Special Guest: Fedora

Friends, we’ve got a totally awesome post from Fedora today! She’s a lovely reader I’ve met online at various places. I definitely don’t get to talk to her as much as I’d like to, but I’m glad to have finally pinned her down for a guest post. 😀 She was really nervous about it, so I hope you show her some love.
Also? She’s amazing – we’ve got another post coming (hopefully later today) about my annual charity drive, and we didn’t even discuss and – and look at what she wrote! *big hugs to Fedora*

Hi, I’m Fedora, and I’ve probably met some of you already! That’s one of the lovely things about the Internet and how the online world has been a great thing for us readers! I’m a wife, mom, and life-long reader, and thanks to the dawning of the Internet/electronic age, I’ve been blessed with an ever-growing TBR and so many friends that I’ve yet to meet in person. 🙂

Although it’s a little early for Thanksgiving, I think it’s never too early to be grateful and I also think it’s never the wrong time for kindness. One of the things that I do love about the Internet is that in some ways, it’s truly made the world a smaller one, in a good way. Not only can we make friends with all kinds of people in all kinds of places, we can use our connections for good.

I know I’m a bit of an ostrich—I don’t like to watch the news and rarely read the papers. I don’t care to hear about the bad stuff—I guess if that makes me a fool, then so be it. It isn’t that I don’t think bad things are happening—alas, they are a part of reality, but I don’t feel I need to put them front and center in my life or the life of my family.

What I WOULD love to hear about is the good things—what is one kind thing, one generous thing someone has done for you or you have done for someone else recently? One great thing about the world we live in today is that we can truly reach out and touch someone else (remember that commercial? No? Feelin’ old here ;)) without leaving our homes. A heartfelt thank you that needed to be said. Words of encouragement just as someone’s feeling really down and out. Even a giftcard or gift shared with another person. Or just a hilarious post on FB that’s cheered you.

Some of the causes, groups, or people that most touch my heart are ones that support children, families, the military, and of course, reading. There are local ones that our family supports throughout the year, but a few that are farther reaching include:

Paperbackswap is a way to trade books you’re done with for books you want; they regularly also have ways to share books with schools in need, military personnel, and so on. I joined PBS years ago because DH thought it’d be a great way to get rid of some of the books in the house, and well, I wouldn’t say that we now have fewer books—we just have more books that we actually want to read 😉

Another for us readers is Operation Paperback, which works directly to connect military personnel with books to keep them company.

This one focuses on serving military families, who make huge sacrifices on our behalf every day: Operation Home Front

And I recall Reading Is Fundamental advertising even from when I was little.

And while it’s key to hook kids on reading, there are adults who need that same gift. ProLiteracy addresses adult illiteracy and helps get these people the lifechanging help reading provides.

I personally also like the work that Partners International does, especially with women and children. Plus they have a cool Harvest of Hope catalog which is very fun for our kids to go through, especially as we’re heading into the giving season.

So, what is near and dear to your heart? Please share either a group or an instance with us, and let us know how we can help, too! (I have books and swag I’d love to share with at least one of you—that’ll help me, too! My husband is often ready to toss my packrat self into the street ;))

I embedded the links to the organizations into the organization names – so just wanted to point that out to you in case you wanted to look for them. Thanks! (Also, as such I take full responsibility for weird sentences etc.)

22 thoughts on “Special Guest: Fedora

  1. Susan R

    FEDORA!!! Great to see you here!

    I am going to have to look into some of these organizations for book donations, especially for the troops. I do volunteer to send boxes to the troops through my job – I work for a school district and they have 3 groups of marines overseas that they adopted – I think they send about 10 boxes a week.

    And I am the same way as you about watching/reading the news.

    Reply
    1. Fedora

      That’s really cool, Susan! So your district has an ongoing relationship with the three marine groups? Do the students get to contribute too?

      I’m glad I’m not the only one that way about news–sometimes I’ll be chatting with my mom and she’ll be talking about something that was recently in the news, aghast that I’m clueless…

      Reply
  2. Marika Weber

    Hi Fedora! For me, I work with our son’s school. Plus, I donate our old clothes to our church’s clothes closet and our old books to our library. I live in a small town so anything I can donate to whomever I can.

    I don’t watch the news but I got my Fox News Alerts on my phone. Plus, ESPN, too. 🙂

    Marika

    Reply
    1. Fedora

      Do you get to spend time with the students, Marika? I like to do the library time, because you get to know the kids’ names a little. Now that the kids are older, there’s a lot less need for help in the classrooms–mostly I photocopy 🙂 And we try to do the same thing with our clothes and books–I’m happy we’ve got a couple of great local organizations that work directly with serving people in need.

      Reply
  3. Nancy Gilliland

    Hey Fe, great post!! I, too, am with Paperback Swap, and I really have to add more books to my give pile soon. I also donate time to my neighborhood association, working with kids in the neighborhood, strengthening reading skills and school tutoring.

    Reply
  4. Maria D.

    Hi Fedora!

    I usually donate books through work – we are involved in several literacy projects (though I have to be honest and say I can’t remember the names) but I do know we collect books for both kids and adults. I also donate money whenever I can to literacy organizations. I’ll have to look into the ones you’ve suggested more. Great post

    Reply
    1. Fedora

      I love that your workplace is a supporter of literacy as well! It’s neat to be part of a larger group effort, whether at home or in the workplace or at school… What a neat way to be part of building up community, Maria 🙂

      Reply
  5. Mary Preston

    My Mother has been a member of the RED CROSS for decades. One of the things I love to help her with is the care boxes they make up for children in need – world wide. There’s something to wear, something to play with, something to eat (usually gum to get through customs), something they can use for school (pencils, paper etc) and often some kind of book. It’s like Christmas doing up the boxes. They are labeled with the appropriate age range.

    Reply
    1. Fedora

      That sounds really cool, Mary–I haven’t had the chance to help with the Red Cross boxes, but those sound like a very personal way to help kids! My kids have helped with Samaritan’s Purse Operation Christmas Child, which sounds somewhat similar, but is specifically geared around Christmas. http://www.samaritanspurse.org/index.php/OCC/

      Reply
  6. N.J. Walters

    Hi, Fedora. Great blog. I think there is way too much negativity in the news and not enough focus on the positive things being done in our communities and around the world. I try to buy something for the food bank every week when I grocery shop, because I know there are so many families that use it every month. I may be a vegetarian, but I donate a big turkey every year for the local Christmas turkey drive. 🙂

    Reply
    1. Fedora

      That’s awesome, NJ! What a generous thing to do! I love donating to the food banks also–it’s pretty easy since often we buy in bulk when stuff is on sale at the grocery store or at Costco, and then there’s plenty to share 🙂 One of our local libraries does a food drive around the holidays in conjunction with forgiving overdue fines, and we also make it a point to contribute then as well as we are sadly often delinquent!

      Reply
  7. Miranda Baker

    Hi Fedora! Thanks so much for the awesome ideas for what to do with my overflowing piles of books! My office is in the bedroom. Yeah, my husband LOVES that. My favorite cause is breast cancer, so I always donate when asked and each year I work at a benefit for a breast cancer survivor dragon boat racing team, cooking gluten-free foods. As for what someone has done for me lately…A friend asked me to make cinnamon buns for her son’s school event. I made them while teaching a pastry class. And I overbaked them. Of course I wanted to poke my eye out when I got home and saw that she had sent me an Amazon GC to say thank you. Still, I was really touched. More books, LOL! Nothing better than that.

    Reply
    1. Fedora

      Hi, Miranda! A definite pleasure to help fellow book lovers reach out to share the book love 🙂 That sounds like a neat event to help with–do you have plans to row some day, too? 🙂 (My sister helped crew a team a few years ago, and it looked fun but definitely hard work!) What a lovely thing for you to do, baking for others! Nothing like a homemade treat, truly! And a perfect thank you to receive–few things cheer as a new book 😉 Thanks for sharing, Miranda!

      Reply
  8. jennifer mathis

    HI Fe wow so exciting they did a blog post bout you You so deserve it .
    I do a public library in my house cause our town library was so small and Its only open 2 hrs a week

    Reply
    1. Fedora

      That is so cool, Jenn! I love that you created your own library! I’ll bet so many in your town are grateful, too!

      Reply
  9. Limecello Post author

    Hiiiiii Fedora!!! I finally got a chance to comment on your post! <3
    Thank you so much for guesting and telling us about these great charities! I'm always for spreading the love.
    And you know, charity all around in ALBTALBS world! 😀 I do charity work throughout the year and donate what I can...
    But I think I can safely say my annual "Social Media for Social Good" fundraiser (going on now! Eek!) is my biggest effort. I love seeing how generous the romance community is, and how everyone comes together. 🙂

    Reply
    1. Fedora

      Thank YOU, Limecello! What a treat to be able to share 🙂 I love your SMSG this year–will definitely be looking forward to seeing how romance readers and writers pull together for this!

      Reply

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