I first heard of Susan May 11th, 2004. As I wrote on at Command Post then:

Tonight, I finished watching the HBO documentary My Flesh And Blood, which tells the story of Susan Tom, a 53-year-old single mother in Fairfield, California. Susan is the mother of 13 children, 11 of whom she has adopted, many of whom suffer from handicaps and diseases.

Teenagers Hannah and Xenia were born without legs. Anthony has a degenerative and usually fatal skin disease. Eight-year-old Faith has disfiguring scars and no hair from being badly burned as an infant. Joe, 15, recently passed away from cystic fibrosis. Margaret, 18, helps Susan raise the family. (You can learn more about her story here, here, here and here, you can read about the documentary here and here.)

Hers is a powerful and wonderfully inspiring story. It left me moved by the grace, love, and caring Susan Tom exhibits to these children … her children … children whom, without her, may very well have gone throughout life without love, without tenderness, without a chance … without having really lived at all.

I turn from that documentary to The Command Post, where I see posted the photographs of Nick Berg’s beheading, and I’m struck bluntly by the complete antithesis of Susan Tom: murder, brutality, and disgusting inhumanity. In moments, I went from having tears in my eyes to having bile in my throat. And I’m left wondering, as I’m sure are most of us are, what exactly to make of it all.

Well, I’ve decided what to make of it all, and what I’m going to make is some good. Susan Tom is a hero … one of millions … waking each day with a commitment to make the lives of others better through love.

Hers is an example to which humanity should aspire. So my response to the murder of Nick Berg and the inhumanity it represents is to use it
as motivation to give to Susan Tom and the humanity she represents.

All of Susan Tom’s children save Katie plan to attend college. Susan will have education bills to pay, and toward that end she’s established the non-profit Tom Family Education Trust to assist the Tom children with college tuition and book expenses (according to the stipulation of the trust, the monies can not be used for any other purpose).

For the next three days, between the time stamp of this post and Midnight EDT Friday night, Michele and I will contribute all donations made to The Command Post PayPal account (the button’s below this post and also over in the right-hand column) to the Tom Family Education Trust.

That post did three things. First, it rallied the blogosphere, and we ultimately raised $15,000 in three days for the education trust. Second, it was the germ of an idea that ultimately led me to create Strengthen The Good, a non-profit network of bloggers committed to raising awareness for small charities around the world. Third, it introduced me to Susan, whom I’ve since come to consider a friend, and her kids, who are as much an inspiration as is she.

Well, Susan finally got what she deserved. ABC’s Extreme Makeover Home Edition built her a house. The episode airs tomorrow night at 7:00 EST (it’s a two-hour special), and I strongly encourage everyone to watch the show. It’s a program that often brings people (including me) to tears; Susan’s story will inspire you to change the world, in whatever small or grand way you can. It did for me, and I’m a better man for it.

Thank you, Susan, for being a hero, and congratulations on getting what you’ve so long deserved.

1. You may visit Susan’s web site here; the bulk of this post is cross-posted here.
2. It’s not lost on me that Susan is the second STG profilee to be well rewarded by fate. Last year Debi Faris won $27 million in the lottery. How’s that for karma?

* $200 to the Salvation Army

* $200 to UJC

* $200 to the Southern Baptist Disaster Relief Fund

* $200 to Feed the Children

* $200 to Soldier’s Angels

I’ll keep trying the Red Cross, and will make a donation that, along with Mary’s contributions above, totals $10,000 plus a bit (we had a late donation or two come in). When I do, I’ll post proof of the contribution here.

Thanks for helping to strengthen the good!

* We have matching fund pledges that total $5,000.00
* We have donations that totoal $4,846.38
* We have $171.86 in PayPal transaction fees, which gives us a final donation amount of $4,674.52
* I’m going to make a final donation (by check, not PayPal, to save the transaction fee) of $325.48 to bring the donation total to $5,000.00

This gives us a total of $10,000 for Red Cross Katrina relief (and a few other Katrina charities that those making donations or pledges had specified). If you pledged a match, please make your donation for the full pledge now … I’ll cover the PayPal transaction cost difference. When the pledges are in I’ll make the charitable donations, and note that I’ve done so here.

It’s more than I thought we’d raise. Thanks for helping with Katrina relief, and thanks for working to strengthen the good!

~ Alan

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I’ve been traveling hard for a few days, arrived home late last night, and am typing this in a bit of an early morning fog. So please forgive me if I’m less than lucid.

One of the first charities Strengthen The Good highlighted was a matching grant for Hurricane Charley victims on Florida’s gulf coast.

That was only a year ago, and at the time, the effort was relatively novel – other than listing possible charities, STG was one of only a few organized responses to the disaster in the blogosphere.

My, how things have changed.

Today, September 1, 2005, the blogosphere responds to Katrina with the Hurricane Katrina Blog for Relief Day. The day, hosted by one of the blogosphere’s leading technical lights, N. Z. Bear, involves bloggers around the world highlighting a particular charity of choice for their readers … doing good through information as much as donation.

It is, in essence, STG writ large, and it is a good and fantastic thing.

It also dovetails nicely with my decision of how to use STG to help salve the human suffering along the Gulf Coast, something I’m calling Matching The Good for Katrina Relief.

When I selected the Charlie charity last year–The Gulf Coast Community Foundation Of Venice Hurricane Charley Disaster Relief Fund—the primary reason for the selection was the fund’s willingness to match total contributions up to $250,000. This year, at least so far, it seems the matching programs I’ve been able to find for Katrina are all corporate – employers matching the contributions of their employees to a corporate fund.

Matching programs are wonderful because of their obvious multiplier effect. And in the absence of a general matching fund for Katrina where any citizen can contribute, I’ve decided to create one of my own: Matching the Good, where bloggers act as their own matching fund for victims of the disaster.

Here’s what I suggest: Bloggers, rather than just making a donation to their charity of choice, challenge their readers to match the level of the donation by Midnight of next Monday (that allows five days for donations).

I’ll go first: Strengthen The Good will make a matching donation to the Red Cross 2005 Hurricane relief fund up to a total of $1,000.

If you’re a fan of STG, make a donation via the donation button over there in the right-hand column (we accept PayPal and credit cards) and I’ll match the total of all donations made by Midnight of next Monday night, up to a thousand bucks.

If you’re a REAL fan of STG, don’t just offer to make a donation, offer to add to my match level. I’ll take all comers who want to join my challenge donation through this page. So, for example, if you say “Sure, I’ll add $100 to your challenge,” STG will then match all donations up to $1,100 rather than $100 – I’ll add your donation to my match. If you’re interested in joining my challenge, email me at alan at strengthenthegood.com.

What I suggest is that other bloggers with PayPal accounts do the same: Pick a charity and a donation level you’re willing to match, and then challenge your readers to contribute. It doesn’t have to be $1,000 – pick $50, and ask that five readers contribute $10 each (or that 50 readers contribute $1 each). When next Monday night comes either make the total donation to the charity yourself on behalf of you and your readers, or if you like (or if it’s easier for you), make it to Strengthen The Good: this is a fully tax-deductible charity, and we’re giving all donations collected here to the Red Cross Katrina relief efforts.

And that’s the idea: Don’t just strengthen the good, match it.

If you go this route, please email me (again, alan at strengthenthegood.com) so I can keep a total of who’s participating and the totals matched.

I’m in for $1,000 and I’ll match all donations until I’ve raised $1,000 for the Red Cross 2005 hurricane relief fund (and more if you want to join my challenge). You?

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Update: We now have several match contributions:

* Chris at Political Musings has added $100 to the kitty. Thanks, Chris!

* Jake Richter is in for $250 … thanks, Jake!

* The superfabulous Rebecca Blood is in for $200 … thanks RB!

* Friend and colleague Jan is in for $250 … thanks, Jan!

* My brother- and sister-in-law, Gene and Kris, are in for $250 … thanks, guys!!

* FB Antiques is in for $50 … thanks, Marcia!

* Josie from Bonaire is in for $250 … thanks Josie (and enjoy a meal at It Rains Fishes for our family, will you?)!

* Sue Cline is in for $100 … thanks, Sue!

* Friend and colleague Carolynne is in for $250 … thanks, Carolynne (and Erik)!!

* Some very generous friends in Dallas are in for $500 (!!) … thanks, friends!!

* Pacific Rescue is in for $250 … thanks, folks!!

* Mary is in for $1,000, asking that her part of the match go to these charities: $200 to the Salvation Army, $200 to UJC, $200 to the Southern Baptist Disaster Relief Fund, $200 to Feed the Children, and $200 to Soldier’s Angels. Will do, Mary, and thanks!

* Richard is in for $100 … thanks, Richard!!

* Jill is in for $450 … thanks, Jill!!

We will now match all donations to STG made by next Monday night with a donation to the Red Cross 2005 Hurricane relief fund of up to a total of $5,000. [NOTE: The deadline has now passed and we are no longer matching donations.]

We’ve also received donations: $4,096.38 so far … so that’s $8,192.76 for Katrina relief. And for those who have already donated, you know who you are, and thanks for helping to strengthen the good. If you’ve made a donation, please log it at TLB’s contribution page; it feeds into another page that keeps a running total of the contributions raised through blogs to date. For those who contributed before 11:00 AM EDT on 9/2/05, I’ll log your contribution for you as a single, group contribution.

UPDATE - 7:45 A.M., Sept. 6th: Donations and matching pledges continue to come in, so I’ve extended the deadline for both thru midnight Thursday night, Sept. 8th. If you haven’t already, help those hurt by Katrina through a donation or matching pledge. It doesn’t have to be a lot of money … even $10 will help. Also, as you can see, our donations nearly equal our match pledges, so if you’re of a mind to add to the match kitty, now would be an excellent time. Either way … by donating or by matching, thanks for helping us strengthen the good!

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Technorati Tags: Flood Aid, Hurricane Katrina, Matching Donations

Link to Reynold’s charity roundup (and thanks, Glenn, for the link).

Over 550 books now and counting. Thanks for helping to strengthen the good.

Thanks,

~ Alan

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It’s been roughly one year since the post that started it all: My call to strengthen the good of Susan Tom, over at Command Post on May 11th, 2004. As I wrote then:

Tonight, I finished watching the HBO documentary My Flesh And Blood, which tells the story of Susan Tom, a 53-year-old single mother in Fairfield, California. Susan is the mother of 13 children, 11 of whom she has adopted, many of whom suffer from handicaps and diseases. Teenagers Hannah and Xenia were born without legs. Anthony has a degenerative and usually fatal skin disease. Eight-year-old Faith has disfiguring scars and no hair from being badly burned as an infant. Joe, 15, recently passed away from cystic fibrosis. Margaret, 18, helps Susan raise the family. (You can learn more about her story here, here, here and here, you can read about the documentary here and here.)

Hers is a powerful and wonderfully inspiring story. It left me moved by the grace, love, and caring Susan Tom exhibits to these children … her children … children whom, without her, may very well have gone throughout life without love, without tenderness, without a chance … without having really lived at all.

I turn from that documentary to The Command Post, where I see posted the photographs of Nick Berg’s beheading, and I’m struck bluntly by the complete antithesis of Susan Tom: murder, brutality, and disgusting inhumanity. In moments, I went from having tears in my eyes to having bile in my throat. And I’m left wondering, as I’m sure are most of us are, what exactly to make of it all.

Well, I’ve decided what to make of it all, and what I’m going to make is some good. Susan Tom is a hero … one of millions … waking each day with a commitment to make the lives of others better through love. Hers is an example to which humanity should aspire. So my response to the murder of Nick Berg and the inhumanity it represents is to use it as motivation to give to Susan Tom and the humanity she represents.

All of Susan Tom’s children save Katie plan to attend college. Susan will have education bills to pay, and toward that end she’s established the non-profit Tom Family Education Trust to assist the Tom children with college tuition and book expenses (according to the stipulation of the trust, the monies can not be used for any other purpose).

For the next three days, between the time stamp of this post and Midnight EDT Friday night, Michele and I will contribute all donations made to The Command Post PayPal account to the Tom Family Education Trust …

… How do you win the war of Good and Evil? You fight Evil, and you strengthen the Good. And it’s something we should always do: as we move to eradicate Evil, we should also move to strengthen the Good.

I’ve already given $50. In the name of strengthening what’s Good, let’s help send the Tom kids to college.

Those who remember that post also likely remember what happened next: The initial response was good enough that I set the bold goal of raising $10,000. It turns out I was off base in that goal: In three days we did not raise $10,000–we raised $15,000 for the education of Susan’s kids.

In the year since, some things have changed: Susan’s son, Anthony, finally lost his battle to cancer just days before Christmas, 2004. And some things have not: Susan continues to raise her family, giving these kids who would otherwise have no shot at all, all the shot in the world. (I also had opportunity to meet Susan last Summer … there’s a shot of me trying to get her to mug for the camera with Faith in the background.)

It was the experience of raising those $15,000, and the good they created for Susan, her kids, and the bloggers and readers who participated, that ultimately led to my creating Strengthen The Good. So, in a sense, Susan’s not just responsible for the good she’s done for her children–she’s also responsible for the creation of this nonprofit, and for the good it’s done for others … for the victims of Hurricane Charley, for Debi Faris, for the Brent Woodall Foundation, and for the students of Petrzalka.

So today, Strengthen The Good is pleased to profile Susan Tom and the Tom Family Education Trust, as I hope to do every May until all her kids have graduated college. She’s my hero.

The usual disclaimers: STG is not just an encouragement to donate; it’s also an attempt to create awareness. So to learn more about the Tom Family Education Trust, visit Susan’s site.

If you do choose to donate, you may do so via PayPal at her site, via our PayPal button in the right-hand column of this page (donations to STG are tax-deductible; as of my last inquiry donations directly to Susan’s Trust were not), or via check to:

The Tom Family Education Trust
P.O. Box 2236
Fairfield, Ca. 94533

Now … be responsible. Just because I’ve satisfied my qualification of this charity does not mean you’ve satisfied yours. You are responsible for satisfying your own qualification of this or any other charity STG may point to, and while I am profiling this charity, I do not guarantee its legitimacy, its use of whatever funds you might donate, or the accuracy or of the information on its web site.

Hopefully that’s satisfied the attorneys, and we can get back to the business at hand.

Thank you for reading about Susan. She’s a remarkable source of inspiration for me, I hope she is for you, and thank you for working to strengthen the good.

The library continues to grow nicely. We have received more than 400 books. You can always check out the bookshelf at bookcrossings to see what those good people have done, to the tune of 146 books.

More than 400 English-language books now sitting as a new library in the Soviet-era apartment block of Petrzalka. What’s more, we received over $750 in donations, which when combined with what’s been sent, should result in a library with over 1,000 volumes.

I’ve asked Douglas to send some photos, which I’ll post when they arrive. In the interim, thanks for helping to strengthen the good!

I want to share with you a bit of delight I enjoyed the other day, even more than getting books in the mail. We have received enough books that my desk was getting a bit cluttered, so I moved the stacks to a table at the back of my classroom. There they will accumulate until we find some funding for shelves in the room where our library will be. One of my students noticed the books, started looking through them, and then approached me. “Mr. Dart,” she said. “May I borrow this?” It was a copy of “Little Women”. Later, two other students approached me with books in their hands, each wanting to borrow one. The first was “Fahrenheit 451″ and the other, “Schindler’s List”.

Say Waaa Hooo! The library is open for business!!!

He says he has books arriving every day, and that’s just through airmail … Douglas can’t wait to see what the slow boats bring. Good work, folks, and thanks for helping to strengthen the good.