Articles by Margaret Turley

Friday, April 29, 2011

DETERMINED MOM FIGHTS BACK AGAINST DIABETES

Every year, for the month of May, New York Times and USA Today Best-selling Author Brenda Novak runs an online auction for diabetes research. The auction takes a full year to
plan and pull off, but it’s a labor of love—an effort to help all the people who, like her youngest son, suffer from diabetes. Her very first auction ran in 2005. It started small but
has grown every year by leaps and bounds.

         Yearly totals to date:
              2005 - $34,98
              2006 - $62,705
2007 - $141,700
2008 - $252,300
2009 - $270, 611
2010 - $303,000

The Brenda Novak Online Auction for Diabetes Research is the biggest online event for diabetes research in the world. Each year, with the help of generous donors--which include some of the biggest and brightest stars in publishing, like Debbie Macomber, Nicholas Sparks, Nora Roberts, James Patterson, Diana Gabaldon, Michael Connelly and John Grisham--Brenda offers up over 2400 fabulous items, creating a shopper’s paradise. As a cumulative total, she’s raised $1,055,780.
But the auction is more than your everyday charity gala. It’s a blast to participate in--a real community. We do drawings and give away prizes. Shoppers quickly become donors and donors quickly become shoppers. It’s an outstanding fundraising model!

Monday, April 25, 2011

Who or What is Responsible?

Ever since Adam and Eve had one son, Cain killed their other son Able the world's parents have had children that stray from their teachings. Sometimes the parents have taught by example and by word what is moral, right, and just. Other times either the parent is ill, passed away, or incapacitated in some way to where they are unable to do the job that is their privelege. And then there are children that are abandoned or live in abusive or currupt situations without parents or whose parents are compromised from previous generations or other influences.