Finding My Way Back

The later part of the last year has been about finding my way back.   Now that we'd consolidated our life here in Reno, what next?   We continued to unpack boxes, organize the garage, and finalize arrangements of furniture.    We helped my sister-in-law settle into her new place as well when she moved here over the summer.  We joyfully hosted friends in our new home.   We enjoyed several fun packed trips to see the newest additions to our family in New York, Pennsylvania and Colorado .  

I did my best to find fresh produce here in Nevada so that I could continue to can.  The produce I found at farmers markets was raised in California and brought to farmers markets here.   Desperate for cucumbers to pickle, I bought some while in Colorado on a trip to see my family. 

I fly to Portland to celebrate India Partner's 40th year anniversary where I was reminded how great impact can be accomplished with small beginnings such as those of their founder who bought a truck load of rice for hungry people in India and then went on to found the India Partner's nonprofit.

Unfortunately, a couple of serious situations required a bunch of my time this Fall.   My brother was hospitalized and had a lengthy recovery. I was bitten badly by a dog requiring ongoing physical therapy to recover. 

My efforts to train for the California Freedom Challenge through the summer, and the challenges I faced in doing so, helped me face some personal choices.   In order to fully enjoy the life that was set before me here in Reno, I realize I needed to focus more on my health.  In September, after exploring the Ruby Mountains, I made a commitment to myself to make that change.  The success I achieved right away renewed my optimism, I've been told this is called the halo effect.  I realized that I was roughly back to where I had been roughly 6 years before when I'd participated in the Dressember campaign to fight human trafficking, so I decided to participate in Dressember again as a way to celebrate my accomplishment

All of this to say, that Feel The Joy of Giving was on the back burner the remainder of 2024.    I fulfilled my desire to help nonprofits through my participation in the GrapeVine, Reno Women For Good's giving circle leadership team.  I've been blown away by how simple and straight forward it has been to gather women together to support local organizations here in Reno.   

The combination of celebrating India Partners's 40th anniversary, the Reno Women For Good experience and my fundraising efforts for antihuman trafficking all fueled my optimism and helped find my way back to myself, to my passion to encourage people to make a habit of doing good.

It requires a lot of software development to fulfill the vision of the Feel The Joy of Giving's platform in addition to needing to register a nonprofit here in Reno.   I realized that by using the GrapeVine platform, it would be possible to build a community that can make immediate impact now.   So while I continue to work toward building a platform that enables individuals to track their intentions to do good in the world, I've created a giving circle on the GrapeVine platform, the Feel the Joy of Giving giving circle.

With the fires in Los Angeles raging and the many other needs we all regularly see around us, it's imperative to do what we can with what we have now.