DAY 5: caring unlimited

i took my daughter to the annual chocolate extravaganza the next town over today. it was held at the town hall, and we parked a few blocks away so that we could enjoy a short walk getting there. it was sunny, in the 40's; weather too good to waste here in maine in february. we went intending to make the most of the "free (chocolate) giveaways", and we were not disappointed. chocolate of all kinds abounded: muffins, cupcakes, packaged candies...hot chocolate, a chocolate fountain, marshmallow's dipped in chocolate; chocolate strawberry smoothies with whipped cream...it was a chocoholic's (read: MY) dream, and a weight watchers (also read MY) nightmare. after the initial thrill of swooping through and helping ourselves to all of the freebies, i noticed there were some tables set up with people hoping to attain some new customers for their businesses, or donors to support their causes. one was familiar to me: the mustang rescue, and we took a flyer advertising their pancake breakfast fundraiser to be held tomorrow morning. the woman confided to my daughter that the first 50 ladies there would receive red carnations in honor of valentine's day. then we realized that the band that was playing is one of our favorites: strait lace. we saw them in the summer at the harbor concert and one of the female lead singers invited izzy up on stage to sing and dance along with them! directly across from the band was a table for "caring unlimited". i had heard of this organization but was not familiar with what they do. after a while, lured by the promise of more free chocolate, i wandered over and started to read some of their brochures. there was a poster for mrs maine, who was there taking pictures, and talking about her cause. "caring unlimited" helps women who are the victims of domestic violence. having once been in such a situation, i struck up a conversation with one of the young women representing the organization, asking her where they are located. there is a center just one town over from me, it turns out. i had volunteered some time at a homeless shelter for families when i was a student nurse writing a research paper. i recall that many of the families were there because violence had driven them out of their own homes. suddenly, i was sharing this story with the young woman, as well as my own history of partner violence. she saw my glance toward the "volunteer opportunities" flyer and described that one way to volunteer was from home as a hotline advocate, and mentioned that an extensive training would begin in march. i was interested in volunteering for this cause a few years back, but decided that i couldn't fit it into my schedule. my new mantra for 2010 is to replace "i can't do this because..." with "what if i could do this?".
before i knew it, i found myself writing down my name, address, email address, and phone number and handing it to the woman. what will happen next? where will this lead?
so, my gift today was a dollar donation to support "caring unlimited", and giving my permission for them to contact me about volunteering for them.