Happy Holidays

Every day is Christmas,
with a gaily wrapped surprise,
When you to see the friendship,
in someone else’s eyes.
When you try a little harder,
and complain a little less,
Holding fast to all the fervor
of the faith that you possess

Every day is Christmas,
when you’ve found that you can be
More concerned with words like “you”
and less with “I” and “me”.
When it’s fun to do a favor,
and to lend a helping a hand,
When being understood means less,
than when you understand

Every day is Christmas,
with a beauty deeply cast,
When you find it doesn’t matter,
if you’re first or if you’re last
When you can face your conscience,
and be glad of what you are,
Then every day is Christmas,
with a stable and  star.

By Anonymous

Happy Holidays! From me to you.

Giovanna Garcia
Imperfect Action is better than No Action

That is what Yvonne and Rich Dutra-St. John, co-Founders of Challenge Day and the Be the Change Movement; have dedicated over 20 years of their lives to do. Their vision is to create a world where everyone feels safe, loved, and celebrated. Yvonne and Rich believe this vision is completely attainable if we all have the courage to learn to love and accept ourselves, look through the eyes of compassion and respect, and to live our lives in service to others.

Through thought-provoking games, activities, and discussions, Challenge Day provides participants with tools to break down the walls of separation and isolation and build new levels of respect and communication. Students and adults leave Challenge Day inspired and empowered to become leaders in their schools and communities and to Be the Change they wish to see in the world.

Borrowing the words of Mahatma Gandhi, the Be the Change Movement challenges everyone to, “be the change we wish to see in the world.” Yvonne and Rick’s mission is to inspire people to be the change they wish to see in the world, starting with ourselves, through compassion and service using the formula for change – NOTICE, CHOOSE, and ACT.

NOTICE what’s happening in the world around us

CHOOSE how we want things to be and to find our passion and purpose for living

ACT by committing to do at least one intentional positive act of change each day with the goal of contributing to betterment of the planet and its people

Watch this This Emmy Award winning Documentary, hosted by Leeza Gibbons, and features Challenge Day’s founders Rich and Yvonne St. John-Dutra. It will inspire you and it can change you.

Cross the line and you will see that we all the same….

To learn more about Challenge Day, go to www.challengeday.org

Giovanna Garcia
Imperfect Action is better than No Action

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         When I was 11 years old my daily routine was to go to school, come home for two hours by myself to do homework, and then go work at my family’s business before coming home late at night with my parents to finish up whatever homework I had left. During those two hours when I was home alone, the last thing I wanted to do was homework! To me it was more fun to play and I could always do my homework that night. If I had to stay up extra late to do homework and was tired the next day, it didn’t hurt anyone but myself, so I figured it was okay. When my parents asked me if I did my homework during my two hours off, I’d lie and say, “Yes, of course!”

          At some point, I realized I could have a few friends come over while I was home alone and no one would know as long as we cleaned up the house after we were done playing. So I did this several times and everything seemed great. That is until my mother came home one night and found that her favorite watch was missing. The watch was a gift my father had given to her when they were young, and it had cost him very much to buy it at the time. I knew how much it meant to my mother and I was mortified when I realized that one of my little friends must have stolen it earlier that day while we were playing hide and go seek.

          My mother started asking me questions and my father joined in. I’d already trapped myself with my little white lies and I began to cover up everything with even more white lies by saying I didn’t know where the watch was. My parents knew something was up, though, and before long the jig was up. I had to tell my parents that I had been having friends over. I had to tell them I was lying about doing my homework every day. More and more little white lies came to the surface, and when I told my parents that one of my friends must have stolen the watch, they didn’t believe me. They figured that I had been playing with the watch and carelessly lost it, or that I had given it to one of my friends. They didn’t believe me because I had been caught in a lie, and that was the first time I learned the importance of integrity.

          My father has always said, a person’s word is their worth. I heard him say it, even as a little girl, but it had never struck me as the absolute truth before. I realized then, when you’re a person who lies, no one will believe you, even when you are telling the truth.

          So, I stood there, trying to figure out how I could get the watch back, but my parents wouldn’t help because they didn’t believe me. I felt horrible about the watch being gone, but I felt even worse realizing that my word was worthless. On that very day I decided I would always make sure there was meaning in my word. I knew if I lied, I was worthless.

Giovanna Garcia
Imperfect Action is better than No Action.

White lies

Peanut Butter & Jelly

It’s called the Peanut Butter Plan. Once a month a dozen of Strangers get together, make peanut butter sandwiches and immediately pass them out to homeless people. No federal subsidy, no foundation, no vouchers. No official sanction from anybody. Just strangers, good will and peanut butter.

Jory John, a San Francisco children’s book writer, got the idea for the PBJ stealth campaign this spring. John put forth the idea on Facebook and, over the past few months, PBJ handouts have taken place in Los Angeles; Berkeley; Phoenix; Little Rock, Ark.; Grand Rapids, Mich.; Austin, Texas; and London.

“People are joining from all over the place,” John said. “I thought it was about time to use a social networking site to do some good.”

The monthly gathering took place the other evening around a conference table inside a publishing house that had donated its office for the cause. There was barely time for introductions before jars were pulled out and sleeves were rolled up.

“There’s something nostalgic about peanut butter and jelly,” said Ryan Lewis, organizer of the gathering. “It’s comforting. Everybody ate peanut butter and jelly as a kid. It’s an old friend.”

Some people make one sandwich at a time, slowly. Some make a dozen sandwiches at a time, lickety-split.

If there is anything complicated about a PBJ, it’s getting the proper ratio of PB to J. Put too much peanut butter and it’s too dry. Put too much jelly and it’s too soggy.

“I started out 50-50,” said volunteer Efrat Lelkes, a San Francisco pediatrician. “But that’s too much jelly. I think the proper ratio is 3-to-1, in favor of peanut butter.”

And then, when the last glob was spread and the conference table was scrubbed clean, Lewis dispatched some sandwich-laden volunteers to the Tenderloin and some others to the Haight and South of Market. He led a small group through the Mission District and there was no shortage of people who found the idea of a complimentary peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich to be just the thing.

The sandwich distribution is best done in pairs, Lewis said, because you never can tell. On Valencia Street, one homeless fellow began screaming that he didn’t want any “poison sandwiches” and started shoving the young woman who was seeking to give him one. But the buddy system worked and the fellow was persuaded to shuffle off.

“No good turn goes unpunished,” his would-be benefactor said.

Outside the BART station at 16th and Mission streets, a dozen folks accepted sandwiches. Robin Holmberg took one sandwich for herself and one for Ben, a black Lab.

Holmberg, an auto mechanic who hasn’t had any cars to work on for a while, said she had not eaten all day. She said she was waiting for a check, although she wasn’t sure which check.

“I’m at the lowest of the low, but why be depressed about it?” she said, chewing thoughtfully on her sandwich. “It’s not me, it’s the economy. I’ll be all right.”

When the sandwiches were gone, Lewis and his fellow sandwich makers retired to a nearby tavern for a beer. The camaraderie of doing something nice, along with the beers, made everyone feel pretty good and some of the strangers exchanged phone numbers. The peanut butter and jelly sandwich, Jory John said, is everyone’s friend.

Nobody doesn’t want one. They’re cheap, easy, and they hold up for a couple of days, if you don’t overdo the jelly.

Peanut Butter Plan from The Quotidian on Vimeo.

“The smallest actions make the biggest difference,” he said. “There are some cynics who say it’s not really curing hunger, and it isn’t curing hunger. But it’s curing one person’s hunger. There’s nothing wrong with that.”

To volunteer

Information on the Peanut Butter Plan, including upcoming Bay Area sandwich-making parties, is available at www.peanutbutterplan.org

Read more at SFGate

Everyone of us can make a difference and it can be with something as simple as PB& J.

Giovanna Garcia
Imperfect Action is better than No Action

Carol Channing and Giovanna Garcia

Last weekend I attended the Bravehearts women Global Event in Los Angeles. It was an amazing 3 days of empowerment that was good for the souls and great for hearts. I had a wonderful time meeting so many great people. One of the most impressive people I met was the Hollywood Legend Ms. Carol Channing.

She is a three time Tony Awards  winner (including one for lifetime achievement), a Golden Globe and an Oscar nomination. Ms.  Channing is best remembered for originating, on Broadway, the musical-comedy roles of bombshell Lorelei Lee in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, and matchmaking widow Dolly Gallagher Levi in Hello, Dolly!

Ms. Channing is 88 years young and she sings and dances just the same way she did as I remembered. Over 60 years in entertainment from Broadway to television (She was in many popular game shows such as What’s My Line, I’ve Got a Secret and Password. Carol’s variety shows encompass The Dean Martin Show, The Red Skelton Show, The Milton Berle Show, Rowen & Martin’s Laugh-In, The Carol Burnett Show, The Muppet Show, The Rosie O’Donnell Show, Hollywood Squares, as well as many Tony and Grammy broadcasts. A partial list of Carol’s Episodic work consist of Playhouse 90’s Three Men on a Horse, The Love Boat, Magnum, P.I., The Nanny, Touched by an Angel and The Drew Carey Show) Carol Channing has always able to find new ways to grow and continue to push the limits.

Today, Carol’s passion is The Channing-Kullijian Foundation, founded by her husband Harry and her. The foundation’s purpose is to return arts to School by launching a statewide awareness campaign heralding the benefits of Arts back into the curriculum of public schools of California and to provide musical instruments for low income school districts and the funding of scholarships for students and teachers in the Arts.

We’ve all heard the term “Age gracefully,” and I have to admit it sounds good at first glance. Unfortunately, too many people interpret “gracefully” to mean “passively.” We’ve all heard the saying, “It’s a young man’s world.” I could not disagree more. Our world is a world for anyone who is willing to grow and learn. If you’re young and inexperienced, you have a lot of work and growing to do. But even if you’re older and have lots of experience, it’s still not time to lie down and be content. Every day is the right day to choose to do something good in the world regardless of your age.

Carol Channing has the exact right spirit. You are NEVER too old to make an impact. In fact, the older you are, the more capacity you have to make a difference. You have all the wisdom and knowledge from years of experience to build upon. You have a huge capacity to learn and grow and give some of that wisdom back to the world. You can think at multiple-levels and comprehend things you never would have understood when you were younger. So always be like that excited little kid. Run around and stay active both mentally and physically. Always be growing, because the day you quit growing is the day you begin slowly dying.

 Don’t age gracefully. Age Actively!
 Don’t fear change. Embrace your growing pains and learn from them.
 Don’t think of growth like a job. Make learning and growing fun. Do it in style.

 And always remember, we can’t relive our days past. Live in the now and constantly challenge yourself. Take the attitude that you want the world to know you were here when you’re gone, that you made some noise and left a mark. If you make some mistakes along the way, no big deal, as long you learned and grew from the mistakes—that’s part of the process.
 Let go of the past and move forward, because the future belongs to those who welcome change and make the effort to grow.

Cheers to an amazing lady, Carol Channing a woman who age actively.

To support The Channing-Kullijian Foundation go to http://www.carolchanning.org/Foundation.htm

Giovanna Garcia
Imperfect Action is better than No Action

What was inside the August 14^th issue of PEOPLE was a special feature of eight postal employees and their heroic deeds. I was not able to find that article from People’s website; however, at FedSmith they have the following information about the special 8 postal workers.

William Bland of Lebanon, KY, rescued a pregnant woman and child after they were involved in an auto accident. While the rural carrier was delivering his route, he noticed an overturned SUV in a creek. Stopping to investigate, he heard a woman screaming for help from inside the vehicle.

Bland waded into the waist-deep water to find the woman and her infant hanging upside down, barely above water, restrained by their seatbelts. When he couldn’t release the buckles, he ran to his vehicle, called 911, and returned with a letter opener to cut the seatbelts. As other motorists stopped to assist, Bland finally was able to get the woman and child out of the vehicle.

When rescue units arrived, Bland — soaking wet — resumed delivering his route.

Walter Hayes of St. Louis, MO, protected and comforted a child hit by a car. While delivering mail near an elementary school, the letter carrier saw a speeding driver strike a student who was crossing the street.

Hayes immediately ran to the student’s aid, lying next to the child to keep the student warm and to help calm him. When paramedics arrived to treat and transport the boy to the hospital, Hayes returned to his route.

In Bakersfield, CA, it was Letter Carrier Melissa Kelley who saved a customer from two attacking pit bulls. She ran to the man, who was knocked to the ground by the dogs, and chased them away using her satchel and dog spray.

The man had been bitten on his arms and face and had his front teeth knocked out. Kelley stayed with him until paramedics arrived. Later, he thanked Kelley, calling her his “angel.”

Oakland, CA, Letter Carriers Alan Girard, Rick Quinonez, Gilbert Rangel, Tanya Joseph and Karen Hill played a crucial role in rescuing 100 residents from an apartment fire.

In a letter to Postmaster General Jack Potter, the apartment manager Kathy Walsh from Baywood Apartments wrote that the Oakland letter carriers displayed “extraordinary courage.” She added, “It’s not often that you find people of such character and willingness who go above and beyond the call of duty, and for this we are thankful.”

Every day postal employees across the nation touch the lives of millions of people, and sometimes those same employees and their heroic efforts make the difference between loss of life and property.

Show your appreciation to your public services man and woman, they work very hard for us day in and day out.

Giovanna Garcia
Imperfect Action is better than No Action