The winter cycle for grant applications is now complete and we will be meeting on Tuesday March 1, with the Advisory Board to award grants for applicants. We are looking forward to being able to meet some of the needs of our dedicated teachers in Anne Arundel County along with Community Foundation of Anne Arundel County.
If you are a teacher that would like a grant to accomplish something special in your classroom be sure to make application. If you are a person or business that would like to support and build the morale of teachers in our county please investigate what we are doing and consider contributing to the Grants 4 Teachers Fund.
On Sunday, February 13th from 1:00-3:00 PM, Balanced Life Skills will be hosting a FREE ”Book and Toy Swap” at the studio – open to the public. The idea is to GIVE books and toys your family no longer uses, and TAKE books and toys your family is interested in – for free.
The Book and Toy Swap not only helps the environment by reducing the number of items that might otherwise end up in landfills, but also benefits local charities. At the end of the event, all unclaimed items will be donated for charitable purposes – one of which is the “Prize Project” at John Hopkins Hospital, where children recovering from surgery are given “prizes” to make them more comfortable and to aid them in the recovery process (more on this community service project to come!).
book swap flier Please feel free to print and distribute as many as you wish or circulate it through your email contacts. Also, please consider advertising this event at your child(ren)’s school(s).
If you have any questions, you are welcomed to contact BLS directly, or call the number on the flier.
As always, thank you for your kindness and generosity!
All of our students have been over the past year dropping coins in our “Christmas Jar” and now is the time to complete the job and deliver it to a deserving family. First I want to tell you that the jar was designed by one of our 6 year old students and his mom, Ryan R. I was so impressed with the design and how he stepped right up and made the jar with out a lot of prompting from myself.
Today I called a friend of mine Cathy Holstrom at Food Link and asked her if she knew of any families that have fallen on to difficult times that may find this inspiring or give the a boost of morale. Of course she had many stories to tell, but the one I have chosen is of a single dad with a 15 year old son. After working for the same company for over 20 years he was laid off about a year ago and while looking for work in every conceivable place, has not been able to find even the smallest of jobs. Like many men he would prefer to work and pay his own way and is not inclined to ask for help, but Food Link was able to help him at Thanksgiving and he will receive another meal at Christmas from them. He has been doing some odd jobs and his neighbors have been assisting as much as possible. Read the rest of this entry →
Last night we completed the gift wrapping for the foster children and loaded the bus. There was no more room in the bus. It was completely full. While that was going on our older students and staff were working on giving each of the teens gift cards to department stores, restaurants and other stores that I am sure they are all going to enjoy. Over 50 volunteers from Indian Creek School and Balanced Life Skills took part in this service project.
There was a great deal of joy in the room as our 9 year old students and some of their parents helped to do the wrapping, and so many parents and companies stepped up with gift cards totaling $4600.00 split among the 109 foster teens in the County at this time. On Sunday there will be a Christmas party for all the foster children and their families at the Boys and Girls Club in Annapolis.
This is one of my personal favorite projects that we do during the year. If anyone would like to be a part of our planning for next year please feel free to contact us. I would like to wish everyone a Happy Holiday season this year.
Today we are making last minute preparations for the gift wrapping of gifts for the foster children of Anne Arundel County this evening. Ms. Adrian has separated the gift cards into categories, gotten the list of children put into order, and is ready to put that part of the program together. The students of Indian Creek School are ready to come and gift wrap the toys and clothes for the younger children.
To make it a bit more festive, we have cookies and hot chocolate for all the families wrapping this evening. It is going to be a wonderful evening and we have a lot of families and individuals to thank for the time, effort and money contributed to making the holiday the best it can be for the foster children of Anne Arundel County.
In the summer of 2010 12 individuals went to Kenya to a very special place, Tumaini. The record of their trip, the sum up of all the smiles of those beautiful children is coming soon in a documentary titled: The Roots of Happiness. As you watch this take a look at the joy of the children with the jump ropes that were made by our students here at Balanced Life Skills. Everytime I watch this I am rushed with emotions and love for these beautiful children.
This morning a group of Balanced Life Skills parents and students got together and prepared lunches for the clients of the LIghthouse Shelter. We finished so fast that when some folks arrived the work was already done and the lunches were delivered. The spirit of giving of our time, talents and resources is strong in our school. In talked about charity in the month of August and are following it up with discussions on Leadership in September.
Leadership is when we take an idea or a cause that we are interested in and engage others to achieve a common goal. I was so happy that some of the volunteers this morning suggested that we should help out with lunches for those in need more often. I believe that we will be able to do accomplish this goal with the action of our students and parents.
If you would like to share in this work, email Balanced Life Skills and lets see if we can schedule a time, once a month, to assist those in our community who need our help. Thanks to our helpers this morning for the quick work you made of our project this morning.
Coming up this September there is an event that while difficult to talk about is an important one to our community. It is the Out of the Darkness Walk held on September 18, 2010. I will join hundreds of others on this walk to raise money to prevent suicide. Last year over 350 individuals joined us in this effort.
Since the Out of the Darkness Walk in 2009 I have had the privilege to be a part of the Youth Suicide Awareness Task Force here in Anne Arundel County. There have been 44 of us trained to teach others how to recognize the signs of those who may be considering ending their life. This year with a grant received from, Garrett Lee Smith Youth Suicide Prevention, along with the work of this Task Force we will be training an additional 19 individuals and completing the training of many individuals (gatekeepers) in our community. The groups being trained at this time are the majority of those in the school system and many other youth leaders, coaches and public service individuals.
I have personally never undertaken a more important work. I also have never seen so many agencies, faith groups, public service groups, non profits and community members ban together in an effort to protect our youth from the #3 cause of death among 15-24 year olds.
If you are going to be in Annapolis on September 18 I would like to invite you to join me (us) in this cause. If you are interested in having a group of parents or other adults to be trained in QPR, the training for those of us who have contact with young people (gatekeepers), please let me know and we will make the arrangements for this training to take place.
In the near future I will be releasing a report on the 6 most dangerous trends facing children, many of them are factors that lead up to suicide attempts. I have been working on this along with a few others for the past few months and the information is shocking. As shocking as it is, being aware of the trends allows us to do something about them with our own children.
I want to share with you a clip from a documentary being done about this wonderfully strong, gentle, beautiful woman who has practiced judo her entire life. The film maker needs some support to complete the film. I personally believe this is a film that must be completed. I hope you are able to help. Please in addition to anything that you can contribute, join with me in writing to Oprah to see if she will help get this film completed. This is a moving story of dedication, perseverance and love for the art.
This film was brought to my attention by my instructor Mr. Tom Callos. This is what he wrote:
1000 Letters to Oprah about Judo 9th Dan Black Belt, Kieko Fukuda. Will you Help?
Would you be so kind as to help us write 1000 letters to Ms. Oprah Winfrey –urging her to seek out 96 year old Keiko Fukuda. There is a documentary in the works about Sensei Fukuda’s extraordinary life-story, Be Strong, Be Gentle, Be Beautiful. Here is a clip:
I have not watched the film once, without being moved to tears.
Here is the information you will need to participate:
Send a letter to her at the Oprah Winfrey show:
To Ms. Oprah Winfrey
C/O: The Oprah Winfrey Show
110 North Carpenter Street,
Chicago, Illinois 60607
Dear Ms. Winfrey,
Sensei Keiko Fukuda is now a 9th degree black belt in judo, at age 96, and the first women to ever be awarded that title. She was a student of judo’s founder, Jigoro Kano –and still teaches classes three times a week. A filmmaker, Ms. Yuriko Romer, is making a documentary film about Sensei Fukuda, “Be Strong, Be Gentle, Be Beautiful,” which may be seen both on youtube and at www.flyingcarp.net.
Remarkably, Ms. Romer first heard about Sensei from your magazine. As time is of the essence, I urge you to seek out Ms. Romer and Sensei Fukuda, as Sensei’s story is compelling and wonderful. She is, quite literally, “living history.”
Thank you for taking the time to consider this request.
Love and respect,
Tom Callos
————–
Of course, you may alter the letter any way you see fit. I’ve already sent an e-mail to Oprah’s show –and several people are mining their connections to people they know –who may be able to get through.
Please show and share one or both of the film clips (Be Strong, Be Gentle, Be Beautiful) to your friends and students, and let’s send 1000 letters to Oprah as a show of respect for this icon of martial arts self-discipline and history.
THANK YOU.
Tom Callos
If you would like to contribute to this project here is the link.
I want to share with our community the influence our school has had on others in the nation. This past spring I had a conversation with another martial arts instructor who has the same values and beliefs that we have here at Balanced Life Skills. He wanted to know how to do the Rain Barrel project. We talked at some length and gave him our rain barrel website. The following video will show you the results when one of his students took the lead in a major way.
So here is our challenge. Who in our school will step up with their own project? Who will take the lead in contributing to solving a problem in our community or the world?
The winter cycle for grant applications is now complete and we will be meeting on Tuesday March 1, with the Advisory Board to award grants for applicants. We are looking forward to being able to meet some of the needs of our dedicated teachers in Anne Arundel County along with Community Foundation of Anne Arundel County.
Balanced Life Skills is OPEN and operating on normal schedule. The 
