if possible. I appreciated getting just a tiny glimpse into what people around the world are dealing with every day. I feel blessed to have been part of an event that seeks to end this issue.

Thank you again to everyone who donated.

Every $30 raised helps feed and care for a child for a month and together we raised $330!

Love,

Elyse

God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice...

“God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they will be satisfied.”
- Matthew 5:6 -

It’s been a little while since I have posted but for a good reason…I’ve been working on an idea that I am more than a little excited about.
It’s a new year and what do we all think about when we start a new year? Resolutions? Changes? Hopes? Goals? Typically, I don’t tend to make New Year’s resolutions. 1. I don’t often keep them. 2. I don’t like the idea that I’m resolving to change just because a year has ended.

So while I won’t be resolving to quit drinking coffee (that’s just crazy) or going to the gym more (yeah right), I will be working on a fundraising project that I stumbled into a couple of months ago.

A random day in November found me perusing some of my favorite charity and fundraising sites to see what kind of unique items they were offering and what new opportunities they were presenting.

One of my favorites? World Vision. World Vision is an organization that helps people and their communities recover from disaster, address current issues and promote growth.  

Ironically, it was during a lunch break that I came across their 30 Hour Famine website. As I made my way through the site I encountered a multitude of staggering facts about hunger and the devastating impact it’s having on people around the world. You can imagine that reading a fact like, “A child dies from hunger-related causes every 8 to 12 seconds” caused me to look at the lunch I was eating that afternoon a bit differently. It’s truly devastating to reflect upon how many lives are lost due to a lack of food.

So after some additional research and correspondence with the organization, I arranged to have my first 30 Hour Famine event. The event will take place 1/30/12 - 1/31/12. I will fast for 30 hours and others will have the opportunity to sponsor my involvement in the event with a donation. Every $30 raised will help feed and care for a child for a month.

I’m really excited to have this opportunity to gain perspective, increase awareness and raise money for this cause.

If you’d like to make a donation towards this cause and event you can visit my personal page here: http://support.worldvision.org/goto/EBaker

Or the team page here: http://support.worldvision.org/goto/TeamBaker

If you’re interested in participating in the actual 30 Hour Famine event as part of my team, you can do so by clicking on the “Join ELYSE’s Team” Link at http://support.worldvision.org/goto/EBaker .

It's time to start a new annual tradition... a new way to bring in the new year... a 30 Hour Famine.

Love,

Elyse