BLIND GOSSIP

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BG’s Birthday Wish

Dear Blinders –

Today is BG’s birthday!

The first thing you need to know is that every year, friends and family always ask the same thing. “It’s so hard to shop for you! Is there anything that you need? Is there anything that you want?”

The second thing you need to know is that BG only cries once a year.

Well, this year there is nothing that BG needs. But there is definitely something that BG wants…

BG recently met the head of a domestic abuse trauma center at a charitable function. One of the tasks of this organization is to help battered women start their lives over after getting out of abusive relationships. Sometimes these women have to flee their situation in the middle of the night with broken bones and a black eye and nothing more than the clothes on their back. These organizations gets them medical treatment, shelters them (and their child/ren) in safe houses, provides trauma counseling, helps them secure a new identity if necessary, and assists them in relocating to an apartment in a new town so they can start their lives over. It’s sort of like a witness relocation program for abused women.

We were profoundly moved (and quite horrified) by the stories we heard about their clients. We pulled out the checkbook, expecting a request for a  donation. Then the director asked BG for something much simpler: “These women are starting their lives over. They need the basics. Socks and underwear. Shampoo and toothpaste. A coffee maker and a toaster. Bread and cereal and peanut butter. Notebooks and crayons for the kids.” She scribbled down some notes on the back of her business card.

The next day, BG sprang into action. Three stops: Target. Vons. Office Depot. There were sales everywhere (A $7 coffee maker at Target! Skippy on sale for $1.49 at Vons! $1 notebooks at Office Depot!), so we were able to get everything she had mentioned (and more) for about $50. For good measure, we threw in gift cards for all three stores so they could pick out some of their own things.

We delivered the goods to the center. An administrative clerk thanked us and promptly took the bags into a back room. They were given directly to a woman with a cast on one arm, a butterfly bandage above one eye, and a little girl playing with blocks the floor in front of her. The mother looked into the bags and clasped her hand to her mouth in surprise. The little girl’s eyes grew wide as she pulled the crayons out of one bag and the peanut butter out of another. “Mommy! Mommy! Lookit! Lookit!”.

Mommy started to cry. Then BG (here it comes) started to cry.

BG’s birthday wish is for you to help us make more people cry. (C’mon, you know what we mean!)

There are two ways you can do this:

Paypal: Send a donation via PayPal to [email protected]. Make sure your screen name and/or your email address is attached to it so that we can acknowledge you. We suggest contributing $40, but if you can give more, great! If you can only afford $10 or $20, that’s fine, too. In any case, we will purchase gift cards in denominations of $20 for distribution to organizations that assist victims of domestic violence.

Gift Card: If you absolutely don’t use PayPal, or if are uncomfortable sending money, you can email us ([email protected]) for an address to which you can directly send gift cards from one or more of the following:

BTW, we selected the above stores to ease bookkeeping and distribution by the organizations. Note: Please do not ship any physical goods, as we don’t have the means to receive, warehouse or deliver them.
What BG will do:

  • We will purchase and distribute gift cards to organizations that assist victims of domestic violence
  • We will print the screen names of EVERYONE who contributes
  • We will print the acknowledgment letters we receive from each center, so you can see that your gift has been put to good use.
  • The person who contributes the greatest amount – PLUS three randomly chosen contributors of $100 or more – will receive a personal thank you phone call from BG during which we will reveal the most shocking blind item of the year!

Thank you in advance for making BG’s birthday great and for making someone else’s life better! BG READERS ARE THE BEST!

Much Love, BG