We've finally arrived!

For years, our family has been trying to figure out how to live a simple life that enables us to make donations to charitable organizations. My husband graduated from college with a bachelor's in science and went straight to work as a mechanical engineer. I graduated from college with a bachelor's in music education and went straight to work as a teacher (soon after, I changed directions and started working at a vet clinic). We've moved together all over the United States; from Arizona to South Carolina; from South Carolina to California; and from California to Oregon. Our small family of three has just arrived in Salem. It seems like we've always wanted to be charitable but before now, we hadn't found the lifestyle that would allow us to do so.

In South Carolina, I went to school to become a massage therapist and opened up my own business. Before long, just as my business was picking up, we decided to head back to the west. Nonetheless, I remained a licensed massage therapist. I am moved to continue giving massage because it calms me and I know I am helping somebody feel better by the end of the session. In a discussion yesterday with my mom and and my husband we brainstormed a way for me to design a non-profit organization based off of massage. The main goal is to be able to send all the profits (all cash left over monthly or bimonthly after sustaining my family) to charitable organizations affiliated with the movement to end world hunger and poverty. In addition, we will set up a tent at a host site for free massage once a week and accept donations to a specified "charity of the week". One hundred percent of the donations that the non-profit organization accrues during these volunteer massage hours will go directly to the charity of the week. It is so exciting to have come up with a plan to make a difference. I'm thrilled! For once, we feel like our family is headed the best direction.

I'll tell you a story of when I really realized I wanted to change my lifestyle the most. This happened when Matt, Kaya and I left our Sacramento home to go and volunteer on a farm in Holiday Island, Arkansas.  The farm was ten miles outside of Eureka Springs, where a quaint little library kept us entertained.  We checked out several books during our short stay in Arkansas, one of which was called Living Simply with Children, written by Marie Sherlock. I loved the book for the most part. Well, one night, after getting into bed somewhat hungry even though I had already had a sufficient dinner, I spoke to Matt about how I was STARVING. The group of people we stayed with volunteering on the farm had cooked dinner, but not enough of it to fill us up. I told Matt I was dying for a cheeseburger or a giant pizza. I felt without. Sulking, I opened up my book and picked up reading where I had left off a few minutes earlier.  Just then, I read about a man who traveled to Africa and he had described what he saw of the life for many in Ethiopia. He passed a home where a woman whose child died a few days ago of starvation. As he passed, he saw the woman holding, rocking, and consoling her newest child in her arms, probably about to die of hunger, while just a few feet away from her was another of her children laying still, wrapped in a cloth that would most likely become its burial shroud. I then learned that at the time the book was copyrighted, in 2003, statistics showed that nearly fifteen million children a year in Africa die of starvation. I stopped reading at that moment because I had to tell Matt what I had just read. It wasn't news to me that people die of hunger in other parts of the world in mass numbers, but I had ignored the issue for many years. All the while, the problem still remains. This time, remembering the devastating facts, I'm going to take action. A while ago, somewhere between being a young teen and growing up, I decided to forget about anyone else's needs other than mine. I cried hard the night that I read about this man's experience in Africa. I internalized his experience as if it were my own and chose to finally give notice to the other people in the world. The travesty in developing worlds is so painful and unbelievable that it seems impossible to make a difference, especially from outside the country. But it's not impossible. With love and hope, we can make a big difference as individuals and as nations. As of now, I hardly make any money (compared to the average American, but compared to developing worlds I'm filthy rich). Yet, that's not going to stop me from taking what little extra money I can make and giving it to people who most certainly need it more than I do.

Thus, with the brainstorming help of my mom and my husband, I am starting a non-profit organization called Knead For Change with the tagline "Massage for Awareness". Knead For Change; as in massage for cash; a need for global change; and a need for an individual to change and gain physical and mental well-being through the benefits of massage. I'm giddy about the play on words in the title. I've always been a bit of a cheese, what can I say?