Miss Becky's Blog

American Teenage Boy Plans to Run 200 Miles for Children's Charity

WOW ... can you image running continuously for 200 miles???? That's what the following young man is planning to do to raise money for a Children's Hospital!!! See the details in the article below:

Teens Vows To Run 200 Miles For Children's Charity

By Michele Gile

(CBS) LAKE FOREST, Calif. An 18-year-old runner will begin a planned 200-mile continuous run to raise funds for patients at Children's Hospital of Orange County (CHOC) tomorrow at El Toro High School.

Jesse Zweig will begin his "ultramarathon" at 2:30 p.m. from his alma mater at 25255 Toledo Way, and hopes to finish it Saturday, with the goal of raising $20,000, said Vicki Koda of the CHOC Foundation.

The run, with only short bathroom stops, will conclude at Zweig's home on Chestnutwood in Lake Forest, the hospital's Denise Almazan said.

Zweig plans to pass through Orange, Tustin, Newport Beach, Corona del Mar, Dana Point, San Juan Capistrano, Laguna Beach, Rancho Santa Margarita and Laguna Hills, she said.

The distance is the equivalent of 7 1/2 marathons, Almazan said.

Zweig, who competed in track at El Toro High School, became interested in the concept of running an ultramarathon after reading the book, "The Ultramarathon Man: Confessions of an All-Night Runner," written by Dean Karnazes, Almazan said.

"He has no personal connection to CHOC," Almazan said. "He feels blessed that he enjoys good health and wants to do something for the kids who are not as lucky."

Zweig, a Mormon, is awaiting an assignment for a two-year mission before going to college, Almazan said.

Zweig told KCAL9 that he is making backup preparations.

"This is the second pair of shoes (that) I need to break in, just in case," he said.

"There's no way I'd be able to do this by myself, (without) people, (without) their encouragement," Zweig said. "I've gotten e-mails, just telling me their stories, people who have been to CHOC. They're kind of helping me out. And also donations, they help out a lot."

Last year, Zweig raised about $7,000 when he ran 100 miles for CHOC, Channel 9 reported.

"It's going to be tough," Zweig said. "It'll be tough, I know that, but I'm prepared for it. I'm not going to give up just because it's hurting. So, I'm just going to push through it."

Zweig said he will keep himself going by thinking of the children at the hospital

Deaf Student and Teachers Train for SMILEY'S FUN RUN

All the students and teachers at the Gao Chun Special School of Deaf and Disabled students have been participating in the TOP SECRET ADVENTURE. They are walking/jogging together each day and reporting their miles.

   

Teachers and older students help the younger ones.

In three (3) weeks the Students and Teachers at Gaochun School did 1,290 miles!!! They send their reports on e-mail to Miss Hua who translates them and sents me the total miles.

The Students and Teachers will participate in SMILEY's FUN RUN at their campus on Saturday, October 28th. Some of the Chinese Teachers/Leaders of The Sunshine Project at Nanjing University will travel to the school that day and help to implement the FUN RUN.

There will be a special "SMILEY's FUN RUN" t-shirt for each of the children to wear during the "run". When the children have finished the RUN there will be a fun, bag of prizes (toys, balloons, pencils, etc.) as a reward for their efforts.

It is our hope that the teachers and students will continue to "walk/jog/or run" each day to keep their bodies in good health.

Look for a report and pictures after October 28th of the FUN RUN done at GaoChun Special School.

MONEY (donations/registration fees) for the SUNSHINE Project

Part of our TOP SECRET ADVENTURE was to raise MONEY to support the SUNSHINE Project in Nanjing, China. This money is used to provide special experiences, such as SMILEY's FUN RUN, for all 93 children in the school as well as to provide teaching/learning equipment and materials and funds where needed so all deaf children can attend the school.

In China, please have one person in each city collect the money for the SUNSHINE Project and transfer it to:

JIN JIAN (Jane is her English name)

Bank of China in Nanjing,

Account number 4447802-0188-052027-3.

Jin Jian, is the treasurer of the SUNSHINE Project and if you have any questions please call her at 13851986887.

In America, donations can be sent to:

Richard Criddle

1005 Eastridge Drive

Logan, UT 84321

Please make out the check to "Becky Mitchell" but mail it to Richard so Ken will not know of it until after the FUN RUN!!!

MANY THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT AND HELP ... 100% of the donations goes to the school and children!!!!

The Crocodile Hunter ...

Anyone who gets their very own scrub python for their 6th birthday would have some tales to tell and Steve has plenty! While most other children were opening cans of pet food for their cats or dogs, Steve was out catching fish and hunting rodents to feed to his crocodiles and snakes.

As the son of renowned naturalists, Bob and Lyn Irwin, Steve developed a love for critters from a very young age, helping to feed and care for the animals at the family's Queensland Reptile and Fauna Park. Steve's dad taught the young Steve everything there was to know about reptiles - even teaching his nine year old how to jump in and catch crocodiles in the rivers of North Queensland at night! This father and son's proud boast is that every crocodile in their park (now numbering some 100 animals) was either caught by their bare hands or bred and raised in their Park.Steve is now the director of Australia Zoo in Queensland, Australia, and host of that wild series THE CROCODILE HUNTER.

As he grew older Steve followed in his father's footsteps and volunteered his services to the Queensland Governments rogue crocodile relocation program which saw him spend years living on his own in the mosquito infested creeks, rivers and mangroves of North Queensland catching huge troublesome crocodiles single-handed. His record of successful catches is still staggering to this day.

Since 1991, Australia Zoo has flourished and expanded under Steve's guidance. Steve the star was born after a chance encounter with his friend, a television producer who was filming in the Park for TV. In true Steve style they took a punt and the first documentary, "The Crocodile Hunter" was produced in 1992. The tremendous success of this one program quickly encouraged the making of more and so over the next 3 years, 10 one hour episodes were made and on television screens all over the world. Steve has now filmed 50 episodes of "Crocodile Hunter", 52 episodes of "Croc Files", and his next project will be an animated series.Steve has the greatest respect and understanding for all animals - something that has been instilled into him by his family for all of his life - and he's proud to share his passion with everyone who visits his Zoo and with his five hundred million viewers world-wide.

In 1992, Steve married Terri Raines, a young American whom he met when she visited the zoo.

Terri Raines was born in Eugene, Oregon in the USA. Her father ran a successful construction business - very much a family affair and in 1979 Terri joined her dad to learn all the skills of managing their large trucking business. Terri's dad was constantly bringing home injured creatures from the highways his trucks traversed and this was to eventually instill in her an ongoing commitment to saving and rehabilitating wild animals. In 1986 she started a rehab facility called "Cougar Country" to re-educate and release predatory mammals such as fox, possum, raccoon, bears, bob-cats, and of course cougars back into the wild. Soon she was handling 300 animals a year. Later in 1989 she joined an Emergency Veterinary Hospital to work as a vet technician to gain further valuable knowledge on the care and support of all kinds of animals. Life couldn't have been busier as she still kept a hand in helping her dad run the family business, rehabilitating animals through her "Cougar Country", working spare moments at the Vet Hospital and looking after her own 15 cats, several birds and a dog. Too full for low priority activities like dating. Or so she thought.

So it was in October, 1991 that she visited Australia to explore the rehabilitation scene in our wildlife parks. It was while she was on the Sunshine Coast visiting a friend that she decided to drop into the Queensland Reptile & Fauna Park at Beerwah "just out of curiosity". A chance meeting with the man doing the Crocodile demo, Steve Irwin, was to change her life forever. The couple got engaged four months later and married on the 4th June 1992 and honeymooned while filming their first television documentary. Terri left everything she had worked so hard for in the United States all behind…… her family's business, her rehab centre, her veterinary work and all her beloved pets - but it was almost as if fate had taken a hand. From the dreams of a small child, she was to share her lifelong ideals for wildlife with the world. As "the sensible one" on Animal Planet's THE CROCODILE HUNTER, Terri Irwin has won fans all over the world. If you saw Terri braving the murky depths of a croc infested river after falling from the boat you would know this is one capable lady.

Terri Irwin is the perfect partner in this incredible daring duo of the New Millennium and now they have a baby Irwin wrestling tiny geckos … Bindi Sue Irwin was born July 24, 1998. And no…she isn't the squeamish type.

The latest arrival to the Irwin clan is Robert Clarence, born December 1, 2003. Robert is mammal mad with a passion for everything from dingoes to koalas. He also loves to flirt with the ladies and is keen on motorcycles and nothing gets him going like art. He points with great excitement at anything framed on the wall. What a little beauty!

Learn more about Steve and his family and mission on http://www.crocodilehunter.com/

SUNSHINE PROJECT UPDATE

The following report and pictures were sent by Hua Wei, one of the special ladies who has continued to direct the project since we've left China. Thanks to all who have continued to support this effort and bring SUNSHINE into the lives of these children.

GAOCHUN DEAF SCHOOL .... 06/03/06

The Children's Day this year is not on a weekend, so we planned our annual trip to the Deaf School today (06/03/06).

The girl named Lv Xiaohong and the boy who is good at sports, named Wan Qiwang graduated already and was admitted to

a high school for deaf students in Nanjing.

There are more students this year than ever before at Gaochun since the school has now

added more than 10 mentally disabled kids. Altogether there are more than 70 students now in the Gaochun Deaf

School.

This year another PROJECTOR has been placed in the classroom, so there are two projectors now

supported by our Sunshine Project. The teachers praised a lot for these two instruments since they

find them very useful in their teaching.

Another girl supported by the Sunshine Project, named Yang Shuwen, was honored as one of the Ten

Disabled K-12 Students in the Nanjing Region, while one of the 100 Best of Most Excellent K-12 Kids.

The school has three new teachers this year. The kids have some new performance.

 

Deaf Student performing for us.

(From Left to Right: Jing Hong, Bola [student leader] BYU Teachers Mrs. & Mr. Rusts, Hairong, Miss Yuan & Hua Wei)

We have another couple of BYU teachers, the Rusts, to be with us today. They were performing games on the stage and making

dumplings with the kids. Jinghong's daughter, Hairong, who is now a high school student also joined our trip.

And another faculty member, Miss Yuan, form the Network Center of NJU also joined our team.

More students performing ... a new teacher on the right.

Their computer lab really is looking nice, especially compared to what it was like when we started the project.

The school's teachers hope to have another Projector next year from our project, but Jinghong and I are not sure

about our budget. We said we will try to raise more funds and wait until we have enough support. But what

becomes more urgent is that the money from the Hong Kong people is less this year. Anyway we will try to work

hard.

************************************************

This is the end of Hua Wei's report and I would just like to express my thanks to her and all those who traveled to the school and who donated money to the project ... you are making a difference in the lives of these special children. My daughter Kara, who is currently working on a PhD in Education, was able to visit the school last year and she was so impressed with the project. She is giving some support and is encouraging us to continue to support this project, as well.

I have a good project in mind for raising some funds as we each work on becoming more physically fit and "smarter" .... Look on this site for more details to follow.

More about the SUNSHINE Project

An UPDATE on the SUNSHINE Project:

Visit to the School:

On Saturday, April 19th, over 20 NanJing University students, along with some NJU teachers, family members and friends of Ken and Becky Mitchell, the BYU China Teacher at NJU that year, traveled by bus to the Gao Chun Long Xiao School for deaf children.

We took with us a student with computer skills to connect the printer and scanner that we had purchased for the school. He also serviced the computers and promised to return to provide proper care for the computers, on a volunteer basis.

The deaf children led us on a tour of their school and classrooms, we put name tags on all of them, and the University students paired off with the students, communicating in writing and body language.

The deaf students performed for us, and we for them:

We shared lunch, played a variety of games, including baseball, made “rainbow” bracelets with the children and the older children accompanied us on a short field trip in their town.

The above students were some of the ones that we sponsored ... they could not have attended the school without the money we donated to the school.

At this time we discussed with the Director of the school other needs. We were given information sheets on ten deaf children who will not be able to return to the school the next year, unless we could get the money to pay their fees. These fees include their board and room as well as school costs. We also discussed their need for some projectors in the classrooms.

Both the deaf students and the university students had a WONDERFUL experience on April 19th. Before the next Saturday, five of the deaf students had written letters of appreciation to the University students, who have replied and sent pictures, etc. Future visits were being planned.

SARS Prevents Visits . . . Due to the SARS problem, both the NJU and Deaf School campuses were locked down and no other visits were permitted. The students and teacher hope to resume regular visits when the fall semester begins. But the following things have still be accomplished:

Library Started . . . NJU Teachers purchased and sent several new books to the school to begin a little library. Other books will be added at others times:

Ten Students have been sponsored: NJU Students, Teachers, Friends and family members from America and Hong Kong have sent the money to pay the fees for 10 students to attend the school for the next school year. The cost is $175 or 1400RMB.

Future Plans . . .

· After the SARS problem was over the NJU teachers delivered the money and other items, clothes and school supplies, that we had collected to the school. They are continuing to find and purchase some audio-visual equipment for use in their classrooms.

· They will plan with the NJU students future visits to the school for activity days and perhaps bring the older children on a fieldtrip to Nanjing, etc.

· Will continue to communicate with the school director to plan for and purchase needed audio-visual equipment for the school to use.

Our goal: Bringing more SUNSHINE into the lives of these special children.

SUNSHINE PROJECT VISIT -- 2004

SUNSHINE Project Visit – March 13, 2004

Return to China -- In February 2004, Miss Becky and Smiley (Ken) Mitchell returned to China to teach for one semester in Beijing at Peking University. One of the things that make this such a wonderful experience was the opportunity to meet and visit with many of our former students and friends in China.

Visit to Gao Chun School -- The wonderful Nanjing teachers (Hua Wei, Jin Jian, Yang Jinghong, Gao FengHua and student leaders organized a special visit to Gao Chun School in March of 2004. Ken and I took the night train from Beijing to Nanjing and had a wonderful reunion with many special students and friends there. Several helped us prepare materials to take to the deaf students, including puppets and “snowballs.”

Here deaf student shows one of the puppets that the NJU students made and presented to the school.

Here are the 18 students that our project supported this school year -- without the funds we provided, they would not have been able to attend the school this year. Adult and student project leaders are also in the picture.

Note in the picture that many of the students are giving the "sign" for "I Love You". There was lots of LOVE and Sunshine shared that day!!

One of the Teachers demonstrated the projector that our project purchased for the school this year. The teachers all loved it and found it a great teaching tool.

One of the highlights of this visit was getting the school, ONLINE. The NJU computer students got them connected and we paid for DSL service. As you can see here, the students LOVED it. Many of them have continued to communicate via e-mail with their NJU student friends.

(See hand "sign" for "I Love You" on the back wall. Some of the students performed and . . .

The students from a middle school in Nanjing who joined our group performed as well as. This group had raised money and collected clothing to bring to the school.

Everyone liked the performances.

One of our NJU graduate students arranged for a TV station to send a filming crew to cover the story of our visit and the SUNSHINE Project. Here they are interviewing one of the oldest, most talented boys, who is using "sign language" to communicate -- he can speak a little.

This is the entire group of students and visitors.

It was a WONDERFUL day for everyone. We played games, (the students especially liked UNO), did some crafts, played some sports, ate lunch, communicated one on one in writing and made some special friendships. It was the first time for some of the visitors to come to Gaochun school. They were very impressed with the school, especially the children and teachers and many promised to continue to support our project. A special THANKS to all the NJU students and teachers who made this special day possible ... TOGETHER we are able to "make a difference" in the lives of these special children.

Several of the NJU students expressed to me how good it felt to share "sunshine" with others. One of the NJU students who had visited the school the year before, decided to volunteer once a week in Nanjing at a school for deaf students close to her, so it did not take as long to get there. She plays with and "loves" a five year old deaf boy and they have become good friends. She told me, "I feel good when I make someone else happy."

That's the secret of HAPPINESS ... to forget about ourselves and love, serve and care about others ... then HAPPINESS and JOY will come to us!!!

Foreign Teachers Seeded SUN PROJECT

SUNSHINE Project visit to Gao Chun Long Xiao School for deaf children, March 13, 2004:

This Nanjing University journalism student, holds a flower made by the deaf students which was presented to her and the name tags that we used ... note the "smiley face". She wrote the following article about the SUNSHINE Project and our visit for a Chinese Newspaper. She also did the English translation for us, which follows:

Foreign Teachers Seeded “Sun Project”

The Gaochun Special Education School was in the sunshine on Mar. 13th. The students were welcoming the “Sunshine Deputies”, including American teachers Ken Mitchell, Becky Mitchell, Mr. Nielson, Mrs. Claton, and the staff and students from Nanjing University and Nanjing Foreign Language School. People gathered and held a party in the school hall. On the stage, children were singing Seed A Sun by sign language: “I have a wonderful wish, wish I could seed a sun.” Off the stage, the “Sunshine Project” has seeded the sun of love and hope here.

“Sunshine Project” was initiated on Christmas Day, 2002. Associates of “China Teachers Program” of “David M. Kennnedy Center for International Studies” Mr. Ken Mitchell and his wife Becky Mitchell, Mr. Richard Criddle and his wife JoAn Criddle with their Chinese students discussed about doing something for the Chinese children. They raised an amount of money and donated it to the Gaochun Special Education School with the help of NJU teachers Hua Weina, Yang Jinhong, Jin Jian and Gao Fenghua. This benevolence was named “Sunshine Project”. Thanks to the project, over 50 thousand Yuan and some educational devices such as projector, copier, and scanter have been donated to the school; a little Reading Corner has been built up to facilitate the students’ study; 18 students who were initially too poor to go to school could go back to the classroom again. Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell, Mr. and Mrs. Criddle also called for help from their relatives and friends after they went back to U.S.A last year. And now more and more warm-hearted people gathered into the “sunshine”. Liu Cui’er, a Hong Kong doctor and many students of Nanjing University and Nanjing Foreign Language School have participated into this activity.

Li Xin, a student majoring in Business Administration at Nanjing University, drew 200 yuan from the National Scholarship she has won and contributed it to the “Sunshine Project”. Zhu Guang, from the Mathematics Department at Nanjing University, has come to the school for the third time. He and his classmate Kong Linhong helped the students set up ADSL to facilitate their surfing the Internet. The students in Class 10, Grade 2 at the Nanjing Foreign Language School has brought lots of books and 400 yuan, and also with their well prepared entertainment programs.

In the hall, every student was wearing a card printed a smiling face and a smiling face ring, which were both made by Miss Becky. She hoped the students could communicate by smiling. Beginning with smile, “Sunshine Deputies” brought out their gifts such as candies and books; their partners presented their self-made Lucky Stars and Paper Roses. When the party reached its peak, Miss Becky played snowballs with the children. The children were so happy, smile on their checks, and sunshine in the hall.

“I love children very much,” said Miss Becky with a smile, a colorful hand made necklace around her neck and several paintings and calligraphic works in her hands. Those were all gifts the disabled students made for her. Miss Beck said, “I will continue to help them till they graduate and become a person useful to the society.” She showed the photos of her family to the students Yang Hui and Lv Xiaohong and said, “I have seven grandchildren, and now I have the eighth and the ninth child. You are the members of our family.” Yang Hui and Lv Xiaohong received the photos and happily took photos with their “foreign grandmother”. Yang Hui expressed “Thank you” and “I love you” by sigh languages. Yang Hui, 20, once wanted to enter the high school but quitted because of financial problems. Now she fortunately became one of the objects of the “Sunshine Project”. She smiled and told her wish, “I want to enter the Nanjing Special Education college to major in designing.” Her dream is to become a fashion designer.

The “Sunshine Project” not only sent sunshine to the disabled students, but left sunshine in the heart of the participators. Zhou Yin, a Politics major at Nanjing University who’s kept in touch with Yang Hui for almost a year, said, “They seldom communicate with the outside world and lack confidence. I hope to spend more time with them and help to build up their confidence.” Wang Jianni, from the Nanjing Foreign Language School said, “I think this activity is meaningful. It makes you learn to help others when you live under a relatively normal condition.”

Mr. Ken also expressed his admiration to the students, “If I could not speak and listen, I would not know what I should do. But they are all so happy and active. I truly admire them.” He expected more people to participate into this project, “I’m happy to see so many students come this year. Maybe there will be more next year. It’s true that every city and every place have this kind of need and we can’t help everyone, but it’s better to help one than to do nothing.”

The “Sunshine Project” has seeded a sun in the Gaochun Special Education School, more care and help from the society are expected, as was sung by the children in the Seed A Sun, “It’s enough to seed one sun, one sun is enough; it will grow many, many suns. And every corner of the world will become warm and bright.”

Today's REAL HEROES . . .

For many years Ben Stein has written a biweekly column published in many newspapers across America called "Monday Night At Morton's." (Morton's is a famous chain of Steakhouses known to be frequented by movie stars and famous people from around the globe.) Now, Ben is terminating the column to move on to other things in his life. Worth Reading!!!! Be sure to read to the end, as there he identifies the most important thing in life ... I know his statements are true and the principle of serving others has been a guiding light in my life.

Ben Stein's Last Column...

============================================

How Can Someone Who Lives in Insane Luxury Be a Star in Today's World?

I have been doing this column for so long that I cannot even recall when I started. I loved writing this column so much for so long I came to believe it would never end.

It worked well for a long time, but gradually, my changing as a person and the world's change have overtaken it. On a small scale, Morton's, while better than ever, no longer attracts as many stars as it used to. It still brings in the rich people in droves and definitely some stars. I saw Samuel L. Jackson there a few days ago, and we had a nice visit, and right before that, I saw and had a splendid talk with Warren Beatty in an elevator, in which we agreed that Splendor in the Grass was a super movie. But Morton's is not the star galaxy it once was, though it probably will be again.

Beyond that, a bigger change has happened. I no longer think Hollywood stars are terribly important. They are uniformly pleasant, friendly people, and they treat me better than I deserve to be treated. But a man or woman who makes a huge wage for memorizing lines and reciting them in front of a camera is no longer my idea of a shining star we should all look up to.

How can a man or woman who makes an eight-figure wage and lives in insane luxury really be a star in today's world, if by a "star" we mean someone bright and powerful and attractive as a role model? Real stars are not riding around in the backs of limousines or in Porsches or getting trained in yoga or Pilates and eating only raw fruit while they have Vietnamese girls do their nails.

They can be interesting, nice people, but they are not heroes to me any longer. A real star is the soldier of the 4th Infantry Division who poked his head into a hole on a farm near Tikrit, Iraq. He could have been met by a bomb or a hail of AK-47 bullets. Instead, he faced an abject Saddam Hussein and the gratitude of all of the decent people of the world.

A real star is the U.S. soldier who was sent to disarm a bomb next to a road north of Baghdad. He approached it, and the bomb went off and killed him.

A real star, the kind who haunts my memory night and day, is the U.S. soldier in Baghdad who saw a little girl playing with a piece of unexploded ordnance on a street near where he was guarding a station. He pushed her aside and threw himself on it just as it exploded. He left a family desolate in California and a little girl alive in Baghdad.

The stars who deserve media attention are not the ones who have lavish weddings on TV but the ones who patrol the streets of Mosul even after two of their buddies were murdered and their bodies battered and stripped for the sin of trying to protect Iraqis from terrorists.

We put couples with incomes of $100 million a year on the covers of our magazines. The noncoms and officers who barely scrape by on military pay but stand on guard in Afghanistan and Iraq and on ships and in submarines and near the Arctic Circle are anonymous as they live and die.

I am no longer comfortable being a part of the system that has such poor values, and I do not want to perpetuate those values by pretending that who is eating at Morton's is a big subject.

There are plenty of other stars in the American firmament...the policemen and women who go off on patrol in South Central and have no idea if they will return alive; the orderlies and paramedics who bring in people who have been in terrible accidents and prepare them for surgery; the teachers and nurses who throw their whole spirits into caring for autistic children; the kind men and women who work in hospices and in cancer wards.

Think of each and every fireman who was running up the stairs at the World Trade Center as the towers began to collapse. Now you have my idea of a real hero.

I came to realize that life lived to help others is the only one that matters. This is my highest and best use as a human. I can put it another way. Years ago, I realized I could never be as great an actor as Olivier or as good a comic as Steve Martin...or Martin Mull or Fred Willard--or as good an economist as Samuelson or Friedman or as good a writer as Fitzgerald. Or even remotely close to any of them.

But I could be a devoted father to my son, husband to my wife and, above all, a good son to the parents who had done so much for me. This came to be my main task in life. I did it moderately well with my son, pretty well with my wife and well indeed with my parents (with my sister's help). I cared for and paid attention to them in their declining years. I stayed with my father as he got sick, went into extremis and then into a coma and then entered immortality with my sister and me reading him the Psalms.

This was the only point at which my life touched the lives of the soldiers in Iraq or the firefighters in New York. I came to realize that life lived to help others is the only one that matters and that it is my duty, in return for the lavish life God has devolved upon me, to help others He has placed in my path. This is my highest and best use as a human.

Faith is not believing that God can. It is knowing that God will.

LDS Church Responds to Indonesian Quake

The following article tells how the Church I belong to (the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) is assisting the victims of the world's most recent natural disaster, the earthquake in Indonesia last Saturday.

My church has a wonderful "welfare" system and humanitarian effort designed to help people, all over the world, who are in need. In a future article I will tell you more about this organization. There are huge storage buildings to prepare and store food, clothing, books, medical equipment, etc. that can be used by others all over the world located in Salt Lake City, Utah. Then our Church works in cooperation with other churches, governments and humanitarian organizations all over the world to ship and get the basic things to the people when needed. There are members of our church all over the world and it's the local members who really do a lot to help those in need when disasters strike ... like last year when Katrina sruck here in America, one of our Church buildings was damaged, but the others were used as a refugree center and we served meals, got people clothese, etc. before the government was into action.

Within hours after the Indonesia earthquake last Saturday, May 27, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints turned a local chapel (a chapel is what we call our church building where we meet to worship and learn together and also have social activities there) in Solo into a food kitchen. By Sunday night, the food kitchen was relocated to a chapel in Yogyakarta, the city that suffered most of the destruction.

The Church has responded with assistance to 177 major disasters between 1985 and 2005, including such efforts as Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005, the Africa measles vaccination campaigns in 2004 and 2005, and the Florida and Caribbean hurricane relief in 2004. Within the last 20 years, the Church has also distributed 51,480 tons of food, 7,697 tons of medical equipment, and 68,923 tons of clothing.

Church Responds to Indonesian Quake

By Abbey Olsen, Church Magazines

A 747 cargo jet full of emergency supplies is expected to arrive in Indonesia today, May 31, as part of a combined effort by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) and Islamic Relief Worldwide (IRW) to respond to an urgent appeal by Indonesian government officials after a 6.3 magnitude earthquake struck Indonesia on Saturday. The quake killed more than 5,500 and left tens of thousands injured and homeless.

“Our timely reaction here is really going to save lives,” said Mokhtar Shawky, a member of the board of directors of Islamic Relief Worldwide (IRW).

More than eight semi-truckloads of medical supplies, hygiene kits, and other supplies from the Church's welfare and humanitarian storehouses in Salt Lake City were loaded into the cargo jet on Tuesday afternoon. The Indonesian Embassy has indicated that upon arrival, helicopters will take the items from the jet and move them to areas most in need. The Indonesian government and IRW have teams working together in Indonesia to continually assess the situation and then communicate the needs in the area.

“We're coordinating it all so that we're not duplicating what other organizations are doing,” said Garry R. Flake, director of humanitarian emergency response for the Church's Welfare Services Department. “It's a very relevant response and a very quick response.”

After the quake struck near Yogyakarta, Church leaders and members in Indonesia immediately responded by preparing and serving 2,000 meals for people in need, as well as distributing hygiene kits and purchasing and providing cots, mattresses, and blankets to an orthopedic hospital where hundreds came seeking medical attention.

The quake, which struck 230 miles from Jakarta on the island of Java, isn't the first natural disaster to bring the Church and IRW together to provide relief to victims. They also teamed up to help after the tsunami in 2004 and the earthquake in Pakistan last year.

“It's a tremendous relationship,” Mr. Shawky said. “We really appreciate what the Church is doing. We feel like we complement each other. . . . The end result is helping more people in more parts of the world. . . . Nothing compares to that.”

The IRW, under its mission to eliminate poverty and suffering, works to first provide relief and then help people rebuild their lives.

The Church's ability to respond with supplies so quickly is due to donations from Church members and Church leaders' emphasis on preparedness and reaching out to help people in need.

STAND TALL

STAND TALL

by Ruthie Just Braffman, a high school senior, who was filled with doubts and worries until her grandfather told her to “Stand Tall.”

It was no wonder I wasn’t looking forward to entering ninth grade. High school is well known for being a battleground, where everyone seems to be going through awkward physical changes, emotional mood swings, and low self-esteem. For me, height was my nemesis (BIG CHALLENGE).

I had always felt insecure and out of place as one of the taller members of my class in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania, standing a head (about 12 inches) above the other girls and stooping at the back of the line to avoid sticking out.

I especially hated being around large groups of people, like during the social hour after services at my synagogue. Once the prayers were finished, I would leave as quickly as possible so I could avoid another well-meaning congregant (person attending the church) saying, “Ruthie! Look how tall you’re getting!” Ugh.

My grandfather would watch me grow increasingly uncomfortable, but he didn’t laugh at my self-consciousness or try to console me. Instead, he would admonish me.

“Stand straight and tall,” he’d say, as I unsuccessfully tried to shrink myself. And each time, I would sheepishly comply. Even at age 15, I understood that his advice ws about more than just feet and inches.

My Grandfather grew up in war-torn Europe. When German soldiers occupied his hometown, the beautiful and thriving city of Tarnow, Poland, he defied them and eventually wound up joining the Soviet army to fight for his country’s freedom. “Stand straight, stand tall,” meant something else back then.

It trusted my grandfather more than anyone else in my childhood. And whenever I was afraid of something, he would tell me stories of his life.

After the war, he boarded a boat for America, and on January 27, 1947, he stepped onto the dock of Pier 86 in Manhattan. He was hungry and suffering from seasickness. All alone in a new country, he was frightened about his future. Still, he marched head-on into the hustle and bustle of the streets of New York. Soon he met other European immigrants, each of them trying to find his or her own way.

If they could do it, why couldn’t he? “Stand straight, stand tall,” he would remind himself.

At first my grandfather refused to enter an American synagogue (a synagogue is a Jewish church building). He was angry with God for the loss of his entire family back in Europe. What’s the point of praying? He asked himself. Who is listening?

But soon he began to long again for the beauty of Judaism (the Jewish religion) and the comfort of the Jewish community. He felt his faith returning. When he walked into the synagogue that first time, he walked in proudly.

Standing straight and standing tall.

Thanks to the help of a loyal and trusting friend, my grandfather acquired a jewelry both on Canal Street, at that time the heart of the busy diamond district in New York City. He once told me how nervous he was on that first day of work. He was not only trying to learn this tough new business, but also a new language.

To his surprise, the men in the neighboring booths—who could have taken advantage of him—offered their help and advice. Within months, my grandfather was commanding his spot behind the counter, selling diamonds and cultured pearls as if he’d been doing it his whole life.

Stand straight. Stand tall.

In later years, my grandfather would escort both my mother and her sister down the aisle at their weddings. As he stood with each of them beneath the chuppah (the traditional Jewish wedding canopy), he thought about their new beginnings, and of the adventures and journeys they would experience together. He also thought about the children who would one day carry on his family name.

I am so proud to be one of those children. Listening to my grandfather’s remarkable experiences has changed the way I view my own life. His advice to me has become much more than a challenge to improve my posture. It tells me to be proud of who I am.

“Stand straight, stand tall,” my grandfather told me.

And I do.

(This article is from a book entitled: “The RIGHT WORDS at the RIGHT TIME” by Marlo Thomas and Friends. All the royalties (money earned from the sale of the book) are donated to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.)

The Village That Could

The Village That Could

By ROGER O. BURKS, JR. | May 15, 2006

Lyn Robinson remembers the tsunami's aftermath like it was yesterday.

“When I arrived, it was a scene of total devastation,” recalls Robinson, Mercy Corps’ Program Manager for the Oprah's Angel Network-funded program in Arugam Bay, Sri Lanka. “The village was destroyed. Everyone had lost someone, and some people had lost their entire families.” The devastating waves of the tsunami swept away hundreds of lives, as well as the livelihoods of the survivors. Only ruins remained where hotels and restaurants had stood minutes before. More than 90% of the fishing boats were swept away or destroyed.

Today, the village has returned to life. Hotels and restaurants have re-opened, and fishermen have returned to the sea. People here recognize that a major catalyst for this rapid revitalization was the implementation of Mercy Corps’ livelihoods recovery program funded by Oprah's Angel Network. “Despite the magnitude of the disaster, the survivors began to pull their lives together within weeks and move forward,” says Lyn Robinson. “The courage and determination of the people of Arugam Bay is an inspiring example of the strength of the human spirit.”

Habibaumma, one of the few female fishermen in the community, was on the shore getting her boat and crew ready for the day’s fishing when the tsunami waves came. Older fishermen on the shore recognized that the sea was abnormal and called for her to run. She made it to safety, and watched in horror as her friends and neighbors struggled to higher ground. Already widowed, Habibaumma saw her only means of support, her boat and nets, being destroyed. Habibaumma was determined to rebuild her life. With assistance from Mercy Corps and Oprah's Angel Network, she quickly replaced her fishing nets so that she and the fifty men and women on her crew could return to sea and recover their livelihoods.

The Arugam Bay program was one of the first in Sri Lanka to focus on the recovery of livelihoods. Within days of the tsunami, Mercy Corps designed a long term, comprehensive strategy with the philosophy of “Building Back Better” which includes training, institution building and support to local businesses.

Mercy Corps, through funding from Oprah's Angel Network, supports a number of activities in Arugam Bay, including:

* The installation of street lights in town to increase security and safety

* Tourism recovery clean-up activities

* Rebuilding of restaurant and tea shop owners’ livelihoods

* Support of local fishing industry activities

* Landscaping to replace trees and plants lost in the tsunami

* Training for tourism industry employees, including hotel and restaurant management, computer support and advocacy

* Support to small groceries and stores, mostly women-owned

* The design and launch of a website to promote tourism in Arugam Bay (www.visitarugambay.com)

Fighting Back for their Future

Before the fateful tsunami on December 26, 2004, Arugam Bay was just beginning to emerge and prosper after twenty years of civil war. After peace accords were signed in 2002, it quickly became the most popular tourist destination on Sri Lanka’s east coast. One of the top surf sites in the world, it attracted surfers from abroad in search of great waves and beautiful beaches.

The white beaches and world-class waves of Arugam Bay not only caught the interest of tourists, but of outside developers as well. In the midst of struggling to rebuild their lives after the tsunami, the community of Arugam Bay was hit with another potential disaster: an attempted “land-grab” by outside business interests of their prized beaches and budding tourism industry. Thanks to the determination and spirit of the Arugam Bay community, the take-over bid has proved unsuccessful so far. The community was able to organize, fight back and win.

In June 2005, the Chairman of the Sri Lankan Tourist Board sent a letter of formal apology, retracting his previous statements that private property in Arugam Bay would be acquired by the state-controlled Tourist Board for redevelopment. To ensure that the needs of the community continue to shape and drive the rehabilitation agenda in Arugam Bay, Mercy Corps and Oprah's Angel Network have designed a series of activities to help this self-reliant community not only get back on their feet, but to determine their own future.

Mercy Corps is facilitating preparation of a Community Development Plan, in which stakeholders can share their needs and wishes for future development.

Arugam Bay has demonstrated its determination to build back stronger, as well as its fighting spirit, over the past seventeen months. It has firmly established itself as Sri Lanka's little village that could.