Last week I wrote a diary about giving.
Specifically I pledged to...
...do a diary a month... for a next year... each dedicated to a different charity.
I'll set up one of those fancy online giving pages (suggestions on how to do this please) and match whatever the community gave up to a thousand dollars a pop.
That way I can turn my 12K into (maybe) our 24K.
OK, well, this is the first...
UPDATE SO FAR AS OF 915PST...
158 Recs * 2 = $316
$270 *2 = $540
$856
Can we see $1000?
So, many, many years before I knew them my now-friends Scott Williams and Catherine Curry-Williams got pregnant and set their minds to the kinds of poetic, hopeful, dreaming that most soon-to-be-parents engage in:
What will the baby look like...
Who will our child grow up to be...
How will parenthood change our lives?
To the first question, the answer was... beautiful enough to shatter your heart.
To the second question, the answer was, sadly, unanswearable because their son -- Shane -- lived less than a month.
Which answered the third question: their lives would be changed, inexorably, forever.
In their words:
Had Shane lived, he would have spent his life in a wheelchair. Because of a physical disability, Shane would have been denied one of the most fundamental rights of childhood: the right to play independently with friends and family at neighborhood and school playgrounds. This realization encouraged the Williams and family friend Tiffany Harris to turn a tragedy into a vision that resulted in Shane's Inspiration... a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the lives of children with disabilities.
In 1998, Shane's Inspiration gave a gift to thousands of Los Angeles children through the creation of an environment where all children can play together at the highest level of their ability. With the support of visionary community leaders, Shane's Inspiration created the first Universally Accessible Playground in the Western United States and the largest in the nation: "Shane's Inspiration." Located in Griffith Park, “Shane’s Inspiration” provides two acres of fully accessible, sensory-rich and physically challenging equipment.
More importantly, this playground gives children with disabilities and children without the opportunity to play with and learn from each other, thus increasing awareness and acceptance.
Since the opening of our flagship playground, Shane’s Inspiration has helped raise millions of dollars to develop over 40 Universally Accessible Playground projects throughout Southern California and as far away as Sri Lanka. We also reach over 2,600 children each year through transportation, education and community outreach programs.
Much shorter: in the memory of their son, Shane's Inspiration builds accessible playgrounds for kids who have drawn a slightly shorter stick.
And here's where I humbly ask you to GIVE.
The donation page is HERE.
And if you give... I'll give more.
The rules...
--I'll give 2 bucks for any YOU give.*
*I considered setting up some sort of giving page, but in the end... let's just do this simpler. Drop a comment below, and I'll believe me. Or send me an email... JeffCyprss@aol.com... with the receipt that Shane's Inspiration sends you. Whatever.
--I'll give 2 bucks for every recommendation that this diary gets. So, if your bank account is hurting... there's an easy way for you to get in the game.
--Pass this diary around to someone. Toss it on your Facebook page. Tattoo it on your ass. Part of the goal is just to expand horizons and see how people make life better for other people. Then if someone you know gives... have THEM send me an email.
A week from now, I'll tally it up and add my hopefully-more-than-two cents.
And if this goes well, come December 1st, we'll meet here and do it all again.