Above and Beyond

Just a quick update to let you know a couple of things........

*First and foremost, THANK YOU! Your bags of change made McKenna's birthday wish
possible.

*To date, $1718.05 has been raised for the International Justice Mission.
(our goal was $1300!)

*It's not too late to turn in your bag of change if you haven't yet.
We'll keep accepting change as long as your willing to donate it.

*And if you haven't had a chance to check out IJM's website (ijm.org), please take some time and
check it out. Human trafficking is real. 27 million are enslaved today - men, women and
children. There are several great organizations out their working to free those caught in the
web of trafficking. Learn more, pray faithfully and give generously to one of those organizations.

Thank you Uncle Mike!

Today we got two checks in the mail for IJM from my brother Mike who lives in So. California. One was a donation from my nephew Sef's jazz band (thanks Sef). The second, a check for the amount of change that Mike gathered (and rolled himself) at his work, from his son's piggy banks (thanks Luke, Sef and Matt) and his wife's purse (thank you Kari). Hope he asked her first.

New total........................$959.74

We're half way there!

So with just two days until McKenna's birthday, we thought it would be good to update you a bit on just how much change we have received so far. We handed out over 100 cups. 43 baggies have already been returned. And..... I can hear a drum roll somewhere in the distance....

$728.74 has been raised thus far.

A huge thanks to all of you who have donated your change. It adds up fast! With her birthday approaching, it's time for us to start collecting the rest of the baggies of change still out there. If you have one and are ready to return it, just let us know and we'll make arrangements to get it from you. If you still need a little more time, keep your cup for a couple of more weeks. Before the end of the month, we'll check back in with you. Thanks again for giving up your change to make a difference in someone else's life.

The Latest Count

It's been a while since we last updated you on the amount collected. We've been a little busy counting and rolling. With just 33 cups/baggies of change returned and a couple of sweet donations, McKenna has raised $607.87 to help provide aftercare to people rescued from slavery. Wow! Almost half way to her goal. Thanks so much!

The Reality of Human Trafficking

What are the facts?
• According to the United Nations Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery, an estimated 20 million people were held in bonded slavery as of 1999.
• In 2004 there are more slaves than were seized from Africa during four centuries of trans-Atlantic slave trade. (Kevin Bales, Disposable People)
• In 1850 a slave in the Southern United States cost the equivalent of $40,000 today. According to Free the Slaves, a slave today costs an average of $90.
• Approximately two-thirds of today’s slaves are in South Asia. Human Rights Watch estimates that in India alone there are as many as 15 million children in bonded slavery.

If I had a nickel for every....

.....dandelion. Every spring I wage war against the dandelions that flourish in our front yard. I remember as a kid, my dad used to pay my brother and me per dandelion we extracted from the lawn. Knowing full well that the Brown kids are often in need of cash, I offered them a nickel per dandelion. Apparently they don't need the money, because not one of them took me up on my offer. Okay, I know your thinking a nickel doesn't sound like a lot, but when you can uproot 60 to 100 dandelions daily in half hour tops, it's not a bad gig. Nearly every day I grab my dandelion tool (a gift from my husband after I broke a pair of clippers uprooting them) and head out to the front yard and remove 30, 60 or 100 of them. Once I'm done, I head straight to Garrett's bowl of dwindling poker money and pull out the amount I would have paid the kids and put it into our little green cup. Several cups have been filled along the way. Though I have been diligent and have depleted Garrett's poker fund, I seem to be losing my war against the dandelions, but have collected a whole lot of change along the way.

Hmm...what's a giraffe have to do with human trafficking?

Okay, not much, except that last week we spent the day at the SF Zoo. As we sat in the overpriced cafe eating a less than tasty lunch, Delaney noticed a couple of shiny objects on the floor and went to investigate. She came back with a dime and a penny to add to her cup of loose change. Eleven cents to add to the cause. My mom has always said, "if you are too rich to pick up a penny, you are too rich". She and my dad find loose change all the time on their nightly walks. Last year, they decided to put all the money they found on the street in a jar of its own to see just how much they collected in a years time. Over $40! Can you believe it? They did find a couple of bills along the way, but that's a whole lot of change.