Shh? No! Speak up!

Chris Baty posted this on NaNoWriMo on March 9,2007. I know to many it seemed like we, as participants, were more like lunatics, but by participating — and — donating — and — buying t-shirts, we helped make his fund raising a success while getting our own self-pleasure at letting the words just flow unchecked.

But we learned from it as well; we experimented, we thought (more like we racked our brains until we couldn’t any more), we conceptualized, some of us (I, not included) even thought ahead. In the end we discovered some things work well, others need more thought to pull off. Teachers used NaNoWriMo in their classrooms. It was a win-win situation for the writers, the teachers, the students, and the charities (and those sponsoring and working so hard to pull it off for us).

And it was a win for many of the spouses, employers, and children of those participating. Those who had at some point allowed themselves to do something they truly loved got excited for us as they witnessed our self-expression, self-love, dedication, and, yes, our exhaustion. Those that were not supportive lost out two times over, because they missed the joy of seeing a loved one happy by dragging them down and, obviously, had never known their own joy of accomplishment and effort at something they loved. That’s a shame.

And Leon, he definitely shared the joy. . . and all the housework, the shopping, the laundry. . . He is still waiting for his material reward. Maybe I should finish writing my novel.

Chris Baty posted this on NaNoWriMo on March 9,2007. I know to many it seemed like we, as participants, were more like lunatics, but by participating — and — donating — and — buying t-shirts, we helped make his fund raising a success while getting our own self-pleasure at letting the words just flow unchecked.

But we learned from it as well; we experimented, we thought (more like we racked our brains until we couldn’t any more), we conceptualized, some of us (I, not included) even thought ahead. In the end we discovered some things work well, others need more thought to pull off. Teachers used NaNoWriMo in their classrooms. It was a win-win situation for the writers, the teachers, the students, and the charities (and those sponsoring and working so hard to pull it off for us).

And it was a win for many of the spouses, employers, and children of those participating. Those who had at some point allowed themselves to do something they truly loved got excited for us as they witnessed our self-expression, self-love, dedication, and, yes, our exhaustion. Those that were not supportive lost out two times over, because they missed the joy of seeing a loved one happy by dragging them down and, obviously, had never known their own joy of accomplishment and effort at something they loved. That’s a shame.

And Leon, he definitely shared the joy. . . and all the housework, the shopping, the laundry. . . He is still waiting for his material reward. Maybe I should finish writing my novel.

If you have long hair, know someone with long hair about to cut it, want to grow long hair, or have a pony tail put away from childhood that is at least 10 inches long, think about donating your hair to Locks of Love.

To quote their site:

“Locks of Love is a public non-profit organization that provides hairpieces to financially disadvantaged children under age 18 suffering from long-term medical hair loss from any diagnosis.”

This is getting to the kids who need it the most, the ones with “long-term medical hair loss”.

Is your hair gray? So, what. They sell that and use the money toward the expenses.

Over fifty percent of their donors are children that want to help other children.

That says two things to me:

1. There are children out there who care deeply about other kids. (Hooray!!)

2. Adults could be offering their hair more often.

It grows back! Mine did, I donated it in 2003. And I plan on doing it again, sooner than later. I wish I had started years before.

(Click here to go straight to their press release, the most info in the least reading, check out the photos on the bottom of the page.)

NOTE: Please don’t assume that ALL hairdressers know about it. I met several who didn’t.

If you have long hair, know someone with long hair about to cut it, want to grow long hair, or have a pony tail put away from childhood that is at least 10 inches long, think about donating your hair to Locks of Love.

To quote their site:

“Locks of Love is a public non-profit organization that provides hairpieces to financially disadvantaged children under age 18 suffering from long-term medical hair loss from any diagnosis.”

This is getting to the kids who need it the most, the ones with “long-term medical hair loss”.

Is your hair gray? So, what. They sell that and use the money toward the expenses.

Over fifty percent of their donors are children that want to help other children.

That says two things to me:

1. There are children out there who care deeply about other kids. (Hooray!!)

2. Adults could be offering their hair more often.

It grows back! Mine did, I donated it in 2003. And I plan on doing it again, sooner than later. I wish I had started years before.

(Click here to go straight to their press release, the most info in the least reading, check out the photos on the bottom of the page.)

NOTE: Please don’t assume that ALL hairdressers know about it. I met several who didn’t.

(Update! 122906 — Over 500 people left comments on Pass The Torch! $500 was donated to St. Judes Children’s Hospital by her corporate sponsor as agreed to. How awesome.)

Wow, surfing the blogs just turns up some great stuff. Pass the Torch has found a corporate sponsor to donate $1 for every comment up to 500 to St.Judes Children’s Research Hospital. Please consider stopping by and leaving a quick comment. A young man, Scotty, I met in Florida when he was in his twenties was greatly helped by them way back! His mother could not speak more highly of an organization. You only have a day or so more… over 270 comments already. . . I’d love to see it go to the 500 mark.

Pass the Torch link