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I have always felt called to help others. It’s why I went to school for psychology, took a job in social work knowing it didn’t come with glorious pay or accolades being thrown my way. So you can imagine how truly ecstatic I was when I signed on to share literacy with families and learned that the publishing company I would be under the umbrella of also make it a major part of their mission to help others.
Since becoming a consultant, I have had the pleasure of being involved in multiple fundraisers and book drives to benefit others, from big organizations doing cancer research to small nonprofits to individual people. Each delivery of boxes or funds made me feel even more rooted in my belief that this is what I have been building up to; that this journey of self discovery, kickstarted by a beautiful 7lb little human, putting me on unexpected paths and getting me out of my comfort zone doing things I’d never imagined was like an invisible tether pulling me toward my purpose.
And that’s how those invisible tethers work. You have no idea how Point A and Point D are ever going to line up when Point B and C seem completely random or like failures, but they just do. When our state started re-opening from pandemic protocols, I took another leap of faith and sought out local events needing vendors. My first one was at a new-ish brewery called Rock House. Full disclosure: I had been self quarantining since before the pandemic hit. My nights were a blur of nursing and diapers since spring of 2019, my alcohol intake has been at zero for 4 years, and feeling like a swamp creature unable to put myself together in a presentable manner means anything since 2018 is “new” to me. I was unsure - was a brewery really the right place to find a crowd interested in children’s books? I was assured that it would be a perfect fit with the assorted other vendors. With too many books and no vendor experience, I went for it...
And sold one activity book...
I also got 3 entries for a raffle. Then I packed up all my books and called it a day. Take the loss, it’s practice for the next one. But it turned out to be so much more because that tether just trailed right along, from the event coordinator at the brewery to a beautiful horse named Hank with a passion for literacy. The brewery was contacted by the nonprofit For Hank’s Sake, run by Tammi Regan and her best boy Hank, who have a literacy program called Pages for a Purpose. It was time for Hank’s first event post-pandemic lockdowns, and they wanted to go big with a live fundraiser for his farm library and reading programs.
And the event coordinator for the brewery thought of Little Lantern Books.
It was amazing. The fun, the energy, the support. Local bloggers, news channels, and families excited to meet Hank and support the shared cause of changing children’s lives one book at a time showed up and showed out. Almost $400 in books went home with Hank! But I’m most grateful for what I was able to share and witness. Several prize winners received gift cards from For Hank’s Sake for their participation in the event and two of them - a lovely young lady and two of the sweetest and cutest little boys - chose to immediately donate those gift cards back to Hank in the form of more books. Talk about heart warming and humbling! This was a shining example for our community, and especially important to me, for my son of the amazing things books can do by bringing people together. It’s a pretty wonderful thing, and I encourage you to go out, find a way to give back to your community, and have faith that even the smallest of gestures and connections can ripple out to make big things happen!
I’d love to hear how you’ve followed your tether to something amazing and/or how you’ve used your position and resources to give back to your community!
Learn more and get involved:
Rock House Brewing: Facebook @rockhousebrewing or https://rockhousebrewing.com/
For Hank's Sake: Facebook & Instagram @forhankssake or https://www.forhankssake.org/
Little Lantern Books: Facebook @little.lantern.books , via the top menu ⬆, or at thelittlelanternbooks.com
Photo credit: TOPS in Lex, Woody Phillips, https://www.topsinlex.com/
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