I took almost a year off from writing Get Out and Give Back after retiring from the United States Air Force to decide what I wanted my post-Air Force life to look like. And I realized that I missed writing for you. I missed the connection. I missed giving back. So here it is again. [...]
Filed under: Homelessness, Humanity, In the Neighborhood, Uncategorized | No Comments »
Thursday mornings are my most favorite time of the week. That’s when I spend two or three hours helping the underserved in our community at a neighborhood church. Most of the people who show up are regulars, and I’ve gotten to know them by name, if not by face.
I’m torn between what I can do [...]
Filed under: Faith-based, Giving, Homelessness, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
Turning a year older stopped being fun at 21. But my birthday this winter was one of my all-time favorites, and not because I’m closer to caving in to a botox temptation. It’s because of the full-spectrum events that day.
Mike and I woke up that morning on the floor of a church, where we’d spent [...]
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I’m as anti-smoking as any non-smoker. So it was a surprise when I found myself tempted to buy a pack of cigarettes for someone Monday afternoon. Better explain: As I waited at the Rhode Island platform to catch the Red Line, and old guy in an old-fashioned, manual wheelchair asked me for some change for lunch. [...]
Filed under: Cancer, Homelessness, Military | 2 Comments »
As I prepare to move the “Get Out and Give Back” blog and newspaper column to a bigger writing/speaking/coaching venue, I realized that I’d been spending too much time in the last few months holed up developing the business and not enough time contributing and serving. So, yesterday (Wednesday) I pried my fingers off of my laptop [...]
Filed under: Donating, Faith-based, Giving, Homelessness, Humanity, In the Neighborhood, Kindness | 1 Comment »
Growing up, my family loved playing games. Even now, on those rare occasions when we’re all in once place, three generations of us spend hours playing some fast-thinking word game, cards, or whatever else shows up at the game table. I have decades of good memories playing family games together, and aside from one of [...]
Filed under: Family, Homelessness | 1 Comment »
In “The Pursuit of Happyness,” Will Smith’s character arrives too late to stay at a homeless shelter one night so he and his young son spend the night in a subway. And, watching that movie scene about summarized my experience with the homeless until I volunteered with a shelter last month.
The shelter served dinner [...]
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A few years back when I was working a media event at the Arizona State Fair and comatose on funnel cakes, a friend and I escaped from the fairgrounds for some gourmet haute cuisine at Wendy’s a few blocks away. As I left the fair entrance a guy asked me for pocket change. [...]
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“Volunteers needed for Shelter Night” the ad from a family shelter pleaded. Anyone 16 years old or older was invited to play with the kids for an hour while the parents learned life skills on Wednesday nights.
This particular shelter houses entire families. According to the website, it provides temporary emergency housing and supportive [...]
Filed under: Children, Family, Homelessness | 1 Comment »