Charity Work - It makes you feel good

This year, on new years day, I made only one resolution - to live my life in a way that parralleled the Jason Mraz song "Live High". I hope Mr. Mraz will not be too upset if I quote a bit of it here:

Glory God, oh God is peeking through the blinds
Are we all here standing naked
Taking guesses at the actual date and time
Oh my, justifying reasons why
Is an absolutely insane resolution to live by

Live high
Live mighty
Live righteously
Taking it easy
Live high, live mighty
Live righteously

Try to picture the man
To always have an open hand
See him as a giving tree
See him as matter
Matter fact he's not a beast
No not the devil either
Always a good deed doer
And it's laughter that we're making after all

The call of the wild is still an ordination why
And the order of the primates
All our politics are too late
Oh my, the congregation in my mind
Is this assembly singing gratitude
Practicing their loving for you


Now, I am a publically avowed agnostic, but I do want to live life as a good person. I decided upon reflection that while I was not a "bad" person, I was not doing enough to be a "good" person. I had made a personal decision to do more charity work, for groups with causes I could relate to or empathize with.

Then Gabrielle, our lovely and eccentric leader at A Picture Worth 1000 Words had a small social and said " Let's raise funds for St. Baldric's Foundation - a research foundation that battles children's cancer issues." This was EXACTLY what I needed! Motivated to do good, and to raise money for faceless kids, I threw myself into it - raising $3,600 in 60 days. Should there be pride in charity work? Probably not - but if I did not tell you how proud I was of our team, I would be a liar. We raised more than any other team, and a quarter of the overall total for the entire event. You can watch Gabby and Me get our heads shaved on YouTube.
It brought me much joy.
RIght on the heels of that, on the spur of the moment I commited to walk in the MS Walk in Raleigh, and did not "solicit" donations - rather I posted my team mates links - I don't know if it helped them or not, but Ashley won a "Gold Ring" prize for her Donations, and Nick and Chris both did very respectable amounts as well. I simply posted this morning that I was at $0 and if folks could contibute please do. Three hours later and $185 for MS - wow. I walked in honor of Nick's mom, who has MS. It was a great day to walk 5 miles ( the longer of three choices ) and turnout was great. I plan to make sure that next year we knock the bottom out of that one!

SO now, I want you to get in on the action. A Picture Worth 1000 Words will soon be forming a Bike Team to ride in the 2011 Bike MS event - a two day bike ride in New Bern NC. I have been blessed with a bike from a rider in NY who basically gave it to me due to the charitable nature of my needs.

I want to put together a big enough team that we can ride in each class - 30, 50, 75 and 100 miles. We're gonna need riders. We're gonna need donations. And I am going to try to team www.thehillbillyphilosopher.com with A Picture Worth 1000 Words for some team products. So please, if you are interested in riding, let us know. If you have a business and would like to sponsor the team and get your name on our shirts, let us know. If you want to donate, let us know.

We will have a team tent with water and a few snacks as a place to decompress. I will make sure that there is a keg of celebratory hand crafted ale for the evening bull sessions.

We will expect riders to provide their own bikes, and required safety and assundry materials. We will try as a group to secure a low priced accommodations arrangement, that ( unless a sponsor picks up the tab ) each member will be responsible for.

I promise you - it will make you feel good. Feeling good helping people - nothing better in this crazy old world - The HP guarantees it.

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