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One Gift, One Life and a whole lot of Gratitude

A morning walk, the cool crisp air, the fall leaves slowly and quietly drop to the ground around me.

With each step I take, with each pound of my heart, I am reminded of the gratitude I feel in my heart that this day is here for me to enjoy and to take in every moment as if my life depends on it.

I am given this moment to hold the soft hand of my little girl, to listen to the strum on the guitar and the blow of the trumpet by my teenage sons, and to lean over and kiss my sweet husband and say “I Love You”.

With each moment God has given me to enjoy, that joy can also be taken away in such a short time. That is why I’m determined to make a difference, one gift at a time, one life at a time and a whole lot of gratitude felt in every heart.

It’s been a blood drive in the making for a couple months now and as we’re approaching our date, which is set for November 30^th, 2007, the excitement sets in at how many people are so eager to jump in and help.

Planning takes just a little bit of time, a lot of determination and the American Red Cross to get you in the right direction. If you are considering setting up a blood drive in your community here are some steps to get you started:

Approve the idea with your broker or manager.
Call or walk in to the American Red Cross and speak with a recruiter (Anne here in Salt Lake City, UT. Is my recruiter) Anne could see my vision and she was determined to help me make this work.
Set up an appointment with your recruiter to view the space in which you want to hold the drive. They also have mobile vans that will park at your office.
Plan your date and time with your recruiter. This can take some planning because there are many others waiting to give as well. Isn’t that awesome? So plan ahead.
Set your goal of how many people you would like to have donate.
Start telling everybody you know in advance. Friends, Family, Title Companies, Other Brokerages, Lenders, and Neighbors. You will be so happily surprised at how many of these people are eager to jump in and make the day a success. The Title and Lender’s I work with have offered to put up announcements in their office to get people involved. I love it!
Make a flyer to display, email, and mail to all of the names on your list.
Follow-up with a call to all the people you sent the flyer to.
Fill up your roster.
Show up to the blood drive with enthusiasm and the American Red Cross will do the rest.

There are so many reasons to give blood and so many causes for the need of blood that it makes it so easy to take that first step in making a difference.

Photos courtesy of flickr.com

Gratitude can be expressed with your words, but nothing is better than how gratitude makes you feel in your heart.

Also read:

ABC Soup...A Day Full of GGGREAT!

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Julie Neerings, GRI- Heart of Utah Real Estate Copyright © 2008- If you are considering buying, selling, military relocations to Hill AFB or relocating to Utah, you deserve local expertise and advice to be provided by a professional in real estate. Julie Neerings is a Utah REALTOR® providing full time, professional real estate services to buyers and sellers in the cities of Layton, Bountiful, Woods Cross, West Valley, West Jordan, South Jordan, Riverton, Herriman and all surrounding cities.

Posted by Julie Neerings~Lifting Hearts ♥ Building Dreams~Utah REALTOR® on 10/06/2007 12:00 PM

Comments (42)

heart of giving, utah, utah real estate, pay it forward, a cup full of inspiration

Originally posted at: From the Heart of Utah Real Estate by Julie Neerings: One Gift, One Life and a whole lot of Gratitude

This post has been included in Utah Information Salt Lake County, UT Information
Post is included in group: Christianity and Real Estate

42 Comments on One Gift, One Life and a whole lot of Gratitude

OCT

2007

Julie,

Thankyou for the inspiring blog! Words to live by for sure.

Double Happiness,

Steven Simmons & Marti Schmidt, Realtors, Prudential GHP, beautiful Ocean Shores, WA.

The Ocean is calling...answer the call!!

Bravo

Julie, What a beautiful and inspiring post, I hope everyone follows your example to either give blood or contact The Red Cross to see how they might be able to help. Lovely contribution to your area and to Activerain.

Steven & Marti-You are welcome. Giving pours out the happiness for sure. What a beautiful picture you've added. Thank you!

Ginger-Thank You!

Carole-I as well hope this inspires more people to get involved in one way or another. Thank you for your kind comment and I hope you get the opportunity to do this as well.

Julie, Oh how I appreciate your post! I am featuring it in Spiritual Rain, what an unselfish and full of gratitude person you are! We need more like you in this world! God bless you richly!

Diane-You are so welcome. What a wonderful compliment that is and how completely touching to my heart. Thank you so much, your words are not taken lightly. God bless you as well.

Thanks for a positive and inspiring look into the reasons for giving and the gratitude from our efforts.

Sally-You are welcome. It always feels great to give a positive post as well.

Julie, it seems that you and I were writing our posts around the same time. Giving blood is giving life and you have written about it so eloquently. I'm proud to have donated over a gallon of my blood over the years to the American Red Cross. Last year, I organized a program with the Red Cross to speak about Emergency Planning at Home. It was well-attended and appreciated.

I hope the blood drive goes well, sis.......

I did it once and fainted...the wuss that I am...

I guess I needed to drink OJ while I was giving, hmm?

BUT...I will never do it again....

=-0

Hi Julie,

Very inspiring post! I think this is a great way to get people involved, giving blood helps save lives! I did it for the first time this past summer and ready to do it again. :)

Brian-Thank you for your kind compliment and stopping by to visit. That is awesome that you have donated that much blood. I don't know my numbers. Do you just ask the American Red Cross? I really like your idea of the Emergency Planning at Home program. What a great way of thinking and serving our clients and community outside the box. Keep up your great service!

Alexander-A wuss you are not. I had the same thing happen my first time because I didn't eat anything all day. I pondered from 9-2 if I should donate or not. Something in my gut and heart was speaking loud and clearly, "Julie get down there and donate". The company I was working at was holding the drive. By the time I made it down to the drive and donated my first blood, I got up from the chair all happy and excited and boom, found 3 people hovering over me. When they asked what I ate, I said "oh, was I supposed to eat first"? Duh! It's actually funny now. Then the determination set in that I would give it another shot in the right manner. Ever since, I've been so glad to donate. I do however, need to make it a point to donate more often.

So don't give up on the idea. You will be able to do it again. You should check out the American Red cross website (above) and see what tips are given to make it a good experience when donating.

Have a great night and thank you for commenting and sharing your story.

Hi Suzanne! It's so nice to see you stop by. Congratulations on your first donation. Now you'll want to just keep giving and giving more. I worked at UPS and it was so nice to have the HR department keep the blood drives in tact. That way, while I was at work, all I had to do is donate and go back to work. No worries. I'm hoping to make this a semi-annual event.

OCT

2007

Julie, yes the Red Cross should have a record of your donations. By us, they use a computerized system and keep all our data. After donating about 14 or 15 pints, they sent me a new donation card in the mail that had that amount printed on the front. And on the back, each time I donate, they note it on the card and write the date and my blood pressure reading.

Hi Julie,

I just noticed the border around your photo, it looks really nice! :)

Hi Julie,
Wow! This post just takes my breath away. What an inspiration for us to search for ways to give. We are so very blessed and have so many things for which we should give thanks each and every day.

The last time I tried to give blood, they would not allow me to because I did not weigh enough. I think I qualify now, I need to go back and try.

Julie, you have such wonderful way with words...written from your heart of gold. This is a beautiful post and I hope it inspires many blood drives this season....

Brian, Thank you for giving me that great information. I'm anxious to find out. It's all in the good, so either way it makes it all worth while. You have such a giving heart that I really appreciate you taking time out to comment on my blog. It gives each reader a lot of inspiration to make the next step. Thank you again!

Suzanne, Thank you! I went on a search on AR last night to figure out how to personalize my blogs on AR. They just wanted some personal and fun touches. That's when I found Jeff Turner's blog. You'll have to check it out. Have a wonderful Sunday!

Cynthia-Thank you! That really means a lot to me that this touched your life in such a positive way. I pray for this post and other's to really affect people with inspiration and action to make a difference. Wow, you didn't weight enough? My dear friend, you look tiny in your picture are you eating any of those great recipes you share with us? You must have one of those powerhouse metabolisms. Again, thank you for your support and enjoy your Sunday.

Jo-How nice that was to see your name this morning. Thank you so much for you support and kindness. Coming from a lady with such amazing blogs written right from the heart, that is quite a compliment. I as well hope this inspires many blood drives. Have a Beautiful Sunday!

Julie- I loved your post and the pictures. You truly know how to touch people. Good luck with your blood drive. It is going to make a huge difference in the lives of people. Keep up the great work!

Great idea, Julie! I gave you "props" for sharing such an easy way to give back. Let us know how it turns out next month.

Jennifer, it's so great to see you visit. Thank you for the wonderful compliment. Making a difference, big or small makes it worth it for us all.

Amber, thank you and I'm truly honored that you gave my post props. I will keep you all posted with the progress and how it turns out. I'm so excited!

OCT

2007

Great post and wonderful pictures! I too will soon be able to hold my own daughters hands and truly cannot wait until she is born (late November)! And nice idea about the blood drive, I will speak to my manager about this!

Michael-Thank you for your nice comment. That is so wonderful that you will have your little girl to hold soon. Congratulations. What a sweet feeling it is to hold them and love them. You never want the moment to end.

I hope you get the opportunity to run your own blood drive too. That would be awesome! Have a wonderful week!

Julie- I love this post. I love the poem you wrote! I am so full of gratitude to be blessed with friends like you in my life! I know when I come back to Salt Lake that we can meet. You touched my heart with this wonderful post. May God bless you always. Katerina

Katerina-Oh yes, when you come to Utah, we do have to meet and when you get here you will be welcomed back with a big hug waiting from a friend. Your friendship is appreciated so much as well. You are such a kind person and your comment means so much to me. Thank you!

OCT

2007

Julie: This is such a beautiful post...stunning in fact. We do a blood drive at our office as well. There is nothing more important in the world than our children, is there?

Beautifully done Julie.... been away for about a week.... so much to catch up on! Awesome post you have here.... from the heart. I feel ya!

Julie...lovely pictures and even more lovely words. Thanks so much for sharing your heart! Blessings!

OCT

2007

Diane A.-Thank you for that very kind compliment. There is a fear for some to donate, but just getting past that fear and jumping in for a great cause is so important. Our children are so important. It's so easy to get so caught up in business and have to give yourself a check up to make sure balancing is being focused on as well.

Diane R-Oh, thank you. It's always exciting to see you stop by. You have all those rentals that are keeping you very busy, don't you? I'm glad you enjoyed this post.

Elizabeth-You are welcome! I'm glad that you had the opportunity to read my post. It is so important and the exciting part is, the sign up roster is almost completely full.

OCT

2007

Julie - I remember reading this one before, and I could have sworn I commented on it already, but I guess I didn't. Thanks so much for continuing to write from your heart, which is really the place where all good communication begins.

Jason: What's up with that? Not commenting on the Pres of your blogging fan club. :) Writing from my heart is the only place everybody will see and you are right, that is where good communication begins.

Julie - I will strive to not let it happen again. :)

Julie,

This post is so spirit filled, thank you.

Penny White

Jason: So appreciated! :) Oh and thanks for the phone contact. It was great to put a voice with the wonderful words that are put in your blogs each day. Not only that it was an honor to have that time to visit with you. What a great friend you are and how God has blessed you with so many wonderful things.

Penny: You are so welcome. I hope you have many chances to have your spirit filled. Thank you for commenting.

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