It's Halloween and Christmas is right around the corner....

I went to the store this afternoon to buy my Halloween candy - don't want to rush in to these things you know, anyway, I'm sitting here wondering how all those families are feeling who do not have the ability to buy candy of any kind; let alone candy to hand out to all the ghouls and goblins that will be ringing my doorbell in a very short time.  Times are so tough right now for everyone that I know and we at ERK are in the process of starting our Christmas program.  This Wednesday the board members are having our first working meeting of the year with many more to follow.  We will do some meeting stuff and then it will be "balls-to-the-walls" putting together over 200 Christmas stockings - filled with all kinds of goodies.  This year we are shooting to make 2,000 kids' Christmas a wonderful event that they will remember and their parents, too.  At ERK we understand that our economy sucks and many parents won't be able to give their children a Christmas this year without some help and that's were we can come in to help.   We don't get to see the children but we hope that what we do will help them understand what giving is all about as they grow up and become adults.  If we can get even a few of these children to "pay it forward" (I know that saying is way over used but it does really say it all) we will be happy and satisfied.  Happy Halloween and don't forget to visit us at www.ericaraeskids.org and if you can please make a donation.....thanks and blog at you soon.

Laughter and old friends.....

Friends are what keep the world going!  I have the best friends ever and I'm the first one to tell you that...my friends have been my rock throughout my life.  They have been there through thick and thin and I certainly would not be the person I am today without my friends.  I just spent several hours with two of my oldest friends and I don't mean old as in old I mean old as in we have been friends since 1972 when we had just turned 12 years old (we're now 51).  We all met at East Junior High in Aurora, Colorado and in those days you would never have thought we would still be together in 2011.  We were all so different but we were drawn to each other.  My one friend came in from Houston to help with ERK stuff, she's a "high-falutin" executive (LOL) at an airline that shall remain unnamed to protect the innocent and my other friend is Erica Rae's mom who I have decided to nickname "Mama Bear" because it is from her that Erica learned to help people in need, so anyway tonight "high-falutin", "mama bear" and myself were getting some last minute things done for the Halloween Party that ERK is helping throw tomorrow for Adams/Arapahoe County Foster Care and when the 3 of us get together the laughter starts and it just doesn't stop.  We will always be friends and we will always know that when one of us is in need we will be there for each other....I hope that everyone has friends that they can count on because you never know when you might need them.  Without our friends at ERK we certainly couldn't do what we do....I love you mama bear and high-falutin.....Laughter is Good and we all need to remember that.

It was 5am and I was awake....

Yep, when I looked at the clock this morning it said 5:00 am - REALLY!  I woke up thinking about what I was going to blog about and couldn't go back to sleep.  I have to tell you right now that I have a little obsessive-compulsive personality disorder going on and when I get started on something or I get interested in something I just can't turn it off.  I would like to say it's a curse, but it's not!  I have been making myself not sit down at the computer since "o-dawn-thirty" this morning because everything that I wanted to talk about is running in circles in my head.  All of us at ERK are so excited this time of year that it is balls-to-the-walls busy.  This Tuesday we will be spending time with the children at a Halloween party that are in the foster care programs of Adams-Arapahoe Counties and it will be the first time that some of the ladies will ever get to meet the children that ERK helps.  Our program is all about confidentiality so we usually just get lists with last names and the gender and the age of the children, so this is going to be a real treat to get to see those faces light up with all the fun things that ERK has in store for them at their party.  Party On, Garth!!! 

More about us....

I'm sitting here wondering where to start and as Glinda, the good witch, would say "It's always best to start at the beginning" so the beginning of our story starts with a little girl not named Dorothy but Erica Rae.  Erica was a very giving, caring, creative and loving girl who lived life in the fast lane.  She wanted everyone to be taken care of as she had been taken care of all her life by her mother and her father and her older sister.  If she found out that someone was in need of something, be it food, clothing or place to stay she would do what she could to help that person.  Erica's best friend was her mom and they had a very special bond.  When Erica passed away her mom went through some very hard times trying to deal with the loss of her daughter.  Erica Rae's Kids, Inc. was born to help mom with that loss and the rest, we hope, will be awesome history in Erica's memory.  I sit on the Board of Directors of ERK for many reasons but the main reason is my love of helping others.  Our Board currently consists of 8 fabulous women who volunteer hundreds of hours a year in pursuing our passion-"Helping our Future by Helping our Children".  Our Wicked Witch is poverty, hunger, homelessness and abuse.  The statistics are staggering, but that is for another blog.  Please check us out at www.ericaraeskids.org and have a great day!

It's a Challange!!

Today is Friday, October 21, 2011 and this is the first blog for "A Day With Erica Rae's Kids".  We are a children's nonprofit based in Aurora, Colorado and our passion is helping underpriviledged and abused children.  We do this out of love and in memory of Erica Rae....I really want to tell the whole story right now but there is so much to tell that I feel it must be done a little at a time to keep you coming back.  The way I look at it is, if Stephen King can write "Novella's" so can I.  Stay tuned and come back often.  The children need your help too!