Why?

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Hey there, I’m Jennifer Kelley Lublin (JennKL), and a passion of mine is this concept: Get Out And Give.  Why Get Out and Give? Because even though I’ve been told a million times “there’s just bad stuff in the world and you can’t change that” and even though I’ve tried literally every day of my life to not let the negative attitudes or actions of others get to me – it doesn’t work, it still gets to me. I’ve read books, had teachers/mentors, done a lot of work around the subject of “letting things not affect me so much” and let’s just say it hasn’t worked. I still get really upset if I see someone be less than nice.  I have asked those close to me so many times I can’t even remember – “how can someone be so mean?” or “why can’t they just be nice?” or had thoughts wishing and dreaming of a peaceful world where we all walk around smiling, laughing and being nice to each other. I’m sure some will say I’m too sensitive or to not allow other’s actions/words/attitude affect me. As hard as I try to just “let things go”, I still find it so heartbreaking and disappointing to be faced with attitudes that are less than nice, kind and thoughtful. So, in my own little way I’d like to try and do something. I do believe that it’s possible to some day experience a world where we spend most of the day flooded with goodness and love and good news instead of being bombarded with all the poop that goes on. So along comes my idea for Get Out And Give. It’s so simple. Really. Just make a conscious effort every single day to 1) do something nice for yourself, 2) do something nice for others  and 3) do something nice for the world. Take care of you, take care of me, take care of us! One, two, three. Done. Even the smallest action (I believe) can lead to huge change. Try this: Wake up and greet yourself in the mirror with a smile, then go on about your day and smile at everyone you meet, then help the world by sharing stories/videos/status updates that make you smile therefore making us smile. Get creative. See what happens if you wake up everyday with the thoughts of doing something thoughtful for yourself, others and the world. I wonder where this will take us.

What is something good you noticed, read, did, heard about today?
Please share in one of three ways:
1) in comments on this blog
3) on Twitter using hashtag #GetOutAndGive to @JennKL so I’ll see it, retweet and share the inspiration…

Get Out And Give: Los Angeles Team Mentoring (LATM, Los Angeles Charity)

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I’m excited to get back to posting here on this site. Thank you for checking out Get Out And Give. I hope you’ll share some of your own inspiring stories.

Get in the giving mood and check out LATM (Los Angeles Team Mentoring- CLICK HERE), help lots of children work with great mentors by donating some of your hard-earned dollars or become a mentor yourself.  I love working with LATM and volunteer with them off and on throughout the year to supply photographs and video of all the great aspects of their programs. Once a year I get the honor of photographing their Annual Soiree. Check out the photos (by clicking here) of this year’s Soiree where LATM raised over $800,000. AMAZING!

Straight from LATM’s site:  “Our mission is to guide middle school students growing up in challenging urban environments to recognize and reach their full potential as members of our community.  Through a school-based approach to mentoring, young adolescents are given the tools and support necessary to make positive choices during a critical period in their lives. Utilizing a team-based approach to mentoring, we pair groups of youth with multiple positive adult role models and utilize a fun, interactive curriculum to help the students learn communication, team building, and leadership skills; while emphasizing the importance of respect for others.  This helps our youth build more positive relationships, increase their self-esteem, and plan for a positive future. Our youth are middle school students (typically 11-14 years old) who are rapidly changing in many ways—physically, intellectually, socially, and emotionally.  We specifically target students during the middle school years because, while this represents a significant time of risk for many young people, this group is the most overlooked and underserved youth population in Los Angeles. Our students come from challenging communities, where the majority of families live below the poverty line.  The areas surrounding our schools frequently suffer from greater levels of unemployment, high crime rates, and gang activity. To date, we have impacted over 19,000 young lives.”

I had to post a few images from this year’s Soiree below…so proud of the Mentee of  the Year

Have a great day!

Jenn :-)

The Power of Giving

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I was raised in a household where the importance of giving was made very clear; part of my heritage was about leaving the world a better place than it was when you left it. Even though I believe in that principle, I think it was the kind of thing that I wound up taking for granted. Did it feel good to give? Yes. It’s always nice to do the right thing by people; I just never really thought about it, and as a result I haven’t done as much as I could have.

Then Jennifer started this site and this movement, and I started to look at things differently. For example, a little over a week ago I had the opportunity to participate in a charity Scrabble tournament to benefit Bookends, a charity started by kids that benefits kids by running book drives to help bring books to schools in need. The entire event was well-run and the fact that I got to spend time with friends of mine who were also attending made it a way for me to give to myself; by entertaining my tablemates, I was doing my best to give to others (the people right around me); at the same time I had the privilege of supporting a charity that makes a difference in kids’ lives – giving to the world.

I felt that night that I was part of something larger than myself, and that my participation had in some minuscule way helped move things forward. We all have those opportunities every single day – you don’t need to have money or some vast wealth of resources to make a difference. All you need is the perspective to identify those opportunities when they arise and a willingness to act, and you’ll achieve the feeling I’m talking about. Those tiny shifts in perception are all it takes for a group of people to make big changes. I’m so excited to be a contributor to Get Out And Give and I hope you’ll contribute too.

-Hal

Welcome to Get Out And Give!

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Get Out And Give has been a passion project I have been developing and thinking about and wanting to do for a long time.  My hope is that Get Out And Give will inspire people to do just that…Get Out And Give.  The tag line of Give to Yourself. Give to Others. Give to the World. is to get us all thinking about those three elements every single day.

First, you have to take care of yourself right? Give to Yourself. Do something nice for yourself every day – it could be as simple as saying nice things about your own self instead of criticizing yourself.  You know, give yourself a pat on the back would be a good place to start.

Then, Give to Others.  Stepping outside yourself and putting your attention on others.  This could be as simple as smiling at other people during the day, sharing some great advice you got regarding your business, paying someone a compliment or wanna go big – buy them a house :-) .

And, finally, Give to the World.  Take action to volunteer, even if it’s a few hours a month.  Try your hand at recycling.  Support a great cause, bring awareness to inspirational things that are happening around us all the time.  Imagine if we all thought of these 3 things every day and made small contributions in each area – Self, Others, The World. Imagine the possibilites and the movement toward a more peaceful way to be.  Take care of you, take care of me, take care of us.

For the launch of this site, I documented getting my hair chopped off in order to donate to Locks of Love “Locks of Love is a public non-profit organization that provides hairpieces to financially disadvantaged children under age 21 suffering from long-term medical hair loss from any diagnosis”.  I wanted to share this here because it goes with the cause of 1) Give to Yourself (Oh I did, I love my new cut, feels so wonderful, free and fabulous) 2) Give to Others (Donating my hair to Locks of Love) and 3) Give to the World (Helping spread the word about Locks of Love and not wasting something, my hair did not go to waste and just get swept into a trash somewhere, it’s going to a great cause). To donate to Locks of Love you have to grow your hair out and have 10 inches from end to end when in a ponytail or braid.  Please read more about Locks of Love here and find out how you can donate to this wonderful organization.  Hope you enjoy this behind-the-scenes/docu style video of me getting my hair chopped off by my dear friend and fellow photographer Becca Rillo. Becca also took the before and after photos you’ll see in the video.


This blog will be a place to share and inspire.  I invite you and want you to participate here by sharing about you thoughts, uplifting actions and inspiring people/places/things you’ve come across.

Get Out And Give,
Jenn :-)