Missions of Mercy UPDATE!

It is like opening a gift when I see the Missions of Mercy winners' emails come in. I am eager to share with you what the first three families have done!

First up, the LaPlante's! My dear friend Tillie and her family donated to Vaugn Trent Community Services. Her words here below:

Our family has decided to donate the $50 from your Mission of Mercy fundraiser to Vaughn-Trent Community Services.  This non-profit organization provides utility assistance for the needy in USD #204which encompasses Bonner Springs, Edwardsville, and a portion of Kansas City, KS.  The organization also operates a food pantry for low-income families and recently began providing fresh foods as well as the canned and boxed items in their pantry. At Christmas time, the organization gives out Christmas food baskets to needy families in the community.They also operate a thrift store, Hidden Treasures, in Bonner Springs which sells low cost clothing and other items with profits from the store helping to provide funding for the organization.

Thank you, Tillie, for drawing our attention to the many ways that Vaughn-Trent serves the community! Check out the links above for more information!

Next up, Mr. Tom Spalding and family....Oh, how heartwarming to get this picture of Mr. Robert Langford wearing his new Royals shirt purchased by your Salsa Mama donations! 

He didn't have a Royals shirt to wear as he rooted for the Royals as they headed toward World Series victory. Maybe this shirt was just what they needed to give them that EXTRA kick?? We'll never know....but the best news is that Robert was so happy to receive the gift and wore it proudly.  Mr. Langford is a resident of Golden Care Centers in Edwardsville, KS and is a weekly recipient of Holy Communion from Sacred Heart EMEs that visit the facility each Sunday.

The remainder of Tom's donation will go to Wanda Bibbs, director of Grace Center in Kansas City, KS. Wanda provides a home for unwed teenage mothers and also runs a daycare center for infants, toddlers as well as a before and after school program. 

As if this were not enough for one woman, Wanda has recently opened My Sisters Closet, a thrift store at 827 Minnesota Ave. in KCK. Wow! What an amazing woman, Wanda Bibbs! Please help spread the word about her work and/or send some prayers her way as she fulfills her calling to serve in this way. If you would like to donate items, the following are most needed:

Clothing for infants to adults, furniture and beds, appliances, household goods, but all items considered.

Thank you, Tom, for sharing this information with us and for all you do with Knights and in general to serve the community!!

Last but not least we have winner #3, Kathy Parks and family! If you click the link below you'll get an extra touching adorable little voice greeting when viewing the website. Love it :)

In Kathy's exact words:

We have decided to donate the $50 to Alexandra's House in Kansas City, MO.  
 
Alexandra’s House is a community based, all volunteer, peer-led perinatal hospice and infant care system for parents pregnant with babies with lethal or sub-lethal anomalies, for pregnancies that end unexpectedly at any point, from any cause, and for infants who die in the community, any cause. While its foundation is rooted in faith, its services offer a practical solution in meeting the time-intensive needs of families in these situations.

Alexandra’s House does not charge for its services nor does it accept contributions from people they serve.
 
Services include: bringing meaning to suffering, assistance in grief resolution, parent-parent partnering, birth planning, funeral planning, long-term support, one to one and group meetings, pre-natal and post-natal housing, if required. If a baby survives and is dismissed from the hospital, the family and baby can stay here for the duration of their life. Professional nursing services are provided through a licensed hospice agency.

Thank you Kathy for highlighting this ministry. I hope that you may find me to spend a few minutes on their website, and especially reading some of the inspirational stories . Yep, they're gonna make you cry, but the tears will be sorrow mixed with joy as you see the way Alexandra's House has provided comfort in the darkest of times. 

I know, I get it! We are all busy but if you've made it this far in the post, go ahead and click on some of these links. It takes, oh....about half a second to realize that this is time well spent! I am so over-the-moon grateful to be able to spread the word about each of these Missions of Mercy. More to come very soon!!

For Fall 2015, you're on a Mission of Mercy

Pope Francis recently announced an upcoming Holy Year of Mercy to begin in December. Inspired by this, at the beginning of the school year at Sacred Heart of Jesus, our school's principal, Mrs. Engen, organized an activity called "Mercy Walk." This journey's objective was to share in Christ's mission to go forth in mercy to help others. Small groups received a sum of money and had 1 1/2 hours to pray, brainstorm, and carry out their uniquely discerned plan to love and serve others. (As a side note,  among specific rules, it was commanded that "laughing is mandatory and complaining is a crime." Love it!!) The culmination of this journey was sharing pictures and stories with the whole staff. While I'm leaving many details out, the general idea was this....groups were challenged to go forth with love and mercy, given the means and the time to prepare and carry out their plan, and came back with hearts overflowing. Their pictures reflected the joy of completing this mission and their tears proved how deeply their hearts were touched by this exercise.

One staff member described the experience this way:
The mercy walk we went on the week before school started made my heart feel super happy.  We are so blessed to be able to help others in need, whether it is a student in our school or a stranger on the street.  It truly is better to give than to receive!

Well, as it happens to me every single time I'm discerning the next sale, the Salsa Mama in me knew that I HAD to spread this message somehow, someway using the salsa gig as a springboard for a similar type of exercise. Mrs. Engen graciously sent me all of her notes and was so happy to see her idea "paid forward" with the love and mercy of the Salsa Mama community.
The rules are basically the same, ESPECIALLY the aforementioned rules concerning laughing and not complaining!

Here is the Salsa Mama-fied version of the Mercy Walk:
1) Buy salsa like you always do, and if you would like to be considered as a Mission of Mercy family, indicate that on the SignUpGenius when prompted.
2) Wait patiently 'til the charitable funds reach $50. In the meantime, reflect with your family or friends on what you might do with the mercy $$ if you are sent forth.
3) Look for an announcement via email on who the "winner" is. If it's you....you will receive the $50 and have one week to carry out your uniquely planned Mission of Mercy, including sending me pictures and any brief thoughts/reflections you would like to share with the Salsa Mama community.

Simple....profound....exciting!

I'm so very eager for this and can't wait to start sending people forth!!

In joyful anticipation and in gratitude for your support of this effort....

Erin

P.S. I know that some of you simply just love to buy the salsa and you may not be interested in this. Please don't feel obligated and also, please know that you can always participate "anonymously" if you wish. I will always request your wishes for privacy, promise!

Let's raise a chip for the Peter Clevinger Memorial Fund!

A recent daily meditation from Word Among Us (love it!) reminded me that there will come a time for each of us to “pass the baton to the next generation.” This baton is not one necessarily related to our financial success or our popularity or other worldly successes, but it is our faith, our love, and our heart’s treasures. This reminder was so timely as I pondered how to introduce the late summer Salsa Mama sale for the Peter L. Clevinger Memorial Fund. 

For those of you who are newer to my fundraising efforts (I sponsored a sale for his family in 2013), allow me to re-introduce you to Peter by borrowing from the website created by his family.

Peter Clevinger was a beloved son, dedicated brother, accomplished Benedictine College soccer player, loyal United States Battlefield Airman, and friend to all. Peter passed away tragically and unexpectedly on January 20th, 2013 at the age of 25. The Peter L. Clevinger Foundation was founded to memorialize to Peter, and to be an advocate for the values he exemplified. The foundation’s beliefs are based on teaching the virtues of unselfish team play, anchored by a philosophy of making someone else look good.

Peter was blessed to be supported and surrounded by amazing friends and a loving, faithful family in his 25 years. Those very same angels are continuing his legacy through his memorial fund and specifically by an aptly named annual golf tournament, “For Pete’s Sake.”  The enthusiasm for this tournament is definitely contagious. The organizers (family and friends) pour their hearts and souls into making it an event worthy of Peter's zest for life. They are so very grateful for the huge number of people who help and who play, but most of all for the love that flows so naturally in this effort.

I hope that you can take just a few minutes to read more the foundation so you’ll understand even better why Salsa Mama is one of the hole sponsors of the tournament that takes place this Saturday, August 15. The photo gallery from past years is full of images of the fun and festivity of this celebration of Peter’s life. Check it out! 

Whether on the soccer field, in his military work or simply enjoying his friends and family, Peter most definitely “passed the baton” of goodness, love and faith. Let’s raise a glass, er…a chip (here! here!) in celebration of his life. Thank you for doing something as simple as buying some salsa to contribute to the Salsa Mama community’s support (sale runs through September) for his golf tournament this year!  

Fly Like an Eagle, Lily Mies!

Way back when, on July 2, 1989, I boarded a plane for a month-long student exchange in France. Bon voyage! I was heading on an adventure of a lifetime. Looking back, I see that those four weeks were undeniably pivotal in many ways. While my French improved and I experienced new foods, landscapes and culture---all important, all interesting---the most significant blessings have ended up being the PEOPLE and the connections that I made, some of which are thriving still today. Here is my "French family" now (the family of my French sister, Magali) when we traveled in Colorado with them last summer.

Thanks to my willing parents who allowed me to raise money and make this cultural exchange possible, my world was forever changed. It is such an amazing GIFT to become FAMILY with someone across the globe. To be sure, we have differences in culture and customs, but really, we are way more alike than different. The love we share between families is so deep and appreciated in a way that is impossible to describe.  Oh, how I could elaborate on this. Volumes, I could write! 

The value of leaving one's comfy existence and navigating new lands is priceless. It's good to be forced to simplify our language to convey the essence of what we are trying to express.  It's good to be inconvenienced and to realize that sometimes we may have to eat unfamiliar foods or sleep on hard beds or trust the cashier that we're getting the correct change back. Frustrating? Unnerving? Can be...but valuable nonetheless, and oh-how-exciting if we're looking at it through the right lens! 

Whether it's a trip to a foreign country or simply a new but challenging experience in our own back yard, it's all the same thing, really. By extending ourselves into uncharted territory, we grow in ways not possible in the safe zone, non? When we shake out all of the "fluff," we are left with pure, essential, timeless truths like love, dignity, cooperation. And when we have a chance to dive into something like this, let's take it! ESPECIALLY when that challenge will bring us closer to the best version of ourselves. Time's a tickin' every day, so let's embrace these opportunities with courage.

And so begins our next sale....

Loyal, generous Salsa Mama friends, let's help send Lily Mies to World Youth Day 2016 in Krakow, Poland!

(Ok, promise me you'll click here to play or download the free song, Fly Like and Eagle.  It sets the tone for where this is all going!)

This super-chill, groovy song is happy to my ears and heart. Just listen to the lyrics---so fitting for this situation. As I was pondering how to introduce you to Lily's sale, I kept humming this in my head. It seemed to be good background music for the the image in my mind of calm/cool/collected yet eager-eyed Lily and the whole pilgrimage group from Topeka boarding the plane for their adventures in Poland. Yes, she will be flying like an eagle to her destination, World Youth Day 2016, but on a deeper level, she will really be preparing to soar into unknown territory that will surely enrich her spiritually, mentally, and emotionally.  

This pilgrimage is a big deal, no doubt about it.  It's a big deal for any mom and dad to put their baby girl on a plane to cross the globe. (I told Char that I'm reserving a tad bit of this Salsa Mama fund to buy her a coffee and a box of Kleenex on departure day!) It's a big deal for a young lady to have the courage and determination to make this her focus at a time when many other teens are concerned about more shallow and worldly distractions. It's a big deal that Lily will be surrounded by over 3 million followers of Christ, all for the celebration of the faith. Imagine this sea of youngsters laughing, crying, sharing, learning and celebrating together. How truly remarkable and life-changing this trip will be!

Here below in blue is Lily's very own message to you, dear generous Salsa Mama friends. I join with her in thanking you for supporting this sale as well as keeping these young but wise-beyond-their-years kids in your prayers.  As for the rest of us... while we can't all travel to Poland in July of 2016, we can look for ways to stretch and grow and broaden our horizons in our own unique ways. 

Thank you, Lily and Co., for inspiring us!!

During the summer of 2016 along with millions of other Catholics, I will be heading off for the journey of a life time- World Youth Day.  World Youth Day 2016 will be held in Krakow, Poland; the home country of Saint John Paul II and Saint Faustina.  World Youth Day was initiated by Saint John Paul II in 1985; it is a gathering of Catholics to celebrate their faith.  International WYD occurs every three years; and annually in every dioceses.  Over the years the Catholic Church has named Saint John Paul II and Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta as the patron saints for the event.   At the last World Youth Day in Buenos Aries, Argentina, there were approximately 3.2 million people in attendance for the closing mass with the Pope.  The theme for WYD 2016 is “Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy” (Mt 5:7). 

  In late January 2014, my mom found an article in The Leaven about the upcoming 2016 WYD.  She knew how much I admire Saint John Paul II and told me that it would be in Krakow, Poland.  After reading the article I knew I wanted to make this pilgrimage.  I will be following the footsteps of Saint John Paul II and seeing the places that were dearest to him.  My parents were nervous about sending me across the Atlantic Ocean into a foreign country.  We ended up finding a youth group from Topeka, Kansas who invited me to join them.  Since then there has been a fair amount of fundraisers to help me cover the cost of this pilgrimage.  I am amazed by the amount of support I have already received from family and friends. 

An object in motion....

At mass recently, a volunteer parishioner (You rock, Jessica!) used the concept of inertia in her appeal to encourage more participation in a very important initiative at our church. Remember Newton's Laws? (And if you've been faithful followers of Salsa Mama, you may remember a past email about my wacky science teacher, Mr. Carroll, who was often very "par-TIC-ular" with us, young, silly,  unpredictable 7th graders?? Yes indeed, he was very excited about Sir Isaac Newton. But I digress....already!?). Ok, back to the point... We know that objects in motion stay in motion, and objects at rest stay at rest. Importantly, a force must either propel or stop the motion. For me, Jessica's words were just what I needed. The perfect catalyst, so to speak. I had been waiting for just the right message to "propel" the next sale forward, then voila (!) it was handed to me in the form of a parishioner humbly delivering a pulpit talk.  My biggest takeaway from her message? Giving prompts more giving.  Love begets love.  Pretty simple. Pretty profound.

Regardless of your church, or school, or neighborhood, daily opportunities abound for helping others. Here in the Shawnee bubble, there are teams of friends and neighbors rallying around mighty cancer warriors. There are driveways filled with neighbors in prayer.  There are meals, meals and more meals being lovingly prepared. There are hugs and tears and everything in between. It is so inspiring. This community continually proves that we can turn suffering into something beautiful by extending our love and (here is the most important part!!) RECEIVING the love from others. 

Knowing that receiving is difficult, I am so very happy that the Weathers family humbly and happily accepted the offer for Salsa Mama help for their son, Jackson! This important "YES" opens the door for us to join them on this road. 

Now, let's get to know this little man with the big heart! 

Meet Jackson!

Let's pause for a moment and check out this picture. Don't  you just want to grab this kid and tickle him???

This Royals tee-shirt wearing, thumbs-up, smiling cutie pie is the son of Nikki and Jason and little brother to big sis Isabella who is in kindergarten this year.  Jackson loves playing with construction trucks/cars, riding bikes, playing Ninja turtles, swimming, hiding in his "bear cave," giving big hugs, talking and meeting new people. He especially loves anything that allows him to be outside and MOST especially, anything that involves getting dirty! So basically, he is a typical 3-year old boy!!

This August, Jackson was diagnosed with Langerhans Cell Histiocytosis, a rare form of cancer that affects 1 in 200,000 people. His particular case is an inoperable tumor in his sinus cavity but thankfully, chemo IS an option. He has finished two rounds of already and will continue chemo/steroid treatment for the next year along with other biopsies and scans. 

From now until January 1, the Salsa Mama community will be helping Jackson's family with medical bills. Every pint sold automatically contributes to their fund. Any extra donations are welcome and greatly appreciated. The last sale for HappyBottoms was a huge success and I know the inertia will carry the Weathers family forward with gratitude and appreciation! 

If you would like to follow Jackson's progress, you can find his updates on Facebook under Jackson's Fight or follow him on Caring Bridge.

As you prepare for Thanksgiving, Advent/Christmas, and New Years, let me know if salsa fits in to your menu and most importantly, keep the Weathers' in your prayers! They are so grateful for your help, and I know that we are grateful for their allowing us to walk with them on this journey!

Life, Liberty, and Diapers for All

Hello Salsa Mama friends,

I have always been touched by the quote from St. Therese of Lisieux:

“For me, prayer is a surge of the heart; it is a simple look turned toward heaven, it is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and joy.”

Oh, this surge of the heart...it's such a real and powerful feeling, isn't it??? I rely on this when I'm deciding who Salsa Mama will help next. I've become surprisingly chill about this decision, considering my general want-to-plan-every-detail nature, but I'm finally learning that if I'm patient and "stay out of my own way," so to speak, the charity will present itself when the time is right. 

The moment I heard about HappyBottoms, that unmistakable surge of the heart bloomed and has been with me ever since. Oh, my friends, I hope this salsa sale is big! I would love for us to be able to send a significant donation. 

To start off, HappyBottoms is Kansas City's Diaper Bank. They provide diapers to 30+ organizations around the KC Metro Area. Since their beginnings in 2009, they have provided 1,853,197 diapers and counting. Their mission is simple and straightforward:

Our mission: working with our partners to provide diapers to low-income families through donations, both financial and in-kind while raising awareness of the need for diapers. 

In discerning how to present this information to you, I honestly can't even begin to focus. I want to ramble on and on about the facility I was able to tour. I want to elaborate on how amazing Liz Sutherlin, the current director is. I want to share with you all kinds of facts and figures and charts and graphs that Liz gave me showing the needs of our community. I want to explain how it breaks my heart that government assistance money cannot be used on diapers. And I want to shout out from the rooftops about the love and generosity of those involved in this HappyBottoms effort. It's so simple. It's so profound. It's just right and good and deserves our attention.

Please, please, pretty please, click on this link and then on the YouTube video link for a wonderful peek into the world of the HappyBottoms diaper bank. I promise it won't be time wasted. I know this is asking a lot....In general, I normally only click on about 1 in 100 YouTube links, thinking that I just don't have the time. Trust me, just go grab a cup of coffee and plant yourself for a teeny bit of time to understand why my heart strings were tugged. You won't regret it. 

Salsa Mama will be sharing with HappyBottoms for the rest of the summer through mid-September (Sept. 8-14 is Diaper Need Awareness Week).  In partnership with Salsa Mama, there are several ways that you can HELP this effort all summer long.

 ***Please keep in mind that monetary donations are the greatest wish because of the volume discounts they can get! 

If you choose to donate diapers, the larger sizes---4s, 5s, and 6s---are the most needed.***

Ways to help:

• Leave diapers (any amount, whole package, part of package, 2 diapers, anything...) with your cooler/payment on salsa delivery day
• Include extra payment for your salsa order and I'll keep track of the extra donation for you. 
• Click on the HappyBottoms donation page and choose your method of payment for a $10 minimum donation. Look for the "select designation" drop down and click on Salsa Mama. This works for ALL modes of donation---credit card, eCheck, all of them.
• Encourage your children to collect small change or even have their own little diaper drive. I'm happy to come pick up.
• Make a direct drop off at one of the convenient locations around town (for our area, most convenient will be Wonderscope and Little Monkey Business in Shawnee but check this list for many other drop off sites).  Send me a quick text if you do!

ANY of these loving, generous acts of kindness automatically qualify you for a prize, not that any of you expect a prize or any recognition (that is why I love you so!) but hey, this is fun for me to reward you.

Two prize levels:

• Donating diapers or leaving extra payment enters you into a drawing for a free pint of salsa.  

• Donating directly to the HappyBottoms website using the link above enters you into a drawing for $50 worth of salsa. That's right...Your $10 donation could turn into 10 pints of salsa. Wahoo!

Thank you for your support and for continually inspiring me to link people like YOU up with amazing people like LIZ and the team at HappyBottoms. We will most likely never see these sweet babies or their grateful moms face-to-face, but we will know that our efforts came from that surge of the heart so eloquently described by St. Therese.  

I hope that you are enjoying your summer!

Erin

You're going SHOPPING!

If you know me well, you know that I'm not much of a shopper. Even before I avoided shopping because of my kid's "occasional" monkey-like behavior, I avoided it like the plague. In high school, my girlfriends and I came to Kansas City from Wichita to shop for prom dresses on the Plaza. My friend Liz and I lasted about 5 minutes before we were wandering around as far from clothing racks as possible. As an adult, I'm a huge fan of online shopping or quick dashes into stores if I know what I need, but somehow I was skipped over in the passing on of the "Let's go shopping!" excitement that many other friends and relatives enjoy. I'm tempted by the occasional space-out-and-wander-through-Target run and every so often I will go crazy at the Old Navy clearance, but honestly, it's on the lower end of my enjoyable activities. My poor mom...she needed a better shopper for a daughter! :)
As we get to know the needs of more and more people in our community, I have discovered that shopping can be fun if it seems worth while.  In this spirit, Salsa Mama fans, I'm happy to announce that the next sale will give you a chance to win a shopping spree for the Catholic Charities food pantry!
Our friends Marianne and Justin Morgan are dedicated volunteers who work monthly to collect food at Hy-Vee on Mission. Volunteers across the county do the same each month, enabling over 1000 families in our area to have much-needed groceries.  Justin and Marianne (and their kids, Drew and Rachel) are just as busy as the rest of us---or more!---have a house to run, jobs to manage, sports, activities, and many church volunteer positions, but they have passionately committed to this cause as a family. So inspiring!!

So, how will this work? EASY!
Order salsa anytime between now and Easter and you will automatically be entered into a drawing. The winner will get the same amount of money that I would normally donate to a charity (half of the profits). They will take that money and hit the grocery store to buy items for the Catholic Charities food pantry. I will coordinate the delivery, or better yet, their family can deliver straight there to see how the food pantry operates.

Right now, the most needed items are:

Pasta
Spaghetti  sauce
Paper towels
Rice
Canned Veggies or Fruit
Cereal ( any kinds)
Mac and cheese
Ramen Noodles
Soup
Can Openers (hand held)

In the mean time, please check out the Johnson County Emergency Assistance Center for more information about donating food or other items. Food is just one type of donation needed. From this link, you can find much more information about helping in other ways.

For now, thanks for your support and know that I appreciate each and every one of you!