Awww Monday: It's In The Bag

Awww Monday is hosted by Sandee, of Comedy Plus.  It's nice to start the week with a smile, so post a picture that makes everyone say, "Awww!" and link up!

Our church decided to do Blessing Bags to give to the homeless in our area.

Gather the items:

Zip top bags and snacks and some toiletry items.

Water bottles, and cards that tell about resources for the homeless here.

Get a lot of stuff, and a lot of people:

Lots of people, and tables full of supplies.

Gather everyone around to stuff bags:

Busy bees stuffing bags.

Result, 1,000 Blessing Bags:

1,000 Blessing Bags, enough for everyone to take several.

A great time was had by all, and we ended with a gumbo dinner.  In all my years, i've been part of many churches, but i've never been part of one that has so many outreaches, and i'm loving it.



Today is:

Army Day -- Democratic Republic of the Congo

Cartagena Independence Day -- Cartagena, Columbia

Coping With Uncertainty Day -- of uncertain origin, as it should be

Electronic Greeting Card Day -- internet generated, and of course probably started by the electronic greeting card websites

Homemade Bread Day -- use the bread machine, it's fun and easy, i promise!  sponsored by the Homemade Bread Day Committee of Ann Arbor, MI, US

International Students Day -- International (meant to celebrate all students around the world, not specifically students studying in countries other than their own; anniversary of the Nazi storming and closing of the University of Prague)

John Peter Zenger Day -- marking his arrest in 1734 for libel; he continued to edit his newspaper from jail and was acquitted, an early victory for freedom of the press

National Baklava Day

National Farm Joke Day

National Unfriend Day -- all those people on Facebook you regret accepting as friends?  Jimmy Kimmel suggests you unfriend them today!

Polytechneio -- Greece (anniversary of the 1973 student protests against the junta)

Presidents' Day -- Marshall Islands

Public Restroom Hand Dryer Appreciation Day -- internet generated, and why?  they've been proven less sanitary, blowing germs everywhere; i will not appreciate this one

Revolution Day -- Mexico

Shogi Day -- Japan (celebrating shogi, a chess-like game)

St. Elizabeth of Hungary's Day (Patron of bakers, beggars, brides, charitable societies, charitable workers, countesses, exiles, falsely accused people, hoboes, homeless people, hospitals, lace makers/lace workers, nursing homes, nursing services, people in exile, people ridiculed for their piety, tertiaries, tramps, widows; Sisters of Mercy; Teutonic Knights; Erfurt, Germany; Jaro, Philippines; against in-law problems, the death of children, toothache)

St. Hilda's Day (Patron of learning and culture)

St. Hugh of Lincoln's Day (Patron of sick children, sick people, swans)

Struggle for Freedom and Democracy Day -- Czech Republic; Slovakia

Take A Hike Day -- internet generated, and some websites say it's actually "Tell Your Boss to Take a Hike Day", but i don't recommend that unless you've recently inherited a fortune or won the Lotto

Winter Welcome Quadrilles and Dainty-Sixes -- Fairy Calendar

World Prematurity Day -- International (raising awareness about premature birth, the leading cause of newborn death each year, and what can be done to prevent it)



Birthdays Today:

Isaac Hanson, 1980
Laura Wilkinson, 1977
Matthew Settle, 1969
Daisy Fuentes, 1966
Sophie Marceau, 1966
Dylan Walsh, 1963
RuPaul, 1960
Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, 1958
Danny DeVito, 1944
Lauren Hutton, 1944
Lorne Michaels, 1944
Tom Seaver, 1944
Lauren Hutton, 1943
Martin Scorsese, 1942
Gordon Lightfoot, 1938
Rock Hudson, 1925
Sichiro Honda, 1906
Lee Strassberg, 1901
Bernard Law Montgomery, 1887
August Mobius, 1790
John Peter Zenger, 1734
Atahualpa, last Emperor of the Inca, 1502
Flavius Claudius Julianus, Roman Emperor, 331
Vespian, Roman Emperor, 9


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Sunset Boulevard"(Musical), 1994
"Rumors"(Simon play), 1988
"The Elephant Man"(Play), 1977
"The Sorcerer"(Gilbert and Sullivan comic opera), 1877
"Andromaque"(Racine tragedy), 1667


Today in History:

Diocletian is proclaimed emperor by his soldiers, 284
England and Spain sign an anti-French covenant/treaty, 1511
Elizabeth I ascends the English throne, 1558
France and Spain sign the Peace of the Pyrenees treaty, 1659
The Church of England organizes in New England, 1785
Congress holds its first session in the still incomplete Capitol Building of Washington, D.C., 1800
The Delta Phi fraternity, America's oldest continuous social fraternity, is founded at Union College in Schenectady, New York, 1827
Ecuador and Venezuela separate from Greater Colombia, 1831
Street signs are first authorized at San Francisco intersections, 1853
David Livingstone becomes the first European to see Victoria Falls, 1855
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Slavonic March is given its première performance in Moscow, 1876
Japan and Korea sign The Eulsa Treaty, 1905
The first US dental hygienist course is formed, in Bridgeport, Connecticut, 1913
US declares the Panama Canal Zone to be neutral, 1914
Lenin defends the "temporary" removal of freedom of the press, 1917
American scientists John Bardeen and Walter Brattain observe the basic principles of the transistor, a key element for the electronics revolution of the 20th Century, 1947
Douglas Engelbart receives the patent for the first computer mouse, 1970
In Czechoslovakia, the Velvet Revolution that would overthrow the communist government begins when student protests in Prague are quelled by riot police, 1989
Brian May of the rock band Queen was appointed Chancellor of Liverpool John Moores University, 2007
In Sweden, divers find the wreckage of the Svardet, a warship sunk in 1676 during the Battle of Oland, 2011