Giving Back | Kelsey Timmerman

See Kids Dream

By Kelsey

One of the main things - and perhaps the most important - I hope to instill in my daughter is caring for her fellow man regardless of geographic location, ideology, orientation, creed, or color. There are a lot of organizations that accept donations and do amazing things with them. But there are few that truly empower kids as givers and show them how important it is to be part of a community of caring.

That’s why I’m giving $10 to See Kids Dream based in Columbus, Ohio, as part of my #ten4tues project. Join me if you want!

See Kids Dream Mission Statement

See Kids Dream is a charitable organization with a core purpose of empowering children to connect communities. The programs we offer engage children of all ages, abilities, socioeconomic status, ethnicity and cultural backgrounds in ways which help them to achieve their fullest individual potential. They foster connections and enhance community resources by cultivating the creativity, leadership and the natural desire of children to provide benefit to others and their communities at large.

Giving Back, ten4tues

Free Money update…

By Kelsey

Wow! This week’s #ten4tues has been amazing.

Who knew that offering free money would introduce me to so many worthy causes supported by new friends and old? This is definitely something I’ll replicate in the future.

The tough part was choosing who to give the money to. Here were my top selections:

1)Kristi Scott is going to Trujillo, Peru to work at an orphanage. She writes that “the orphanage houses about 40 Peruvian children from various backgrounds including abuse, neglect, and extreme poverty.”

My thoughts: I spent a week at an orphanage in Guatemala and the experience has never left me. Giving to Kristi is a two-birds-with-one-stone kind of thing. It exposes orphans to a talented and passionate young woman. And it exposes a talented and passionate young woman to an experience that will likely shape the rest of her life.

2) Michelle wants me to give her $10 bucks so she can take it to the Fallston Animal Rescue Movement. Michelle writes, “They rescue dogs that have to be put down at other shelters because they need to be nursed back to health or need some behavioral training. The dogs stay with foster families until they are well, and then they are adopted out. There are 15 people involved (not counting the foster families), and they are all volunteers. Their main cost is vet bills; last year’s total was $80,000.”

My thoughts: I was raised by dogs. Sort of. And while I call myself a dog lover, I don’t really do enough to support less fortunate ones. I follow @aplacetobark on Twitter and that’s about it. Giving ten bucks to Michelle would allow her to support a cause that should be more important to me. Also, it’s my understanding that the family that runs the shelter makes up gaps in funding out of their own pocket. That’s passion that deserves support.

3. Virginia, a superhero librarian, wrote, “ $10 will purchase two books to give to high school ninth graders who may have never owned a book before–the program, started by our Friends of the Library group is popular with the kids, many who haven’t come to the library before–but soon realize we are here to help–we have free materials they can borrow–and there are computers!”

My thoughts: Where would I be without books and without libraries. I’ve written about this before. I’ve had the pleasure of visiting multiple libraries around the country since my book came out, and I’m a huge fan. The experience has completely changed the way I see librarians. They are lovers of knowledge and a great resource, but they are also quasi-social workers at the front lines of fighting poverty through education and literacy (including computer literacy).

4. James is going back to Liberia where he’ll assist at a medical clinic and more importantly return as a reinvigorated supporter of the Liberan people’s recovery from a decade long civil war.

My thoughts: James is a great guy that I’ve gotten to know over the last year. He gives to the Muncie community in so many important ways. A few hours ago, we were at lunch discussing our upcoming trips to Africa and I could hear how important this trip was to James.

All of these projects are worthy of my $10. I hope that someone will step forward after reading the above and give to them. If you do, please report back. Unfortunately I can barely afford to give $10 to one group per week. I believe someone once said, “I only regret that I have but one $10 bill to give …”

That said, I chose James for the following reasons: his Facebook post inspired the “Free Money” idea and I could take a photo of him with my $10.

I hope to support the other individuals in upcoming Tuesdays and shine more light on the great work they are doing.

Giving Back, ten4tues

Free Money! I want to give you $10

By Kelsey

NOTE THIS IS CLOSED! I’M NO LONGER GIVING AWAY FREE MONEY!

Seriously.

Tell me why you need $10 and if I think you’re worthy, I’ll send it to you. Why? Because it’s Tuesday and every Tuesday this year I’m giving $10 to a worthy cause as part of my #ten4tues project.

Maybe you have a charity that you want to pass the $10 onto. Maybe you want to take your grandma for a cheeseburger. Maybe you’re saving for a trip to Africa. Maybe you’re my wife and think I shouldn’t just give money to some random person. Whatever the reason, let me know via email kelsey@kelseytimmerman.com, in this comment thread, on Facebook, or on Twitter (@kelseytimmerman).

It’s all about the Alexanders, Baby…

Giving Back, ten4tues

Chile Earthquate: The #ten4tues Project

By Kelsey

Okay, since I started #ten4tues we’ve had more than enough earthquakes. I think we’ve more than met our quota for the year, so let’s stop having them.

That said, this week I’m supporting the relief efforts in Chile by donating $10 to the World Vision Project. I hope you’ll join me.

I know that some folks are hesitant to donate to faith-based groups and I understand and respect that. Missionaries haven’t always had the best reputation through the years. At their worst they are culture-killers that offer a message along the lines of “our God provides us with food. Worship Him and you won’t go hungry.” At their best, which is where I believe so many have evolved to today, they serve their fellow man. They don’t reach out with an agenda. They reach out with compassion.

When it comes to any NGO, faith-based or not, there are few that can touch the reach of World Vision. In a recent column Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times put the size of the group in perspective:

World Vision now has 40,000 staff members in nearly 100 countries. That’s more staff members than CARE, Save the Children and the worldwide operations of the United States Agency for International Development — combined.

I’ve seen them on the ground in Cambodia doing great work and I’m sure they’ll be doing the same in Chile.

Giving Back, Uncategorized, ten4tues

Held Hostage

By Kelsey

I’ve always wanted to be held hostage.

Not because of the messy bits - being blindfolded, asking permission to use the restroom, the failed escape, the proof of life, or even the Stockholm syndrome – but because of Barbara Walters.

If you’re held hostage and are released, you are pretty much guaranteed an interview by Ms. Walters. I’m not talking the View here. I’m talking 20/20 where the sharpness of Ms. Walter’s questions are inversely proportional to the softness of the lighting. The lighting would make me look 12 again, well, other than I wouldn’t have big ol’ buckteeth and a head a few sizes too big for my scrawny torso.

You suffer the bad bits and then “cheese” you’re on Barbara Walters promoting your book that follows your life from a young balsa wood plane hobbyist to your doomed expedition in search of the perfect Ochroma pyramidale tree. The first 7/8ths of the book are crap. You know it. Barb knows it. The American people know it. No one really cares about your daddy issues and that kids made fun of your pinstriped blue jeans in 3rd grade. But that last 1/8th is gold. Who knew that you could carve a full size balsa hang glider with a sharpened spork and fly to safety?

I watch Ms. Walter’s do these interviews with former hostages and think, “That could have been me; I travel with a spork.”

I’m currently being held hostage by Apathy, which is an entirely different thing. It’s almost the exact opposite from my ideal hostage situation really. Being Apathy’s hostage is quite comfortable. Apathy let’s me live my life and we kind of have this “don’t ask, don’t tell” rule between us.

However, lately I’ve been angering Apathy. I’ve become more involved with issues in my community, traveled around the world to meet the people who made my clothes, and, in general, just started to give a darn about a lot more things.

Apathy wants me to return to the PlayStation, college days, during which I would kill an entire weekend playing Madden or Final Fantasy or doing absolutely nothing but eating when I wanted to eat, doing what I wanted to be doing, and sleeping when I wanted to sleep. So, when I told Apathy that I would be going to Kenya to raise awareness about life in the slums of Kibera - Africa’s second largest urban slum - Apathy duct-taped me to my La-Z-Boy.

I told Apathy that I have really hairy arms and would much prefer to be tied to the recliner, but Apathy wouldn’t listen. That’s how much our relationship has eroded. Out came the duct tape.

If enough people show their support of my efforts, Apathy will be forced to release me. There are a number of ways you can do this:

1) You can donate to the cause – your donation will go to Life In Abundance and help support their work in Africa. (I’m donating $10 today as a part of my #ten4tues project)
2) You can decide my fate in Kenya
3) Join Life in Abundance on Facebook
4) Follow #apathyhostage on twitter

In a sense we all are held hostage by apathy and always will be. There will always be wrongs and injustices that we won’t bother to acknowledge. We know they exist, but get too wrapped up in our daily lives to address. Yes, we can only do so much, but we should do something.

I’m going to Kenya with Life in Abundance, Rule29, and McDonald Photography.

Although I most likely won’t be sharing tales of a harrowing escape with Barbara Walters upon my return, I’ll see the world differently, and that’s all the reward I need.

I hope you’ll come along for the ride.

Giving Back, ten4tues

A year of giving: Team Morgan “the hitchhiker”

By Kelsey

Sometimes in life you just stick out your thumb and see what adventures will find you.

That’s kind of the approach I’m taking to my year of giving $10 to a cause every Tuesday. I thought I would have to spend more time looking for causes to support. So far the causes have found me. I’ve supported groups helping in Haiti following the earthquake, and a homeless shelter in my hometown after my sister-in-law emailed me about a walk she was doing. This week is a bit different still.

I follow Matt Gross, the New York Times’ Frugal Traveler, on Twitter. Last week he posted this:

frugaltraveler Founder of hitchhiking site Digihitch.com gravely ill, needs help.

I read the story of Morgan and his tumor he named Buster.

My wife works at a cancer clinic and (I just asked her) she hasn’t heard of anyone naming his or her tumor. That speaks volumes about Morgan. So does the blog he started and that his family has taken over.

Morgan is a husband and a hitchhiker.

Me too. I think that’s why I feel Morgan’s story so much.

I know that he’s stood beside the road alone in the rain, thinking that no one would ever pick him up. Each ride was one click closer to where he is today. And today, he’s anything but alone.

Since I missed #ten4tues last week, I’ll be donating $20 to my fellow hitchhiker, Morgan, today. I’d be honored if you joined me.

Details of how to donate to Team Morgan are here.

ten4tues

Hometown Homeless Shelter - The ten4tues Project

By Kelsey

This weekend my sister-in-law, Emily, is participating in “Walk a Mile in My Shoes” to raise money for the Muncie Mission homeless shelter. Go Emily!

Emily and her family have been very supportive of my shenanigans over the years, and I’m thrilled to give $10 in support of this important cause.

Unfortunately, it’s getting more important by the day.

In Delaware County, Indiana, where I live the number of homeless people has increased by 100% in the last year (from 223 to 447). Ivy Farguheson, one of the Star Press’s finest reporters, has written about the increase and about the circumstances that have left folks homeless.

This week if you donate to your local homeless shelter and report back on this post or via Twitter or Facebook, you could win a framed photograph from New Orleans courtesy of my friend Meredyth Friend.

When I announced on Twitter that I would be donating to the Muncie Mission, I was contacted by one of my Twitter friends @ragamuffinPC. He grew up in Muncie and was involved with the Muncie Mission as a kid. He was kind enough to agree to write a guest post about his experience.

PC is a speaker.writer.pastor from Sacramento, CA with his wife Tonya. He loves his wife, coffee, and beer (KT: in that order I hope). Check out his website at www.ragamuffinpc.com or follow him on twitter @ragamuffinpc.

A LIFETIME OF RECOVERY THANKS TO MUNCIE MISSION

Homeless I am not and never have been, but I grew up at the Muncie Mission.

Grandpa worked on staff at the Mission, and my high school was only a few blocks away from the building on High St. I would walk to the Mission nearly every day after school to hang out with the residents. I learned much more than ping-pong and pool from those moments.

1. Each of us is only one dramatic step away from homelessness

The Mission’s website indicates their purpose to “provide basic needs and teach life skills while guiding residents through various problems that have brought them to [their] doorsteps.”

The face of homelessness is drastically different than the image most of us attribute. As I began to meet the residents and hear the stories, I discovered just how many of their stories were prominently familiar to mine until one unforeseen inciting incident, which flung them into a homeless situation.

2. There is a difference between ‘homeless’ and ‘panhandler’.
Many misunderstanding people have a particular face of homelessness in their mind, and that image is typically one of the panhandler on street corners and in alleyways. The men at Muncie Mission rarely had to live within that image before they were thrust into the situation that brought them there.

Most of the men had been bested by some particular situation, and they would never want to be the one most of us imagine on the street corner. Various attitudes and addictions entrap people in a place where they are begging and manipulating every source they can draw from. Those are the panhandlers who have hit bottom without the wherewithal to begin the recovery typically provoked by ‘hitting bottom’.

I did not grow up with bad people. They were only people in trouble reaching to get out.

3. Recovery is for the broken; not the homeless.
One of many goals sought by the Mission is to care for the broken and ruined. That goal extended far beyond the Men’s Residential Program. The Mission is not a shelter intended to be a warm place to sleep for a night. It is a transition. It is a program designed to care for all of the broken and bedraggled.

On many occasions I not only observed but also participated as the Mission assisted men, women, children, and families in the process of recovery. Before the days of Celebrity Rehab and Intervention, the common TV junkie knew nothing of common recovery terminology. The only way to know the terminology was to be saturated with the process.

At a young age, I learned, painfully at times, about the wounds below the addictions we all battle. My recovery began in high school with a bunch of homeless people though I was never homeless, and my recovery continues today thanks to my experience with Muncie Mission.

Where are they now: the PC Walker story
Nearly 15 years after graduating from high school and moving away from Muncie, I pursued a ministry degree and have applied it specifically to either homeless or young adult ministries. (Turns out I am attracted to the populations of highly misunderstood and unheard people.) I cannot stay away from either.

My heart beats wildly for the bedraggled and beat down. I crave the God who pursues those who are smart enough to admit how dumb they are; rich enough to admit how poor they are; and strong enough to realize just how weak we all are. I can thank the Muncie Mission for a significant portion of that formulation within me.

LINKS I RECOMMEND:

Muncie Mission – Just go look around for crying out loud.

The Exodus House – Recovery community in Anderson, IN who believe that community means staff residing with residents and sharing in this holistic healing process.

Ragamuffinpc Ministries Facebook

Giving Back, ten4tues

Stand with Haiti or get bodyslammed! #ten4tues

By Kelsey

There are saints, then there is Paul Farmer, the co-founder of Partners in Health.

He values all life equally. I’d like to think I do too, but I don’t. Not like Farmer.

The New Yorker did a feature on him and asked how he would set the ratio of the love for his own children and his love for unknown children.

“I don’t know where I’d set it,” Farmer answered, “but I would not let many children die so my kids could live. I don’t think that two kids should die so that one of my kids has comfort, and I don’t know that two children should die so that one of my kids lives.”

Farmer and Partners in Health seem to be everywhere I look these days. A buddy sent me a copy of Strength in What Remains by Tracy Kidder (highly recommended). Degoratias, the Burundian refugee the book follows from a doctor in training in Central Africa to homeless in Central Park eventually bumps into Paul Farmer and begins to work for Partners in Health in Haiti.

I read Farmer’s quote from the New Yorker in The Life You Can Save by Peter Singer which I talked about last week.

And now with the earthquake in Haiti, I can’t flip the channel or read a newspaper without some mention of the work of Partners in Health. PIH has been in the country since 1987.

That’s why I’ve decided they are this week’s #ten4tues selection. If you join me in donating $10 to Partners in Health, you should feel really good about it because they are one of Give Well’s highest ranked charities.

Still not convinced, know this…

Farmer’s brother, Jeff, was a professional wrestler was Sting, the professional wrestler. Donate or get bodyslammed by Sting!

To participate in #ten4tues donate $10 to PIH and report back to me in this post, on Facebook, or on twitter. This week I’ll be giving away an audiobook of Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (his books are great to listen to).

My brother, Kyle and his wife Jenn, are chipping in the prize this week. If you have something (books, knick-knacks, or whatever) you would like to donate to the #ten4tues project drop me an email Kelsey@kelseytimmerman.com.

Giving Back, ten4tues

#ten4tues winner…

By Kelsey

I started the #ten4tues project on Tuesday and I was thrilled to have a number of participants via Twitter, Facebook, and this blog.

This week I’m giving away a copy of The Life You Can Save by Peter Singer. I assigned all the participants a number and then used this random number generator to make the final selection. And the winner is…

Rob Reed! Rob gave to the Clinton-Bush Haiti initiative.

I’m in the process of selecting next week’s organization to donate my $10 to. If anyone has any suggestions, let me know.

Also, I’m actively seeking folks who would be interested in donating something to the giveaway. I’m donating $10 every week and can’t afford to buy and ship a prize each time. It doesn’t need to be anything fancy. It could be a used or new book, a trinket of some type, something you made, a gift card, or whatever. Anyone interested should email me kelsey@kelseytimmerman.com.

Giving Back, ten4tues

A year of giving: My #ten4tues project

By Kelsey

Sometimes my travel recollections are less memories and more hauntings. I’m haunted by a legless beggar in Nepal who chased me around a stupa swinging wildly at my legs with a stick. I’m haunted by the smile of an orphan in Guatemala. I’m haunted by the smell of a dump in Cambodia.

I never know what will trigger a travel haunting. The other day I was speaking at a high school in San Francisco and another one surfaced.

I was in the village of Matlab in Bangladesh. My translator, Dalton, was giving me a tour of the village when a serious looking man approached us. He grabbed me by the arm and led us through the worn dirt paths around rice paddies and ponds until we stood in a home next to a dying old man, the serious man’s father.

The man thought I was a doctor. The man thought I could save his father’s life.

And, you know what? Maybe I could have.

I’m not a wealthy man, but in Bangladesh I am. At the time I didn’t have thousands of dollars at my disposal, but for a few hundred I’m sure I could’ve transported the dying man to the best hospital in Bangladesh. Maybe he still would have died. Maybe he would have died more comfortably. Maybe it wouldn’t have made a difference whatsoever.

I did nothing. I apologized and told the man I wasn’t a doctor and that I could do nothing for his father. It was awkward. I was ashamed.

How much does it cost to save a life? And what lengths would you go to or how much would you give to do it?

These are questions I’ve been pondering a lot lately. Between my new travel haunting, the earthquake in Haiti, and my reading of Peter Singer’s “The Life You Can Save,” I’ve been thinking about what I can and should do to make a difference. Singer argues that living an ethical life involves a mix of personal philanthropy, local activism, and political awareness. He dispels the whole “for the price of one cup of coffee per day you can save a child’s life” myth and takes a realistic look at how and why we should give.

I’m somewhat politically active, and in 2009 I tried to become more active locally. I joined Big Brothers and Big Sisters (my little brother is a cool kid and we have a lot of fun – Hey Alex!) and Teamwork for Quality Living, which is a great organization that engages the community to overcome poverty together. But my giving hasn’t been the best.

I might have donated $200-$300 last year, which Peter Singer would definitely say is not enough. I could tell Singer that we incurred the cost of having a child, starting her savings plan, and health insurance costs that skyrocketed, and we weren’t in a position to give much, but he still wouldn’t be satisfied.

I’m not a good giver. That’s what I’m beginning to see. That’s what Singer has helped me to see. I can’t afford to give a lot, but I can afford to give more than I do and I’m ethically obligated to do so.

It’s not tough to punch in my credit card number online and click “donate.” I can do that as well as the next fella. But there are so many great organizations out there how do I choose which one to support? Where will my money have the biggest impact?

Allow me to introduce my project to answer these questions: ten4tues. That’s $10 for Tuesday.

Each Tuesday I plan to share to which organization I am donating $10 to and tell why I chose them. I’ll search out charity organizations like Charity Navigator and GiveWell to aid my decision.

By the end of the year, I’ll have donated $520, which still probably isn’t enough. But writing and 2010 comes with its own uncertainties and I don’t want to commit myself to something beyond my means. At the end of the year if I can give more, maybe I’ll choose my favorite charity of the year and do so.

I hope to not only educate myself, but others too. In fact, if so inspired by that week’s organization, I hope you’ll join me in donating to them. Once you do, leave a comment that you donated on this blog or on my Facebook wall or send me a reply on Twitter (use the hashtag #ten4tues) and I’ll enter you to win that week’s prize.

Since I just brainstormed this idea and I’m a couple of weeks behind my $520 goal already, I’ll simplify things this week.

I will be donating $30 to CARE’s Haiti efforts. If you’ve donated a cent to assist any organization’s Haiti efforts, let me know and I’ll enter you to win this week’s prize…

Giving Back, ten4tues