Thank goodness I’m feeling much more like myself today! The bees are no longer in my stomach…and dark chocolate is no longer on my wish list! Thanks for all of your messages hoping for my swift recovery from my cacao-heavy poisoning. Now, on to today’s topic.

So, the other day, my friend Jean sent me this event invitation on Facebook. The event is Denise Heller’s 15 Can Challenge. The rules for this challenge are simple and completely doable:

1. Every week when you do your grocery shopping, purchase one extra item. It could be canned food or something else non-perishable.
2. Collect one item each week for the next fifteen weeks.
3. Drop them off at the charity of your choice during the first week in December.
4. Invite as many of your friends as you can.

Of course, you know that I invited every Facebook friend I have who hadn’t already been invited! So far, 20 of them have said that they will participate. 🙂 Add in Jean and me, and that’s 330 cans of food – just from my little world. As I write this, there are over 283,000 people around the world who have committed to participating. That’s well over four million cans of food. That can certainly have an impact on our communities!

Now, that’s not to say that only 20 of my friends are helping others during the holidays. That is to say only that 20 of them are participating in this particular event. Many cook meals for specific families they know. Others pick a family to provide food and gifts for Christmas. Still others have exchanged exchanging gifts amongst themselves for providing for the elderly or giving to charities like Heifer International. One little guy i know asks for donations of pet food for the local shelter. (He’s five and makes me feel like a total schlub.) There are more ways to give than I’ve even considered!

We hear so often of the evil in the world – the darkness. There are myriad ways to be a single point of light and there are so many of us that, should we choose to do so, we can push the darkness back….at least for some…at least for awhile.

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.
-Margaret Mead