Video from 2009 Christmas Jar Campaign!

http://smilebox.com/playEmail/4d5445784e544d784d5468384d6a45344d4451794d7a673d0d0a&sb=1

Check out this little video of images from last year's Christmas Jar Campaign. Turn up the volume and enjoy!

Following up on a Christmas Jar!!!

Wanted to share this with you...The family we gave our jar to was beyond appreciative---a grandmother who is raising her two granddaughters. Her daughter died of a drug overdose and the father is not allowed to raise the girls because he has sexually abused them. The grandmother has a very small house and no car. She makes money mopping the church floors and helping others clean their homes. This woman has worked hard her whole life and gives everything to these little girls. When the girls received their jar on Christmas Day their grandmother told them that angels had left the jar just for them (she actually caught us leaving it on her doorstep late Christmas Eve). All three of them decided to save the jar for summer so they had money to have a little fun (the town is small, there is not much to do, and there's no car to take them places). So, they ended up buying a small swimming pool with the jar money. The grandmother told my mom that it's been the best summer the girls have had in their lives. She can't get them out of the pool to get them ready for bed. Makes my heart sing.

How Full is Your Christmas Jar?

2010 Christmas Jar Campaign

Well, here we are again! May 2010 is almost upon us and I have decided to make May 1st the start date for my 2010 Christmas Jar campaign! It will actually start a few days earlier as I have been invited to speak to a local philanthropic group about the power of The Jar on Monday, April 26th.

Now all of you who are rolling your eyes, shaking your head and saying, not again, not so soon, here we go again....you can all just relax!! The goal this year is to continue to increase awareness of the book, Christmas Jars, by Jason Wright, and the tradition of filling a jar. We won't be counting jars but I would love to know the different cities where jars are being filled.

My original goal was to find 2,010 people to fill jars this year but after successfully finding over 1,500 people to fill jars in 2009, my very exhausted family and friends shouted a firm, loud and clear....."NO"! We'll keep it more casual in 2010 by not counting but I hope you will all join me in introducing The Jar to at least one new person this year. Remember, it only takes ONE person and ONE jar to make a difference in ONE person's life.

Let's all be that ONE person!

Here's to more jars (2,010 shhhhh!!!!) in more states and countries than in 2009 (1,500 jars in all 50 states and 13 countries)! As always, I have jars, wraps and books! Feel free to email me at paisleydl@sbcglobal.net or respond to this blog!

Thanks for helping make this Spare Change Movement bigger than ever!!!

LP

To Be Continued in 2010

As of Christmas Eve, 2010 I stopped counting the number of jars that were being donated. My last count was 1,500! My head was spinning and my heart was overflowing with joy!

Almost a year later I can look back.......

Probably what sticks out most in my head is the closeness that I felt to my family and friends during this project. It was a wonderful group effort. I was reacquainted with so many friends from my past. One of the miracles of "The Jar" is that it can bring people together....and it did for me in a very big way.

I "met" so many new friends through phone calls and the Internet. Many of them are starting their own "jar campaigns" for 2010 and it's so rewarding to sit on the sidelines and cheer them on!

I learned that one person can make a difference. It doesn't take 1,001 differences to have an impact. It just takes one. One person, one idea, one effort and a lot of heart, soul and determination.

I've had a lot of people ask me what I'm going to do for an encore in 2010. I don't have an answer. My goal is to continue to pass along the tradition of the Christmas Jar to as many people as I can, one person at a time. I will always have a car full of Christmas Jar books and empty mason jars. It will always be my personal journey, my personal ministry to see the Christmas Jar tradition spread far and wide throughout this country and others.

It's been an amazing journey thus far and one of the most rewarding experiences I've ever had. I look forward to carrying it forward for as long as I am able. My hope is that one day when I am gone, my children and their children will continue the tradition.

I will coninue to update the blog as the Christmas Jar season approaches but remember, a Christmas Jar can be given anytime throughout the year when the need presents itself. You can also visit these websites:

www.christmasjars.com
Become a fan on facebook of "I'm filling a Christmas Jar in 2010"
www.jasonfwright.com

God Bless

My Goal Should Have Been 500 Jars

Back to the story....

I believe it was July or early August when I finally told author Jason Wright about my project. He was creating a virtual map of all the places jars were being donated and received. I had truly hoped to keep it a secret until he visited our store in November but I wanted him to be able to add our jars to the map! I really struggled with telling him because I had visualized the whole surprise in my head. In the end I think the decision to tell him early was the better choice but I was bummed it wasn't going to be a surprise anymore! He offered to help in many ways but I turned him down. I had started this project and I wanted to see how far I could get on my own. I kept telling myself that I would be happy with the end results, whatever they happened to be (But I wouldn't have been)!

I believe in July or early August we were approaching 600 people/jars. My family was hard at work in Ohio passing jars out to friends, employees, business owners, Rotary group members, Optimist Groups, church members, and my dad sent one over to Ireland. During one of those nights I couldn't sleep, the thought occurred to me that we didn't have to stay in the US. First we were working towards 1,001 jars, then added jars in all 50 states, and now Christmas Jars were going international!! Very quickly we had jars in Canada, England, Ireland, China, Taiwan, Thailand, Ukraine, Holland, Italy, France, and several others!

Around the 600 mark things stalled a bit. I felt like I was out of options. I had reached out to all my friends and family and 1,001 just seemed so far away. It was too large a goal and I lost a little motivation, wished I had set a goal for 500 instead, and just really felt like giving up. I hit these plateaus many times throughout the seven months but something always brought me back.

I remember being at work and getting a phone message on my cell phone. I listened, and then I listened again. This was what I needed to know that I was making a difference. It as a lady I didn't know who lived in New Orleans. She had received an empty jar and a copy of Christmas Jars in the mail from someone as part of project 1,001. She explained to me that she and her husband had lost everything in hurricane Katrina. There were three people who had stood by them and helped them through the rebuilding process. She wanted to repay them somehow but she had no extra money. She couldn't give them full jars so she wanted to pass along an empty jar and copy of the book but couldn't afford it and could I help her? I said absolutely, took down the names and addresses of the three people in New Orleans and Florida, purchased three copies of the book and packed them up with jars and mailed them out. This was the sign I needed to keep going.....and onward I went!!

To be continued....

1,001 Jars-lost a friend in the process

May 2009

After making the commitment to find 1,001 people to fill empty jars, and donate them to needy people around the country, I was lost! I had no plan. How was I going to find people to do this, locate 1,001 empty jars or afford to purchase the Christmas Jars books! I decided to rely on the experience I had had in selling the books which was: If I introduce enough people to the idea and the story it will spread on its own. I had seen it happen before. People would purchase the book, read it and then come back and buy books for their entire family and all of their friends. I often compared this phenomenon to throwing a rock into a pond and watching the ripples spread. So....this is the approach I took.

I went to the store and bought my first case of mason jars. I was on a roll!!! I quickly passed those out to coworkers, friends and family. I placed a label on the bottom of each jar I gave away with the website address www.christmasjars.com so anyone receiving one of these jars could go to the website and tell their story.

I knew I wouldn't be able to purchase books for everyone so I needed a vehicle to tell the Christmas Jars story. I sat down and tried to put the story and my project on paper in letter form so people would be able to easily understand the project and my plan.

I purchased two more cases of mason jars and passed those along, but this time I packaged them up and mailed them to out of state friends and family with a copy of the book and the letter about my project, Operation 1,001 - Empty Jars to Christmas Jars. The response was overwhelming!

I immediately began hearing from friends all over the country and had requests for more books and more jars. I quickly reached 100 jars and was feeling pretty good!

When you commit to something like this there are always going to be bumps in the road and obstacles to overcome along the way. I certainly experienced some of those as well.

I had given a very good friend three jars to give to some of her friends. Soon after I received a nasty email from her claiming that giving should be anonymous and that I was doing this for my own benefit (I'm still not sure what she thought that benefit was). I explained to her that the Christmas Jar tradition was anonymous and that I was just trying to spread the tradition to as many as people as possible so that many more people could benefit. She was convinced that since the jars had labels on them and a number (I was trying to keep track of how many I had given away so that I would know when I reached 1,001) that I was after some kind of "credit". After exchanging several heated emails she wished me good luck but she would not participate. Nine years of friendship gone in a blink of an eye. It was a huge blow to me.

I did nothing Christmas Jars related for several days as I processed everything she had said to me. Was I really doing this for the right reasons? Was this a ridiculous thing to try to do? Was there a better way? Should I just be happy with the 100 and quit?

I decided to carry on but make some changes. I took the numbers off the labels but left the website. I purchased a couple of little black notebooks and began to write down names and states of everyone participating. This way, I would still know when I reached 1,001 jars.

To be continued.....