Hearts and Hands - Volunteer Thanks

2016 was an amazing year.  So many people volunteered with our organization to make dreams come true. Visit our facebook page in the coming months for our volunteer spotlight.  We share this poem to honor their care and courage:

Dedicated hearts like yours are not so easy to find.
It takes a special person to be so generous and kind.

To care so much is a quality all too rare
Yet you give of your time and talents, for all in need to share

So thank you for sharing your gifts as a volunteer, we're privileged to work with you
We want you to know how appreciated you are, not just today, but the whole year through

Listening Leadership

As a leader in life, are you a good listener to the people around you? The swahili word for "listen" is "kusikilisa" (koo-see-key-lee-zah).  Holistic listening and care of the whole person is one of the tenets of African culture.

Teresa Hoover, the first African American woman executive of a major denominational department for 22 years, served as a role model while training numerous colleagues to add listening to their leadership tool kit.

When we open up the channels of communication and really listen, here is the gift we offer to others:

Eyes - I see what you say.

Ears - I hear what you say.

Heart - I feel what you say.

Attention - I value who you are and what you say.

Only when a leader does these things is she or he able to build trust and inspire people to collaborate with them each day.

Sign of the Times

Here are some third-party food certifications that you may have seen on packaged food in your local market.  Below are some details on what some of them mean. 

 

 

You Are The Air I Breathe

With the current heat wave, here are the 10 big cities with the best and worst air quality per the Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA tracks pollution in 500 urban areas with its Air Quality Index—a measure of sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, and ozone levels. It then rates the air quality on a spectrum from “good” to “hazardous.” The ranking was based on the largest metropolitan areas with the highest percentage of good air quality days.

Mind Heart

The State of Mental Health 2016 states that depression is on the rise. Depression is unexpressed anger. Choose natural remedies that restore such as play, fresh fruit and veggies, friends and fun. Source: Mental Health America

 

At What Cost

Workplace suicide rates are rising and have become an increasing concern.  Researchers say that men are statistically more likely to take their life while on the job.  The American Journal of Preventive Medicine study also observed that the global economic crisis in 2008 impacted suicide rates for the worse. Employees At Highest Risk For Work-Related Suicide include:

1. Law enforcement officers, firefighters, and detectives
2. Soldiers throughout service branches
3. Farmers, fishery, and forestry workers
4. Installation, maintenance, automotive, and repair technicians
5. Truck drivers and laborers
6. Management, business, and financial operation positions
7. Janitors, cleaners, and landscapers

The Cycle of Life

Many people seem to be unaware that just living a life in-congruent to light and temperature cycles set us up for neolithic (post-agriculture) disease.   Immunity has been shown to be directly tied to the normal circadian clocks.

Circadian rhythms are physical, mental and behavioral changes that follow a roughly 24-hour cycle, responding primarily to light and darkness in an organism's environment. They are found in most living things, including animals, plants and many tiny microbes.

Circadian rhythms are produced by natural factors within the body, but they are also affected by signals from the environment. Light is the main cue influencing circadian rhythms, turning on or turning off genes that control an organism's internal clocks.

Circadian rhythms can influence sleep-wake cycles, hormone release, body temperature and other important bodily functions. They have been linked to various sleep disorders, such as insomnia. Abnormal circadian rhythms have also been associated with obesity, diabetes, depression, bipolar disorder and seasonal affective disorder.

Source: National Institute of General Medical Sciences

 

 

A Deep Need to Bond

Loneliness is a serious public health issue that must be addressed all year round.  Loneliness affects 60 million Americans. In the age of Facebook and online connections, we are feeling more lonely than ever.  It’s an epidemic sweeping our nation, and wreaking havoc on Americans’ health.  Loneliness has been linked to the development of a number of serious chronic health conditions, including depression, high blood pressure and dementia.

Social isolation is as potent a cause of early death as smoking 15 cigarettes a day; loneliness, research suggests, is twice as deadly as obesity. Dementia, high blood pressure, alcoholism and accidents – all these, like depression, paranoia, anxiety and suicide, become more prevalent when connections are cut. We cannot cope alone.  Studies have shown the following affects of loneliness:

• Loneliness increases the risk of early death by 45% and the chance of developing dementia in later life by 64%.

• Extreme loneliness can increase premature death in older adults by 14%.
• Loneliness has twice the impact on early death than obesity.
• Loneliness is a form of stress, causing an inflammatory response, which harms the blood vessels and heart.

 

Professor Peter Cohen argues that human beings have a deep need to bond and form connections. It’s how we get our satisfaction. If we can’t connect with each other, we will connect with anything we can find — the whirr of a roulette wheel or the prick of a syringe.  The organs in this illustration are affected by loneliness.