(original post by Diane Guercio on TwitterQueens)
I have spoken to Rocky Turner a couple of times over the past few weeks, and to say that her strength is an inspiration would be an understatement.
To say that I am blown away by how she (and her husband) manage to raise six children (hands on- I have heard her helping with homework) and spend time in Africa acting as a surrogate mother to the girls of an orphanage would be an understatement.
To say that I am impressed to the bone by the level of integrity with which she runs her non-profit organization Mothers Fighting For Others- well, that would be a huge understatement.
This is an older video. It tells a little bit about the work Rocky and Ashley Saunders are doing in Kenya, and there are even more girls that need help now.
I like the starfish story that Rocky tells. I like it because it only begins to tell the story. A kindness done spreads by ripple effect (as many of us have seen here on TwitterQueens)- toss that starfish in and literally you change the course of the world. Teach a group of young women about unlimited potential and you unleash power that not only changes lives- it will change the lives of their children and their children’s friends. Can you imagine it?
Rocky will be on TQ Radio on Monday November 2. I liked what she had been doing before I had spoken with her- but listen to this. I was curious about how this had all been put together. Except for an average of $20 per month in administration costs, every cent of money raised has gone to the children. Not only do the women completely forgo any salaries- Rocky has paid for her own transportation and nearly all of the associated expenses of traveling there. She told me what that cost for the past year. Incredible.
So this is what I was thinking. I know that we are all busy, but I think some small calls-to-action would literally change the world.
1. We are “adopting” Mothers Fighting For Others as our choice for any gift-giving. Have an extra $5 at the end of the week? Click the PayPal button that will be on the front page and donate. If we all donate pocket change it will add up in a hurry.
2. Through the season, we wanted to start TQ Holidays for MFFO. Kind of a clunky name, but we can call it TQHMFFO if that is better ;). This means two things. a) SPREAD THE WORD! MFFO is really operating on a shoestring- in fact, they have borrowed to pay for the shoestring. By spreading the word we may end up with more individual sponsors, and also come across corporate sponsorship. b) Donate the cost of a gift to MFFO. I am going to do this with my youngest daughter Jenny. We will talk together about how much a present would cost and donate together.
3. Write a blog post about MFFO.
4. Consider asking any corporations you are involve with to sponsor MFFO- either by matching dollars donated by TQ members, or in a more broad sense.
5. See if your school would like to donate to support this cause. This could be as simple as seeing if your child’s class would set up a “Quarters for Kenya” jar prior to the holiday break and donating the proceeds through the PayPal button here.
Little things. But like with the starfish in the story, the little things are everything.
Rocky Turner will be speaking about her work on Monday on TQ Radio (www.blogtalkradio.com/jckc . TwitterQueen Jeff Turner is Rocky’s husband. Rocky is @HeadMutha on twitter; Jeff is @respres
