Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Happy Thanksgiving Day! Thanks for Giving!


Why do we pick out certain days of the year like Thanksgiving, Christmas, the fourth of July, Labor Day or even New Years Day, to get together, eat together, communicate together, cook great meals and celebrate together? Do we have to express how much we love those we care about only on Valentine’s Day? Do we help feed those who have little or nothing to eat only on Thanksgiving Day? Do we have to give praise for Christ’s sacrifice and Resurrection only on Easter? Do we have to wait and give a gift to someone only on Christmas or their birthday?

This year, we’ve seen and experienced a multitude of heartaches, disappointments, pain, grief and tragedies, along with joy, happiness, triumphs, births and life. Let us continue to pray for and assist those who are experiencing great losses, oppression and a sense of hopelessness. We realize that in spite of so many things that need to be fixed in our economic, social, religious, educational, personal and political systems, these things can’t magically repair themselves. After years of abuse to these crucial support systems, that define our freedom and justice we are blessed to experience in this country, let us wake up quickly and stop taking these components of our life for granted. Things can easily turn in the opposite direction if we aren’t grateful and show gratitude for these blessings of opportunity.

Happy we are! Thanks for Giving.

To our military troops and their families, we salute you and say thank you for your courage and patriotism. To the doctors, physicians, nurses, surgeons and therapists, thank you for caring for our health. To our law enforcement officials, thank you for serving and protecting our communities. To our teachers, professors, lecturers and administrators, thank you for our academic opportunity to learn. To our pastors and theologians, thank you for our spiritual development. To our thespians, musicians and performing artists, thank you for sharing your gifts and entertainment. To our writers and authors, thank you for the spoken word that inspires us. To our athletes near and far, thank you for displaying good sportsmanship and athletic willpower. To those who survived diseases, disasters, discouragement and death, thank you for showing us how to rise above all hazards that are determined to destroy our human spirit. To our friends and family who sincerely show how much you care, thank you for your compassion, understanding and support.

Happy we are! Thanks for Giving.

If we look around and realize that those who were with us this time last year are not with us this year, let us remember the impact and influence of their lives in ours. Let us exhibit our appreciation for giving, our gifts of love, peace, exhortation, happiness and joy, or our ability to celebrate the presence of life in humanity and all of God’s creation, every single day we have breath in our bodies. Let’s not overlook the small victories, in search of the big ones. Sometimes, it’s in the small victories that we discover some awesome and abundant blessings.

Happy we are! Thanks for Giving.

May the peace, hope, love and grateful spirit of blessings fill your hearts every day of the year. As we celebrate and participate in the festivities of the season, let us remember to love, share and feed the least of these. Many are starving around us every day, not knowing where their next meal will come from or where they will sleep for the night. We may not have the money in the bank that we want, we may not have all of the things we desire and we may not be where we want to be at this point in our lives, but we are grateful to still be a work in progress. As we reflect on the lives of those who left us with a chapter to learn from, may we continue to write and teach these lessons to empower the generations that follow.

Happy we are! Thanks for Giving.

Be safe, responsible, respectable and joyous during these festive moments of the year. Peace and blessings from our home to yours.

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Edifying The Community

By Kym Gordon Moore

We are saturated every day with painstaking, horrendous stories in the news, online, through our mobile devices and newspapers that are impossible to run away from. Literally, we expect to get our daily intake of bad news so much, until when a good story rolls around about an advocate doing something positive and edifying in the community, we are somehow thrown off course.

Earlier this year, Favorite Things for a CAUSE decided to highlight ordinary people doing extraordinary things within the communities of our surrounding area. We came across many volunteers who do so much, yet prefer to remain anonymous, at least for the time being. Those of us who are blessed to be recognized in one way or another, feel undeserving of such publicized recognition. Yet, when an opportunity comes along, where your community leaders scour through mounds of well deserving candidates and decides to recognize you, you find your spirit flushed with humility, because your contributions are done from the heart and out of love. Somehow you prefer to remain in the shadows, but when we look at the bad news that often dominates our sources of communication, we welcome some good news in the midst of the storm.

I have the honor of being in good company with two extraordinary women who were nominated to represent the General Mills Feeding Dreams Community Champions program in Charlotte, North Carolina. Throughout the past few months, you read and learned about The Dove’s Nest, the organization I represented for Feeding Dreams. Please feel free to revisit our previous blog posts in case you missed those articles. Although we have a couple of weeks before finding out how the results from the online voting will rank the award placement for each of our organizations, we have enjoyed this ride. Kelly, Valarie and I are committed to getting the much-needed support for the organizations we represent, since all of them rely on donations from generous people in the community.

So to all of you who are doing something in your community beyond the call of duty, we salute you and thank you for being a participator and not a spectator. Can you possibly imagine the type of world we would live in if everyone did “one” positive thing each day to make the world a better place?

Be inspired…Then be an inspiration!

“He who has a bountiful eye will be blessed, for he shares his bread with the poor.” - Proverbs 22:9 (RSV)

Sunday, November 8, 2009

All You Can Read!

All You Can Read is a massive media directory of 22,800 local and international magazines and newspapers from all over the world. Over 200 countries are represented at AllYouCanRead.com.

Their magazine and newspaper listings are categorized not only by their country of origin, but are also subcategorized by topic - be it art, business or travel. Enjoy exploring this amazing site full of international media outlets!

http://www.allyoucanread.com/

Friday, October 30, 2009

Announcing the NEW Pens & Pals Blog



We are introducing a new blog designed to highlight selected authors and performing artists who are introducing their latest projects to the public and potential customers. Features are by invitation only or from a recommendation by one of our featured friends. Additionally, I will share with you any good reads, music or information I come across, occurring in related industries that would be a cost-effective marketing helpmate in our highly competitive fields.


While I believe in and respect The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, there are some publications we will pass up, if we feel it will compromise the integrity and decency of this site’s focus and purpose. Should you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at pensandpals@aol.com. We respect your privacy and will never sell or share your personal information without your permission. I look forward to sharing your story with our audience.

Kym Gordon Moore
Author of Diversities of Gifts: Same Spirit
http://www.kymgmoore.com/
http://www.outskirtspress.com/DiversitiesofGifts
http://www.pensandpals.blogspot.com/

Saturday, October 3, 2009

Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure in Charlotte, NC

It is such a rewarding and exhilarating experience to participate in an event that commemorates the lives of those surviving and succumbing to breast cancer (women and men alike). We were among about 15,000 people participating in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure 5K event in Charlotte, North Carolina this morning. This photo gives you a glimpse of the masses that turned out very early this morning from our vantage point! There were even more people behind us!





It was amazing how many children, senior citizens and even dogs came out and were a part of a spectacular cause! My hats off to the organizers and sponsors who worked diligently to make this event possible and successful! I have to give a “shout-out” to Yoplait who sponsored the Race for the Cure and is also one of the supporting brands of the General Mills Feeding Dreams Community Champions Campaign for 2009, that I am a proud recipient of.




My friends Ebony Moore-Roach (Founder of Miss Ebony’s School of Etiquette, Inc.), Ros (one of Charlotte’s Finest Police Officers) and I got together and walked early this morning! What a rewarding experience! I can’t wait until next year!

http://www.kymgmoore.com/

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Diversities of Gifts for The Dove’s Nest: It’s A Wrap!

Well, “Diversities of Gifts for The Dove’s Nest Fundraiser” is over! I must say that we had a diverse audience of some beautiful spirits gathered at The Duke Mansion in Charlotte, NC. There were some heart moving stories that ignited the spirit of love, compassion, awareness and transformation, invoking everyone to take action and get involved in their communities, to serve those in need. We gained some amazing support from unexpected places and for that, we are truly grateful. A big…no a HUGE thanks to all of our supporters and volunteers who made this event a success! We will compile post-event information and photos soon! So stay tuned!

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

The Dove's Nest Fundraiser


THE FINAL COUNTDOWN BEGINS…

In 3 days, we will be celebrating the great mission of The Dove’s Nest, during the “Diversities of Gifts for The Dove’s Nest Fundraiser” on Saturday September 19, 2009 at 2:00pm. It will be held at The Duke Mansion (http://www.dukemansion.com) in Charlotte, NC. For more information on purchasing tickets or to make a donation, go to http://www.favoritethingsforacause.com. See you there!