#tbt... 2012 Walk-for-Wishes Philadelphia

As most of you already know, I am a Chi Omega.  That means that as a Chi Omega, I "flourish".  It also means that as a Chi Omega, "I lead. I serve. I give."  This Sunday I will be working on all of these ideals that Chi Omegas hold near and dear to their hearts as I participate in the 2014 Walk-for-Wishes in Philadelphia.  This year the walk is being held at the Philadelphia Zoo... so not only do I get to walk to raise money to grant the wishes of terminally ill children in the Philadelphia area, I get to walk on the wild side with all the animals at the zoo while supporting this wonderful cause.  In honor of once again being able to participate in the Walk-for-Wishes, this week's #tbt post is going to be dedicated to the last time I was able to participate in the walk in 2012 when it was at the Morris Arboretum in Philadelphia!

Philly Chi Omegas support the Make-A-Wish Foundation

If you are interested in making a donation to the Make-A-Wish Foundation and helping me to meet my fundraising goal, you can donate here.  

Have you ever participating in a walk or run to raise money for a charity that is near and dear to your hearts?

Donating to Charity... My Charities and Why They are Important to Me

As a kid when I was growing up I remember my parents donating to various charities over the years and I remember wondering why they did it.  As I grew up and graduated from college and started my journey into "adulthood" I discovered the importance of donating to charity on my own.  Now I am not saying that I am an expert on donating to charity, nor do I think that everyone should always donate to charity... I am just saying that this is something that is important to me and I want to explain why I do it.

My donating to charity started after college when I decided to do the Memory Walk for the Alzheimer's Association in memory of my grandfather and in honor of my Gram who we had recently found out was exhibiting signs of early onset Alzheimer's.  Since that walk I have continued to donate money to the Alzheimer's Association and M and I even have been giving a donation to them as part of our wedding favors to our guests.  Giving to the Alzheimer's Association is so important to me because having one grandparent die from it and two more diagnosed with early onset of the disease I want researchers to have the funding to be able to find a cure for it.  They say that the disease skips a generation which means I could be next to have this debilitating disease.  Sure I may not know I have it for many years to come, and sure I may not have the genetic mutations that allow for this disease to take over my body, but then again I may.  I also know how hard it is to watch someone suffer from this disease, so if I can help fun research so that people don't have to go through what my family and I have gone through in the past, then well I am all for that!

At the Memory Walk

This past Monday I participated in the ALS ice bucket challenge and made my donation to the ALS foundation.  I know tons of people are participating in the ice bucket challenge because it looks fun and because all of their friends are doing it and I know many people who disagree with the whole premise behind all of this.  Personally I think it is amazing that something so small has been able to spread the word about ALS and I only hope that those who are participating/making donations have looked into what ALS is and what their donations are going to help.  I have known two people who have passed away from this horrific disease and both of their lives were taken way too soon.  I did the ice bucket challenge in their memory and made my donation because I do think it is important to fund ALS research so that one day we may have a cure for this horrible disease.

Lastly, I recently signed up to do the 2014 Walk-for-Wishes at the Philadelphia Zoo this October. I have been doing the Walk-for-Wishes and have been involved with the Make-A-Wish Foundation since back in 2004 when I joined Chi Omega.  The Make-A-Wish Foundation is Chi Omega's national philanthropy and as a Chi Omega I have been fortunate to have been able to help to grant the wish of various children throughout the years.  During my time in college we even sent one of our wish children to Disney on vacation with her family.  It is so amazing to see the reactions of our wish kids once their wishes have been granted... the smiles on their faces are priceless and the amount of gratitude their families have is something that you can't describe in words.  I have set a goal for myself to raise $250.00 for the Make-A-Wish foundation through this walk.  If you are interested in donating you can feel free to make a donation here or by clicking the link on my sidebar with my thermometer that is keeping track of my fundraising abilities!

Chi Omega ladies at the last Walk-For-Wishes

As you can see I donate to charity because the cause means something to me.  I don't donate to make myself feel better, I don't donate because I think it makes me a better person, I don't donate just to say that I donate to charity.  I donate to charity because I believe in what my donation is funding.  I believe in donating to help researchers find a cure for debilitating diseases who have claimed the lives of those I have loved.  I believe in donating to help children with terminal illnesses have one last wish granted.  I believe in donating to help discover the causes of premature births, miscarriages, etc. so that those I know who have experienced the pain of those things may not have to ever experience it again.  I donate because I am hoping that even a small donation will help make a big difference one of these days.

Do you have any charities that you donate to because they mean something to you? 

The Spirit of Giving

Once again this having a lot of free time on my hands has made me think... I want to get back into volunteering.  I used to volunteer ALL the time when I was at Bucknell.  Partially because being a Chi O meant that because of Bucknell's Plan for Prominence I had to do a certain number of hours of community service to avoid facing consequences in the sorority, but also because I enjoyed doing it.  I enjoyed helping others and always went above and beyond the number of required hours.  So in remembering that spirit of giving that I embraced while I was in college, I decided to start volunteering again. 

The first thing I have decided to do is to sign up to do a Memory Walk on October 9, 2010 in Wilmington, DE.  The Memory Walk is a 3 mile walk that is organized by the Alzheimer's Association to raise money and awareness about Alzheimer's disease.  For anyone who has read my previous post you know that this is something that is very important to me and I'm actually super excited to do this walk.  I'm forming a team... so anyone who wants to join check out My Memory Walk Page from which you can get to the team page to sign up to walk with me!  From my page you can also make donations to the cause.  Any help and support that I get for this will be greatly appreciated.

I have also decided to fill out a volunteer application for the Delaware Make-a-Wish chapter.  Chi Omega is nationally affiliated with Make-a-Wish and during my time at Bucknell I participated in a number of events that went to benefit our wish children.  To me that was so gratifying, being able to help a sick child obtain their one last wish.  I think it will be a great opportunity for me to get re-involved with Make-a-Wish and I'm really hoping that they have something that I can help with.

Though being unemployed is scary, it is also giving me some good insight into what I want to do with my life.  I remember why I loved helping people and it makes me realize that I probably am best suited to a job in some sort of public service... be it at the Attorney General's office, the Public Defender's office (who am I kidding, I'd make a horrible PD, but ya never know), or some sort of legal aid agency, I think I was meant to use my law degree to help people and will not be pursuing my original goal of working for a corporate firm or some international business.  Of course I could change my mind about this all again, but something tells me that I really was meant to use my degree to help people, and for now, that's what I'm going to try to do.