All Faiths & The Postman — two of my favorite “things”

Tomorrow, Saturday, May 8, is the Letter Carriers Food Drive for All Faiths Food Bank. (more…)

Community Food Packing Day … this Saturday!

CLICK ON THE POSTER TO LEARN MORE!

More $$$ for All Faiths!

All Faiths Food Bank let me know today that even more MC Reality Reader donations have arrived at the food bank — an additional $120 has come in!

That brings this year’s drive total to $1,731! Thanks so much!

All Faiths “Thank you for contributing” drawing winners

As reported a few days ago, MC Reality readers — on this blog and in the Creative Loafing and Pelican Press newspapers — dug deep and donated $1,611 to All Faiths Food Bank in my third annual “MC Reality/All Faiths” fundraising drive.

Late yesterday I received a list of names of those contributors who wanted to be entered into the drawings — which were held today! Four names were selected and I’ve sent emails and a snail letter to those folks to offer them their choice of “thank you for contributing” give-aways — including a guest blog on MC Reality Online, copies of my book Sideways in Sarasota, or having me emcee an event, conduct a writing workshop, a free ad on my blog, or give a talk to a group or organization, within the Sarasota area.

Whether you wanted your name entered into the drawing or not — HUGE, BIG, GINORMOUS thank you for everyone’s contributions to this year’s drive!

MC Reality Readers Make a Real Difference this Thanksgiving!

“Wow!” That was the headline from the email I received from All Faiths Food Bank earlier today letting me know that as of about noon today, MC Reality readers — here at this blog, at the Pelican Press, and at Creative Loafing — dug deep into their already economy-affected wallets and pockets and still found room to send donations to the food bank to help those in need.

Amount raised? A fabulous $1,611.23!!!! Add that amount to the drives since 2007, and that means Reality Readers have donated an incredibly generous total of $10,484!

Want to know how many Thanksgiving dinners that amount could supply to families of four or five — including turkey and all the yummy trimmings? — 134!! One hundred and thirty-four!

Want to know how many individual meals that amount can buy for the hungry in our community now as a result of your generosity? — If I’m doing my math right — it’s a staggering 2,557 meals!

(All Faith’s website says 159 individual meals can be provided with just $100, so I extrapolated from that; someone correct me if my math is wrong — hey, I’m a writer, not a math genius!.)

They haven’t had time to get the names to me for the drawing, but believe me, as soon as they do — I’ll report the drawing results right here at MC Reality online!

I don’t know how to thank you all — each and every one of you — for pitching in for the third year in a row to this little drive of mine. A couple of people have said to me “Oh, wow, you did a great job with the drive this year!” But I know it wasn’t me — it was all of you … making a difference.

Thank you.

All Faiths donations up to $571 as of last night!

Whoo hoo! So far, we’ve raised nearly six hundred dollars for All Faiths Food Bank in the MC Reality drive 2009! On the All Faiths website it says that $500 will provide 794 meals — so that means we’re easily helping to give at least that many meals to the hungry men, women, and children of our community. Or, if you think of it in terms of Thanksgiving dinners (including turkey, stuffing and all the usual trimmings!) for entire families — well, our collective $571 will provide nearly 50 Thanksgiving dinners!

THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH! (more…)

Sarasota (and beyond) feeding the hungry — All Faiths Update!

All Faiths Food Bank let me know today that three REALITY readers have already donated $160 in the MC Reality Readers annual All Faiths fundraising drive to feed the hungry. Donations have come from as far away as Phoenix, Arizona! Big thanks to both local and far-flung readers!

That $160 will provide 93 meals, according to All Faiths — can you believe that!?

At the request of one reader, I’ve decided to also offer another thank you gift to the mix — I’m adding a Guest Blog. So that’s another option for a thank you gift And I’m going to add one more drawing — so instead of the previous three names being drawn, there are now four chances to “win” a thank you of your choosing. As with the other thank yous, the guest blog will be subject to editing by me and I won’t run anything that’s off the charts (and yes, it’s solely up to my discretion). (more…)

Keeping the faith … for others who might be losing theirs

Last night, Friday night. I finished work around 9 p.m., and drove to Publix to grab a sandwich and some coffee for the morning. I picked out my few groceries — cat food, coffee, a sandwich, and got in line to pay.

The man in front of me was all smiles, but the slightly nervous kind. He was simply, but neatly, dressed in flip flops, shorts and a tee shirt. The cashier rang his single item up. He swiped his card. It was denied. (more…)

Aging extravagantly … birthday blog #3

Whoo hoo! My day just keeps getting better and better. I’m receiving an extravagant number of wonderful birthday messages from so many people. Call me goofy, but (more…)

All Faiths feedback … finally!

WOW! WOW! WOW!

Um, that’s kind of — almost — all I can say.

MC Reality Online readers dug deep, counted coin, wrote checks, and typed in credit card numbers to the tune of … $1,943 in collective donations to All Faiths Food Bank to help feed the hungry in our community. (more…)