My personal memories on how this giving circle, Be A Blessing, came to be...

Blog Post by Maya Matthews Minter

January 5, 2008~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It’s a cold winter Monday a.m., I hit my desk. 30 minutes until meeting time.  And here I go: E-mail. E-mail. E-mail. E-mail. And yet another e-mail.  Oohh wait! This is a good one. It’s from Meka, my longtime dear friend who now lives in N.C.

Under pressure, I glance thru quickly.  Probably retain about 80%. I see words about giving, sharing, but the words Time to Reconnect jump off the page at me. The word invitation does, too.

Wow! I could certainly use a good girl’s weekend.  Save-the-date for fun-fun-fun, I tell myself.  And then, back to e-mail!

April 28, 2008~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now it’s a beautiful spring Monday a.m. but one thing hasn’t changed.   I have a boat load of e-mail to read in 30 minutes flat.

There’s Meka again.  Reminding that our girl’s weekend is coming up. OK, got it.  Date is now officially locked. I’m speed reading but what catches my eye is all the additional detail on exactly how we’ll spend our time. AND the fact that she asked me, and the other three women who are coming, to send her a childhood picture.

Hmmm? What’s she up to? Who knows, but she is planning early. So this may very well be the best girl’s weekend of all time. I see visions of spa treatments, drinks, food —just can’t wait.

July 25, 2008~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We are finally there! The moment I walked into her and Mike’s home, I could feel something special in the air! There were candles, and wonderful smelling flowers.  And remember those childhood pictures, well they were blown-up and placed around the room. We even had folders that contained different readings and an outlined agenda of our time. Whoa!

I knew in an instant this party had a clear and intentional purpose.  No spa, but lots of soul searching. No pedicure, but lots of plans for our future. How could we, little old us, come together to serve in a major way? We let our imaginations run free.  Nothing was off-limits and we brainstormed… a lot. 

These are just a few of my own personal memories on how this giving circle, Be A Blessing, came to be. Before Meka’s letter, I was not really familiar with the term “giving circle.”   But as we explored it together I was struck by the simplicity, yet potential impactful, of the concept. 

Now the words from the earlier e-mails, about how we would reconnect and why, all made sense. On that weekend we devised a shared vision, and then set out to really make it come true. We would harness our collective power, intellect, talents, time, compassion, and social networks to reach out into the world and provide a needed change. Our singular focus would be on women and children.

July 25, 2013~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Today as I write, Be A Blessing is just over the half-way point of a month-long drive to provide 30 homeless children at the Katherine K. Hanley Family Shelter with supplies for the 2013–14 school year. With only eight days left, we are overjoyed with the outpouring of support thus far, and remain confident that we will reach the goal—to outfit each of the 30 children by the August 2 deadline.

In Be A Blessing I’m just one little piece of something far bigger than myself. But I’m truly humbled to be a founding member, to help others, and to do so with my closest friends on the earth.  As we wrap-up our final push to help the 30 children in the shelter, I can’t help but of think of both my grandmothers. They are veteran teachers who dedicated their careers to their students, as well as their own children. If (I’m sorry: WHEN!) we make this goal—this one is for them. :)