When we started On
Track Daily, our goal was to blog everyday week. As you can clearly
see, we've fallen a bit behind. Sorry! Sometimes life gets in the
way and you get off track. But that is the whole point of OTD, staying on
track. So here we are, back with gusto! There is a lot to talk
about so this blog will be a bit of a potpourri of ideas, hence the title -- A
little of this, a little of that.
St. Malachi
Lets start with our
Easter charity drive at St. Malachi's. What an amazing day this turned
out to be! After 3 years of Easter drives, both Matt and I felt this was
our best Easter mission. Driving down to Malachi's we didn't know
what to expect and weren't sure how we would be greeted. Well, we were
greeted with open arms. Kim, our contact at Malachi's and now someone we
call a friend, showed us around and introduced us to the staff. We were
received like royalty. The men and women who work there (they are all
volunteers, keep in mind) were so happy and touched by all of your donations
that they were all smiles. They couldn't believe that we put this
together and that all of our friends and family would reach out like
that. As they dug through the gift bags, the smiles only got bigger as
they uncovered all the goodies. Socks, socks and more socks were
over flowing and the men couldn't have been happier. In fact, as we were
carrying in the bags and bags of goodies, a bunch of men came over to us asking
for socks. When the staff began handing them out, you could see the
happiness on the men's faces. It was truly a great feeling!
After this, Kim
showed us around Malachi's campus. What a beautiful church (www.stmalachi.org)
and landmark for the city of Cleveland. First off, the church itself was
beautiful and still has a strong following today (which for an inner city
Church, is quite a big deal). Next, we saw the kitchen where they serve
daily meals, the main kitchen where they do larger weekly dinners (www.stmalachicenter.org) and
also an area where on weekends they allow the homeless a warm, safe place to
sleep. They also work in conjunction with another charitable group who
help these men and women work towards there G.E.D. and even more. They
take people in and help them with a program to learn to read, write and work
there way up to G.E.D. level if they aren't there yet. Lastly, there is
St. Malachi Center, which provides the opportunity for these men to shower,
brush their teeth and have their laundry done. These are extravagances
that you and I take for granted, but these men NEED these services and St.
Malachi's provides.
After our tour, we
went back to the offices and as we were walking, we saw men walking down West
25th street carrying our little Easter bags. It was a great feeling
to know that YOUR donations and love had such an immediate impact on the
community. And once again, we thank you for it! But when we got
back to the main house/office area, we noticed something that caught our
attention. Smiles. The smiles on the faces of the workers at St.
Malachi's as they helped their fellow man. We were truly touched.
Not many people do what they do, and not many people do it out of love instead
of a paycheck. They are truly doing the Lord's work.
Keep up the good work
St. Malachi's!! You are a treasure to the city and to your fellow
man. (If you want to help, check out this link -- www.stmalachi.org/volunteers/)
FENCING!
Next, we wanted to
report back on our "March Towards Fitness" poll. We asked our
readers to vote on which new form of exercise we should try in the month of
March, and fencing won. So, last weekend Matt and I grabbed our swords
and suited up in heavy cotton protection and went to war. We went to a
local place called Hooked on Fencing, http://www.hookedonfencing.org/. We were instructed
by world champion Walt Dragonetti and for about 2 hours got a great history
lesson in addition to a great work out.
Now I was hoping for
crates, barrels, and other random objects to jump off of and to hide behind as
Matt and I swash buckled and fought, but that was not the case. Instead,
we were hooked to electronic scorers and used blunt swords with a scoring
device at the end that registered each hit. The match is scored 1 point
at a time and can vary from whatever "point match" you want.
Since we were new, our matches were just 1-point matches to win.
 |
| Matt, ready for his next swashbuckling film role. |
We fought at sweated
and, I am sorry to say, Matt got the best of me and took me out to proceed to
the finals. Unluckily for Matt, in the finals he ran into one of our
fellow classmates with a wicked left hand. She stabbed Matt in the thigh
to win the title of class champion! If this were 1860, both Matt and I
would have been bleeding and nursing our wounds, but since it is 2012, we
finished class with a cold beverage and some laughs.
I will say that
fencing was a lot of fun and we both really enjoyed it. Plus, the next
morning we were both sore from the surprisingly good workout we had had.
Both Matt and I may sign up to do more then the introductory class as summer
approaches and we would tell any of you interested to contact Hooked on Fencing
and try it our for yourselves. It's a lot of fun and a great work
out. Which once again proves our point that you don't need to pound out
minutes on the treadmill for good exercise, but grab a sword and stab your
friend.... it’s much more fun.
Last Word
Finally, we just
wanted to once again thank everyone for their participation during our Easter
charity drive for St Malachi's. We couldn't do any of what we do with
out the support of our friends, family and readers of this blog. Thanks
for everything. And remember, we can change the world and spread some
love; we just need to do it everyday, in a small way. We need to stay On
Track, Daily!
-B.M.
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