June 4th 2010, A pledge from Me---No Shoe Porn today

There are moments in a persons life that are truly indescribable, they change you, they stay with you forever, they bring incredible joy, and in truth most of us will only have handful of these moments during the course of our lives. I'm 33 years old now and 34 is right around the corner, so far I have had two of these moments.
The first moment came on an early morning in October 2003 when my niece Kassie was born. The second that a delivery room nurse named Dora placed her in my arms I was completely gone. She's bright and funny, sweet and affectionate, quick witted and bossy, she is curious and kind. She's my mini me and loves to take pictures and dress up. She's a handful to be sure, but lights up my days.


The second moment came in the twilight hours of February 2008 when my nephew Nicholas was born, it seems that my capacity to love doubled instantly the second I saw the doctor literally pull him out of my sister. My little boy is mischievous and sweet, huggable and grumpy, adventurous and shy. He's my little buddy and he means the world to me.


Every week I spend hundreds of dollars of shoes, make up, cabs, clothes and handbags. These things bring me momentary happiness and while I enjoy them and shopping I know their effect is fleeting and in no way compares to what Kassie and Nicholas bring to my life.
Nicholas has an unidentified syndrome that has multiple attached medical conditions. Right now it seems we know all we can know from his current doctors and additional information is needed, which means trips out of state and out of the country are necessary. Now even though I throw money around like it grows on trees we are not in the position to finance these trips. The money I spent on shoes in the month of April alone could have paid for an upcoming trip to Washington for Nicholas. I am aware of that now, and I'm disappointed with myself at the moment. But it's all good, I can make a conscious effort now.
My pledge is to simply think before I drop my card down on the counter of a store or restaurant. I'm not in a position to come up with vast amounts of funds but I can certainly make small adjustments in my spending that can have little to no impact on my daily living but can add up and give me the ability to donate towards my Nephews travels, doctors and to help others.
I take a cab to work and home every day which costs me $25 a day, if I take the bus home I will have saved $62.50 a week that I can put toward charitable efforts. I buy a $4.00 iced coffee at work every day, if I get my iced coffee at McDonald's it only costs $1.50 which will give me an extra $12.50 a week. What I'm trying to say is it's the little things that can be cut out and provide assistance to others, it seems like such a small thing but every individual dollar can help.
I am very aware of that now, possibly too aware. The amount of change that we can make happen for those in need by making these small adjustments to our daily lives is great.
I'd like to ask you all to look at your daily spending and see if you can make any changes, then pick any charity that moves you and help in any way you can.

For those of you that are interested in learning more about my little buddy please visit his website:
http://nicholasalexanderrivera.webs.com/

I also want to take a moment to thank all those who have been helping us in our efforts, we have great people around us helping by making donations, planing fundraisers, making raffle donations and donating time to our fundraisers and spreading the word. My sister Nicholas and I thank you all very much.