Kids Helping Kids
In November of 1995, Leslie Burnside was working for the Department of Social Services in North Carolina. Her job involved taking children out of dangerous home situations and placing them in foster homes. During her first such assignment, Leslie saw that the children she had come to pick up were carrying all of their belongings in garbage bags. They didn't have suitcases or backpacks for their clothes. Wanting to help these children, Leslie asked her mother if she could have the family's old suitcases to give to them. Leslie's 10-year-old sister Aubyn asked how many foster children there were in the area and found out that there were 300. Most of those children had to carry their things from place to place in plastic or paper bags. Leslie's concern and the thought of those 300 children inspired young Aubyn to take action. Aubyn decided to ask people to donate their old suitcases to these foster children. She began making and hanging posters, speaking at churches, and asking other children for help. But after a few weeks, she had not received any donations. Aubyn decided to give the project a kick-start, and went with her mother to the local Salvation Army where they bought 31 suitcases. That's how Aubyn Burnside founded her program, Suitcases for Kids. By March of 1996, Suitcases for Kids had collected and delivered 175 suitcases to the Catawba County Department of Social Services in North Carolina. Aubyn inspired other kids to help with the cause too. Charles and Isaac Meadows, ages 14 and 11, and Welland Burnside, Aubyn's 8-year-old brother, got involved with the project in its early stages. Picking up and delivering suitcases was hard work, but the boys enjoyed helping other people. Mallory Wasik learned about Suitcases for Kids in 1999, and immediately contacted churches and other organizations near her home in Keystone Heights, Florida to ask for help. Eventually, Aubyn's humanitarian efforts were noticed by the media. Her story was in newspapers and magazines and Aubyn appeared on popular television shows. As the story became known, Aubyn's local chapter received more and more suitcases, until it collected a total of 4,000 suitcases in 1996. Soon, Aubyn was traveling to different states to help set up new Suitcases for Kids chapters. By the end of 1996, there were Suitcases for Kids chapters in 19 different states. After two full years, Suitcases for Kids had established chapters in all 50 states. By its sixth year, the little organization reached international status, having chapters in more than ten countries. Now thousands of children around the world can carry their belongings in suitcases, backpacks, and duffel bags instead of garbage bags just because a 10-year-old girl decided one day that she just wanted to help.
_____ was working for the Department of Social Services in North Carolina in November of 1995. Leslie Burnside children had to stay in dangerous home situations she wanted to work for the Department of Social Services she received 31 suitcases from the Salvation Army 4,000 suitcases Today, Suitcases for Kids has chapters in 19 states and more than 10 countries Deeper The Latin words "Citius, Altius, Fortius" have been used as the Olympic motto since the Modern Olympics started in 1894. In English, we translate that motto into "Swifter, Higher, Stronger." Now, with the possibility of adding "Extreme Sports," popular competitive events that test the limits of human endurance and talents in ways not thought of in 1894, the current Olympics' organizers may also have to rethink their motto. Extreme Free Diving (EFD) is a sport that is growing in participants worldwide and is being discussed as a possible Olympic event. If accepted into the Olympics, EFD could make the Olympics' organizers think about adding a new Latin term into the motto that we could translate as "Deeper." Most of us think of deep water diving as the use of snorkels, masks, and fins to help us dive down beneath the surface of the water. Then there is scuba diving. Scuba divers wear wet suits made out of material to protect against the cold; they need oxygen and other equipment that enable them to safely breathe while traveling deep beneath the surface of the sea. For those with the courage and opportunity to attend the required classes and certification process to scuba dive and have actually entered the deep and swum with the fish and coral, scuba diving is an extremely gratifying experience. But is it the ultimate underwater extreme sport for those who like to live on the edge? When scuba diving is compared to Extreme Diving, diving without a tank of oxygen deeper and farther from the surface than anyone had imagined it would be possible to go, scuba diving seems a little less "Extreme." Extreme Free Diving has become very competitive and is exploding in popularity with "extreme" divers wherever athletes live near a sea. The first official European record for Extreme Free Diving was recorded in 1911 when Greek Yorgos Haggi Statti descended to the depth of 253 feet, almost the length of a football field. He dove without a mask, fins, or an oxygen tank. He just dove. His record stood for many years until the modern "professional" EFDs began to dive even deeper. Today, EFDs sink to depths approaching 400 feet, using weights to help them descend vertically into the big blue depths of cold and darkness that surround the earth. Free divers like Italian Umberto Pelizzari and Cuban Pipin Ferreras frequently break world records by diving without the use of wet suits, fins, or oxygen tanks. Extreme Free Diving is truly a breathtaking sport. One day adding the word "Deeper" to the Olympic motto of "Swifter, Higher, Stronger" looks like a sure bet. The legendary Yorgos Haggi Statti would wipe water from his eyes, smile, and nod in approval. Answer a few questions about what you read. Extreme sports _____________. challenge human endurance in competition around the world includes a reference to Extreme Free Diving done without any equipment at all. when the 1894 Olympic games were held near the sea. invented and is the world champion of will one day become an Olympic sport. Compulsive Gambling: An Addiction Many people like to visit casinos, bet on horses at the racetrack, buy lottery tickets, or play cards. For most people, occasion gambling is a safe and entertaining form of recreation. These people gamble infrequently with friends or family members, and decide beforehand how much money they are willing to lose. But some people become compulsive gamblers. Compulsive gambling is a form of addiction, similar to alcoholism and drug addiction. Like these other more visible forms of addiction, compulsive gambling can ruin a person's life, sometimes even driving the gambler to thoughts of suicide. Compulsive gamblers generally go through phases of addiction. Some people break it down into four distinct phases. The first is the winning phase. At this point, the addiction may be very difficult to identify. Gamblers have fun at this stage, perhaps winning large sums of money. Eventually, however, gamblers begin to bet larger and larger amounts, feeling that they can't lose. They start to become more focused on gambling and are less interested in other things. After the winning phase comes the inevitable losing phase. During this phase, compulsive gamblers neglect and even abuse personal relationships. They become irritable and may begin to lie to friends and family about gambling losses. They borrow money from friends and family to cover their losses so they can continue gambling. They feel that they can quit whenever they want to, but don't see any reason to quit. Compulsive gamblers really can't stop gambling at this point and are obsessed with winning back the money they've lost. At this point, compulsive gamblers enter the desperation phase. Although they may begin to realize that they're going to continue losing money, they keep trying for the big win that will solve all of their gambling-related financial problems. They gamble with money that they borrowed to pay off previous debts. They don't care about anything but gambling at this stage and will even break the law in order to continue. They might steal from friends or from work, or write bad checks to get cash. Money has no significance at this point except that it enables the gamblers to keep gambling. Once compulsive gamblers have reached the desperation phase, they are not far from hitting rock bottom. At this point, compulsive gamblers are in the helplessness phase. They become depressed and may even suffer emotional breakdowns. Their marriages may fall apart and they may consider or even attempt to commit suicide. They may realize at this point that they need help, and fortunately, they have several options. They can turn to Gamblers Anonymous or to local or state organizations that understand their addiction and know how to help them stop gambling their lives away.
|
