The Crew. A special thanks to Corey Perry for the autograph and for winning The Gold!
#1 Chandy's Story - Career vs Living Life
My name is Chandy and I am a 40 year old woman (I cannot believe I am 40!) Time goes by so quickly it seems like just yesterday when I was 20. I am a mother of 4 children, a business woman and a horse farmer.
I have learned so much during my 40 years of life. However, I believe the most important thing I have learned is to be honest with yourself and others around you. I have not always been honest with myself and others and this has caused me a lot of pain. For instance, I usually put my needs behind other's needs or wants. I am learning at 40 how to put my needs first. I need to have a career that focuses on things that I am passionate about. During the time that I was graduating from high school the "rumours" floating around were if you did not go to University and study science or engineering than you would probably not get a job after University because those were the only fields that were "supposedly" hiring. So I decided to go to University and study engineering. Engineering also ran in my family, my father is an engineer and also my Grandfather on my mother's side. The next years in University I learned the hard way that it was not my passion. I struggled through courses, failing some, it took me longer than some of the other students to get through the engineering courses but I did because I was too stubborn to quit.
Now, 20 years later I am giving advice to my two step daughters to think about careers in areas that they are passionate about. My oldest step daughter is currently studying concurrent education at University. She loves children and therefore she is in a course that combines a bachelor of arts degree with teacher's college so that she can teach children when she graduates. My step daughter is doing incredibly well in her courses because she is studying and working hard and also because she is in a field she enjoys. Some people say there are not many teaching jobs available but I told my step daughter to study what she enjoys and she will find a job in her field if she is driven enough to look hard for one. For instance, she might have to teach in another country or in another province but the world needs good teachers and if teaching is really what she wants to do she will find a job. It might not pay a lot of money but money is not everything and that is another story I could ramble on about for hours! It seems to me that my generation is wrapped around this crazy idea that money = happiness. Not true. I know from experience. If you want happiness pursue your passions in life, in other words figure out how to make a career out of your hobbies.
My current plan is to set up a mentoring program where students and possibly others that are looking for careers can follow people in their jobs to see for themselves what a particular career would be like for a day or even a week. Hopefully this will help people to decide if a certain career path is still something they would like to do. For an example, a person could follow me in my job as a business woman to find out some of the different tasks I do during the day and I would talk to the person to explain the parts of the job I enjoy and the parts that I struggle with. My goal with this project is to hopefully set people in the right direction so they will be happy in their career because I believe happier people do better jobs and in the end we all benefit from a happier world!
#2 Bono - 98% of the World's Population believes in God
- “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before Me.
- “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My Commandments.
- “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.
- “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.
- “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you.
- “You shall not murder.
- “You shall not commit adultery.
- “You shall not steal.
- “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
- “You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's.”
NIKE says, "JUST DO IT!"
#3 United World Peace Day
All students and teachers unite to email, write, or call the United Nations and ask one question: Why can the council of the United Nations not agree to set borders for all countries which in turn would not give reason to anyone to go to war.
Troops could then be given jobs helping the poor, hungry, and those in poverty around the whole world. If the greater population of the world wants peace, then that's what the United Nations was formed for.
#4 Teaching Kids About Finances
Offer any child $100 to go with you for part of the day and tell them at the end of the day they will be able to buy themselves something, but with the $100 they have to pay for the same costs you would have for that day.
Start by going to the gas station and filling up for $40. Then offer them to go out for lunch and choose whatever they would like to eat. Next, make a quick stop at the supermarket, and pick up what you need and also offer them to grab a treat for themselves.
Now what's left to buy that "something"?
#5 Walter Gretzky Helps You Save a Life
Walter Gretzky national spokesperson for the Heart and Stroke Foundations give humourous and insightful video on how you can save a life. See the video
#6 Dr. Don McKenzie, Abreast in a Boat, 2009 Inspirational Honouree
#7 Sick Kids Hero, My Son, Jack's Dad
#8 A Rick Hansen Story of Courage
"Courage is being able to recognize and overcome fear or act in the face of danger, and to do so with dignity and integrity." - Rick Hansen
Click on the link above to view the image gallery
Rick Hansen is best known for completing an epic journey called the Man In Motion World Tour in 1987. But Rick wasn’t always the “Man in Motion,” and the Tour wasn’t his first difficult journey.
Born August 26, 1957 in Port Alberni, BC, Rick spent an active, but not untypical, childhood fishing, camping and playing ball: “If you could throw it, hit it, bounce it, chase it or run with it, I wanted to play it.” A natural athlete and a fierce competitor, he won all-star awards in five sports in high school. His first “big dream” was to represent Canada at the Olympics.
And then, at age 15, Rick and his best friend Don Alder made a fateful decision to hitchhike home after a weeklong fishing trip. They accepted the first ride that was offered, in the bed of a pickup truck. Sometime later, the truck skidded off a winding road and the boys were thrown out. Don walked away with a few cuts and bruises; Rick would never walk again.
But a shattered spine is not a shattered spirit. After seven months in recovery and rehab in Vancouver, Rick returned to his parents’ home in Williams Lake determined to lead a rich, full life, and to make his life matter. He found ways to continue fishing and stay involved in sports. He didn’t know then that Olympic medals lay in his future, or that he’d spark a sea of change in public attitudes toward people with disabilities. He just knew he was ready to make the most of every opportunity that came his way, and to create opportunities, for himself and others, wherever he saw a need.
In 1976, Rick enrolled in the University of British Columbia and became the first person with a disability to graduate with a Degree in Physical Education. He discovered wheelchair sports in his student years and quickly began amassing what would become a very long list of athletic achievements.
It was at university that Rick met another future Canadian hero, Terry Fox. Rick invited Terry to play wheelchair basketball while Terry was still undergoing chemotherapy. The two became close friends through training, competing, traveling and dreaming together. Terry shared Rick’s passion for sports as well as his commitment to making a difference.
Years later, when Rick departed on the Tour, the Fox family would give him small statue of Terry. It was the only item that Rick kept with him for inspiration throughout the whole journey and today remains proudly displayed in Rick’s office.
#9 Faith in Helping Others = Charity
On the old Happy Days television show, Richie Cunningham had just been "grounded for life" by his father, Howard, for misbehaviour. As they talked about it, Howard asked his son, "Did you know that there is a lesson in this for your?" Richies' response was priceless: "I figured anything with this much pain had to have a lesson in it somewhere."
In one of the most practical books in the New Testament, James wrote these words: "My brethern, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing".
James' point is simple - God doesn't waste anything! Everything happens in our lives for a reason, and a great part of that reason is to help us grow in our faith.
It has been said that life has to be lived in a forward motion but can only be understood by looking back. This demands that we trust in the loving purposes of a sovereign God. We must trust that He is in control - especially when life seems to be out of control.
#10 Faith in Helping Others = Charity
On the old Happy Days television show, Richie Cunningham had just been "grounded for life" by his father, Howard, for misbehaviour. As they talked about it, Howard asked his son, "Did you know that there is a lesson in this for your?" Richies' response was priceless: "I figured anything with this much pain had to have a lesson in it somewhere."
In one of the most practical books in the New Testament, James wrote these words: "My brethern, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing".
James' point is simple - God doesn't waste anything! Everything happens in our lives for a reason, and a great part of that reason is to help us grow in our faith.
It has been said that life has to be lived in a forward motion but can only be understood by looking back. This demands that we trust in the loving purposes of a sovereign God. We must trust that He is in control - especially when life seems to be out of control.
#11 Ways to Start a Fund Raiser
Fund raising is not difficult and your ideas do not need to be elaborate.
If you are interested in fund raising, you need to believe in what you are doing and who you are doing it for.
In my case, I had 2 brothers who passed away from Muscular Dystrophy and decided to raise money to help find a cure, by swimming across Rice Lake, ON.
You do not have to do something as big. You can start small with a car wash, bake sale, walk ,biking, etc ... anything you feel you can do.
The good new is, if you have Determination - Willingness to work hard - A real desire to help your cause - and Perseverance - then you already have the ground work for success.
The first step is to approach the organization you would like to support and discuss your fundraising idea. They will help you plan the necessary steps to put it into action. Set you goal as to how much you would like to raise, but be realistic so you aren't dissapointed. Your next step is to get friends, family and others you may have contact with - coaches, teachers, your parents friends, to help out and support you in any way.
Use your contacts and advertise wherever you can - posters, facebook, radio, local business ...
... Good luck!
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