Marybeth's Page

This weekend, weather-permitting, I'll join an annual beach cleanup in Prince William Sound. I've done this before, but not for many years now, so it will feel good to go out there again and give back to a place that has given so much to me. And it's particularly powerful to do this now - when the Gulf oil spill (more like an eruption) brings back memories of the Exxon Valdez oil spill's damage to Prince William Sound. My heart goes out to all the folks along the Gulf coast, and to all the… Continue

Today I wrote a letter to someone who I've never met, but whose story I read in The Sun magazine. It was a Readers Write piece, and this woman wrote something very brave and honest about dying of cancer. In the past I would have wanted to write her a letter, but would have felt too shy or too busy to ever get around to it. This 29-day giving challenge gave me the umph I needed to write it.

day 5: gave a roll of tape to the post office to share with others who need it for their christmas pkgs.

day 6: gave help to the guy sitting next to me on the plane.

day 7: what i do for two hours every week - held preemie babies at the hospital's NICU (neonatal intensive care unit).



I started volunteering to hold babies at NICU last spring. I was getting ready to send my one and only kid off to college, and panicking about the empty nest. A friend in NC who sings to… Continue

Yesterday, my give was to send flowers to my husband. He is finally quitting a job that had been a negative experience for the past six years. He was delighted and surprised with the flowers. Today, I wanted to do something that 1) didn't cost money and 2) was for strangers. So my give was to let others get in line in front of me - in the store, on the roads. Little things, but that's what a day is made of - little things. Another give I did today was to clean up cigarette butts from a beach… Continue