Fundraiser for The Pratyasha Foundation via Stella & Dot

Hi guys! Those of you who have been reading my blog for awhile, you know that my friend Kristin runs a charity organization that is very near and dear to my heart- The Pratyasha Foundation. I've previously posted about them (see the posts here: 1, 2, 3) and I can't say enough things about Kristin or the work she is doing.  So when my friend Maeghan contacted me about doing a fundraiser for Pratyasha with the company she works for, Stella & Dot, I was super excited.

 image credit to Operation Smile-Peter Stuckings

First, here's a little blurb about The Pratyasha Foundation from Kristin, then read below on how to be a part of the fundraiser!

"I will never forget the first time I decided to make, package and distribute a Sunday meal to the children on the streets in the Indian city of Guwahati that I live in. It was October 2011 and I had no idea that this simple act would literally take me to a slum in an area known as Lakhtokia and change the course of my life. There were children living with their families in makeshift homes all along the rail road tracks and they were so grateful for those unexpected meals. In that first day I felt like my eyes finally truly opened to the level of poverty surrounding me. Fast forward to June 2013 and every single day I feel like I am seeing more and more.

Over this time period these simple meals grew into what is now called Pratyasha (Praat-e-asha) Foundation, and our mission is simple: we reach into the slums and break the cycle of poverty by creating foundational trusting relationships, which, through love, empower those we serve to improve their own lives.

Our Sunday "picnics" are the basis of our relationship with the children and their families; we cook in our home and then serve the meals directly in the slum to around 80 children. The amazing friendship and trust that came from serving these meals every single week has allowed us to dream big. We believe in the importance of simple acts of service such as passing a meal, cleaning a wound and educating on hygiene and health care but over time the question became: how do you truly empower these children to break themselves out of the cycle that living in a slum creates? The only answer is education.

  image credit to Operation Smile-Peter Stuckings

A few months ago we started bringing a small group of girls to an afternoon school program for marginalized children; even there our girls were not welcomed with the open arms we had hoped for. A lot of persistence and love kept the girls going and they did so well that two of them are now in full-time day school. We dream big, yes, but we always start small and we could not be more proud of our girls and their parents' commitment to education. But what about the others? Do you want to know what we really envision? We believe that some day soon we will walk through the slum in the middle of day and no school-age children will be found. None of our children will be working. Every single one of the kids in the slum will be in school, every single one will be receiving the basic rights that all children should have.

It is going to start with a community outreach center opening in early 2014 where school preparation, Sunday meals, a health clinic and vocational training can all take place. We believe that all of these dreams will come true because the change we have already seen is so real. The love that is shared between the kids, the families, ourselves and people around the world is so strong that I can't help but believe that in my lifetime we will witness a total transformation of this community.

I will never forget that first Sunday in October 2011, not knowing what I was doing or what would come of it, not knowing that others like Dani and Maeg and the co-founders of Pratyasha would want to support it in whatever way possible. Not knowing that the railway slum of Lakhtokia and its beautiful children would take hold of our hearts and show us that from the smallest acts, the biggest love can grow."

  image credit to Operation Smile-Peter Stuckings

Kristin also wanted me to give you guys a little more info: the Sunday meals cost around 10-12 US dollars for the 80 kids. The foundation is not sure (because it's not running yet) how much the community center will cost but they project it to be around $200-300 USD/month to run for the weekly meals, health clinic and various programs. They still do everything completely through volunteer work, and all of the programs are free for the kids. The Pratyasha Foundation is a registered non-profit corporation in California as of May 2013, and the 501(c)(3) application is in process with the IRS, so FYI, they are not tax-exempt yet.

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With ALL of that said, here's where we can help.

Maeghan has set up a special Stella and Dot sale site/trunk show where HALF of the proceeds will go to Pratyasha. Every purchase made through the sale contributes and every purchase over $40 is entered to win a Stella & Dot prize valued at $75+. And hello, have you seen Stella & Dot's new summer stuff? SO cute. It feels a little weird including a video like this alongside these photos, but I do want you guys to see what great stuff you can get and help out Pratyasha. So, odd juxtaposition, but it's a must.


This "trunk show" will be running for two weeks, and will close on Monday, July 15th. Once you make your purchase, leave a comment here and let me know what you picked out! And also be sure to like Maeghan's Stella & Dot page, and of course follow along with The Pratyasha Foundation's Facebook page and Kristin's blog.

If you'd like to share about the fundraiser via Twitter, or any other social media site that would be awesome too!

Here's a tweet for easy copying and pasting:

I'm contributing to The Pratyasha Foundation via @danihampton and Stella & Dot. 1/2 of all proceeds go to charity. http://tinyurl.com/mn5od4l

 second image credit to Operation Smile-Peter Stuckings

Happy shopping and thank you for supporting such a great organization!

xoxo

A Good, Old-Fashioned Update

So this photo has absolutely nothing to do with anything below, but I was looking through some photos from last summer earlier and came across this one taken at Coney Island and it made me so happy. It was taken the week I spent with Emily in NYC, and she took me to Coney one day so I could check it out. I loved it. I didn't snap one photo this weekend that would make sense for this post, so random Coney Island photo it is!

I wanted to take some photos today of this belly. It's gotten so big, so fast, but the weather outside is positively gloomy, which makes for not-so-pretty pictures, even of just a belly. However I'm sitting here typing this and listening to so much rain coming down, thunder, lightning, all of it, and I'm ecstatic. This is my favorite kind of weather by far.

So how about a good, old-fashioned update?

Life is good, and believe it or not (I cannot!) Henry will be turning THREE this fall. Now, I know that "this fall" is a ways off, but someone this morning asked me how old he was, and usually I just say "2 and 1/2" but this time I said "3 in the fall." And then I cried inside for a second. It's a weird thing, being a parent. It's a constant yearning to stop time and freeze things but the more you focus on that the faster it all seems to go by. So for me the best thing has to just focus on the now, the stage we're in, and although this morning I had this moment of disbelief that our little guy could ever be turning three so soon, I have been doing a better job of not getting too sad about it all going by. Remind me of this when I have a newborn, and without fail I will be writing about how sad it is that that little tiny newborn stage is over with in the blink of an eye.

I don't write about Hank a super lot on this blog. I feel very lucky to have a strong marriage and to be married to my best friend. And really, what are you supposed to say when things are really good? But lately I've felt even more in love with him, if that's even possible. I keep taking a step back and just thanking the universe that I've gotten to spend the past decade of my life with him and to be able to spend the rest of our lives doing the same. To know him is to love him, and the longer we are together the more and more I realize just how lucky we are to have found each other in this crazy world. And see? This is why I don't write about it too much. I think sometimes I just feel uncomfortable going on and on about something I like to keep close to my heart. But sometimes I do think it's good to shout it to the rooftops.

But something not so good? My Grandma, Nanny, has been getting more and more ill following a heart surgery she had recently, and this past weekend she was taken yet again to the emergency room. She has pneumonia in both lungs, and on Saturday hospice was set to meet with her and my parents but just like it's happened every time, she suddenly started getting stronger again. She's a tank, this woman! She also happens to be my last living grandparent, and the one relative I've always been the closest to. I have the very best memories of her. I grew up spending lots and lots of time with her and my Grandpa, and then after he passed away, she moved from NJ to live with us in AZ. She's lived with my Mom and Dad ever since (I was 15 at the time), and I'm sure you can imagine what a part of our daily life and world she is. I can't imagine life without her.

So yes, life is both good and bad at this current moment, as life usually is. A little of both. It's interesting to me to be caught in this place right now, to have one hand on the pulse of an end of a beautiful life, and another bringing someone into this world. Right in the middle. Charlie is due to arrive in a little over 6 weeks and as the weeks fly by I can only think of how times in my life I'll ever be here again. Never ever. So this is it, the one time my 2 and 1/2 year son will be this age as I am getting ready to have our second child, as Hank and I stay up all night talking about life and dreams and our goals, the time in our life when it feels like everything is beginning, even though we've been going for quite some time. Do you ever feel like that, like the phase you're in is a BIG thing, even though it feels so normal? I want to remember this for always.