DAY 14: RANSOM CAFE

We are at the 2 week mark! I have just had the best time researching the needs of our area and talking with people! I am also exciting about those of you who have contacted me with donations. Please keep spreading  the word and giving. It takes so little to bless so much! That is just how God works. He's cool like that.

Today I am featuring a great organization called Ransom Cafe`  

It had me at Cafe`. I do love to go out to eat. As a mom it just tickles me to have someone else refill my ice tea. I am a great tipper because  basically getting my tea refilled is a spa day for me. So with food and drink in mind get into your kitchen. The most used room in your house. Time to start going through drawers and cabinets and that pantry!!  I have got a place for you that needs your grits and at least one of your 4 cheese graters. The Ransom Cafe` all about service. Service to others in need. 
The Armbruster family that runs Ransom does so with their whole heart.

The Armbruster Family

Check out the blog post here to understand how deep their affection runs for others. Ransom Café offers multiple locations throughout Baldwin and Mobile counties and operates like a restaurant but with no set menus or set prices. They have  an ever changing menu dependent on donations and foods that are able to be purchased at little to no cost. 

Ransom believes some can pay more and some may not be able to pay as much and if someone can’t afford to donate monetarily, then they can donate their time or products, or produce to be used in the preparation of the meals.  Therefore promoting  the ideal of a hand up not a hand out. They are open for lunch 11 am until 2 pm and the second Friday night of each month for dinner using theme and guest chef nights. A complete list of locations with hours of operation can be found on the home page. 

 Ransom Café  desire is to give to the community, by not only providing a basic need, but also  a mentoring program to help people learn valuable skills in order to obtain and keep employment. Cooking classes are offered for all ages and backgrounds. They also oversee two community gardens and operate The Clean Machine, a portable laundry , shower and restroom facility.  The regular needs of Ransom Cafe` are listed here and at the end of the month I will be donating my extra kitchen equipment along with fresh food items that are needed. When I head that way I will let you know. In the meantime I am going to check out the volunteer opportunities for me and my family. It is a great place to get all members of your family involved in serving others.

So with that motivation in mind, head to that kitchen and tackle it one drawer at a time. Putting just 15 minutes a day away to de clutter and moving as fast as you can in that time will produce enormous results of freeing yourself from the bondage of "stuff" and blessing it forward.

Now go,  you have important work to do!!!

DAY 10: SOUTHERN SPIRIT

It’s Thursday!! Yeah.  I know so many of you are posting your throw back Thursday pics. Many of them are before digital days and the backgrounds are filled with “life”, which is code for “all the messes before cropping came along”. Speaking of throw backs and messes, I’ve got a perfect challenge to intertwine both. 

We are still working in those really “off” limits to the public places in our homes, pulling out things from the laundry room and the garage. Yes the garage that place that was built to house your vehicles but instead provides a residence for everything you ever purchased but don’t know what to do with.  I need you to get in there and go through that pile of sports equipment.  It should be easier now that you have pulled out those old bikes, leftover dog food and various art objects.  I want you to dig deep for softball gloves, bats and balls.  

We start ‘em young at the Hill house so we have just about every size glove, cleat, ball, bat and face mask you can imagine.  Our youngest is now taller than me, so it is safe to let it all go and give it to Southern Spirit.

 

Southern Spirit is  a non-profit, amateur youth sports organization that provides elite level training to athletes of all backgrounds and abilities.  Believing that every athlete should  have  the opportunity to fulfill their dreams on and off the field, the organization offers free coaching and training services to area high schools and city leagues. The Hill girls have worked with Southern Spirit coaches and they are a top notch set of professionals with passion to give all athletes a great future. Often times an athlete or area does not have the necessary equipment to develop their God given abilities. This is where you and I come in.

Gloves and catcher’s gear are the most need items.  No matter how old or beat up your gloves are they can be refurbished to almost new.  According to head coach Coby Makin  “We can take the worst shape glove, strip it down to the laces and recreate a great piece of equipment for an athlete that might not have access to any.”  Southern Spirit will host area camps in June where refurbished equipment will be given away.  Collecting everything by the end of April will be perfect timing to rework the equipment in time for the camps. Check out your inventory.  I bet you have a few throwbacks in your mess that you can donate.  Pass this on to any coaches or players  and check out Southern Spirit at

www.trainatthefieldhouse.com

 

Or their FB page: Southern Spirit

Let me know if you need a pick up

Alison Hill

251-463-3511

alison_hill@bellsouth.net

DAY 9: FAMILY PROMISEo

I can't believe it is day 9 already.  I have talked to some really great people that run great organizations. I have received some great donations and am scheduled to pick more up soon!

As I am cleaning out my home and researching the needs of my local area I realize that the very act of walking through my house and gathering my possessions to give away  is a reality that many in our community do not have.  I was shocked to learn that over half of the homeless are women and children and that families are the fastest growing segment of the homeless population.

 The Baldwin County School System counted 642 homeless school age children last year.  This was a shock to me, The homeless are our neighbors and there are many wonderful ways to help them. 

Family Promise , an Interfaith Hospitality Network, has  a community response to the issue of homelessness in Baldwin County, specifically homeless families with children. Working with local

churches, Family Promise provide over night lodging, meals and hospitality to assist families in regaining their housing, their independence and their dignity.  More host churches are needed. Please consider speaking to your pastor or board about being involved.  Participation doesn't require the pastor to take anything on but rather a coordinator from the  members to help organize the use of the church facilities. 

When I called Family Promise to see what their most immediate need outside of host churches was I  was surprised at it's simplicity.  It's laundry detergent. Families have an opportunity to wash their clothing while lodging and laundry detergent is in great demand.  How easy and yet how effective.  We all want to be dressed in fresh clean clothes. 

 Got any leftover laundry detergent that the kids didn't like? Hubby couldn't handle the Lavender scented gain. I've got a perfect place for that. Next time your at Target, Publix or Sam's buy an extra.

One for your family one for another family. Counponers take this on as a challenge! How many free laundry detergents can you donate this week?  As always I'll be glad to pick it up (even if it's the Sam's 50 pounder)  

Together we can do this.

Ready, Set, Bless!

Check out Family Promise to donate, tell you church about or even help a family register for help

at www.familypromisebc.org .

They are located at 20511 County Road 36 Summerdale, AL  251-947-5641

You know how to find me

Alison Hill

251-463-3511

alison_hill@bellsouth.net

Share and comment please

DAY ONE : QUILTS OF COMFORT

Here we go.  Here is  this week line up and today's featured charity.

1. Quilts of Comfort: Material, Thread and Batting

2. Under His Wings: Beads and Broken Jewelry

3. Revive Ecuador: Sports Uniform Shirts

4. The Ridden Word: Old Bicycles and Soup

5. Uniform Closet: Girls School Uniforms

6. Emily's Closet: Prom and long formals

7. Ransom Cafe:  Food items (details to follow)

Today's Challenge:

Calling all crafters, moms and Pintrest addicts

Get into your craft closet or laundry room, find all the extra sewing material, thread, and batting and gather it up for  Quilts of Comfort.

Let's face it nothing is getting done here.
Time to bless it forward.

Quilts for Comfort provides quilts for ill or hospitalized children. It was started 15 years ago by SF Family and Consumer Science teacher, Joni Ojard.

This year is especially important  as the project celebrates Mrs. Ojars' successful liver transplant.

Read about Joni's journey here


You know all those "good intention" projects you had planned?
All those sweet baby dresses you were going to make and curtains you were going to sew?
Well the baby is now 16 and your curtain pattern is a decade old.

It is time to FREE yourself
Give it up , move on, and give it to  Quilts of Comfort.
Bless someone with fabric and free yourself from guilt!
All at once!!!

You didn't waste money. You payed it forward!!!

Now go !  Grab those cottons, silks, and chiffon
Dig for those spools of thread and pieces of batting. Gather it all up and give me a call or drop  it at Spanish Fort High School by FRIDAY

If you really can't bear to let it out of your hands  then bring it Saturday as you volunteer to help assemble the quilts.

That way can honestly say that you made that project!!!

You can get a hold of me in one of these ways:

Phone/Text   251-463-3511
email: alison_hill@bellsouth.net
Facebook: Alison Lauer Hill
Address: 7371 Saluda Blvd

Let me know in the comments if you donated.  I  would love to hear about it.

Wise Decisions

Day 29

Do it's day 2 of snow/ice pocolypse here on the Gulf Coast.  Yes that the Gulf as in  

Gulf of Mexico; and snow and ice should never actually ever be in the same sentence as " Gulf" or " Coast" and yet 

Here we are. 

So I am super grateful to my school district and superintendent for making a wise decision to cancel school on Wed and saving us the headache and dangerous that some other southern cities faced ( AKA Hotlanta) 

We aren't prepared for this type of weather anymore than the northern states are prepared for hurricanes . 

We use salt on our margaritas round here not our roads! 

So a big thank you to Baldwin County School system !! And since it happens to be school board appreciation month here 

I am writing my email to the board and especially to my district representative Shannon Cauley for the great job she is doing. 

Enjoyed my snow days with the family : safe , sound and fun. 

If your in my district log on to 

www. Bcbe.org and give them a big ole southern thank you . I am sure they would also accept pie.