I Just Can't Help Myself

Since I was a little girl, I've been a philanthropist.  I remember the days when I use to ride my bike all over town collecting money for "Jerry's Kids"- MD. I begged my older brother to drive me to the tv station so I could put my money in the fish tank. It made me feel like I was making a difference. As a college students I took numerous trips to Mexico to teach kids in villages with no running water or electricity. This compelling drive to help others has followed me my whole life. It was this drive, that lead me down the path of writing. Age the age of 30, I decided to get a degree in Elementary Education---teaching children--you guessed it. While teaching fifth grade, I came across a video on youtube-The Invisible Children that changed my life forever.  The need to help the children of Uganda was a strong as the need I felt as a little girl to collect money for MD.  I had to tell their story. This was my very first manuscript. With such a touchy subject, it was very hard to tell the reality of thousands of children in Uganda. My 5th graders wrote books and sent them to Uganda through a nonprofit organization called Books of Hope.

The next year I moved down to 2nd grade. I needed a project...I just can't help myself. I  stumbled across another program that collect books to send to isolated villages in Alaska along the Iditarod trail-"Book on the Trail". My second graders saved their pennies and bought 27 books.  This year I saw a 20/20 special about the Lakota Indians in South Dakota...heartbreaking. I knew I had to do something.  I bought, and collected book donations to send to the children on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. I also crocheted 2 boxes of scarves and gloves to send to the school age children. I am not trying to toot my own horn. I just wanted you to get to know me and the passion behind the stories I write. Recently, the story of Kony, and LRA, has been in the news. It kindled up the passion of that first manuscript. I am currently working revising it- "The Wishing Star" which tries to tell the story of the invisible children of Uganda. Here is a sneak preview...

Mama lifted Takari up to the window. She slid down-her feet touched the ground.  She ran as fast as she could, never stopping until she reached the tall savanna grasses. She couldn’t breathe. Her head was spinning. She laid down on the ground and covered her eyes. She wanted to cry …but she didn’t want the soldiers to hear her.

Takari laid in the grass the entire night as quiet as mouse, too terrified to move. She was cold and afraid.  What if she never saw her family again?


Find your passion and write about it!