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.....

Ultimate Fate of a Christmas Jar

In the end, I gave mine to a car. I had changed the coins into cash and put the money in a Christmas card, along with an anonymous note explaining the whole Christmas Jar thing. The plan was to put it under the windshield wiper of a car belonging to a likely-looking recipient.

Since I had to go to Trader Joe's anyway, and since I occasionally see some faded old ladies in 1970's polyester shopping there, that's where I went first. I thought that kind of polyester--the bulletproof kind, not the slinky microfiber blend kind--would be a reliable tip-off as to need. Unfortunately those ladies weren't there. The problem kept getting more difficult, because with every candidate, I ended up second-guessing myself about why I thought that person might be needy. One can't assume, for instance, that a middle-aged, overweight, dowdy, depressed-looking woman is poor. Half of the Quilters' Guild of Indianapolis looks like that, and quilting, despite its humble origins, is no longer a poor woman's sport. The more I thought about it, the harder it got. I was really getting up-close and personal with a lot of my class prejudices. Finally I drove to the Wal-Mart and Dollar Store on Keystone, and found the perfect recipient. It was an ancient, rusty, beat-up car, with one door that didn't match the rest. There were little-kid toys in the front seat, but no car seat. It was in the remote reaches of the parking lot, so I imagine that Mom probably works for one of those horribly depressing stores. And I didn't have to focus on what I thought about the person at all.

Operation 1,001 Continued

Now that the Christmas (Jars) season is over I can finally sit down and get back to the story of 1,001 jars.

May 2009

Somewhere around May 15, 2009 I read an early copy of Christmas Jars Reunion (CJR) by Jason F. Wright. Christmas Jars Reunion is the follow up to the NY Times bestselling book, Christmas Jars also by JFW.

CJR picks up two years after Christmas Jars ends. Hope, the main character, has decided to gather 1,001 full Christmas jars and donate them on Christmas eve. As the story unfolds, Hope has lost sight of the true meaning of the Christmas jar tradition. She eventually realizes that it's not about 1,001 jars, it's about one jar. The one jar she will fill, the one jar she will give away and the one family whose lives will be forever changed because of her jar.

After I finished reading my copy of CJR, I experienced the most incredible feeling. I remember pacing back and forth in the kitchen trying to dimiss "the feeling". It was very similar to a loud internal voice telling me that I needed to do something.....find 1,001 people to fill individual jars and donate them to people around the country. I thought it was ridiculous!

For three days I pushed this voice or feeling aside as best I could. It woke me up at night, it kept me up at night, it interrupted my day and basically consumed me. I went for long walks to try and clear the idea from my head but to no avail. I finally gave in and told my mother what I had experienced and she immediately said, "Laurie, you need to listen and pay attention to what it's telling you to do and do it". I thought she was ridiculous! I don't know 1,001 people and I had absolutely no idea how I was going to do this. It was May and not only did I have to find 1,001 people but I only had 7 months to do it!

I had a talk with my self and we decided to try it. I sat down at the computer and forwarded an email to my family and asked for their help and support. Their reaction (after laughing out loud at me) was the same as mine....How? My sister's response was, "Laurie, you always get me into the craziest things but okay, I'll help". I don't think any of us knew at that time what kind of a commitment (time and financial) we had just signed up for!

To be continued...

Homeless Man Receives Jar in Rochester NY

I have seen this homeless man over a hundred of times sitting in Greece town mall in Rochester NY. He never bothers anybody, he just sits on a bench inside the mall either near Sears or Bon Ton. He is there anytime of the day and everyday. Luckily no one has ever thrown him out because he is not trouble. Over the last year I have asked about him and all anybody knows is that his name is Dale.

When Laurie told me about the Christmas jar I knew immediately it would Dale that would receive my jar. There was something about Dale that told me he was very special. I still do not know what it is, but there is something and one day I will find out.

Anyway.... today I set out to the mall to find him, he was not in his usual place. I was afraid with the craziness of the mall a day before Christmas, Dale might have not come. I asked a custodian if he knew Dale and he did after I described him. I found him by Sears on a bench sleeping sitting straight up. Crowds of people hustling to buy last minute gifts were bustling by him not even noticing him. I patiently waited 10 minutes until he woke up and then I proceeded to walk up to him in a mist of people and I tapped him on his shoulder from the back (so he would not see my face) him. He looked up, I whispered in his ear Merry Christmas Dale, you are a special person.I then disappeared into the crowd of crazy shoppers.

As I was walking through the mall to my car, I was watching hundreds of crazed shoppers doing last minute shopping and purchasing gifts for no other reason except that they were "suppose to" and realizing that if every person in the mall at that one time gave a Christmas Jar to some one in need, maybe...just maybe this time of year would not be stressful it would be joyous.

I can't wait to next year, my new jar is already started.