Supporting our U.S. Military

In the past few years, my family has become a military family. Four years ago, my sister married my brother-in-law, who is in the U.S. Air Force and  2 years ago,my brother joined the U.S. Army. Yesterday, Memorial Day, I reflected upon how lucky I am to personally know men and women who are protecting our freedom. They work tirelessly for the benefit of our nation and I do not think we can show our support enough for the military, their families and the sacrifices they make every day.

It is vitally important to support our military veterans and to thank them for the sacrifices they made for our nation.  An amazing opportunity to to become involve in an Honor Flight. These flights are free to veterans of WWII, Korean and Vietnam Wars and they are flown out to Washington DC to see their respective war memorials. Each veteran is treated to a day of pampering and DC tours as a thank you for their service. It is the Welcome Home Celebration they did not receive when they got home so many years ago but so aptly deserve now. On May 10th, Miss Muscatine's Outstanding Teen, Nina Yu, and I were honored to be part of the Eastern Iowa Honor Flight Orientation in Cedar Rapids. We met many inspiring veterans, their loving families and their volunteer Guardians. We were truly humbled to spend the afternoon with these men and women of our U.S. Military.

Eastern Iowa Honor Flight

While visiting Destin, FL. to attend my cousin's wedding, I had the opportunity to celebrate Armed Forces Day on May 17 by running the Hearts for Military Heroes 5K run in Panama City, FL. You can always find volunteer opportunities.

 Celebrating Armed Forces Day with a charity 5K run.

 So close to getting my PR...

National Women Build Week

       National Women Build Week, May 3-11, 2014


During the weeklong event, sponsored by Habitat for Humanity and Lowes, women devote at least one day to the effort to eliminate poverty housing.

The event is typically held the week leading up to Mother’s Day!

These dates are significant to many volunteers, as families with children make up a staggering number of those in need of adequate housing.

This year’s event will be May 3-11, 2014

“Like” National Women Build Week on Facebook and follow us on Twitter @womenbuild.

Here are my photos of my afternoon as a Woman Who Builds in the Quad Cities!

I am so excited that I joined H4H to help build a home for the Afi Amedanu family!

Afi is a single mom of two children from Africa. She has volunteered over 300 hours

in helping to build her family's home!

The Big Day of Service

The Annual Big Day of Service was Saturday, our only sunny day all week!  And it was perfect!  As a Sight Coach, I arrived early to the Dubuque Town Clock Plaza to get my assignment and meet my team...a young youth group and their leaders from Des Moines.  These ambitious, excited Junior High and HS freshmen made my day!  What great energy!

Our assignment: take a new sprinkler system, piece by piece, up a steep yard to assemble for a sweet older lady in Dubuque. We finished our job early and took a break in a nearby city park then headed to the Dubuque River Walk to pick up garbage to finish our Day of Serving.

What is the Big Day of Serving?  It is a series of one-day events across the nation where neighborhoods are transformed by a swarm of Christian kids who are eager to help people in need. At the Big Day of Serving, youth groups transformed Tri-State neighborhoods in a single day... 
    *They cleaned city blocks, alleyways and parks
    *Helped with landscaping and planted community gardens
    *Removed graffiti
    *Painted and tackled minor home repairs

The Big Day is not just a day of service; it's a national movement. The goal: one million kids all over our country worked together for the same cause.  Imaging how city after city and block after block, these changes multiplied and changed not only local neighborhoods...but entire cities all across America!

Want to be part of this great cause next year? Watch for The Big Day of Service 2015 next May!

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Big Day of Serving Sight Coach ready to meet my group!

My Sight Coach t-shirt was a little big . . .

I'd like you to meet Rev. Ron Schardt. He is one of my mentors

and best example of how to live to serve others. We have served

together many times: built a shed for Habitat for Humanity in Parkersburg IA 

                                      and cleaned up the Joplin MO tornado to name a few.  

Introducing my energetic work group from Des Moines!

Miss Iowa Orientation & CMN - Filled Weekend

 This weekend was a Miss Iowa/CMN-packed weekend!
   After an amazing Miss Iowa Orientation with my gorgeous sister titleholders, my supportive Miss Muscatine Board and the beautiful Miss Iowa contestants, I participated at the Loras College Dance Marathon in Dubuque.  This dance marathon lasted 12 hours and had over 500 dancers! Together we raised over $200,000 for the University of Iowa Children's Hospital. Dance Marathons are a great way to get involved and directly help your community.

 The Class of 2104 Miss Iowa and Miss Iowa's OT contestants

 CMN Hero's Wall from Iowa

 Dancing For The Kids!

 FTK!

   On Sunday, I was honored to support the Children's Hospital of Illinois at their Kangaroo Brunch in Bloomington, IL. This brunch was a great opportunity to learn more about what CMN offers to families and to fundraise for the hospital's NICU recliner chairs. The Kangaroo chairs are specifically-designed recliners that support the natural skin-to-skin bonding experience known as "kangaroo care" between parents and their infant. Over the last 20 years, research has shown that kangaroo care has tremendous benefits for both babies and their parents and has become a standard practice at Childrens' Hospitals. They cost approximately $2000.00 each.

Earth Day!

It's Earth Day 2014. Today is dedicated to furthering education about renewable resources and awareness about saving our Earth. We are blessed to be able to live in a wonderful area, but without further action, our resources may be exhausted in the future. We need not only to conserve but also restore and replenish what we have.
This past Friday, I was able to help restore and replenish our Earth in Washington, IL. Last November 17, the town of Washington was hit by a EF-4 tornado. The tornado destroyed 633 homes across 46 miles in central IL. Working besides my family, our team cleared tornado debris and restored the property to its bare foundation, ready for new grass and rebuilding the home. Natural disaster cleanup offers one of the most needed, long-term forms of volunteering opportunities. If you hear of a natural disaster, help will be needed. Despite the harsh winter, Washington IL has made great strides in rebuilding but clean-up is still needed in many areas.  They are Washington Strong!

I helped with the Joplin MO tornado clean-up with 5 of these people!

The Mayor, Governor and I

In college, I discovered my passion for government and political science. I am fascinated by politics and the inner workings of how our country works. As Miss Muscatine 2014, I challenged myself to incorporate our government into my platform of volunteerism. I believe that our legislature is an untapped resource in promoting and supporting volunteering and can help make a positive difference in our communities.  On behalf of my platform, I went to our legislators, the Muscatine Mayor and the Governor to further promote and enhance Iowa's volunteering culture. I created a local proclamation for the city of Muscatine, naming April 6 - 12, 2014 as Muscatine Volunteer Week. I read my Proclamation at the Muscatine City Council meeting and was proud when it was signed by Muscatine Mayor DeWayne Hopkins. A week later, I repeated this process with the Governor for the state of Iowa proclaiming Iowa Volunteer Week to coincide with last week's National Volunteer Week.

It is our local, state, and nationally-elected officials' responsibility to listen to their constituents. If you want to promote your cause or highlight an issue, I urge you to talk to your legislators and create a proclamation to help promote your cause. Below are pictures of my time in our state capital where  Governor Terry Branstad read and signed my Proclamation at the Iowa Volunteer Hall of Fame Ceremony on our Capitol's Rotunda. Enjoy.

Day of Caring

Hello everyone! I am happy to report that Muscatine's United Way Day of Caring went amazing on April 1st! No joke! There were over 200 local high school students that went out into the community and helped their neighbors. As a team, students worked in yards, parks, and completed household projects for residents that needed a little extra help. It was an honor to serve on the Day of Caring Logistics Committee. My job was to oversee all the teams in their projects and make sure everything was running smoothly. Which it did! Even in all the wind! I was able to speak to all the volunteers about the importance of what they are doing. Please enjoy these pictures!

A team and I!

A huge trash pile we picked up!

Me standing on that trash pile. :)