Giving is everywhere...

Please note: If this is your first time visiting our blog, please click here to hear the premise of Pass It On, Baby! and how it all began.... Pass It On, Baby!


A couple of days ago, I was at Chick-Fil-A having a "Mommy and Cade" night. Now, I don't like to take my 19 month old to Chick-Fil-A too often but it's a nice treat and I feel like it's a little better than maybe other fast food restaurants. Plus, I've been working alot!! I recently took on a contract job for a couple of months so my life is a little crazy and my poor baby isn't seeing me as much each day. Between working, teaching fitness classes, and then handling the marketing for the restaurant client I already had as well as Pass It On, Baby! my time has been VERY limited!

So back to being at Chick-Fil-A, I order a kids meal (which I never do - we usually share something) and saw on the bag this note about The Gift of Giving. This is what it reads...

The powerful act of giving is a way to spread a smile. Even helping in a small way shows you have a lot of style. There's so much you can do to help others out. Like donating part of your allowance to a cause you care about it. No matter what the gesture, no matter the amount. Giving is a great idea, your thought is what will count. 

It touched me to read this. Obviously giving back is so important to both Elizabeth and me. And with the recent events in Haiti, there is never a better time to think about giving or teach your children about giving. Even if it's a nickel or a stuffed animal or something so very small. Like the poem reads, if it is a cause you care about it doesn't matter how much it's just the thought that counts! I couldn't have said it better! Many of you have wanted to donate clothing through Pass It On, Baby! but maybe there hasn't been a match of sizes. If you are ready to get rid of those clothes and we don't have it in our immediate needs list - consider donating your clothes to your local American Red Cross and they will tell you what they need and where to bring the items. It is another way to impact moms and families in desperate need of basics. And if you are part of our blog - then it's part of Pass It On, Baby! You could even pack the clothes with our letter if you like. (it may or may not make it to the person in Haiti but atleast these organizations would know that PIOB cares!)

It seems like that giving is everywhere. Maybe that's what happens when we have a recession, people out of work and natural disasters. We learn that it's not about what we have but what we can give.

If you have heard of any other ways to donate clothes to Haiti - please comment back on this blog post and let us know.

Much love to all of you!

In love and kindness,

Email Elizabeth and Heather

When is Enough?

Please note: If this is your first time visiting our blog, please click here to hear the premise of Pass It On, Baby! and how it all began.... Pass It On, Baby!

Its been a little while since my last post, and though things are going well....I was having a hard time posting. Sometimes I get tired of my own voice...wondering if I lecture too much or hop up on that soapbox I carry around with me (insert sarcastic smile here). So this time, no lectures....just thoughts...maybe a little disconnected  - but near and dear to my heart.

I met a friend out last night for some girl chat. It was great to see her, I don't get to enough. We were talking about giving back, being socially responsible, raising your kiddos to be that way, you know....just trying your best in life. I confided in her that I felt like I wasn't doing enough. That most of the time I was still wrapped up in my own day to day occurrences... So she asked me, "When will it be enough?" And I have to confess, I don't know. Do you ever feel like you are doing enough? Should you ever feel like you are doing enough? I've been mulling it over and over again in my mind. I'm one of those people that like a definite, concrete answer. If someone tells me, "Do this and it will be enough"....I'm all over it. Its the gray, the in-between, the figure-it-out-for-yourself answers that really throw me for a loop. I was the girl in school that needed to know how MANY paragraphs we had to write. What do you mean a couple? Is that 2 or 4? Yes....that girl.

Now I could dismiss it and tell myself that you'll never know the answer....but in my life, when I'm meant to reflect on something - it will come up again and again. Its usually the tenth time or so that I'll see the connection and think, "Hmmmm - probably NOT a coincidence...I should probably get back to thinking about this."

So this morning I'm in a fitness class that I regularly take and the instructor starts the class by saying "If you pray, please keep one of the spin instructors in your prayers. He and his wife left today for Haiti. They will be gone for five weeks and their daughters will not be traveling with them." My eyes welled up with tears....those people, I thought, are doing enough. What wonderful people, right? Maybe that could be an answer for me? Yet later as I was grabbing coffee on my way out, I heard other mothers talking about how they thought it was unfortunate that the couple would leave their own children for five weeks. At first it shocked me that it could be viewed that way...but now I think that I was meant to hear that as well.

When I mulled over that thought process, I realized how personal and dear a decision it is on how much of our time to donate to others or helping others. No one can tell you what will work for you. Each of us will find that answer based on your past, your belief system, how you were raised, your levels of gratitude and reflection, your views on the world and frankly, your personality. You can't copy someone else's plan because it may not work for you. Each of us are meant to make that decision for ourselves.

I don't think it matters how you choose to give back or why...but that you do. Its humbling, its teaches you about yourself and who you want to be and gives you one moment where you realize that we aren't that much different. The rich, the poor,the haves, the have-nots....we're all out there searching. I'm still not in a good place with my answer to when it will be enough, but I'm guessing that a question this important probably won't have an answer within 24 hours. Its likely one of those questions I will reflect on, waffle on and battle my whole life. I'm ok with that. After all, its the journey....not the destination, right? =)

In the meantime, its comforting to hear quotes such as this and wonder how many others have asked themselves the exact same question. A timeless one, perhaps....Do what you can, with what you have, where you are. ~Theodore Roosevelt

In love and kindness,


Email Elizabeth & Heather

New Years Resolutions

Please note: If this is your first time visiting our blog, please click here to hear the premise of Pass It On, Baby! and how it all began.... Pass It On, Baby!

Thank you all so much for the wonderful messages for the PIOB family that just lost their 7 month old little boy. It has been a very difficult time for them and will be for awhile however,  they are so appreciative of all the kind messages and those who have been able to donate. Your messages and assistance helps ease the burden just a little. We thank you too for responding when we reached out. It is so amazing what happens when a community works together.

~

Being a New Year, so many of us have started resolutions for this year. Like the rest of you, Elizabeth and I have already been discussing our goals for Pass It On, Baby! This past year we have done some amazing things. Since starting up in May, we have been blessed to help approximately 65 children this past year receive clothing they might not otherwise have received. And as full time moms, (Elizabeth of 5 kids and me of 1 as well as 2 part-time jobs) we feel so blessed to have touched that many lives. Not to mention we have had approximately 60 or so mothers/families who have donated clothes as well. What an accomplishment! All thanks to you!

So, for the New Year here are some of the current goals we are setting for 2010: we are working diligently on getting a Post Office Box set up for our return addresses, we are working on ways to reach out to more mom groups so that we can receive more clothing donations to help those in need a little faster, we would love to double the number of children we are able to assist this year by getting our message spread to more people that help is out there, and we are working on finding ways to help with shipping costs especially for those who would love to donate clothes but may not be in a financial situation to do so.

You may or may not have noticed our new advertising space on the right-hand side of our blog that has "Blogher" ads. You can help us here. Each time a blogger clicks from our site to one of the featured Blogher ads, PIOB will receive a small financial credit for that. I will have to confirm exactly what that is - but know that by clicking through these ads you will be able to help support us to send out more boxes in this upcoming year. There is also our paypal donate button on the right-hand side  as well. Maybe you don't have clothes to donate or would like to sponsor a box to be shipped - any little bit counts towards helping a family receive a much needed hand-up.

So thank you for making a great 2009 and here's to an amazing 2010. PIOB is setting new goals to help this community grow! Tell us what your New Year's Resolutions are - volunteer more, lose 10lbs, get a new job, mend a relationship - anything! We want to hear what's in your hearts and minds for this New Year!

In love and kindness,

Email Elizabeth and Heather

In the arms of the angels...

Please note: If this is your first time visiting our blog, please click here to hear the premise of Pass It On, Baby! and how it all began.... Pass It On, Baby!

A lot of our journey with Pass It On, Baby! is the wonderful feeling of helping another mother in their time of need. It’s based on helping moms through what can be a dark time. But sometimes, the dark times are much more than one or two of us can take on. Sometimes those times need the love and support of an entire community…

Heather and I started PIOB in a very simple manner. I shared clothes with her, she went ahead and shared clothes with another mother who needed the kindness so that we kept the circle going – and thus the idea on a larger scale was born. That very first mother that received clothes – she needs our help again, but this time the help is no longer in clothes.

Earlier this week, we received some heart-breaking information. That little baby – that precious soul – had passed away. He was seven months old and had just celebrated his very first Christmas. He was beautiful and loved and as you can imagine, there is a family in grief and shock…searching for answers and needing our comfort and compassion.

As most all of you are aware, we typically deal with mothers who are struggling financially, who have hit a bump in the road and are going through trying times. This mother is no different. And so it is with much heart-break that we reach out to you to look in your heart and see if there is anything that you can do to ease their burden. In grief, shock and sadness, they currently face funeral expenses as well as burial fees…not to mention the headstone. The financial worries at a time like this can be simply overwhelming. We’re all coming off of Christmas, there are many families hurting out there – we understand this. But, in searching your heart you find that you can donate $10 or even $20 dollars, whatever your budget allows…the hope is that we can put this together and allow them to focus first on their grief.

There are some that simply can’t donate the funds, but are also going to feel the sadness and shock inside their being as if they knew this baby. Maybe you can send some prayers, some kind words to a young, grieving mother or share some comfort with a heart-broken grandmother. We all help in the ways in which we can.

It will take an entire community to help out…so please, consider passing along this entry to everyone you know that might be able to help. In so many of our pasts, we have felt the pain of losing a loved one, and sadly enough, there are many people who have also buried their child or their grandchild – or struggling along the path to pay for that funeral as well. Share your story, your wisdom….some kindness.

In love and kindness,

 & 

Email Elizabeth and Heather

Here's to Us! =)

Please note: If this is your first time visiting our blog, please click here to hear the premise of Pass It On, Baby! and how it all began.... Pass It On, Baby!

As Heather said in our last post - Happy New Year to all of you! Looking forward to some exciting new beginnings!! Meeting more loving, caring people - helping those that need it - and hopefully growing a little along the way....It's kind of inevitable - when you help someone, you see who you want to be, you get a glimmer of how interconnected we truly are.

In my life, I found that I've been searching for that feeling almost continuously. That "feel-good gratification" that lets us know we are A-OK and on the right track. I've searched for it in stores, with the perfect top, dress, jeans, etc - only to have the feeling fade quickly after I brought my purchase home, and the old feelings that it wasn't enough or maybe I wasn't enough - return. I've searched for it on swanky nights out when you doll yourself up and have your ego fed for the evening - only to wake the next morning and have the same old insecurities return. Maybe you know the feeling....sometimes it comes in the form of being proud you were included in a party or gathering. Whatever the form - when it is built on the material -- it is fleeting.

However, when I help another person - the feeling I get about myself, isn't so fleeting. In a sense, its life-altering, the more you do it. It directly affects my self-esteem. It challenges my insecurities. It tells me that I'm good enough. After all, if I weren't...how could I be of any benefit to another? The older I get, the more readily I'm able to see those opportunities are about me finding out who I am while at the same time, helping someone else with their journey.

You could probably do a very simple exercise to prove to yourself that this is true. Think back to five years ago and try to imagine a material purchase that really pumped you up for the day. Maybe a fun shirt, a great pair of jeans, or the cutest pair of shoes. If you're anything like me -- you're coming up blank. Now think about someone who needed you back then. Something you did that was kind....something that you did who reminded you of who you are at your very core. I'm not at that blank anymore. And, I don't think its because of my ego. I think its because that's what's really important to me.

The other day I was watching TV with my son and an "In Memoriam" scene came on to the screen with someone's picture who had passed away and the years below the picture. My son turned to me and said, "Its weird to think that its only a matter of time before each of us has the second date below our own pictures." Jarring to think of it that way, for me at least. So, if that's the case and we all know that there is limited time, then what do we truly want to do with the time that we have left?

Building on the material is the fast track to heart-ache. If you pride yourself on looks, there will always be someone younger, thinner, prettier, taller, shorter, insert anything you want here_______. If you pride yourself on money, there will always be people with more. But if you only work on you, there cannot be someone who is a better you. YOU are the only one who can reap and claim that benefit.

Soo - here's to being the best YOU each of us can be. Finding the moments to reach out and help someone else. Channeling the visionaries that transcend faith systems and forever changed the world.

In love and kindness,


Email Elizabeth & Heather

Coats for Christmas...

Please note: If this is your first time visiting our blog, please click here to hear the premise of Pass It On, Baby! and how it all began.... Pass It On, Baby!


Happy New Year to all of our wonderful readers and followers! We hope that this New Year is bringing you a new energy for change, for hope, for new possibilities for the year and the decade. I know it is for me and my family. We are getting Christmas decorations put away and on to organizing our house for a new abundant and blessed year. 

We count our blessings with each donator and recipient that comes our way through our grassroots organization. And we thank God for always bringing timely people and situations in our path in order to help us to help others.

Such is the case with a family we heard from in Georgia. This family's request touched us in a special way.  They have been in need of not only clothes but some very basic needs like coats and shoes. Now for Elizabeth and I to hear of a child without a proper winter coat affects us most deeply. A child in a cold climate needs to be warm. It is so very basic but so very important. So we started reaching out through the blog, our facebooks, and emails in hopes that we could help touch the hearts of those who might be willing and able to help not only this family but other families in need. An unlikely turn of events proceeded.

I was meeting some girlfriends for a happy hour a few days before Christmas to celebrate the "bridesmaids" group of a friend getting married this upcoming year. One of my girlfriends (not married and doesn't have any kids) happened to mention how their company had adopted a couple of families for Christmas and was telling us the story of how they helped them. I piped in by saying that there have been lots of families in need this year and mentioned a few of the heart-breaking stories we had received - especially the children without proper coats. My girlfriend immediately said she would love to help and wanted to buy brand-new coats for the 3 kids. She was needing to buy gifts for her cousins of the exact same ages and thought it would be more appropriate to provide coats to the children in need in lieu of buying gifts for the cousins. So each child's gift was donated in the shape of a coat to 3 children.

This was the note she gave to the children instead of their present.

"We may not always realize that everything we do 

affects no only our lives but touches another too.

Three kids in Georgia

Ages 2, 4, and 6

Boy, Girl, Boy

In need of winter coats for Christmas

Every time you show a friend you understand
Every time you have a kind and gentle word to give.

Three kids in Colorado

Ages 2, 4, and 6

Boy, Girl, Boy

Provided winter coats for Christmas

You help someone find beauty in this precious life we live.

For happiness brings happiness and loving more brings love."

This story to me is so amazing how 3 children helped 3 other children. It is truly the blessing of Pass It On, Baby! and we couldn't have asked for a more touching and fitting outcome. I deeply thank my girlfriend, who although has no children yet, felt so moved to help out another in such an impactful way. I am blessed to have such a beautiful and loving friend. I thank you. And the family received their coats the day after Christmas. According the mother, the kids were so excited that they actually wore their new coats around the house the entire day!

We hope that this story brings you a bit of happiness and hope for the New Year. It has for us!

In love and kindness,

Email Elizabeth and Heather