Pinwheels for Prevention – National Prevent Child Abuse Month

April is National Prevent Child Abuse month.  Prevent Child Abuse America has launched a campaign called Pinwheels for Prevention to promote awareness about child abuse prevention.  The pinwheel represents their efforts to change the way our nation thinks about prevention, focusing on community activities and public policies that prioritize prevention right from the start to make sure child abuse and neglect never occur.

You can help by proudly displaying a pinwheel in your yard!  The kids love them!

For more information about the campaign, click here:  www.pinwheelsforprevention.org.

Dallas CASA

A friend of mine who works for ORIX forwarded me this message from her company.  She sits on the ORIX Foundation board, and the Dallas CASA (Court-Appointed Special Advocates) organization is very near and dear to their hearts.  Please read the following and help make a difference in the lives of abused and neglected children by forwarding the message on to as many people as you can!  Check out www.orixfoundation.org for more info.

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

Can you spare a few minutes to change a life?

On an average day in Dallas County , nearly 2,000 abused and neglected children are in foster care because they cannot live safely at home.  These children are in crisis and desperately need powerful voices to speak for them.

Dallas CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) is a nonprofit organization of volunteers who are appointed by judges to do precisely that.  CASA volunteers make recommendations that help judges decide where the children can live safely and permanently.  For many children, a CASA volunteer is the only constant person in their lives during a frightening, uncertain time.

Since 1980, Dallas CASA volunteers have made a lasting difference in the lives of thousands of abused and neglected children.  With your help, we can continue to build a healthier, safer community for all our children.

Abused and neglected children need any help you can offer.  Please consider becoming a volunteer, telling others about CASA or spreading the word about our auxiliary groups, the Young Professionals and the Children’s Council.  One very simple way to help is to become part of Dallas CASA’s 30th Anniversary 30×30 Campaign.  Please take a few minutes to forward this message to 30 friends and colleagues and encourage them to learn more about Dallas CASA and ways to help abused and neglected children by visiting www.dallascasa.org.

Thank you for your time and commitment to changing the lives of children in our community.  You truly will be the difference in a child’s life.

Finding Passion

Being a mother, it’s difficult to find time to do things I’m passionate about.  Oftentimes, I am busy taking care of my kids, meeting their basic needs, working, being a wife, and the myriad of other responsibilities I have in a day.  Some days I wake up and wonder how I will ever accomplish even the mundane daily tasks I am responsible for in a 12 hour period.

From a very young age, I have been passionate about a few things, including ending child abuse and really anything having to do with children, like breastfeeding!  I can’t even say how I developed this passion, but I know it comes from my heart and I feel strongly about it.

Everyone should have a passion for something; some thing that drives your inner soul to make a difference in this world.  There are SO many volunteer opportunities out there.  Some involve lots of time and energy and others are simpler and take only a moment of your time.  Throughout my lifetime, I have held several volunteer positions.  Off the top of my head, these are the ones I can remember: I have hung clothes at a thrift store, I have cleaned out dirty cages at pet shelters, I have conducted group therapy for underprivileged elementary school children as well as chemically dependent adults, I have fed the homeless, helped out in my daughter’s classroom, and I have helped mothers breastfeed and parent their babies/toddlers.

If I can do it anyone can!  A community is made up of the people around you.  You really can make a difference in your community, by taking small steps, and making little changes.  Little changes bring about bigger changes, and before you know it, you’ve started a chain of “paying it forward” and you may not even realize it!  I would like to encourage everyone out there to find your passion, follow your heart, and give back to your community!  If you have a “volunteer” story you’d like to share, I’d love to hear any and all comments!  Tell me how you’ve made a difference in your community!