help for the 4th grade!

I've received three emails from my great-nephew and one from his teacher.

White Bluff Elementary School needs help with classroom supplies.

Would I please help out?

Of course!

I decided to be extra generous, as Bert recently had his 9th birthday... which I missed.

My initial pledge to this charitable request was for two $30 gift cards for his class.

That's partly because they gave me a discount, charging just $50 for the two.

That gained him 2 points toward a gift that required 4 points.

That's fine, someone else could help out, right?

But, during the checkout process, the company offered another deal: one $20 gift card for the teacher, 2 points for Bert...

Sold!!!

Now his birthday gift is done, with no shopping required of me.

What a win, all the way around!!!

children + star castle = yes, please!

Ever since the unusual snowfall in January, the troupe has been homeless.

The weight of all that frozen water was the last straw for the aged roof.

Fortunately, they've been blessed with the use of many acting spaces to tide them through for the events already in the works... but they needed their own place.

Now, the Savannah Children's Theatre hopes to begin its 21st year in a midtown location that's right in keeping with them being all local.

Their sights are set for the Star Castle building on Mall Boulevard.

They have some patrons with deep pockets that are putting up a lot of the millions of bucks that will be needed for that title transfer, but there's a catch.

There's still half a million which must be crowdsourced by October 1st.

Given the thousands of children who have grown up in their plays, that's doable.

Given the thousands of parents who still have children to act on stage, that's doable.

Given the thousands of people who have delighted in watching, that's doable.

I'm one of those from the audience, coming forth to give what I can.

Twenty-five dollars is the gift I have given as a Nerdfighter to many Kiva strangers.

Twenty-five dollars is the gift I have given to SavChTh.

As of their update on fb, they've raised more than $136,000 toward their goal.

I do hope they are successful in their bid for the 'Castle!

How awesome would that be for the kids???

a horse of a different color!

Naturally, when someone starts talking of equine animals, my mind goes to "The Wizard Of Oz".

I can't help it - that movie has been part of my life for as long as I can remember.

 

That's partly what drew me to Nariman's loan at Kiva.

Horses.

Everyone else in Kazakhstan who had animals were interested in getting more cattle or more sheep.

Not him.

In his bio, he states that he "owns 174 registered horses — all documented with veterinary records and official tags".

Impressive!

This loan will help him improve his livestock facilities and develop milk processing.

Yes, that's right: this horse ranch is a dairy farm...

with products derived from mare's milk...

wow!

That's amazing!!!

I made sure to post on his loan page, to encourage others to become part of this change.

"I am fascinated by the originality of this dairy farmer! Not cows, not goats, not sheep - horses are the source! He even has an established clientele for his mare's milk products! That's why I chose this loan: to support innovation!" 

I then sent the above message to all the other Nerdfighters of Kiva to make sure they knew about this one. 

Why was I wanting to make sure others knew of Nariman?

Because of this: I was the very first person to lend to him.

That's never happened to me before.

I felt that I was meant to find this one loan amidst all of those clamoring from my attention from that country not yet in my portfolio.

Enough repayments from others I'd lent to had finally amassed to enough for a new loan, so I stipulated "countries I've not yet lent to" in the search.

Pages and pages of people with loans sprang forth!

I whittled down the list to three, including Nariman.

All had established farms, all ran them with their entire family.

But, this was the only one with horses...

this was the only one using mare's milk...

and that innovation struck a chord with me.

I do hope his loan is a success over the next 13 days.

I like the thought of, maybe, someday, trying mare's milk cheese.

still wishing with others

Yes, that's right, I used 4000 of my AARP Reward Points again to help others' dreams come true!

That was earlier today, before my volunteer shift at the 13th Savannah VOICE Festival.

It was right in keeping with the concert theme, too, come to think of it!

"Once Upon A Time"... yes, wishes and dreams and fairy tales can come true!

Just ask anyone at the Wish Of A Lifetime Foundation!

helping aarp with ending senior poverty

Yep, I did it again...

I took 4,000 points that I earned on aarp.org and I donated it back to the AARP Foundation.

No one should have to choose between food and medicine.

I choose to believe a made a difference for at least one person.

fish for all!

 

Kiva sent me an email this morning: I had money to lend again!

Best of all, there was enough in that account to even cover the lending fee, so Kiva wouldn't have to do so.

Perfect!

That meant I had a question to answer: who would I choose?

Well, as it turned out, that wasn't such a hard choice after all.

I knew I would be dining on seafood tonight, thanks to Smitty, my brother.

 

When I read that Marie of Sierra Leone was requesting a loan to purchase more fish to sell, I knew that was the right one for me!

Right place, right time.

That makes the twelfth open loan that I have on Kiva right now.

All of the other 145 loans I've made over the years have been repaid, so those are all regarded as closed.

The mother of four is still needed a few more backers to fund her loan.

I made sure to post a few words of support on her wall.

Hope that encourages others to help her.

(smile!) 

again... no drilling off Georgia coast!!!

How many times do we have to tell our elected officials in Washington, DC, and in Atlanta, GA, that drilling off this southern coast is a terrible idea?

If nothing else, the increased number of hurricanes that speed up that Atlantic Ocean side should give them pause about the horrific man-made disaster that would occur to complicate the natural disaster of ultra-high winds and storms... right?

So when One Hundred Miles asked me to respond, I did.

 

"Please spare Georgia's coast!!!
This is where right whales come to raise their young...
this is where loggerhead sea turtles come to lay their eggs...
this is where Americans from the Southeast 

come to have fun with their children.
Please... allow this coast to be free from oil and gas companies.
Thank you!" 

 

That should soon be posted at Regulations.gov, for all the world to see.

I'll be looking for it.