St. Martin

Friday afternoon lunch

I think it is important to have friends that are better people than you are. It challenges you to be better (or just makes you feel really bad about yourself...) and to give more. My friend Amber volunteers at St. Martin Community Center in Marion where her mom (bless her wonderful heart) is the director. I was having a particularly bad day at work on Friday and needed an attitude adjustment. I knew Amber was volunteering so I texted her to let her know I was struggling and needed help getting things back into perspective. She sent me the photo above with a caption reading, "One attitude adjustment coming right up. Tons of hungry people who have no food and live in Marion's abandoned houses without running water or heat." It was exactly what I needed and I'm glad she was there to help me just as much as she was helping others.

Too often tax managers at universities we get caught up in our little work issues and forget that someone else has REAL issues like where are they going to sleep and how they will secure dinner for themselves and their families. I needed to know that just because I was working really hard I was not entitled to self pity. I will be writing a check to St. Martin to help with their cause and hope that you'll consider doing the same. You can visit their website at: http://www.saintmartincenter.com and rest assured that, as a 501(c)(3) organization, any donation to the center is tax deductible. (Do you like how I was able to use a little tax knowledge in a blog posting? That never happens!)

If you cannot give money, give time, give prayers, give whatever you can. I don't have an abundance of free time so I tend to give with my wallet. I do hope in the future to figure out a better solution to be able to give time and money and should just make it more of a priority.

Anyway, I'm very proud of my dear friend Amber. She really does help keep me sane and I'll love her forever for keeping up with such a monumental task.