my personal organizations.

so, after i realized that audrey already wrote about toms (look at her blog! shopping, shoes & a good cause. i love it), i was pretty stumped about what to write about.  the blogs were pretty creative this week coming up with organizations that publicly display their values.  it was jaclyn's blog though, that led me to realize that an organization doesn't have to be nationally recognized or a huge business to prove its values.

so i decided to write about my church.  bellarmine chapel is on xavier university's campus in cincinnati.  when i first moved to cincinnati (approximately age 1), my family began attending mass at bellarmine.  when i began catholic school in 4th grade, until my little brothers graduated 8th grade in 2007, we took an intermission and attended St. Mary in Hyde Park, since thats where we went to school.  my mom had always missed bellarmine, and jumped back almost immediately.  this church is pretty liberal, due to its location on a college campus, and has the strongest sense of community that i have ever witnessed.

just this past weekend, a member of our congregation passed away.  it was an old man with a large family that had been attending mass for as long as i can remember.  i had only spoken to him a couple times, but he had always gone out of his way to make sure he waved to my family or said a friendly hello, no matter where we ran into him.  there was an enormous wake and funeral, due to the loss of one person.  everyone came to tell the family that we were here for them and bring them food as a comfort.  the strength of our church is amazing.

i bet this story doesn't stand out as something abnormal for a congregation, but it still reminds me how important it is to stick together and belong to a group that will always be there for you.  this is very reminiscent of alpha chi omega & ursuline academy, my high school.  these 3 places are the groups in which i feel loved and connected to those i am around and far away from.

ive mentioned before that i have 16 best friends from high school, but one of the closest's mom died our freshman year. 10/10/04.  six years later, i always personally send and hear from someone who is organizing sending her flowers on this day.  it's something that i cannot relate to, but i still want her to know that i'm thinking of her in this difficult time.  during mother/daughter brunches, my mom would always invite my friend to come with us and she gives her a call sometimes to tell her that we're here for her.  i can't imagine going through such an event, but i know if i did, that axo, ua and bellarmine chapel would be there for me & i can't think of a better way to display values than actions that show this degree of love and compassion.