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Netflix cannot churn new material out fast enough for me. Can you relate? A verydisrupted 2020 has me getting to know the overindulgent Me. I'm interacting with media with about as much discrimination and self-control as I would a cruiseline buffet. Which is to say, there is little rational thought, and zero moderation!
Continue reading "Netflix: Imagination Buffet" →You and Your Health
2020 in the Rearview
2020 - we've almost made it to the finish line, friends! What has this year offered you and yours? Has it been a year of loss? Healthy change? Whatever the past 12 months have been for us, individually, we have all been adapting-on-the-fly.
Continue reading "2020 in the Rearview" →Strong Family, Strong Community
Building a strong family is a work of time. A creative endeavor. It is a loving and patient, always adapting, beautiful mess. Vehicle donors in Canada help this cause. Where families (whatever shape they may come in) are healthy, the community is too. Read more about how some of Canada's charities take this work to heart.
Continue reading "Strong Family, Strong Community" →Hazel McCallion
100th birthday gift
Hazel McCallion is underscoring 100 years of service with a 100th birthday gift. Creative. Hard-working. Entertaining. Read on for one fierce woman's expression of practical compassion!
Continue reading "Hazel McCallion" →BMW Donor Feeds the ‘Bank
One of our BMW donors has made an enormous impact on behalf of their local food bank service!
The vision of your local food bank is to see a Canada where no one goes hungry. They work to relieve and prevent hunger every day, from coast to coast, and they will capably stretch every donation dollar that they receive!
Continue reading "BMW Donor Feeds the ‘Bank" →Disability Credit Canada
Disability Credit Canada needs our help. "...This year we received an unprecedented number of scholarship applications (COVID-19 effect?). We know there are thousands of young disabled Canadians who have similar aspirations. They are struggling to make ends meet." Is this a cause you can get behind? Read on for Preston's Story!
Continue reading "Disability Credit Canada" →Should I Send my Kids Back to School?
Wondering, “Should I send my kids back to school?” Did you ever imagine you’d find yourself contemplating home schooling your kiddos? With only 1 – 2% of North American children home schooled in the BeforeTimes, this option may not have been high on your priority list.
And here we are. 2020 and in the midst of a pandemic. This question has become the most pressing decision of the summer.
Continue reading "Should I Send my Kids Back to School?" →Summer Travel 2020
Summer travel in the time of COVID-19. Do you have plans in place? Are you desperate to hit the open road, or is the plan to stay close to home?
Whatever your process, the present normal of intentionality, care, and health have likely affected you.
Cross-border travel continues to be in question. Furthermore, road travel between provinces is a bit of a puzzler. With some of us masking-up, sanitizing, and isolating while others go about their business as usual, there is much uncertainty about how to interact with holiday time.
What we know for sure
Summer travel is sure to be disrupted by a few key factors. What we know for sure...is that we don't know anything for sure!
First, be prepared for unusual road closures. Some provinces continue to keep roads closed. There are towns that restrict visitation, and others that will allow only residents.
There is an ebb and flow to the way COVID-19 does its thing. For that reason, unpredictable (or, even predictable ones, for that matter!) spikes could result in you being stalled in your journey. Have your car stocked and ready for limited access to amenities.
All that hand washing you're doing at home? Be ready to ramp that up. Keep in mind that some stores may insist on masks, and not all roadside locations will be open for business.
What happens on the other side
Returning home from summer travel is another thing to consider. The broader your exposure to your fellow Canadians, the higher your chance of exposure to sickness. Consider your circle of contact upon returning home: is your possible contact with the virus going to put others in danger?
While these are limiting and frustrating considerations it may serve well to err on the side of care this summer.
When camping in the yard is a thing
As you've, no doubt, considered, summer travel in 2020 may be a lot more effort than it's worth. Here's to creativity and ingenuity rising to meet the challenge! Perhaps you have already come up with an inspiration that will find you and your loved ones enjoying every moment of the season? Is this the year to make friends with pitching a tent in the back yard? Could exploring the wonders nearby bring new appreciation for what's at hand?
For more on how to sort your summer, check out CTV News. The National Post encourages you in your "staycation" plans. Even more detailed is the Global News guidance on what various provinces and airlines are up to.
Whatever your summer travel plans, we wish you good health and the freedom to connect with the ones you love!
Best Charities: Coronavirus
The best charities to support during the ebb and flow of Coronavirus ripple effects are in sight. Savvy Canadian donors do their research. They are careful in selecting who they donate to. We want our charities to run efficiently. Well managed with modest, defensible overhead is a must. Moreover, a charity should touch into our lives personally.
Your decision to donate your vehicle has come with thought and care. Choosing the charity that will receive the monies from that effort poses a unique challenge.
This is an easy decision for some: we give from the heart to the causes that make our hearts leap! Where the money goes is top-of-mind for others. Above all, give where there will be the best bang for our giving buck.
Maclean's on who, what, why
Maclean's ezine article, "Coronavirus: Where to donate and how to help Canada's most vulnerable," offers concise and valuable direction. If you're looking to donate specifically to needs arising from the pandemic, this article will help!
Many of the charities noted in on their break-out lists are charities that we work to support daily. Note the Canadian Mental Health Association, The Salvation Army, and Food Banks Canada. These are on the short-list for monetary donation. Further, SOS Children's Villages and Kids Help Phone are high on the list.
Concerned for the personal safety of women and children in violent domestic situations, consider donating. The Canadian Women's Foundation, Vancouver Rape Relief and Women's Shelter, and your own local shelter need you.
Similarly, we have seen how aggressively COVID-19 has impacted our Canadian seniors. The Alzheimer Society in your province needs your giving dollars now.
Canadians are all affected
As you'll see in the Maclean's article, these quick acknowledgments skim the surface. We should state that impact has rippled to all sectors of our society. Consider gifting indigenous causes, or, turn your attention toward those with special needs. 'Just plum tuckered out thinking about your fellow human? Why not consider a gift to any of our animal charities? It will be welcome!
Wisdom in Troubled Times
Wisdom is never violent: where wisdom reigns there is no conflict between thinking and feeling.
Carl Jung
But, I'm right!
Global events demand the attention of each one of us. We have strong opinions. Such firm beliefs. Furthermore, we are right! I am right. You are right. We have reasons that are good enough for us - every one of us - that to refuse to adapt, or change, or grow.
Good enough reasons to protest. Reasons that are strong enough that we won't protest. Ideologies and understandings that demand attention. It is so very important that I be right.
For this reason, and a thousand others, we squabble with and shame and harm one another. And we each claim wisdom in the moment of heated action or argument. Equally, we argue understanding through inaction and passivity.
Is that really all there is to it?
Thomas Merton says that compassion is the acceptance of the interconnectedness of all things. So , the state of my heart is reflected in the condition of the world. This may be for peace, or for strife. It could be for goodness, or for greed. Perhaps it will be for love, but it could just as easily be for judgement.
In a wildly disrupted time (pandemic, human rights upheaval, economic disparity, and so on and on!), we have actual control over very little. Really? We have control over one thing: our Self. Who we will be. How we will be. What if your way of being has a ripple effect? What might you determine that effect to be?
For today, we here at Donate a Car Canada will continue to hold to our intention of providing exceptional donor and charity care in a wobbly world. Hands steady-at-the-scrap-car-wheel. Aiming for wisdom and compassion. And this despite our (considerable) differences of thought, belief, and certitude! We're all in this together.
