Inaugural JLSA's Resolve for a Better SA 5K

Alternately titled: One of the many reasons I haven't posted much in the last year.

This morning the Junior League of San Antonio held it's inaugural Resolve for a Better SA 5K. Behind the name- it's still fairly early in the new year and getting healthy/being active is a common resolution and making a better SA is what JLSA is all about.

I was fortunate enough to be on the planning committee for this (in addition to other responsibilities for JLSA), but when you believe in something you make it happen.

And did these ladies make it happen. It helped that we took a couple of 5K planning trips to Port A, that really got our gears turning, and we all completed the audacious 12 races in 12 months. So we've done our race research.

At our last run- Color Me Rad, from left to right: Our fearless leader Mireya, Erica -Communications Extraordinaire, Kristen- Master of Volunteer Coordination, and Me- "We can always move the table later" Ariana

We had a veteran community runner in our midsts and he posted about the run on a Runner's World Forum. Thanks to Scottydog for supporting our event! You can read his post on the forum here.

Thanks to everyone who came out to support the event (almost 300 registered runners and walkers), signed up to fundraise and donated to those who fundraised!   You are helpling JLSA support over 60 Community Agencies with volunteer time and money. Things like this don't happen without people supporting them and awesomely patient spouses who let them get planned.

My Santa Baby....

My husband is awesome.  I tentatively asked him to play Santa for the kids at my JLSA Volunteer activity and he said yes.  Four months ago.

Time comes to actually play Santa and he delivers.  With gusto.  His "ho, ho, ho"s were superb and when asked where his reindeer were, "Magic!" was his go-to answer. 

My awesome hubby and me.

Also, this is a 21st century Santa who gave fist bumps and read The Night Before Christmas off an iPad.

He helped us volunteers rock it out and helped make this holiday extra special for some very special families at Family Endeavors Fairweather Family Lodge.

Some of the awesome ladies who make it happen every week!

Busy. Busy. Busy.

It's been a busy week.  But I ate well. I'll post picks and the recipe later.  They're just sitting on the memory card in my camera.  My JLSA placement kept me busy organizing stuff for crafting. We're starting from scratch so it seemed like a lot.  Now that it's all organized- it just seems like a good amount of organized stuff.  Thank you Dollar Store. 

Seriously, without the Dollar Store I don't even want to think about how much I would have spent on stuff.  That and the $5 fabric I scored for the french-style memory boards we are making with the moms.

That's $5 for 5 yards, not per yard. Now I just need to figure out what to do with all of it.

I got to channel my inner child when putting together a popsicle stick frame and seeing which glues worked.  Turns out all of them did. 

I was focused on getting this stuff done so I don't have any pics right now. Maybe I'll snap some tomorrow.  Really though, we all know what a popsicle stick frame looks like.

Gooooo Gators!

Get involved...

This is a little more serious. It's about getting involved. Getting involved in your community and giving back.  It can be as easy as walking some cute dogs at a local animal shelter or as real as reality gets and becoming a volunteer at a nonprofit organization that deals with sexual assault.  This weekend I officially begin my Junior League of San Antonio volunteer placement with a San Antonio organization, Family Endeavors Fairweather Family Lodge, that helps women and their children.  These are families with histories of homelessness and the organization works with them to make sure they don't end up in that position again.

From their website: "The program opened in 2004 as a way to assist homeless women with mental illness and their children.  The Fairweather Family Lodge was developed as a place that nurtures development and provides a safe environment for these families to stabilize, grow and remain together."

We will be working with the women on basically anything with which they want help. I am a co-chair for the placement and this is the first year, so there may be some challenges in figuring out exactly where our road map is taking us, but we plan to help the families create positive experiences that they can take with them wherever they go.

This topic came to mind because we attended the 35th Anniversary Partners in Change Gala for the Rape Crisis Center of San Antonio.  The statistic for sexual assault are mind boggling and scary and really need to be combated. 

My dear friend, and one of my husband's colleagues, is on the board and it is always a prideful moment when they acknowledge here and the support she helps to provide them. This is her passion and how she gives back to the community.  Because the reality is that every statistic is not just a number. It's a person.

How will you help to change tomorrow?