Thursday, September 10, 2009

Etsy Bloggers Carnival - Talking about OHM

The current Etsy Bloggers Carnival topics are:
1)Sept. 11 is the anniversary of a very tragic event. To make the world better what do you do? Charity donations or support, volunteering, living green or ?
2) Brag on yourself. What are you most proud of in your life?

I'm going to kind of combine the two. There are many things I'm proud of in my life, but my almost two years working at Open House Ministries (OHM) are high on that list! I was day care teacher, but that title doesn't really cover what I did.

(yes, that's me, younger and skinnier)
OHM is a long term homeless shelter. They provide a place to stay while people are getting back on their feet, not to mention lots of services to help them get back on their feet! Residents might stay for three months, or a lot longer, depending on what help they need.

As a day care teacher I not only took care of the kids while the parents were working to get back on their feet, I also ended up doing a lot of impromptu counseling, some chauffeuring, data entry, working in the donations center, and even cooking a spaghetti dinner for 50+ people! Pretty much, I just pitched in where ever I was needed!

That's what I did, what am I doing now? I'm not strong enough to even go volunteer down there any more, so I've decided to start donating a percentage of my sales! Starting this month I'll be donating 10% of all my proceeds to OHM. Each month I'll post up how much the previous month's donation came too! Right now...that comes to $0.20! ok, so that's not much, but I do have a custom order lined up so that will bring the total up :) And I haven't checked in with my consignment store yet for the month.

8 comments:

BeadedTail said...

OHM sounds like a wonderful place for many people and it's great that you worked there for awhile and are now able to help out by donating to them! You are such a caring person Ruthie!

Splendid Little Stars said...

What a great charity! How great that you can continue to contribute in whatever way you can.

Memories for Life said...

Ruthie...you are truly an amazing person! I hope you will one day be able to volunteer there again :)
In the mean time...donating procedes is awesome!!!

Ripper Arts said...

Amazing! Thanks for the blog comment. Keep paying it forward and doing what you can to make a difference.

Very Verdant said...

What a great ministry.

storybeader said...

gosh, what a life to be homeless and a child! I know you have a big heart, and this is proof!

Anonymous said...

Great Charity, Ruthie!! One small great thing will be better than do nothing.. ^-^

Kathleen J. said...

Making the life of a child in a tough place more secure is a wonderful thing. Thanks for sharing this with us and participating in the blog carnival.