What T-Day has done to my house

I had to send Jean (our T-Day Director) an e-mail this morning as to what T-Day is doing in our house so I thought I would also share it with you, here it goes:

Jean,

I thought you may want to know your bug is catching onto everyone in our house. The best way to tell this story would be in monologue style, so here goes.

First let me introduce you to everyone. My name is Jacki Varacalli and I work with TWCCTW/MPM (I think we all knew that), my husband’s name is Mark and our 7 year old daughter is Zoe. My 3 year old son’s name is Brandon but because most of his input was “Yeah, ok” or “Let’s do it” I have decided to leave him out of it but just know that he is all about this too.

Sunday morning Zoe came up from the basement with a toy cash register in hand and her brother running behind her.

Zoe: Look Daddy, I’m collecting money for people that don’t have homes!

Mark: That’s a great idea Zoe.

Zoe went running up to me; her mom and pushed the button to open the drawer on the cash register, as she did there was money sticking out every where, coins and paper money both.

Jacki: Zoe why don’t you put your money away so you don’t lose it.

Zoe: No, I’m giving it to people that don’t have a home!

Mark: It’s just the money from the kid’s bank down stairs.

Jacki: No it’s not, that’s her money from her birthdays, chores and even the tooth fairy too.

Zoe: But mom… I want to give it to the people that don’t have a home!

Jacki: I think it’s a great idea Zoe and very kind of you.

That afternoon she started doing the dishes.

Zoe: I’m doing chores so I can earn more money for the homeless, I don’t want points, I want money for this.

We have a points system so the kids earn points to get things they want including TV time, computer time, special outings and extras.

Mark: Since you are doing this for a cause I think you can earn points and money for doing these chores.

Jacki: I think that’s a great idea and I will match everything she earns and donate it to her cause.

The next day Zoe came home from school very excited.

Zoe: Mom, Nicholas is going to help me collect money! He is going to start doing chores so he can get money to give to the people that don’t have homes.

This brought on a very long conversation about how we can send out fliers to her classmates to let them know what she is doing and how she can do this for her own T-Day project. She was involved in the school grounds clean up for this month’s T-Day project so she was very excited to do this on her own; she has always been very grown up. It then turned into how we can have the children that raise the money take it to the shelter on Sat. 4/4. Then she decided when she grows up she would like to start a shelter of her own so that no one ever has to sleep outside again. This is something that has bothered her since we were walking around DC when she was 3 and said “Mommy, why is that man sleeping on the side walk?” Since that day we have planned to do a Habitat for Humanity project as soon as she turns 16(the minimum build age).

I am so thankful to TWCCTW, we were fortunate enough to host the SIFA choir children and we were able to be involved in their entire US trip by following their journey through their blog. I think a lot of the conversations that came from that and now T-Day are ones children usually don’t have until they are much older and less selfish. My husband and I volunteer with a group of friends and family every year for the National MS Society so the practice of giving back is nothing new to our family but to have my 7 year old start her own T-Day project made me so proud. Way to go Zoe!

Jean, we now have 2 projects scheduled for the April T-Day and I will let you know how both go. Thank you for making T-Day a reality, I can already see how it is going to spread so widely and that many changes are about to happen.

Jacki Varacalli

Setting SMART Goals

Last night's Coaching Call was a great one. Eleanor Norton and I talked about setting SMART Goals you can see more on Eleanor's website at www.eleanornorton.com. We got to work with the members directly that wanted to set their goals to build their business and in most cases support an NPO.

I would like to thank all of you that were able to participate and for those we didn't get to because we ran out of time, please join us next Wed. so we can help you set your SMART Goals.

To join us on the show you can call to participate in or log into to hear the call. If you log in through your computer with a headset and mic you can also take part in the conversation, please see the instructions on the Blog Talk Radio site. We did find out last night that if we go over the hour we have set up then you will not be able to hear the end on line or call into the show after 60 min is up. If you are on the call before then you will be able to continue in the conversation. Now that I know I will give you all a warning a few min before the hour is up.

Call in (646) 727-2682

Or, listen in on the Internet!

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/TWCCTWRadio


Monday 5 PM PST
Tuesday 10 AM PST
Wednesday 5 PM PST
Thursday 10 AM PST

If you were unable to make the call last night please go to the above web-site and download the podcast as it something you don't want to miss.

Thank you Eleanor for such a great call and I look forward to having you back next week.