It is Christmas Eve 2010, and I'm now sure and unsure.
I'm not sure what the future is for Invisible Youth Network. Russell wants to take things in another direction. He told me that he will be revealing new plans in February (his estimate).
One thing that I am sure of is that there are several thousand young people in San Diego alone who are homeless.
Another thing I know for sure is that children and teens are getting bullied in school while it seems as if the faculty and staff just kinda nod and wink.
I know that there is something wrong with this picture, and something needs to be done.
What direction we're going with this in our organization is still up in the air at this time, so all I can tell you is to stay tuned...
Friday, December 24, 2010
Saturday, November 20, 2010
'Tis The Season!
Mini-Entry #1
Starting today (November 20, 2010) and going throughout January 15, 2011, I'll be adding to this blog-entry. Will explain the choice of dates later. Right now, however, I'm going out to run errands--which will include shopping for our kids. Catch you later. (Current time is 8:41 a.m., btw...)
Mini-Entry #2
It's a little after ten at night on the same day, and I had a wonderful shopping day. Because of my lymphedema and the fact that I'm not to the stage where I can wear footwear yet, I rarely do a lot of walking around outside of in my own home, but I made the exception today in order to actively participate in the IYN project for Christmas of contributing items to go into gift bags that will be passed out in San Diego, California--a place where runaway kids migrate to from many parts of the country due to its relatively-favorable year 'round climate.
The first place I went to was the post office in Markleville (Note: To those who don't already know, any town that isn't followed by the name of a state will be somewhere in my home state of Indiana. Because this is read all over the world, I'll follow all other towns/cities with the name of a state, even if it's obvious to U.S. citizens that New York City is in New York and Chicago is in Illinois.). I wish I had been thinking more clearly at the time, and I would have gotten the name of the nice person who waited on me there.
Anyway, I chose the Markleville post office because of it's closeness to the parking lot and it's extra-easy access for handicapped people. The purpose of going there was to pick up three flat-rate, ready-to-seal boxes for priority mail. One box would be used to send items, and the others would be used in the future for whatever...
From there, I went on to shop at the Dollar General Store in Pendleton.
Two very pleasant clerks helped me out there.
Dawn was the one whose line I went through when it was time to check out, and she was very helpful in honoring my request to put the items I'd gotten for IYN into one bag and to put items I'd bought for my personal use into another.
When I shop for the purpose of putting together a box to send to our headquarters (something I hadn't been able to do for a long time, even though I made regular donations through PayPal as well as doing my online shopping through GoodShop so that a percentage of what I paid would go to IYN), I usually get the box ready to mail except for one side. As I shop, I will place the items inside of the box so that I can tell how close it is to getting full. I like to fill the boxes to capacity without getting them so full that they won't close properly.
The other clerk, Melinda, not only directed me when it came to finding some items I needed in a store that had recently been rearranged (Pardon the interruption, but I need to make a trip to the little girls room and, then, call my mom to tell her goodnight.)...
(Still busy with some other things. . .Will continue this story a.s.a.p.)...
It's now early on Sunday morning with several hours of sleep between where I left this off and now, so I will continue this story before starting another one.
As I was saying a little bit ago about Melinda, she not only showed me where some of the items I was looking for were now located after the store had been rearranged to accommodate Christmas shopping displays, but she was also nice enough to go out with me to my car (which, for those who don't know, is actually my mom's car, which I'm driving until mine gets repaired and fitted with a current license plate) and help me to put things inside.
From there, it was on to the post office.
By now, the Markleville post office was closed (closing at eleven on Saturdays), so I went to the one on Raible Avenue in Anderson. There's a longer distance to walk before getting inside and to the service counter, but it keeps later hours and has very handicap-friendly access as well.
I was waited on by a very helpful clerk named Kim.
It had been awhile since I'd sent off a TLC package (or any kind of package using express or priority mail), so I got a very helpful refresher course from her.
For one thing, I'd been sending packages by express mail at previous times. It got them to their continental USA destinations very quickly (generally overnight) and for a flat rate, but it cost a few dollars more (not quite four dollars more, as it turns out). Priority mail gets things there almost as fast (generally, within two to three business days) and, in one of the special boxes which I've described, only costs $10.70 to send.
For those wanting to send TLC packages to IYN containing items from our wish list, this would be the way to go. The size to which I'm referring is what's called the medium sized box, and it's around the size of a shirt box. You'd be amazed at how much one of those boxes can hold without popping open!
Anyway, I have more to tell, but I will save that for another entry...
Mini-Entry #3
It's now Sunday morning at a little after eight-thirty (11/21/10), and I'm here to write a little more. One thing I've decided to do is to make this entry also serve as a kind of ongoing Christmas newsletter, so I'll be connecting here to a journal with the unusual name of:
Begun On Birch Bayh's 81st. Birthday
Below is how it got it's name (the introduction that appears at the location of the blog):
Welcome to my main blog (that is, the one I'm using as a kind of journal or diary about anything and everything) here at WDC!!!
How did it get it's title?
The answer is that I started it on the 81st Birthday of former U.S. Senator from Indiana, Birch Evans Bayh, so I thought that it would be a pretty catchy title.
Since its first entry on January 22, 2009, it has been written in "once in awhile" but, as of now (meaning March 7, 2010), it should be written in on a much more regular basis, so please keep checking back. . .
In order to keep this blog-entry from becoming too long with too many things, I'm going to be delegating my information to various other locations and try to keep this entry area as directly related to IYN activities as possible through the time I write my last part of it on January 15, 2011.
Continue to come back here, as I haven't finished building the infrastructure of this blog-entry--and won't have it finished until sometime on January 15.
That's all for now. Catch ya later!. . .
Mini-Entry #4
Here I am back in spite of modem trouble and other glitches--including being blocked from logging onto Blogger/Blogspot. Wasn't for anything personal. Just a site glitch of some sort. This I know because the problem was a widespread one instead of being one I was experiencing alone.
Anyway, I'm glad that I'm here finally. . .
A whole lot is happening with IYN and can best be found out by visiting our website. You can find two links to that in the right-hand margin of this blog.
I'm quite a bookworm, so, when I buy books these days, I try to shop using GoodShop. Not only that, but I encourage others to do the same.
I'm hoping to get back to Epinions again and start writing there more. Ditto re: Writing.com. Some of the things I'll be writing there are book reviews, and I'll definitely be encouraging those reading them to use the GoodShop portal at least part of the time.
That's all for now...
P.S. I think it's about time to start decking the halls a little...
Mini-Entry #5
It's Christmas Eve, and there has been a change in plans. This will be the last addition to this blog-entry. I'm now going to be starting a new one...
Starting today (November 20, 2010) and going throughout January 15, 2011, I'll be adding to this blog-entry. Will explain the choice of dates later. Right now, however, I'm going out to run errands--which will include shopping for our kids. Catch you later. (Current time is 8:41 a.m., btw...)
Mini-Entry #2
It's a little after ten at night on the same day, and I had a wonderful shopping day. Because of my lymphedema and the fact that I'm not to the stage where I can wear footwear yet, I rarely do a lot of walking around outside of in my own home, but I made the exception today in order to actively participate in the IYN project for Christmas of contributing items to go into gift bags that will be passed out in San Diego, California--a place where runaway kids migrate to from many parts of the country due to its relatively-favorable year 'round climate.
The first place I went to was the post office in Markleville (Note: To those who don't already know, any town that isn't followed by the name of a state will be somewhere in my home state of Indiana. Because this is read all over the world, I'll follow all other towns/cities with the name of a state, even if it's obvious to U.S. citizens that New York City is in New York and Chicago is in Illinois.). I wish I had been thinking more clearly at the time, and I would have gotten the name of the nice person who waited on me there.
Anyway, I chose the Markleville post office because of it's closeness to the parking lot and it's extra-easy access for handicapped people. The purpose of going there was to pick up three flat-rate, ready-to-seal boxes for priority mail. One box would be used to send items, and the others would be used in the future for whatever...
From there, I went on to shop at the Dollar General Store in Pendleton.
Two very pleasant clerks helped me out there.
Dawn was the one whose line I went through when it was time to check out, and she was very helpful in honoring my request to put the items I'd gotten for IYN into one bag and to put items I'd bought for my personal use into another.
When I shop for the purpose of putting together a box to send to our headquarters (something I hadn't been able to do for a long time, even though I made regular donations through PayPal as well as doing my online shopping through GoodShop so that a percentage of what I paid would go to IYN), I usually get the box ready to mail except for one side. As I shop, I will place the items inside of the box so that I can tell how close it is to getting full. I like to fill the boxes to capacity without getting them so full that they won't close properly.
The other clerk, Melinda, not only directed me when it came to finding some items I needed in a store that had recently been rearranged (Pardon the interruption, but I need to make a trip to the little girls room and, then, call my mom to tell her goodnight.)...
(Still busy with some other things. . .Will continue this story a.s.a.p.)...
It's now early on Sunday morning with several hours of sleep between where I left this off and now, so I will continue this story before starting another one.
As I was saying a little bit ago about Melinda, she not only showed me where some of the items I was looking for were now located after the store had been rearranged to accommodate Christmas shopping displays, but she was also nice enough to go out with me to my car (which, for those who don't know, is actually my mom's car, which I'm driving until mine gets repaired and fitted with a current license plate) and help me to put things inside.
From there, it was on to the post office.
By now, the Markleville post office was closed (closing at eleven on Saturdays), so I went to the one on Raible Avenue in Anderson. There's a longer distance to walk before getting inside and to the service counter, but it keeps later hours and has very handicap-friendly access as well.
I was waited on by a very helpful clerk named Kim.
It had been awhile since I'd sent off a TLC package (or any kind of package using express or priority mail), so I got a very helpful refresher course from her.
For one thing, I'd been sending packages by express mail at previous times. It got them to their continental USA destinations very quickly (generally overnight) and for a flat rate, but it cost a few dollars more (not quite four dollars more, as it turns out). Priority mail gets things there almost as fast (generally, within two to three business days) and, in one of the special boxes which I've described, only costs $10.70 to send.
For those wanting to send TLC packages to IYN containing items from our wish list, this would be the way to go. The size to which I'm referring is what's called the medium sized box, and it's around the size of a shirt box. You'd be amazed at how much one of those boxes can hold without popping open!
Anyway, I have more to tell, but I will save that for another entry...
Mini-Entry #3
It's now Sunday morning at a little after eight-thirty (11/21/10), and I'm here to write a little more. One thing I've decided to do is to make this entry also serve as a kind of ongoing Christmas newsletter, so I'll be connecting here to a journal with the unusual name of:
Begun On Birch Bayh's 81st. Birthday
A journal begun on Thursday, January 22, 2009
Below is how it got it's name (the introduction that appears at the location of the blog):
Welcome to my main blog (that is, the one I'm using as a kind of journal or diary about anything and everything) here at WDC!!!
How did it get it's title?
The answer is that I started it on the 81st Birthday of former U.S. Senator from Indiana, Birch Evans Bayh, so I thought that it would be a pretty catchy title.
Since its first entry on January 22, 2009, it has been written in "once in awhile" but, as of now (meaning March 7, 2010), it should be written in on a much more regular basis, so please keep checking back. . .
In order to keep this blog-entry from becoming too long with too many things, I'm going to be delegating my information to various other locations and try to keep this entry area as directly related to IYN activities as possible through the time I write my last part of it on January 15, 2011.
Continue to come back here, as I haven't finished building the infrastructure of this blog-entry--and won't have it finished until sometime on January 15.
That's all for now. Catch ya later!. . .
Mini-Entry #4
Here I am back in spite of modem trouble and other glitches--including being blocked from logging onto Blogger/Blogspot. Wasn't for anything personal. Just a site glitch of some sort. This I know because the problem was a widespread one instead of being one I was experiencing alone.
Anyway, I'm glad that I'm here finally. . .
A whole lot is happening with IYN and can best be found out by visiting our website. You can find two links to that in the right-hand margin of this blog.
I'm quite a bookworm, so, when I buy books these days, I try to shop using GoodShop. Not only that, but I encourage others to do the same.
I'm hoping to get back to Epinions again and start writing there more. Ditto re: Writing.com. Some of the things I'll be writing there are book reviews, and I'll definitely be encouraging those reading them to use the GoodShop portal at least part of the time.
That's all for now...
P.S. I think it's about time to start decking the halls a little...
Mini-Entry #5
It's Christmas Eve, and there has been a change in plans. This will be the last addition to this blog-entry. I'm now going to be starting a new one...
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
What's Wrong With This Picture?
Actually, everything's right with the picture,
but something kinda screwed-up
about the situation that inspired it...
Note:
This picture and other great things can be found by going here:
Click Me!
Note:
This picture and other great things can be found by going here:
Click Me!
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
From One Bad Situation To Another. . .What Comes Next!?!
Smell the coffee!
It's seldom about running off because you're angry about having a 9 p.m. school night curfew.
It's more about having school day bullying experiences and/or even having a homelife that goes FAR beyond the term "dysfunctional."
Even if it's about neither of those, there is, more times than not, a legitimate reason to want to get into a different environment.
Have these kids jumped from the frying pan into the fire or from the fire into the frying pan?
Either way, they need something better--MUCH better!
It's seldom about running off because you're angry about having a 9 p.m. school night curfew.
It's more about having school day bullying experiences and/or even having a homelife that goes FAR beyond the term "dysfunctional."
Even if it's about neither of those, there is, more times than not, a legitimate reason to want to get into a different environment.
Have these kids jumped from the frying pan into the fire or from the fire into the frying pan?
Either way, they need something better--MUCH better!
Monday, November 15, 2010
Chapters 'n' Such...
I had a nice, long sleep and didn't get online until this afternoon. When I checked my e-mail, I found the following message from Russell waiting to be read. This message is about starting a chapter representing the mission of Invisible Youth Network, but it contains links to other important information as well. I would encourage you to check it out--as well as encouraging you to share it with other people by using the following link:
That way, you can share it on social sites such as Facebook, Tweet it, and share it in e-mails. You can even share the link in snail mail messages and on flyers.
Having said all of this, here's the message:
Have you ever thought of running your own nonprofit organization? This is a great opportunity to do so. The Invisible Youth Network is chartering individuals and or organizations who are interested in reaching-out and helping homeless youth within their communities.
A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified, for example starting a chapter, office or division of the Invisible Youth Network in specified area.
This is an excellent opportunity to establish yourself within your community and make a name for yourself and your endeavors.
As a charter organization of the Invisible Youth Network you are covered by our paperwork, there are no further legal obligations on your part.
You have our support and help every step of the way.
Please see:
Chapter Application
http://invisibleyouthnetwork1.community.officelive.com/ChapterApplication.aspx
Getting Started
http://invisibleyouthnetwork1.community.officelive.com/GettngStarted.aspx
For an overview of the Invisible Youth Network please visit our website, it is important that you are knowledgeable about the organization that you want to charter with.
IYN National & International Website
http://invisibleyouthnetwork1.community.officelive.com/
Russell T. Hartsaw
Founder & Chairman
Invisible Youth Network
Home/Office:
940 Park Boulevard, Suite #334
San Diego, California 92101
619-272-9040
invisibleyout@gmail.com
Invisible Youth Network National Website
http://invisibleyouthnetwork1.community.officelive.com/default.aspx
Invisible Youth Network Video, 1 of 3
http://youtu.be/AVEUJr-o0KY
Club IYN
http://invisibleyouthnetwork1.community.officelive.com/BecomeaMember.aspx
Donations - Help Us Help!
http://invisibleyouthnetwork1.community.officelive.com/helpushelp.aspx
Executive Leadership Team
http://groups.google.com/group/executive-leadership-team
IYN Chapters
http://invisibleyouthnetwork1.community.officelive.com/IYNChapters.aspx
If We all Give a Little
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqG4pEzddGU
Our Wish List for The Homeless Kids
http://invisibleyouthnetwork1.community.officelive.com/ourwishlist.aspx
Volunteer Opportunities
http://invisibleyouthnetwork1.community.officelive.com/VolunteerOpportunities.aspx
- Love your kids for who they are, not who you want them to be! -
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Homeless Awareness #1-- Stop HOBOphobia!
Please pray for those on the street and the continuing need for emergency shelter, all throughout the Portland area. If this winter is going to be as bad as some think it is, the current emergency shelters are going to be woefully inadequate-- especially on the East Side. Please pray for us as we try to set up a plan.
Steve Kimes
Facebook Status
11/4/10
I feel very blessed to have met Steve & Diane Kimes on Facebook.
They have a mission to the homeless/formerly homeless in the Portland, Oregon area. Even though this is something they do in a specific area, their faith, wisdom, and personal experiences can be applied anywhere.
I was especially impressed with a Note that Steve posted on Facebook on November 3, 2010, so I asked his permission to copy and paste it into the body of this blog-entry so that it could be more easily shared. Permission was granted, so here it is.
After reading it, please check out the links I've shared below Steve's Note that will give you further information about them and the people to whom they minister.
Homeless Awareness #1-- Stop HOBOphobia!
This month is Homeless Awareness Month! Become more aware of the homeless just by reading this note! Pass it on to friends!
Countless times a day, homeless people are rejected, falsely accused, harassed, ticketed, and even beat up, all for the “crime” of not having a roof over their heads or of being dirty or of carrying all their possessions in a backpack. The homeless are treated as the outcast of society, as those at the bottom of the economic ladder. Yet the homeless are not the cause of the evils of our society. Nor are they necessarily the outcome of our evils. The homeless are people—people who want to live and love and hope and work, just like you do. Let us not continue to punish those who are lowly in our society, but help them.
The homeless are “us”, not “them”—Many of the homeless are good Christians or children of important citizens. Many of our neighbors and friends have been homeless at one time or another. Homelessness is not an evil, or even necessarily a tragedy—it is a stage of life that many of us have gone through.
The homeless DO work—While most do not have jobs, they do work hard, some harder than people who have “regular jobs”. It is not easy to get up at 6am to get to dumpsters before anyone else and climb in many of them in order to get recycled cans. Other homeless volunteer at free hot meals and shelters.
Not all homeless are alcoholics—In general, about one third of the homeless have alcohol or drug abuse problems. Many more have mental health or social difficulties. Many have had tragedies that have overwhelmed them, such as a loss of a job or the suicide of a spouse or family member.
Not all homeless are criminals or violent—Most homeless abhor the crime and violence done by the few homeless who do because it gets them accused. The homeless have the same percentage of theft and violence as those who are housed.
Teach your children and the community not to hate the homeless.
The majority of violent crimes against the homeless are done by middle class youth who feel that they have the right to violently fulfill the prejudices of their parents and community. If our youth and community learn that the homeless are human—people like us—then such crimes will be reduced, even eliminated.
Meet and listen to homeless people
Find out the times and locations of local free meals and sit at the table with the homeless. Find out their real motivations and hopes and desires. You may find that they do not differ that much from your own. Be patient with a homeless person’s oddness—you seem just as odd to them.
Include the homeless in social events
Invite the homeless to community and church functions. However, because many of them do not believe that they would be welcome, certain assurances must be made:
It is not necessary to be well-dressed for the function.
It may be necessary to provide transportation to and from the event.
An announcement may be necessary to make sure that everyone is accepting of the homeless.
Support benevolence organizations that assist the homeless
Volunteer at a free meal, give to an organization that helps the homeless, give blankets and clothes to a shelter. Call a local church to find out where you can help the homeless. As you give and volunteer be a friend to those you are helping—seeing and meeting them— not a distant, nameless Benefactor.
Provide opportunities for the homeless
Provide what the homeless REALLY need—opportunities to shower, socks, clean clothes, an address, a chance to work for money, a chance to do volunteer work for others. Be a friend to the homeless and help them get the resources they need.
Sunday, October 24, 2010
You've Heard Of Scratch 'n' Smell. . .
. . .well, this is Shop 'n' Search, Plain 'n' Simple. . .
Shop 'til you drop (or even just a little) and give our youth help and hope by using this link:
GoodShop: http://www.goodshop.com/?charityid=invisible-youth-network
In more of a surfing mood instead of a shopping mood? No problem! Here you go...
GoodSearch: http://www.goodsearch.com/?charityid=invisible-youth-network
http://www.mrsmccartneysteas.com
Shop 'til you drop (or even just a little) and give our youth help and hope by using this link:
GoodShop: http://www.goodshop.com/?charityid=invisible-youth-network
In more of a surfing mood instead of a shopping mood? No problem! Here you go...
GoodSearch: http://www.goodsearch.com/?charityid=invisible-youth-network
Another way you can help us out is to share the link to this blog-entry and/or copy the above links into your e-mails; share them at places such as Facebook; and/or place them on your own websites, blogs, etc.
One more thing: You can also create buttons and banners that are set to help IYN. Find html codes for doing so at the GoodShop/GoodSearch site.
Thanks, in advance, for any help you can give us along these lines.
People are always searching the web. I know that other searches are needed in order to find out some research, but I hope you'll surf for us at least part of the time.
This is also the time of year for various kinds of holiday shopping as well as being the time of year (at least, in my neck of the woods) for thinking about chilly January days when it's so pleasant just to stay inside and curl up with a good book.
If you're an avid reader like I am, books are a wonderful present to give to yourself--as well as making great presents for fellow avid readers on your Christmas/Hanukkah/Winter Solstice/Kawanza/Winter Birthdays/Etc. list(s).
You can shop at so many online stores using our GoodShop link.
Here's a little something that will go nicely with a good book.
http://www.mrsmccartneysteas.com
While the site for buying this absolutely-delicious-and-reasonably-priced-silky-teabag-encased tea (with each two-cuppa teabag kept fresh in its own delightful packet until ready to be used) isn't included in GoodShop, a percentage of sales goes to The Linda McCartney Breast Cancer Centre of which more information can be found at the site.
Let me now suggest some very good books. . .
For people who might think that our young people are just spoiled brats who decided to ride their thumbs to San Diego, California from so many parts of the United States because they were bored, didn't like reasonable house rules (e.g. curfew, decibel limits on entertainment, no such animal as limited credit card use, no unisex sleepovers, etc.), thought they looked uncool in the dress code/uniform requirements set by their schools, or some equally-unreasonable reason, think again.
With very little, if any, exception, they chose the streets/outdoors in a place with a relatively-favorable year 'round climate and plenty of secluded places to hide from authorities so that they wouldn't end up in juvie or right back at the place where they had already given up so much of themselves in order to escape because they had good reason to believe that even this kind of life is better than what they chose to leave behind.
These two books (which share definite examples of why kids just might decide that they'd rather be homeless than stay in the status quo) by Jodee Blanco (Please Stop Laughing At Me and Please Stop Laughing At Us) can be found at Amazon. Just go through the GoodShop portal as set up here and do a search for them.
Another book I've recently ordered from Amazon and am waiting to receive is The Woman I Was Born To Be by Susan Boyle. In this book, this now-world-famous singer with the amazing voice and teddy bear angel personality shares what it's been like to be Susan Boyle for almost half-a-century. Sadly, there are incidents of taunting and bullying included in those pages along with the lighter times in her life and the happily ever after part of her life that she's now living.
Could another happily ever after story be waiting to be brought to life among those street kids in San Diego and other communities? Could a person being bullied day in and day out someday shine? Is there somebody out there who can get into the heart of a bully and find out what kind of personal pain is causing him/her to take things out on others?
I believe that the answer has the potential to be a resounding yes--that there are, in fact, thousands upon millions of young people just waiting for their time to be lifted up to where they deserve to be--not necessarily onto a performance stage (though, perhaps, this will prove true for some) but just to a place where they're in a safe place receiving respect, dignity, and care for their most basic needs (and then some)!
I think that the following graphic says it very well when each individual who reads this asks the question: "But what can I--just one person--do to change things?"
While you're there, you might want to look for books by Roger Dean Kiser. He has written books that inspire, books that entertain, and books that tell it like it is regarding the past of so many boys like himself who ended up as wards of the state of Florida. He has these books on his website as well (which will be shared with you shortly), but I'm hoping to get you to go through our portal to order them so that it will also help IYN along with bringing in money that Roger uses to keep his stories out there (many are there to read for free on his website) along with helping orphans in his neck of the woods.
You can also get Roger's latest book, The Destruction Of Youth at Lulu while using our link as a portal. Let me warn you that, in this book, Roger has pulled out all of the stops.
Amazing Windy City resident, Stuart V. Goldberg wears many hats--and a couple of those hats are novelist and defense attorney. He now has a page-turning character study out now called The One And Only (which he hopes to, someday, turn into a movie). He also has a (more-than-semi-autobiographical) novel manuscript recently finished called The Snake Charmer that he hopes to turn into a movie and--shortly after that--into a book. You can find The One And Only at Amazon. Please use our portal should you decide to buy this book of many twists and turns about an extremely-wealthy man who has an often-unhealthy hunger and thirst for collecting the very best, one-of-a-kind treasures at any or all costs.
From time to time, I'm going to be recommending more books (and other items, too) for you to consider buying while using our portal, but I think that this is a good place to stop--after I share with you an uncanny story about the alphabet and our Founder and Chairman, Russell, along with Roger and Stuart.
In short, did you realize that I met these amazing men in alphabetical order over a time span stretching from early in 2001 into the summer of 2010!?!
I would first notice (as I observed in the first thing I wrote about this phenomenon) that I met them in the order of how their first names would appear in an alphabetical list.
Not long after that, I would notice that this was, also, true of their middle names.
As for their last names. . .alphabetical in reverse!
Again, pretty interesting, to say the least!
I'm leaving you with three blog-entries I've written about this.
Will be returning soon with a different kind of shopping information. . .
Tribute To A Snake Charmer
Let me now suggest some very good books. . .
For people who might think that our young people are just spoiled brats who decided to ride their thumbs to San Diego, California from so many parts of the United States because they were bored, didn't like reasonable house rules (e.g. curfew, decibel limits on entertainment, no such animal as limited credit card use, no unisex sleepovers, etc.), thought they looked uncool in the dress code/uniform requirements set by their schools, or some equally-unreasonable reason, think again.
With very little, if any, exception, they chose the streets/outdoors in a place with a relatively-favorable year 'round climate and plenty of secluded places to hide from authorities so that they wouldn't end up in juvie or right back at the place where they had already given up so much of themselves in order to escape because they had good reason to believe that even this kind of life is better than what they chose to leave behind.
These two books (which share definite examples of why kids just might decide that they'd rather be homeless than stay in the status quo) by Jodee Blanco (Please Stop Laughing At Me and Please Stop Laughing At Us) can be found at Amazon. Just go through the GoodShop portal as set up here and do a search for them.
Another book I've recently ordered from Amazon and am waiting to receive is The Woman I Was Born To Be by Susan Boyle. In this book, this now-world-famous singer with the amazing voice and teddy bear angel personality shares what it's been like to be Susan Boyle for almost half-a-century. Sadly, there are incidents of taunting and bullying included in those pages along with the lighter times in her life and the happily ever after part of her life that she's now living.
Could another happily ever after story be waiting to be brought to life among those street kids in San Diego and other communities? Could a person being bullied day in and day out someday shine? Is there somebody out there who can get into the heart of a bully and find out what kind of personal pain is causing him/her to take things out on others?
I believe that the answer has the potential to be a resounding yes--that there are, in fact, thousands upon millions of young people just waiting for their time to be lifted up to where they deserve to be--not necessarily onto a performance stage (though, perhaps, this will prove true for some) but just to a place where they're in a safe place receiving respect, dignity, and care for their most basic needs (and then some)!
I think that the following graphic says it very well when each individual who reads this asks the question: "But what can I--just one person--do to change things?"
While you're there, you might want to look for books by Roger Dean Kiser. He has written books that inspire, books that entertain, and books that tell it like it is regarding the past of so many boys like himself who ended up as wards of the state of Florida. He has these books on his website as well (which will be shared with you shortly), but I'm hoping to get you to go through our portal to order them so that it will also help IYN along with bringing in money that Roger uses to keep his stories out there (many are there to read for free on his website) along with helping orphans in his neck of the woods.
You can also get Roger's latest book, The Destruction Of Youth at Lulu while using our link as a portal. Let me warn you that, in this book, Roger has pulled out all of the stops.
Amazing Windy City resident, Stuart V. Goldberg wears many hats--and a couple of those hats are novelist and defense attorney. He now has a page-turning character study out now called The One And Only (which he hopes to, someday, turn into a movie). He also has a (more-than-semi-autobiographical) novel manuscript recently finished called The Snake Charmer that he hopes to turn into a movie and--shortly after that--into a book. You can find The One And Only at Amazon. Please use our portal should you decide to buy this book of many twists and turns about an extremely-wealthy man who has an often-unhealthy hunger and thirst for collecting the very best, one-of-a-kind treasures at any or all costs.
From time to time, I'm going to be recommending more books (and other items, too) for you to consider buying while using our portal, but I think that this is a good place to stop--after I share with you an uncanny story about the alphabet and our Founder and Chairman, Russell, along with Roger and Stuart.
In short, did you realize that I met these amazing men in alphabetical order over a time span stretching from early in 2001 into the summer of 2010!?!
I would first notice (as I observed in the first thing I wrote about this phenomenon) that I met them in the order of how their first names would appear in an alphabetical list.
Not long after that, I would notice that this was, also, true of their middle names.
As for their last names. . .alphabetical in reverse!
Again, pretty interesting, to say the least!
I'm leaving you with three blog-entries I've written about this.
Will be returning soon with a different kind of shopping information. . .
Tribute To A Snake Charmer
Monday, October 18, 2010
From Happy Campers To Jolly Ranchers
Here is the latest from Russell re: plans for Camp Edge. Sounds like a plan to me, so I hope that you'll pitch in to help in any way that you can. . .
Living on The Edge
The estimate is 4,000 + homeless youth walking the streets of San Diego County, California and living on the edge every day in every way, for example:
“According to the National Conference of State Legislatures Five thousand homeless youth die each year from assault.”
That is equivalent to five high schools of students each year.
For some time the Invisible Youth Network has been kicking around the idea of putting together a camp in North County for the homeless kids of San Diego County, California, in the form of the various camps that you may enroll your kids in during summer break from school, the exception Camp Edge would be open year around.
What we have decided in the meantime is to have a series of fund raisers to purchase a ranch with all of the amenities of a ranch, and run Camp Edge as a ranch.
We can use your help in the following areas of this project:
1. Donations, of course.
2. Help us come-up with fund raising ideas for this project.
3. Help us find a location for Camp Edge.
4. Help us plan-out how Camp Edge will be operated.
“According to the National Conference of State Legislatures Five thousand homeless youth die each year from assault.”
That is equivalent to five high schools of students each year.
For some time the Invisible Youth Network has been kicking around the idea of putting together a camp in North County for the homeless kids of San Diego County, California, in the form of the various camps that you may enroll your kids in during summer break from school, the exception Camp Edge would be open year around.
What we have decided in the meantime is to have a series of fund raisers to purchase a ranch with all of the amenities of a ranch, and run Camp Edge as a ranch.
We can use your help in the following areas of this project:
1. Donations, of course.
2. Help us come-up with fund raising ideas for this project.
3. Help us find a location for Camp Edge.
4. Help us plan-out how Camp Edge will be operated.
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Invitation Sent!!! 9/11/10
Below, find a copy of an invitation I've just sent to friends on my Care2 list who aren't yet members of the representative group for IYN there. Just recently, Russell made a post at said group that conveyed the message that we're marching forward with our mission and are ISO people who are willing and serious about helping us to help our kids.
Scroll on down to read what I've written as an invitation to do so...
Our army is totally-volunteer,
and we don't rely on violent weapons
in our quest of winning a very important war.
and we don't rely on violent weapons
in our quest of winning a very important war.
Remember how--nine years ago today--so many people were MORE than willing to go onto foreign soil to fight against unspeakable acts of violence that had occurred earlier that morning in New York City, near Washington, D.C., and over some farmland in Pennsylvania?
Are we at least as willing to fight another kind of war right on our very own soil--this time, a war that doesn't involve the spilling of blood but, instead, the extending of hands so that over 1.5 million young people in our country alone might be able to get the help they need to get off the streets.
Not only that, but we also need to implement weapons of prevention so that our invisible youth will have a strong voice against things like abuse (physical, emotional, sexual) going on right in their own homes, bullying at school, and poverty that end up driving them to leave behind their homes and communities in the first place.
Our representative group at Care2 isn't a place for sharing recipes (and such will be removed if posted). However, it might be a place to get inspired to make our recipes to sell at fundraising bake sales and/or directly feed homeless youth.
Please join us in order to become more and more inspired to take action and make this tragic problem history p.d.q.
Yours In The Quest--
Ainsley Jo Phillips
Advisor & Consultant
Invisible Youth Network
Saturday, July 3, 2010
In The Meantime. . .
Note: A Fillet Mignon Love Story will be available for viewing again after my project is finished. For those who haven't read this earlier, it had to be removed due to having an important link to it not going where it should due to blog being temporarily set to private.
A lot has been going on that has distracted me from getting my project done. Hopefully, it will be finished within a week's time--and the sooner the better.
In the meantime, I would like for you to start thinking about what you might be doing in August.
Also, please sign at least one of the following petitions to make Youth Outreach Day a recognized event taking place the second Saturday of every October. . .
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/enact-youth-outreach-day
http://homelessness.change.org/actions/view/enact_youth_outreach_day
http://petitions.tigweb.org/enactyouthoutreachday
Thanks for taking the time to read this, and I hope that you're having a great weekend!
A lot has been going on that has distracted me from getting my project done. Hopefully, it will be finished within a week's time--and the sooner the better.
In the meantime, I would like for you to start thinking about what you might be doing in August.
Also, please sign at least one of the following petitions to make Youth Outreach Day a recognized event taking place the second Saturday of every October. . .
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/enact-youth-outreach-day
http://homelessness.change.org/actions/view/enact_youth_outreach_day
http://petitions.tigweb.org/enactyouthoutreachday
Thanks for taking the time to read this, and I hope that you're having a great weekend!
Friday, June 25, 2010
Pardon My Dust Again. . .
This is turning out to be a hectic time for me, so it will be a little longer before the project is finished and A Fillet Mignon Story will be re-posted again. I don't even want to set a timeline, as I really don't know, but I'm hoping that things will be up-and-running by no later than early tomorrow.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Pardon My Dust!!!
In order to work on a larger project, I've had to remove a couple of blog-entries for awhile. This shouldn't take more than a few hours. When I'm finished, they will be returned to their proper places along with an explanation. Thanks for your patience and understanding. . .
Monday, May 31, 2010
Who Am I?
Ainsley Jo Phillips from Anderson, Indiana USA
I've been with IYN even before its beginning, having first met Russell on January 15, 2007 at a discussion site called Duno. Therefore, I've watched it grow from a field of dreams to where it is today--and it's still getting better and better!!!
When I was in better health (though my health was starting to deteriorate even at that time so that doing this was a challenge), I could be seen on a regular basis at places like Dollar General and Family Dollar buying various items to be put into flat-rate, shirt-box-size mailing boxes to be sent to Russell for distribution to at least some of the near-4000 young people who are living outside in San Diego. When I went there, to the post office, and to other places as well, I would pass out information sheets about IYN.
Near the end of May 24, 2009, I was taken to ER and was admitted to a room very early on May 25. Diagnosis was lymphedema with a three-bug MRSA infection going on. I was there for a little over a week with follow-up care given (initially) at home and (later) at the clinic.
This is an incurable-but-manageable condition, and I've made a considerable amount of progress in managing it. However--as I'm still in the stage where I'm only wearing bandages instead of shoes--I'm not going in and out of stores these days, though I hope to be before the year is over.
However, I still manage to stay active in IYN as best as I can. One way is to make a regular (pre-programmed) monthly donation. I also still share information with people both online and in real life. This is done in a number of ways with two of those being my chapter website and my IYN-themed blog. Their names are listed below as clickable links...
I've been with IYN even before its beginning, having first met Russell on January 15, 2007 at a discussion site called Duno. Therefore, I've watched it grow from a field of dreams to where it is today--and it's still getting better and better!!!
When I was in better health (though my health was starting to deteriorate even at that time so that doing this was a challenge), I could be seen on a regular basis at places like Dollar General and Family Dollar buying various items to be put into flat-rate, shirt-box-size mailing boxes to be sent to Russell for distribution to at least some of the near-4000 young people who are living outside in San Diego. When I went there, to the post office, and to other places as well, I would pass out information sheets about IYN.
Near the end of May 24, 2009, I was taken to ER and was admitted to a room very early on May 25. Diagnosis was lymphedema with a three-bug MRSA infection going on. I was there for a little over a week with follow-up care given (initially) at home and (later) at the clinic.
This is an incurable-but-manageable condition, and I've made a considerable amount of progress in managing it. However--as I'm still in the stage where I'm only wearing bandages instead of shoes--I'm not going in and out of stores these days, though I hope to be before the year is over.
However, I still manage to stay active in IYN as best as I can. One way is to make a regular (pre-programmed) monthly donation. I also still share information with people both online and in real life. This is done in a number of ways with two of those being my chapter website and my IYN-themed blog. Their names are listed below as clickable links...
Sugar Fork Creek Chapter of Madison County
My Helping Hand Journal
My Helping Hand Journal
I hope that my words here will get across that there's something that nearly everybody can do when it comes to helping with our mission, so I'd like to encourage anybody who happens to read this message to check out our various websites and other examples of online presence and think of one or more ways that you might like to participate in our mission. A countless number of young people in many parts of the third rock from the sun are counting on you!!!
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Message From Tj Harris. . .
Tj is part of IYN's Online Management Team. On top of that, he's also our Advisor & Cousultant. He leads a busy life even beyond IYN activities but still manages to do an excellent job of making sure that things are running smoothly along with getting the word out about us.
He has written something at Care2 about how to do searches and make purchases using igive, and I have copied what he wrote into my notebook.
The advertisement for the book you see with it in my notebook has nothing to do with his announcement except for the fact that it's a book that Russell recommends to be read. If you buy this particular book by clicking on the button, it will also personally help me out. However, I'd like to see you do at least some of your shopping and searching using the igive/isearch links and banner that goes with this entry.
Sunday, May 2, 2010
I'm Passing On Message I Received From Russell. . .
This is the new IYN advertisement that I have been posting in several San Diego, California classifieds, we have received several responses of people planning to attend.
I just renewed all of these ads today.
This upcoming meeting should go well and give IYN a solid infrastructure in San Diego.
The advertisements will continue and the orientation meetings will continue every month.
In the very near future I will be targeting high schools and colleges.
Just to keep you updated from my end.
Russell
The average age of these kids has been determined to be between the ages of nine and fifteen. Each of these kids have their own story of why they are homeless among those stories are throwaway children by parents who could no longer afford them, mental, physical and sexual abuse at home or school.
The kids that are able to survive street life have their own way of surviving chief among them is selling their bodies to survive both female and male, theft and everything thrown in between. Many of these kids do not have a clean set of clothes, no personal hygiene items, no way to shower and go without food for days.
They sleep with the elements, rain, snow, cold, hot, four legged predators and needless to say two legged predators as well. How am I sure of this at the age of nine when my parents deserted me I was one of these kids.
One thing that you can count on with these kids they spend a great deal of time being afraid, scared, lonely and crying.
How can we not be there for these kids in every possible way?
If you are a San Diego, California resident.
The Invisible Youth Network does a monthly orientation for all new volunteer applications where your questions will be answered and you will have a wide choice of available volunteer opportunities.
The orientation for May 2010 is scheduled for Friday, May 14, 2010 between the hours of 5:00 - 7:00 PM on the outside dining area of Beach City Market which is located on the street level facing First Avenue at Horton Plaza in downtown San Diego, California this will include three hours of validated parking in the Horton Plaza Garage.
If you would like to attend this orientation please confirm by return e-mail.
High School Students and College Students are encouraged to participate.
For an overview of the Invisible Youth Network please visit our website at:
Invisible Youth Network Website
http://www.orgsites.com/ca/iyn/
Please help us make a difference in these kids lives!
--
Russell T. Hartsaw
Founder & Chairman
Invisible Youth Network
National Website:
http://invisibleyouthnetwork.net/default.aspx
San Diego, California Headquarters Website:
http://www.orgsites.com/ca/iyn
Youth Resource Center
http://www.orgsites.com/ca/invisibleyouth/index.html
Friday, April 30, 2010
514
May 14 is Russell's "39th" birthday--so let's think of IYN-related ways to celebrate.
I'm going to give you several ideas using the number "514" as the theme.
If you have some kind of entertainment place such as a movie theater, night club, concert hall, etc. you could charge $5.14 admission on May 14 and donate it to IYN.
If you have a pizza place, you could have a "Buy a large pizza for regular price, and get a second one for $5.14!" offer on that day. Of course, the $5.14 from each special offer would be donated to IYN.
If you do runs and/or other forms of thons (e.g. walk-a-thon, rock-a-thon, dance-a-thon), you could have several people pledge $5.14 to be collected by you if you finish your goal.
How fast might you get various business in your community to donate gift certificates to their businesses? These would go into grab bags which could be bought by people for $5.14
This handful of ideas can be adjusted to go in various other directions. Whatever you do, let's do something creative on Friday, May 14, 2010 that has a 514 theme to it and will raise funds for IYN. If you just so happen to have an address that has 514 in it, you might even consider having a get-together to do something such as knit caps for street youth to wear.
Please share this information with others. . .
If you're reading this, please do what you can to try to get at least 514 more signatures on each of these petitions by or before May 14, 2010. The number to the right of each link shows the number of signatures at the time that I first issued this challenge:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/enact-youth-outreach-day (160)
http://homelessness.change.org/actions/view/enact_youth_outreach_day (91)
http://petitions.tigweb.org/enactyouthoutreachday (14)
I'm going to give you several ideas using the number "514" as the theme.
If you have some kind of entertainment place such as a movie theater, night club, concert hall, etc. you could charge $5.14 admission on May 14 and donate it to IYN.
If you have a pizza place, you could have a "Buy a large pizza for regular price, and get a second one for $5.14!" offer on that day. Of course, the $5.14 from each special offer would be donated to IYN.
If you do runs and/or other forms of thons (e.g. walk-a-thon, rock-a-thon, dance-a-thon), you could have several people pledge $5.14 to be collected by you if you finish your goal.
How fast might you get various business in your community to donate gift certificates to their businesses? These would go into grab bags which could be bought by people for $5.14
This handful of ideas can be adjusted to go in various other directions. Whatever you do, let's do something creative on Friday, May 14, 2010 that has a 514 theme to it and will raise funds for IYN. If you just so happen to have an address that has 514 in it, you might even consider having a get-together to do something such as knit caps for street youth to wear.
Please share this information with others. . .
An added challenge:
If you're reading this, please do what you can to try to get at least 514 more signatures on each of these petitions by or before May 14, 2010. The number to the right of each link shows the number of signatures at the time that I first issued this challenge:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/enact-youth-outreach-day (160)
http://homelessness.change.org/actions/view/enact_youth_outreach_day (91)
http://petitions.tigweb.org/enactyouthoutreachday (14)
Thursday, April 8, 2010
This Is NOT The Time For Procrastination!!!
Sometimes, I think that the word, procrastination, was coined with me in mind.
However, I DO have an excuse for procrastinating: I have so many things going on that they all have to take a number and wait. This means that some things get done promptly, while other things get done not quite so promptly--or not promptly at all. When certain things get done later than sooner, I'm seen by others (and even myself) as procrastinating.
What I'm talking about in this blog-entry is one of those things where there should be no procrastination if at all possible and, if not, as little as possible.
I want to tell you about what it's like living in my skin at this particular moment. It's the skin of a person living with lymphedema--and during one of those not-so-good times that I'm dealing with surface wounds from blistering. In order for these wounds to close before they become deep and infected, I'm having to spend more time in bed than on the computer at this time.
However, I believe that this is something that must be shared here before I can even think of getting back into bed.
In other words I mustn't procrastinate when it comes to sharing this very important message!!!
As I've just said, I know what it's like to live in the skin of somebody who deals with that chronic condition known as lymphedema--or, at least, I know what it's like for me. However, I don't know what it's like to live in the skin of a child-abuser. However, there seems to be plenty of people who have or do live in these skins. I'm also blessed to have never lived within the skin of an abused child--except for on three occasions that I can think of, and none of the abuse came from family members.
Here are those three times:
(1) Hit hard on the top of the head by one teacher when I was four years old.
(2) Hit hard on the top of the head by another teacher when I was nine or ten years old.
(3) Forced (by two teachers) to participate in that dreadful game known as Red Rover.
A little later down the page, I'm going to share a video--and let me warn you that most of the pictures are pretty graphic. They would make my three personal cases of child-abuse look pretty petty in comparison.
However, let me state here that my three cases of child-abuse were neither petty nor trivial.
No child should think "I was only tasered by a cop when I was throwing a tantrum, but it could have been worse, so I have no right to complain."
No child-abuse should be trivialized. No child should be told to suck it up.
Some people think that the solution to stop child-abuse is stiffer prison sentences. There are even some of the "some people" who would like to see the death penalty (which I personally oppose 100% of the time) be a possibility.
While I think that there are people who have gone so far downhill that they need to be restrained in order to keep the rest of society safe, I don't really think in terms of punishment for the sake of punishment--that is, to separate the "good" people from the "bad" people. I'm more interested in making bad behavior stop than I am in the punishment mindset.
Although there will, likely, always be a need to keep some people separated from mainstream society, I think our prisons are far too full of people who have been sent there when problems would have better been solved by resources that didn't involve incarceration.
First, however, we have got to encourage people to take advantage of those resources when they need to.
Here is a favorite resource of mine: Parents Anonymous
Parents who join a local group of this organization get the kind of help they need when it comes to coping with parenthood.
Sounds like a great deal--so, why aren't more child-abusers showing up to take advantage of this?
Simple!
They aren't ready to see themselves as failures when it comes to parenting--and they shouldn't have to!
If they were to go to Parents Anonymous meetings, they wouldn't find a bunch of failures there. Nobody in that organization is interested in finger-pointing, and they don't see these parents as failures or "bad" people.
Most parents don't want to be "bad" people or failures. None of us (parents or not) want to be bad people or failures.
The parents who don't take advantage of organizations like Parents Anonymous when they either feel as if they're about to lose it or else already have are the ones who don't want to have to face the facts that they are bad and/or failures (their own perception of themselves helped along by our judgmental society), so they think, I'll do better next time. However, they end up doing worse, and, now, they're really ashamed.
Instead, they need to think: I'm having these feelings, but that doesn't make me a bad person or a failure. However, I need to get help in coping before I do something to my kids that I'll really be sorry for.
If people would just understand that good people can do bad things, if they don't have the resources to help them through bad patches, they would be more willing to get professional help, and everybody would end up better for it.
April is Child-Abuse Awareness Month. However, we should be aware of this issue and doing what we can to make it stop 24/7 and 365.
If you're having trouble coping, please don't be hesitant to get help.
If you notice that a friend or family member is having trouble coping, do what you can to lighten their load, and show them this page.
When encouraging another person to seek help, talk to them as an equal instead of placing yourself high above them and looking down on them.
You might not have "been there" yourself, but imagine what it would be like to be so overwhelmed that you're ready to take it out on anything that's handy from the cat to the crying baby. If you were to find yourself feeling that way, how would you feel? Likely, that's how the person who's actually feeling that way is feeling.
If we were quicker to extend hands than to point fingers, I believe a lot of child-abuse would never ever get around to happening--and, when it comes to child-abuse, that's an act we should procrastinate on indefinitely!
However, I DO have an excuse for procrastinating: I have so many things going on that they all have to take a number and wait. This means that some things get done promptly, while other things get done not quite so promptly--or not promptly at all. When certain things get done later than sooner, I'm seen by others (and even myself) as procrastinating.
What I'm talking about in this blog-entry is one of those things where there should be no procrastination if at all possible and, if not, as little as possible.
I want to tell you about what it's like living in my skin at this particular moment. It's the skin of a person living with lymphedema--and during one of those not-so-good times that I'm dealing with surface wounds from blistering. In order for these wounds to close before they become deep and infected, I'm having to spend more time in bed than on the computer at this time.
However, I believe that this is something that must be shared here before I can even think of getting back into bed.
In other words I mustn't procrastinate when it comes to sharing this very important message!!!
As I've just said, I know what it's like to live in the skin of somebody who deals with that chronic condition known as lymphedema--or, at least, I know what it's like for me. However, I don't know what it's like to live in the skin of a child-abuser. However, there seems to be plenty of people who have or do live in these skins. I'm also blessed to have never lived within the skin of an abused child--except for on three occasions that I can think of, and none of the abuse came from family members.
Here are those three times:
(1) Hit hard on the top of the head by one teacher when I was four years old.
(2) Hit hard on the top of the head by another teacher when I was nine or ten years old.
(3) Forced (by two teachers) to participate in that dreadful game known as Red Rover.
A little later down the page, I'm going to share a video--and let me warn you that most of the pictures are pretty graphic. They would make my three personal cases of child-abuse look pretty petty in comparison.
However, let me state here that my three cases of child-abuse were neither petty nor trivial.
No child should think "I was only tasered by a cop when I was throwing a tantrum, but it could have been worse, so I have no right to complain."
No child-abuse should be trivialized. No child should be told to suck it up.
Some people think that the solution to stop child-abuse is stiffer prison sentences. There are even some of the "some people" who would like to see the death penalty (which I personally oppose 100% of the time) be a possibility.
While I think that there are people who have gone so far downhill that they need to be restrained in order to keep the rest of society safe, I don't really think in terms of punishment for the sake of punishment--that is, to separate the "good" people from the "bad" people. I'm more interested in making bad behavior stop than I am in the punishment mindset.
Although there will, likely, always be a need to keep some people separated from mainstream society, I think our prisons are far too full of people who have been sent there when problems would have better been solved by resources that didn't involve incarceration.
First, however, we have got to encourage people to take advantage of those resources when they need to.
Here is a favorite resource of mine: Parents Anonymous
Parents who join a local group of this organization get the kind of help they need when it comes to coping with parenthood.
Sounds like a great deal--so, why aren't more child-abusers showing up to take advantage of this?
Simple!
They aren't ready to see themselves as failures when it comes to parenting--and they shouldn't have to!
If they were to go to Parents Anonymous meetings, they wouldn't find a bunch of failures there. Nobody in that organization is interested in finger-pointing, and they don't see these parents as failures or "bad" people.
Most parents don't want to be "bad" people or failures. None of us (parents or not) want to be bad people or failures.
The parents who don't take advantage of organizations like Parents Anonymous when they either feel as if they're about to lose it or else already have are the ones who don't want to have to face the facts that they are bad and/or failures (their own perception of themselves helped along by our judgmental society), so they think, I'll do better next time. However, they end up doing worse, and, now, they're really ashamed.
Instead, they need to think: I'm having these feelings, but that doesn't make me a bad person or a failure. However, I need to get help in coping before I do something to my kids that I'll really be sorry for.
If people would just understand that good people can do bad things, if they don't have the resources to help them through bad patches, they would be more willing to get professional help, and everybody would end up better for it.
April is Child-Abuse Awareness Month. However, we should be aware of this issue and doing what we can to make it stop 24/7 and 365.
If you're having trouble coping, please don't be hesitant to get help.
If you notice that a friend or family member is having trouble coping, do what you can to lighten their load, and show them this page.
When encouraging another person to seek help, talk to them as an equal instead of placing yourself high above them and looking down on them.
You might not have "been there" yourself, but imagine what it would be like to be so overwhelmed that you're ready to take it out on anything that's handy from the cat to the crying baby. If you were to find yourself feeling that way, how would you feel? Likely, that's how the person who's actually feeling that way is feeling.
If we were quicker to extend hands than to point fingers, I believe a lot of child-abuse would never ever get around to happening--and, when it comes to child-abuse, that's an act we should procrastinate on indefinitely!
Thursday, April 1, 2010
B-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r. . . These Are NOT Easy Times!
My mom and I are, currently, experiencing a minor inconvenience at this time.
For quite some time now, we've had quite a struggle at making ends meet. I've just gotten off the phone from paying a bill to reconnect my gas (heat & hot water). Had I been able to afford to do it last week, this could have been done for a fraction of the cost (paying on utility in a gradual way instead of a chunk all-at-once and experiencing no disconnect). However, one week has made a major difference of several hundred dollars. It will be re-connected sometime on Monday. I would have chosen to pay off my mom's first, but she told me that I lived in a more drafty place and she would be fine--and she will be, as she's welcome to spend any nights at my place when it's too cold for her.
In the weeks ahead, we're expecting more money in from various sources, so this is only temporary for us. However, it seems like forever.
Imagine what it would be like if this were more permanent--if we didn't even have places to live.
My dad was an Army brat, so The Great Depression wasn't something that he lived with on an up-close-and-personal basis. My mom grew up in a small village in the southwest part of Central Indiana. She said that they were poor but they didn't even realize it back then. They were never hungry and had enough to share with various neighbors who needed it. As for being cold, they were cold in the usual way of alternating between facing and turning ones back on a stove or fireplace so as to heat different parts of the body at one time.
My folks were both hardworking people who retired from white collar General Motors. I'm a writer--meaning that it might be disputed re: just how hardworking I am. That's all a matter of opinion. I've worked at temporary jobs here and there, but my folks had enough to allow me to pursue my dream of teaching a world via the written word. So far, I've touched hearts and elicited both laughter and tears. I think I've made a positive difference in at least a few lives. However, my career hasn't had me laughing all the way to the bank.
I grew up in middle-class comfort. We never were an extravagant family, but my folks went to Cuba before I was born, and we've all traveled widely in every state except for Alaska as well as in Canada and Mexico.
We've lived on the same farm since early in 1954 (when I was a little over a year old) and in a three-room-and-a-bath apartment before that.
Now, my widowed mom and I have the potential to live very comfortably for the rest of our earthly lives. However--due to a variety of circumstances--this very comfortable lifestyle is still off in the future somewhere.
Even now in the ways that count, we feel very rich, as we have each other along with lots of wonderful friends and relatives, and we enjoy the simple things of life. It doesn't take too much to keep us entertained and happy.
However, for the first time in our lives, we are living in poverty and we know it.
But we also know that there are plenty of people out there who would trade their poverty for ours--that we must seem as rich as Donald Trump to them.
Counting our blessings, we remember that a furnace and water heater DO need a house in order to work. There are no gas meters attached to park benches and cardboard boxes nor are they attached to shopping carts full of a few treasured and/or necessary possessions.
The kind of poverty that has the potential to lead to homelessness isn't something belonging to a fringe group of people who "deserve" (as if it's the right of anyone to point a judgmental finger to proclaim anyone as being deserving of this) to end up like this, thanks to squandering money on booze, tobacco, drugs, and sinful living.
The faces of the poor--and, potentially, homeless--reflect all classes of people, and each individual one of them has a story to tell.
Don't worry about my mom and me. We have a lot of helpful and understanding people in our lives, so we're going to be fine in the long run--and we're still not in the worst shape now when we measure our lives by examples of where we could be.
However, there are people out there who are also good, hardworking people who never expected to ever end up in their current situations any more than we did.
If you come across these people, please help them whenever you can--and, even if you have no material means to help them, you can still help them a whole lot by simply treating them with dignity and compassion.
Please take the time to click on this link and read over the information to which you're taken.
For quite some time now, we've had quite a struggle at making ends meet. I've just gotten off the phone from paying a bill to reconnect my gas (heat & hot water). Had I been able to afford to do it last week, this could have been done for a fraction of the cost (paying on utility in a gradual way instead of a chunk all-at-once and experiencing no disconnect). However, one week has made a major difference of several hundred dollars. It will be re-connected sometime on Monday. I would have chosen to pay off my mom's first, but she told me that I lived in a more drafty place and she would be fine--and she will be, as she's welcome to spend any nights at my place when it's too cold for her.
In the weeks ahead, we're expecting more money in from various sources, so this is only temporary for us. However, it seems like forever.
Imagine what it would be like if this were more permanent--if we didn't even have places to live.
My dad was an Army brat, so The Great Depression wasn't something that he lived with on an up-close-and-personal basis. My mom grew up in a small village in the southwest part of Central Indiana. She said that they were poor but they didn't even realize it back then. They were never hungry and had enough to share with various neighbors who needed it. As for being cold, they were cold in the usual way of alternating between facing and turning ones back on a stove or fireplace so as to heat different parts of the body at one time.
My folks were both hardworking people who retired from white collar General Motors. I'm a writer--meaning that it might be disputed re: just how hardworking I am. That's all a matter of opinion. I've worked at temporary jobs here and there, but my folks had enough to allow me to pursue my dream of teaching a world via the written word. So far, I've touched hearts and elicited both laughter and tears. I think I've made a positive difference in at least a few lives. However, my career hasn't had me laughing all the way to the bank.
I grew up in middle-class comfort. We never were an extravagant family, but my folks went to Cuba before I was born, and we've all traveled widely in every state except for Alaska as well as in Canada and Mexico.
We've lived on the same farm since early in 1954 (when I was a little over a year old) and in a three-room-and-a-bath apartment before that.
Now, my widowed mom and I have the potential to live very comfortably for the rest of our earthly lives. However--due to a variety of circumstances--this very comfortable lifestyle is still off in the future somewhere.
Even now in the ways that count, we feel very rich, as we have each other along with lots of wonderful friends and relatives, and we enjoy the simple things of life. It doesn't take too much to keep us entertained and happy.
However, for the first time in our lives, we are living in poverty and we know it.
But we also know that there are plenty of people out there who would trade their poverty for ours--that we must seem as rich as Donald Trump to them.
Counting our blessings, we remember that a furnace and water heater DO need a house in order to work. There are no gas meters attached to park benches and cardboard boxes nor are they attached to shopping carts full of a few treasured and/or necessary possessions.
The kind of poverty that has the potential to lead to homelessness isn't something belonging to a fringe group of people who "deserve" (as if it's the right of anyone to point a judgmental finger to proclaim anyone as being deserving of this) to end up like this, thanks to squandering money on booze, tobacco, drugs, and sinful living.
The faces of the poor--and, potentially, homeless--reflect all classes of people, and each individual one of them has a story to tell.
Don't worry about my mom and me. We have a lot of helpful and understanding people in our lives, so we're going to be fine in the long run--and we're still not in the worst shape now when we measure our lives by examples of where we could be.
However, there are people out there who are also good, hardworking people who never expected to ever end up in their current situations any more than we did.
If you come across these people, please help them whenever you can--and, even if you have no material means to help them, you can still help them a whole lot by simply treating them with dignity and compassion.
Please take the time to click on this link and read over the information to which you're taken.
Friday, March 26, 2010
Happy Birthday, IYN!!!
Today, IYN is celebrating it's third birthday!
Out in San Diego, Russell is (right as I'm writing this) over halfway through our first orientation meeting (which will be held on a regular basis in the future).
Earlier, I designed a Super Poke! Pets habitat for Throw Rug with a theme to go along with the day. Click here to visit a photograph of it.
I would like for more and more people to take a look at our three petitions to make Youth Outreach Day an officially recognized event taking place on the second Saturday of every October. Click here to see details.
One more thing, our fearless leader will be celebrating his "39th" birthday on May 14.
I would like to challenge all of you to make this period of time between March 26 and May 14 as a time to really become familiar with IYN, so please keep checking back with this blog along with going to our website and looking around.
That's all for now. . .
Out in San Diego, Russell is (right as I'm writing this) over halfway through our first orientation meeting (which will be held on a regular basis in the future).
Earlier, I designed a Super Poke! Pets habitat for Throw Rug with a theme to go along with the day. Click here to visit a photograph of it.
I would like for more and more people to take a look at our three petitions to make Youth Outreach Day an officially recognized event taking place on the second Saturday of every October. Click here to see details.
One more thing, our fearless leader will be celebrating his "39th" birthday on May 14.
I would like to challenge all of you to make this period of time between March 26 and May 14 as a time to really become familiar with IYN, so please keep checking back with this blog along with going to our website and looking around.
That's all for now. . .
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Are You Pro-Life? "Yes!" or "No!"
Something to think about:
One of the issues that has been getting in the way of getting the new health bill passed has been the allowance of federal funding for abortion.
This says to me that those who have protested this bill on those grounds would answer "Yes!" to the question "Are you pro-life?"
I challenge you to continue to be pro-life, even when the lives you are protecting have gone from being under an inch in all directions and fitting inside of other humans to when those lives are over three feet tall and one foot wide at the widest parts of their bodies and are growing up experiencing homes, neighborhoods, and/or schools that lead them to think that it's better to live out in the elements than to remain in the status quo.
How can we help those young people once they have hit the streets? Ignoring them and hoping that they will go away won't cut it.
How can we help their lives to become better in the first place so that they won't end up choosing to leave?
You've got to remain as pro-life from cradle to grave as you are from womb life to birth!
For those of you who don't see viable life as necessarily beginning at conception, you still can't ignore the fact that not only is that resident of a woman's womb (once he/she can be seen sucking his/her thumb and, in other ways, being a growing baby) very real and worthy of respect (to only be aborted to save the life of the woman carrying him/her) but that he/she is an individual to whom we must commit to provide the basics of life from cradle to grave.
While "basics" don't necessarily include a $50,000 per year pay check, a mansion, a fancy car, a yacht, a time-share, automatic admission to an Ivy League college, designer clothing, and elective surgery (e.g. breast implants, nose-jobs), they do include decent food, clothing, shelter, health care, and education--AND the right to feel safe and respected while going to school instead of having their cries for help re: bullying/taunting ignored.
One of the issues that has been getting in the way of getting the new health bill passed has been the allowance of federal funding for abortion.
This says to me that those who have protested this bill on those grounds would answer "Yes!" to the question "Are you pro-life?"
I challenge you to continue to be pro-life, even when the lives you are protecting have gone from being under an inch in all directions and fitting inside of other humans to when those lives are over three feet tall and one foot wide at the widest parts of their bodies and are growing up experiencing homes, neighborhoods, and/or schools that lead them to think that it's better to live out in the elements than to remain in the status quo.
How can we help those young people once they have hit the streets? Ignoring them and hoping that they will go away won't cut it.
How can we help their lives to become better in the first place so that they won't end up choosing to leave?
You've got to remain as pro-life from cradle to grave as you are from womb life to birth!
For those of you who don't see viable life as necessarily beginning at conception, you still can't ignore the fact that not only is that resident of a woman's womb (once he/she can be seen sucking his/her thumb and, in other ways, being a growing baby) very real and worthy of respect (to only be aborted to save the life of the woman carrying him/her) but that he/she is an individual to whom we must commit to provide the basics of life from cradle to grave.
While "basics" don't necessarily include a $50,000 per year pay check, a mansion, a fancy car, a yacht, a time-share, automatic admission to an Ivy League college, designer clothing, and elective surgery (e.g. breast implants, nose-jobs), they do include decent food, clothing, shelter, health care, and education--AND the right to feel safe and respected while going to school instead of having their cries for help re: bullying/taunting ignored.
Friday, March 19, 2010
13, 87, 159
These (in the order of smallest to largest amount) are the number of signatures (as of the morning of March 19, 2010, at almost 6:30, Anderson, Indiana USA time) on our three online petitions that will be sent to President Obama once we get a minimum of 1000 signatures on each one. We have a little ways to go, but I believe we can increase those numbers greatly even before Invisible Youth Network turns three years old on March 26.
The purpose of this petition is to encourage our President to officially declare the second Saturday of every October from now on to be recognized as Youth Outreach Day.
To learn more about this and to find links to our three petitions, go to:
Three Ways To Give Wonderful Advice To President Obama
Finally, you might also like to check out Countdown To March 26, 2010. Even if you happen to be reading this after that date has come and gone, what's contained within is still relevant.
Btw. . .What are you doing on March 28? In this Facebook Note (open to the public), I've mentioned a little somethng about this. I think at least some of you might find it to be of interest. Hope so!
On this note, I'll close for now! Please keep an eye on these numbers and (hopefully) be amazed at how they will keep turning into bigger numbers!
The purpose of this petition is to encourage our President to officially declare the second Saturday of every October from now on to be recognized as Youth Outreach Day.
To learn more about this and to find links to our three petitions, go to:
Three Ways To Give Wonderful Advice To President Obama
Finally, you might also like to check out Countdown To March 26, 2010. Even if you happen to be reading this after that date has come and gone, what's contained within is still relevant.
Btw. . .What are you doing on March 28? In this Facebook Note (open to the public), I've mentioned a little somethng about this. I think at least some of you might find it to be of interest. Hope so!
On this note, I'll close for now! Please keep an eye on these numbers and (hopefully) be amazed at how they will keep turning into bigger numbers!
Monday, March 15, 2010
I Just Called To Say "I Love You!"
Russell wants everybody to know--so that there can be no mistake about it--the most current contact information for Invisible Youth Network, so I'm copying and pasting it here:
Russell T. Hartsaw
Founder & Chairman
940 Park Boulevard, Suite #334
San Diego, California 92101
This same information can be found here:
along with an on-page form to fill out in case you'd rather contact our headquarters this way.
You will also--at the bottom of the page--find a place you can check in case you would like to be put on our list to be contacted re: IYN activities/news/etc.
One more thing. . .
After drawing you to this blog-entry with my catchy title, it's only fair that I deliver what might have brought you here--though I hope that finding out more about IYN was actually why you arrived here. If not, however, no problem, because you know about us now--and we hope that you'll want to stick around and learn more!
On the other hand, if you know all about IYN but haven't ever checked out this very special and talented guy, I hope you will, as he's one of the most amazing recording artists of our time!
Russell T. Hartsaw
Founder & Chairman
940 Park Boulevard, Suite #334
San Diego, California 92101
619-272-9040
invisibleyouth@gmail.com This same information can be found here:
along with an on-page form to fill out in case you'd rather contact our headquarters this way.
You will also--at the bottom of the page--find a place you can check in case you would like to be put on our list to be contacted re: IYN activities/news/etc.
One more thing. . .
After drawing you to this blog-entry with my catchy title, it's only fair that I deliver what might have brought you here--though I hope that finding out more about IYN was actually why you arrived here. If not, however, no problem, because you know about us now--and we hope that you'll want to stick around and learn more!
On the other hand, if you know all about IYN but haven't ever checked out this very special and talented guy, I hope you will, as he's one of the most amazing recording artists of our time!
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Brad & Angelina--Are You Reading This!?!
Russell is getting the word out down in San Diego about a project known as TFHY, so I thought that I would "travel" a little ways north to Hollywood and the surrounding area to see if there were any big name celebrities who might be interested in heading down that way to find out how they might be of help.
Actually, you don't have to be a big name celebrity to respond to this calling--just a V.I.P. (very important person). If you are a person, you are very important, so you qualify.
Now, all you have to do is to be able to get down to San Diego and--if you can be in attendance on a regular basis--join this task force. If you can't do that, there are other things you can be doing, depending on your resources. Here are some ideas:
The Invisible Youth Network is in the process of putting together a special project to address the estimated 4,000 homeless youth walking the streets of San Diego, California.
The project will be known as Task Force on Homeless Youth (TFHY).
THFY members will consist of volunteers from the San Diego, California community who will be looking at causes and effects of homeless youth, as well as an array of possible solutions.
THFY members will interview homeless youth and listen to their stories, keeping in mind that each kid has their own story and set of circumstances.
THFY members will interview agencies related to homeless youth and determine their effectiveness.
THFY members will interview law enforcement agencies concerned with homeless youth issues and collect their findings, suggestions and etc.
Our members will meet monthly in downtown San Diego, California, where planning, strategy and implementation will be under discussion.
We will also maintain a supportive website.
Your participation will make a huge difference in the lives of homeless youth.
Russell T. Hartsaw
Founder & Chairman
Invisible Youth Network
http://invisibleyouthnetwork.net/default.aspx
Actually, you don't have to be a big name celebrity to respond to this calling--just a V.I.P. (very important person). If you are a person, you are very important, so you qualify.
Now, all you have to do is to be able to get down to San Diego and--if you can be in attendance on a regular basis--join this task force. If you can't do that, there are other things you can be doing, depending on your resources. Here are some ideas:
- If you're a movie/TV star, elected official, athlete, recording artist, or some other kind of person with "clout," you might want to make some kind of public statement in favor of what we're doing for the simple reason that scores of people know you and, often, like to imitate you.
- If you're a reporter and/or documentary maker, you can use your talents to get the word out about our cause and why it's important.
- If you're an everyday person with a computer and you have friends in the San Diego area who might want to be part of our task force in some capacity, please e-mail them and share a link to this blog-entry.
- If you're a business owner and have something you can donate, please consider donating to some of our 4000 street youth. For example, if you own a clothing store, please take a look at our wish list and donate some items for our kids to wear. If you own a general merchandise store, you might want to donate things such as personal hygiene items, backpacks, blankets, etc. If you're a restaurant owner, would you consider putting on a cook-out for our kids to enjoy?
The Invisible Youth Network is in the process of putting together a special project to address the estimated 4,000 homeless youth walking the streets of San Diego, California.
The project will be known as Task Force on Homeless Youth (TFHY).
THFY members will consist of volunteers from the San Diego, California community who will be looking at causes and effects of homeless youth, as well as an array of possible solutions.
THFY members will interview homeless youth and listen to their stories, keeping in mind that each kid has their own story and set of circumstances.
THFY members will interview agencies related to homeless youth and determine their effectiveness.
THFY members will interview law enforcement agencies concerned with homeless youth issues and collect their findings, suggestions and etc.
Our members will meet monthly in downtown San Diego, California, where planning, strategy and implementation will be under discussion.
We will also maintain a supportive website.
Your participation will make a huge difference in the lives of homeless youth.
Russell T. Hartsaw
Founder & Chairman
Invisible Youth Network
http://invisibleyouthnetwork.net/default.aspx
Monday, March 1, 2010
Three Ways To Give Wonderful Advice To President Obama
Below find three petitions to sign that will give wonderful advice to President Obama. You will come to links to these three petitions after you read the wonderful advice that we would like for him to take from us. Please sign any, some, or all. When given the opportunity to leave a comment, it isn't required, but I hope you will, as comments will make our words all that much stronger. If you would share this message with even one friend and ask that friend to do the same, just think of the impact it would make. I believe that, working together, we can collect at least 1000 signatures for each one of these petitions!
Enact Youth Outreach Day
Enact Youth Outreach Day
Target:
Barack Obama
The President of The United States
Sponsored by:
We, the members of the Invisible Youth Network, would like to see that children all over the world are recognized. How can we do that? By having a national event.We, at the Invisible Youth Network, would like to see a Youth Outreach Day become a national event, to be held every second Saturday of October. In doing this, each community can put on a fair, cook-out, craft-sale, or other event. They would raise money for their at-risk and homeless children and also if they want, donate to an organization for the homeless and at-risk youth.
We will be writing to representatives to enact a national event on the calendar for Youth Outreach Day to be celebrated every second Saturday of October and would be most grateful of your support for this proposal. There are a lot of homeless and at-risk youth in the United States alone. In fact, it is estimated that there are approximately 1.5 million. If we can enact this event here in the USA, we at IYN believe that other nations will do so and we may start to truly address the hardships faced by homeless and at-risk youth around the globe.
Despite our motto "Advocating for America’s Youth," our endeavors are focused on all homeless and at-risk youth with no regard to their geographic location.
Mahatma Gandhi said, "You must be the change you wish to see in the world," and with that in mind, the Invisible Youth Network envisions better lives for children who cannot see it themselves.
Yours faithfully,
Invisible Youth Network
940 Park Boulevard, Suite #334
San Diego, California 92101
Phone: 619-239-0101 x 334
E-mail: invisibleyouth@gmail.com
To see and or sign petition please go here:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/enact-youth-outreach-day
Here
http://homelessness.change.org/actions/view/enact_youth_outreach_day
Or here
http://petitions.tigweb.org/enactyouthoutreachday
Although we have targeted the USA - This Can & Will go GLOBAL.
Just copy the letter above - Edit if need be for your Location - Send IT !!
Check out the Sub page - Our Letter
We will be writing to representatives to enact a national event on the calendar for Youth Outreach Day to be celebrated every second Saturday of October and would be most grateful of your support for this proposal. There are a lot of homeless and at-risk youth in the United States alone. In fact, it is estimated that there are approximately 1.5 million. If we can enact this event here in the USA, we at IYN believe that other nations will do so and we may start to truly address the hardships faced by homeless and at-risk youth around the globe.
Despite our motto "Advocating for America’s Youth," our endeavors are focused on all homeless and at-risk youth with no regard to their geographic location.
Mahatma Gandhi said, "You must be the change you wish to see in the world," and with that in mind, the Invisible Youth Network envisions better lives for children who cannot see it themselves.
Yours faithfully,
Invisible Youth Network
940 Park Boulevard, Suite #334
San Diego, California 92101
Phone: 619-239-0101 x 334
E-mail: invisibleyouth@gmail.com
To see and or sign petition please go here:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/enact-youth-outreach-day
Here
http://homelessness.change.org/actions/view/enact_youth_outreach_day
Or here
http://petitions.tigweb.org/enactyouthoutreachday
Although we have targeted the USA - This Can & Will go GLOBAL.
Just copy the letter above - Edit if need be for your Location - Send IT !!
Check out the Sub page - Our Letter
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