Finding our place

I received a touching e-mail earlier this week from a follower of @FVsecretsanta and his #santaarmy. This young lady and her friend were asked in class to produce and present a video on Cyber Bullying. This video was creative and inspiriting from the two grade 8, 13yr old students  from the metro Vancouver area. After compiling a story board and creatively thinking through all ideas, Harmony Forseth and her friend Nikki took approximately 1 week to make the video.  After watching the video I immediately thanked harmony’s mother for raising such an amazing young woman who I know will do great things for her community as she finds her way in the future. I could not thank Nikki personally as she is not a twitter user but I hope that Harmony would thank her for us. Take the time to have a look at this video and make sure that you say thank you to @harmonyforseth and Nikki  for trying to make the world and the schools our children attend a safer place to be. http://animoto.com/play/41sUjbJ73iZK1cCKR1sv9Q

Everyone has a purpose in life and sometimes you find it right away, and sometimes it takes most of your life to know why you are here. Some are meant to be doctors, lawyers, politicians and some are bound for being some of the world’s support staff and helping bring awareness of social issues to attention, I believe that these two fine young ladies have found their purpose.

I must say that I am honored that people are stepping up and helping us with donations for the Disabled and mental Health BBQ that is quickly approaching in August. Each week I will post the names of the donors and make sure that they are recognized for their generosity in helping me reach my goal of 112 gifts. Please express your thanks to these people and let them know that giving back is noticed and appreciated.

Sunrise Toyota                            6 hats         @sunrise_toyota

Vancouver Canadians BB          4 tickets      @vancanadians

TELUS                                            Sunglasses   @telus

Choice Newz                                Female Jewlery @choiceznewz

Michelle                                        12 various gifts   @tartsntattoos

I would also like to send my heart felt sympathy’s to my twitter friend @bifnaked on the loss of her friend and companion @nicknaked . Animals are such an integral part of most of our lives and when we lose them, we lose a piece of our family and our heart. BIG HUGS and please keep **Beaming**

Have a fantastic week everyone, be kind to each other and smile at someone you don’t know, it may be the only one they see all day.

@fvsecretsanta

#must follows this week

@bobbywills @westopbullying @bifnaked @chrisgalius

My hopes and feelings

Mother Nature can be a nasty and unforgiving beast at times, what we need to remember is that she was here long before us and we are just tagging along for the ride. In a tweet that I had posted earlier in the week I had stated “The best of humanity shows up in the worst situations”. This tweet was inspired by the outpouring of support for the people in Oklahoma who have lost lives and everything that they own due to a tornado. The stories of bravery, heroism and the will to survive touched me deeply and I wanted to make sure that the thousands of people that helped and will continue to help are recognized for their efforts. From the rubble came amazing stories of survival and proof that positive thinking can work. Here is one of those stories http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvaCarPq2O8.

You have all heard it before “ all lesbians play rugby and look like men” all gay men are into putting up curtains and shopping for candles and potpourri” “ all blondes are dumb” “ all african americans eat chicken and watermelon” So much hate and racism in this world, it’s at times hard to watch the news or carry a conversation with some people. Stereotyping people can cause irreparable damage and needs to stop. NOH8 . I would also like to just say how disgusted with the actions of a couple of men in England this week. I have a very hard time understanding the HATE that is exploding all around our world right now. Boston, England, Syria, Iraq ………… and even in our own back yards. To all the people that practice some sort of religion in your lives,  I applaud your efforts to bridge the gap from here to the next life and beyond. For the people that like to blame all Muslims for the actions of a few, it is time that you educate yourselves to the Muslim religion. The Muslims for the most part are caring and peace loving people. I am not Muslim but I do take offense to the generalization on social media, news and TV when they state that a terrorist is Muslim, this paints the entire religion with the same brush. These people are RADICALS who happen to be Muslims. I do not want to get political as this is not a forum for that, also I am not educated enough on politics to speak on the subject but I can offer my feelings. “We should all become more educated on the atrocities of the world and focus our energy on understanding why the violence is happening and how WE as a people can find ways to stop it”.

Now that that is done, thank you for letting me air my feelings on that subject. I wanted to just speak on some positive news. Donations for the disabled and Mental Health BBQ are starting to come in and I am so full of gratitude to those who have come forward so far and to those that will in the future. This event is a special time on my calendar each year besides Christmas and milestones with Mrs. Santa and the kids; they obviously come first in my life. Currently the countdown is on 76 more donations to go !!! I know that we can do this Vancouver and the world. Once again items that we are looking for are simple

Shirts

Hats

Key chains

Costume jewelry

Soaps and bath products for the clients male and female, anything to do with personal hygiene.

Tickets to sporting events as some of our clients love to watch but have never had the opportunity to see a game live

Anything that companies or people can afford to give. I know that times are hard but as a Team we can make this happen. Here is a list of donors so far please follow them and thank them for their commitment to their communities and to the less fortunate that live among us.

@sunrise_toyota , @vancanadians , @angelasenger2 @tartsntattoos @choiceZnewZ @telus

Amazing people , I want to add more people to this list and show the world just how much you care

Thanks everyone , each RT you give for the cause brings us one step closer to creating 112 smiles all at once

Be kind to each other and be safe

@fvsecretsanta

SUMMER EVENT!!!!

Wow it’s almost here!!!! Summer, the nice hot weather has already teased us here in Vancouver over the past couple weeks. With the summer season comes the great news that we have gotten approval for this year’s BBQ for Mental health and for the disabled clients that we work with. I love being a part of this BBQ, all the people get to mingle with other members of their peer group, and we play games and have a great meal. In the past there would be maybe 2-3 prizes that were given out by door prize draw. It was great to see the faces of the winners but it also was tough as you could see the disappointment in others. Last year I made a bold move and was able to acquire enough donations through community generosity to have each one of the 50+ clients to get a giveaway and it made an incredible difference to the people involved , they all were able to leave happy and feel like winners. For example , because of the Kindness of the @team1040 radio station and @scottrintoul there was 2 persons with disabilities that were able to attend their first ever @BClions game. As a bonus for the guys I was able to connect with @bighill44 , @travislulay and the hall of famer to be @geroysimon and have them sign & personalize a team photo that was put into a frame  along with the ticket stubs. The guys still talk about the game today. I understand that those types of donations are rare and fantastic but it just goes to show how one personal kindness has made a lasting impression for people that would otherwise never get the chance to experience pro sports in a live setting.

This year may be a little bit more difficult as the population of our program has grown to 112 clients. I would love to be able to send them home from this BBQ with something they can call their own. As most of you know that read this post on a weekly basis I do not ask for much, just a kind word, respect for one another and to give back in your community when you have a chance. What I do need is your help, if you know of business or persons that want to promote community #GIVEBACK and are able to help in the form of donations of anything (except money, I do not want and will not except money donations) that could be used as a giveaway, just let them know of our BBQ and then let them decide if they would like to help.  Here is a list of some of the items from last year

Hats

Key chains

Tickets to a sporting event

Soaps and bath items for the female clients

Shirts

Pen sets

Tim Horton gift cards

Chocolates

As I stated previously I would truly love to send all the people attending home with some sort of item, please help to make a few members of our community #smile , they deserve all they can handle.

I have said that I would like to recognize a local community hero each week in my posts. This week I would like you all to meet “Michelle” , Michelle quietly goes behind the scenes and makes should that people who are hungry in her community have a meal in their belly’s and know that there are people in this world that care that they are here. Michelle is the epitome of What a Secret Santa is all about, amazing young woman making a difference. I thank you and I hope that you all follow her and thank her too @misslildvl. Here is her story, please share with EVERYONE http://t.co/upIhLMWkRI

I will Shoutout to all donators and encourage a positive Follow (great PR). When you see me post a donation that has come in I hope that you ReTweeT and help recognize the people, companies and sports teams that give back

Once again if you know anyone that can help with our BBQ or an amazing person like Michelle, promote them and let the world know that they care about their community and are mastering the art of #GIVEWHEREYOULIVE

Hope you will read share and follow @FVSecretSanta

First donation = 4 hats from @sunrise_toyota thank you !!