The Original 52: My FIRST 52 Week Journey at a Glance
The first 52 weeks came out of a desire to approach the milestone birthday of my turning 50 boldly and joyfully. I did not want my 50th to be focused on me. I wanted to take the year and live it for others – with all of life’s beauty, wonder, heartache, joy, discovery and love focused on giving a voice to others. I wanted to explore where love, generosity, and community live in the world. These are all around us but we often go through life without sensing or seeing them. So I wanted to explore. Life is magical when exploring.
I set a goal – Each week, for 52 weeks, I would volunteer with a different organization or event, share those moments of community and love that happen when volunteering, celebrate with others how love builds hope, and write about the experience. Through the experience I found my authentic voice and a sense of wholeness I did not expect. There is much light in this world. You need only to seek it gently to uncover it.
Below is the list of the Original 52 Weeks of Charity – you can scroll through and click on any that may peak your curiosity. You can also click the categories in the column on the right to see the weeks for certain categories. I hope looking through the weeks inspires you to love the beautiful, special, wonderful person you are and reveal how helping others through your unique gifts and by giving up small bits of time, can surprise you and bring magic to the world.
XO, Penny
Week | Organization | Description of Activity | Link to Page |
---|---|---|---|
Pre-Marathon Week 1 | Living Water: El Salvador | Building a clean water well for a village with no access to clean water | Living_Water_International_El-Salvador_2017 |
Pre-Marathon Week 2 | Hungry Helpers Jersey City (St. Lucy's Shelter) | Feeding homeless men and women, visiting with them, cleaning up | Hungry_Helpers |
Pre-Marathon Week 3 | EarthKeepers at Watchung Reservation | Trail cleaning and maintenance | EarthKeepers_Watchung_Mt |
Week 1 | The Valerie Fund | Setting up for 5k and event to raise money for research to fight children's blood disorders. | Valerie_Fund |
Week 2 | Morris County Interfaith Food Pantry | Helping at a client-choice food pantry | MCIFP |
Week 3 | Homeless Solutions: Birthday Buddies | Throwing birthday party for children living in homeless shelter | Homeless_Solutions_Bday_Buddies |
Week 4 | Habitat For Humanity | Building Homes in Morristown | Habitat_For_Humanity |
Week 5 | Imagine - Center for Coping with Loss | Program to support children who have lost loved ones. Educational tour and group activities | IMAGINE |
Week 6 | Friends of Cape May National Wildlife Refuge | Tour, education and research | CapeMayWildlife |
Week 7 | Care One | BINGO with residents of long-term care facility. | CareOneBingo |
Week 8 | Carbonfund.org | Reducing my carbon footprint | Carbonfund_org |
Week 9 | Habitat for Humanity | Building homes with co-workers | Habitat_For_Humanity2 |
Week 10 | NEDA (National Eating Disorder Association) | Walking for Awareness | NEDA-Walk |
Week 11 | Only Make-Believe, Washington DC | Creating costumes for shows to entertain and involve children in hospitals | OnlyMakeBelieve |
Week 12 | Caitlin's Smiles | Making cards and gift bags for hospitalized, critically ill children | CaitlinsSmiles |
Week 13 | NY Blood Center | Giving blood | NY_BloodCenter |
Week 14 | Hurricane Harvey Relief Fund | Collecting and sending donated goods to Puerto Rico | HurricaneHarvey |
Week 15 | Virtual Racing | On-line racing for charities | Virtual_5Ks |
Week 16 | Southern Appalachian Labor School | Working with disaffected youth | SALS_WestVA |
Week 17 | The Covenant House NYC | Saving Homeless Young Adults | The Covenant House NYC |
Week 18 | Random Acts of Kindness Foundation | Becoming a RAKTIVIST! | Random Acts of Kindness Foundation |
Week 19 | Avon 39 Breast Cancer Walk | Walking 39 miles to raise funds and awareness | Avon39 |
Week 20 | Market Street Mission | Tour/education - men's drug recovery and homeless shelter | MarketStreetMission |
Week 21 | Adopt-a-Soldier | Adopting deployed soldier for 6 months - sending letters and packages | Adopt_a_Soldier |
Week 22 | Table-to-Table | Day on the truck with this food rescue program program (collecting and dropping off) | Table_to_Table |
Week 23 | Liquid Church's Love Week | Painting the Parsippany, NJ community Center | LoveWeek |
Week 24 | Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida | Sorting and packing food donations | 2ndHarvest |
Week 25 | St. Peter's Orphanage | Thanksgiving Dinner for a cause... | CharityThksGivingDinner |
Week 26 | Salvation Army's Angel Tree Program | Gift buying for child in need (with my grandson) | AngelTag |
Week 27 | Feed My Starving Children | Packing 1 Million meals for the hungry | FeedMyStarvingChildren |
Week 28 | Land of a Thousand Hills Coffee | Reconciliation through coffee farming | Land_of_a_Thousand_Hills_Coffee |
Week 29 | Team Walker | Working the Holiday Party for inner city youth | TeamWalker |
Week 30 | Menlo Park Veteran's Home | Visiting and entertaining veterans | MenloPark |
Week 31 | First Night Morris | Running Lego activity at community New Year's Eve celebration | FirstNight |
Week 32 | DoSomething.org | Mirror Messages - creating positive messages on sticky notes and leaving them on public mirrors | MirrorMessages |
Week 33 | SpreadKindness.org | Creating a ripple of kindness.... | SpreadKindness.Org |
Week 34 | CMTC Blue Warming Station | Setting up and helping run night at a homeless shelter | CMTC |
Week 35 | Family Intervention Services | Painting ceramic dish in support of abused and neglected children (Paint and Sip event) | FIS |
Week 36 | Lakeland Area Special Olympics | Painting signs (crafting) to support Special Olympic athletes | LakelandSO |
Week 37 | Michael J Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research | 500 mile Virtual Race to Jupiter to fight Parkinson's | Journey_to_Jupiter |
Week 38 | Special Olympics Polar Bear Plunge | Jumping into frozen ocean to raise awareness and funds | PolarBearPlunge |
Week 39 | Our Hearts of Hope | Painting ceramic hearts and writing notes of support to first responders | OurHeartsOfHope |
Week 40 | Free Yezidi Foundation | Supporting Yezidi refugee women and children who escaped ISIS | Free_Yezidi |
Week 41 | Kindness.Org | Leaving books "in the wild" for others to find | Kindness_org |
Week 42 | Family-to-Family | Supplementing food costs for a needy family for a year | FamilyToFamily |
Week 43 | Joan's Joy | Supporting victim and family rights in cases of sexually abused and murdered children | Joans_Joy |
Week 44 | Morris County Interfaith Food Pantry | A look back at the last year | |
Week 45 | Wild Baby Rescue | Feeding squirrels and saving injured wild animals | Wild_Baby_Rescue |
Week 46 | NJ Coalition Against Human Trafficking | Fighting Human Trafficking while Protecting and Helping the Victims | Human_Trafficking |
Week 47 | Helping Children Build a Better Tomorrow | Charitable Activities at Take Your Child To Work Day | Help Children Build Better Tomorrow |
Week 48 | The Arctic Eider Society | Building Local Resilience Towards Climate Change | Arctic Eider Society |
Week 49 | Living Water International | Building a clean Water Well in El Salvador with my co-workers | Living_Water_International_El-Salvador |
Week 50 | Fundraising for Make-A-Wish | Jogging a 10k for Make-A-Wish | Make_A_Wish |
Week 51 | Mane Stream | Equine Therapy - Volunteering at the Farm | Mane_Stream_Equine_Therapy |
Week 52 | Global Volunteers - Blackfeet Indian Reservation | Volunteering on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation in Montana | Blackfeet Reservation |
