The holiday season is in full swing and, during this special time of the year, it is so important to embrace the full meaning of the holidays. While many get caught up in giving and receiving presents, others are treasuring the things that really matter in life like family and loved ones. These support systems become especially important for families with children who are battling pediatric cancer. Tackle Kids Cancer provides an opportunity to make a difference in the lives of children with cancer. It is a way for a child to help another child, and families to help other families. Unfortunately, only 4% of government cancer funding directed towards pediatric cancer, and childhood cancer being the number one cause of death by disease in children – funding in all forms is crucial. Those of you who are long-time followers of this blog know that as a Leukemia Survivor, advancing cancer research is very important to me. As a mother, my heart bleeds for these families … [Read more...]
Help Children With Cancer This Holiday Season! #tacklekidscancer @tacklekidscancr #Ad
Let’s Make New York Tobacco Free! #SeenEnoughTobacco @TobaccoFreeNYS #Ad
My grandmother died of lung cancer. She was a cigarette smoker for over thirty years and smoking ultimately killed her. It was horrible to watch her suffer as she struggled to breathe during her final days. You would think that this experience would have been enough of a deterrent for me to avoid smoking at any cost, but it wasn't. One day, a friend in college passed me a cigarette and it began my addiction to a dangerous habit. I smoked on an off for about eight years and finally quit, cold-turkey, in 2007. It was definitely a difficult habit to kick but, I am proud to say that I have not smoked a cigarette in almost ten years. Due to my experiences with tobacco, I am constantly warning my high school students about the dangers of smoking. Unfortunately, the tobacco industry spends billions of dollars on promotions, in places where children can see them. They promote cigarettes and smokeless tobacco to young people and funnel a lot of that money into advertising that … [Read more...]
Best Way To Volunteer This Holiday Season
Volunteering around the holiday season is exciting. You get to help people in need and feel good about what you’re doing. Getting out there and volunteering is always better than sitting back and doing nothing. If you’re looking at volunteering this holiday season, these are the best ways (in my humble opinion). 1. Local soup kitchen When you don’t know where to spend your time volunteering, your local soup kitchen is always a good start. Soup kitchens always need help and volunteers. Spend some time here this holiday season and watch your perspective change. If you would rather not work in the soup kitchen, it takes a lot to make a homeless shelter run. There are many different volunteering options. Make sure you choose something that you will love doing, this will give you the opportunity to keep coming back for more. 2. Do what you can There isn’t someone out there measuring how much you give or volunteer this holiday season. The best way to volunteer is to do what you … [Read more...]
Meet Nyahok – A Child In South Sudan #SouthSudan @CARE #Ad
When my two sons were five years-old, they were in Kindergarten learning how to read and writing their names on everything they could get their hands on. It was a magical time of curiosity and learning how to be a little more independent while still depending on mommy for quite a bit. South Sudan will be turning 5 on July 9th, 2016 and, as the world's youngest country, upon its founding people were full of promise and hope. Unfortunately, this hope quickly vanished in 2013 when armed conflict wreaked havoc on the region. Children who currently reside in South Sudan and are five years-old, have no recollection whatsoever of anything but war. Since the war broke out, 2.3 million South Sudanese have been forced from their homes into an uncertain future. That’s 1/5 of the country which means that 5.1 million people, nearly half the country, are in need of urgent humanitarian assistance. CARE is a leading humanitarian … [Read more...]
Celebrate A Decade Of Good Together! #CelebrateGood #ATTInfluencer @ATT #Ad
Today was a wonderful day at the school where I am a teacher. We had Career Day and our students had the opportunity to meet various professionals from different fields and interact with them by asking questions and listening to their stories. I was proud to be a part of it because it is a wonderful way to broaden the horizons of these kids while giving back to the community. As an educator, I stand behind any initiative or brand that makes it a priority to pay it forward once they achieve a certain level of success. AT&T supports TOMS in celebrating a decade of good together that has resulted in TOMS distributing more than 60 million pairs of shoes to children in need. AT&T has been with TOMS since the beginning of the company and is thrilled to celebrate its 10-year anniversary with Blake Mycoskie and his team. I have personally been a customer of AT&T for over ten years and it makes … [Read more...]
We Are Dedicated To Being A Close Family! #LatinosConDedicacion @HBOatsLatino #cbias #ad
This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #LatinosConDedicacion #CollectiveBias Have you ever had one of those weeks where you wish you could have a do-over? That is exactly what it has felt like since this week started. Between mixups in basketball game schedules, trying to get over a bad cold and keeping up with the house I don't know whether I'm coming or going. One thing that is always foremost in my mind is my dedication to making sure that I fit in some quality time with my boys whenever possible. When our weekdays are busy like this, I have to get a little more creative. Believe it or not, there are so many ways that you could spend time with your kids. Something as simple as a trip to the grocery store can turn into a fun time sharing laughs and enjoying each other's company. As a Latino family, what matters to us that we are together and we are … [Read more...]
How Did You Shine It Forward This Monday? #MondaysForGood @JimmyDean #Ad
Let's face it, Mondays are never any fun for anyone and we often spend the entire day lamenting over the fact that the weekend wasn't long enough. Today was a particularly long Monday because of Daylight Savings Time this past Sunday when we set the clocks back one whole hour. All of that just equalled an even longer beginning of the work week and it was hard to keep the momentum going at the job today. It became quickly apparent this morning that I had to do something drastic to get this week off to the right start. After all, whatever tone you set on Monday tends to follow you throughout the entire week. Suddenly, it came to me and I realized that the best way to not let Monday get the best of me was by "shining it forward" and making this day matter by doing something nice for another person. Yes, I know, it's a great idea but I cannot take the credit for it. You see, Jimmy Dean is … [Read more...]
Every Baby Is Born To Do Something Special! #imbornto #MoDSquad @MarchofDimes #Ad
I'm very excited and proud to share with you all that I have been selected, along with 39 other moms across the country, to represent March of Dimes in the #ImBornTo campaign. That number was chosen to represent the number of weeks in a full-term pregnancy. They call us the MoDSquad and we are here to celebrate all of the moms and dads who keep babies healthy and safe, before and after birth. During my second pregnancy, I started having contractions at 34 weeks and my son was in real danger of being born early. Every week, I had to go into the hospital to receive IV fluids in order to stop my contractions and keep me from going into labor early. I was very afraid because I knew that babies born prematurely are at risk for developmental delays and medical problems. Thankfully, the medical interventions worked and I was able to hold off giving birth until 38 weeks and had a healthy baby boy. March of Dimes believes that every baby is born to do something special and … [Read more...]
Help Walmart Fight Hunger And Spark Change! #WeSparkChange #SHOP2GIVE @Walmart #Sponsored
According to the USDA, 1 in 6 Americans may struggle with hunger. That is a sobering thought considering that many of these Americans who are hungry are children. As an educator, I have seen first-hand how devastating poverty and not having enough to eat can be for families. There have been many times when I have had to deliver groceries to the needy families of my students or even send students down to the nurse because they did not have enough to eat for breakfast and could not function in class because they were so famished. Walmart recognizes that it is time to fight hunger and has partnered with some of our favorite food brands to help feed America 75 million meals to Feeding America Food Banks nationwide. As a Fight Hunger Ambassador, I am proud to join the movement to put food on the tables of those who need it across this country. From April 6th to May 3rd, when you buy a specially marked item at Walmart, you help secure one meal on behalf of local … [Read more...]
Do You Know What To Do If Your Child Has A Seizure? #EpilepsyAwareness #DareTo
On August 20th of this year, my eight year old son had a seizure. I've been an educator for almost fifteen years and dealt with many emergency situations involving children during my career. However, nothing could have prepared me for how scary it was to witness my own son having a seizure and knowing that there was nothing that I could do to stop it. The night before, both of our sons had camped out in the living room and stayed up late. As a result, we all slept in the following morning. Sometime around noon, my husband and my older son left to run some errands and my younger son came over to where I was working on my laptop to tell me he had a headache. Since he never complains of headaches, I asked him to describe where the pain was and he told me he just wanted to lay down and take a nap. His request did not surprise me because I knew he had stayed up late with his older brother the night before and he was probably tired. Once he laid down next to me, I … [Read more...]
