Wheelchair Innovation by Teens in Plainfield

Every once in a while, I get to write about something cool and fun and human. This is one of those times. 

According to the articles listed below, Stephen Scholl is a senior at a local Plainfield, Indiana high school. He participates in a recycling program that has been wildly successful at his school. In an article about his Life Skills class and classmates – a fellow student saw a picture of Stephen and a need he could fill. Tim Balz and companions got together to build Stephen a powered chair to replace his manual one. This would make many aspects of Stephen’s life easier, including collecting recycling.

This effort has grown well beyond both teens and their friends and family. I found this story through a link sent to me by D, here at the IndyStar.The comments are surprisingly civil for the Indy Star (as of my reading of them), but one should probably exercise caution anyway. Besides the local paper of record, this also received coverage from at least one local news station, WTHR.
This is also a good article, although the comments are a little more problematic as some of the commenters are unfamiliar with “people first language” and poorly defend the author’s use of the phrase “wheelchair bound.”

This has grown into Wheelchairs for Special Needs. If you go to the linked Facebook page you can get caught up on their current and past efforts, and find out where you can help. From the comments at the IndyStar article: “I received an e-mail back from Josh Duke, the author of this story. He said that if anyone is interested in donating to Freedom Chairs, they can contact Tim Balz directly at wheelchairsforspecialneeds@gmail.com “

From the Facebook page: “Great News! It turns out that we are [allowed] to accept donations. The only issue is that we cannot give tax deductions at this point in time. We will soon set up a method for you to be able to donate!”

Enjoy your day!

MSNBC and NAFC: Ed Picks Up the MSNBC/Free Clinic Mantle

Connecting people with life saving health care should not be a political issue.

Ed Shultz made me very happy last night. Although he did not mention Keith Olbermann’s early involvement with MSNBC and FreeClinics.US, he did pick up the mantle last night. He announced a new fund raising drive for a free health clinic in New Orleans, organized by NAFC (the National Organization of Free Clinics). To be fair, Ed was actively involved while Olbermann was at the helm of the effort – I had simply feared it would be either forgotten, or deemed to inconveniently reference the ex-MSNBC host.

If you are not familiar with the work of National Association of Free Clinics, you should definitely check them out – if you can donate, have access to a venue, can volunteer or if you need services. They have added a new way to donate $10, just text HEALTH to 50555.

The announcement is a must watch, and the interview that follows both stresses the importance of the work of the National Association of Free Clinics and lets you know what you can do to help, or to get help. I was only a little surprised to hear talk about the suicides they prevented. Besides helping people with neurological and biochemical issues;  just getting someone the help they have lacked for a chronic condition, or putting them on the path to a diagnosis which can make a huge emotional and mental difference in a person’s life. Life is pretty bleak when you know something is wrong with you but you have nothing but your word to back that up. Things can spiral wildly, until the only power you may feel you have is to decide when and how to end it all.

NAFC does great work, and deserves support. People depend on their clinics. It is sometimes a literal life and death issue. Help them out if you can. Go to them for help if you need.

ProTips: Skimping Without Going Without

Times are hard all over (mostly, and if you are part of the USian 1% that is getting richer, you probably are not reading here). Everyone tries to save money. Here is some (sometimes hard earned) advice for skimping without going without. Feel free to add your tips in the comments!

If your income is desperately low, look for help. There are programs out there specifically designed to help you, including help with heat, electricity, prescription meds and health insurance. Do not be ashamed to make use of the tools available to you. This is their purpose! If you are doing okay, donate some money, resources, or effort to the same.

Now on to the tips. Your mileage may vary. Pick what works for you and disregard what does not – that is what this is for!

Never go cheap on feminine hygiene products. Never go cheap on diapers. Exception: advice from a trusted source. Not only do you spend more money when you have to go out and get the good stuff due to product failure, but you usually find out via embarrassment and ruined clothes and more expense.

Some generic products are differently packaged products from brand name production lines. Do your research and find where you are spending more for nothing.

Consider growing your own food when and where you can. Even though my garden cost a couple of hundred dollars to put together initially (including fencing – ouch!), we still saved almost $400 dollars in grocery bills that year. With the initial set-up out of the way, we save much more. Try to grow from seeds or the smaller starter plants – these get more expensive the more developed they are when sold. Consider potted plants or Topsy Turvy tomato planters for apartments.

Look into local garden/DIY collectives. Not only can you save time, money, and effort collaborating with nearby folks, but it is good to have connections with people that have the same concerns as you.

Make your own sex toys! Use your common sense, research and think - particularly with insertable toys. Floggers, clamps, paddles, a lot of these can be made on the cheap side, and you can make them exactly the way you want them. DO NOT MAKE YOUR OWN BIRTH CONTROL OR SKIMP ON BC. Read review sites like BDSMLab to make sure you are getting what you want for your dollar.

Trade favors with your family and neighbors. Some folks in our neighborhood trade garden goods. Others trade babysitting for lawn care. Find out what other folks need and if they can help with your needs. Make sure everyone feels treated fairly. It is better to agree that a deal cannot be made than to make a bad connection.

Become familiar with Lifehacker, WikiHow, and other DIY (Do It Yourself) sites. Also look into home-brewed shampoos, beauty products, cleaning products. Green environment sites often have cost saving benefits too.

Weigh what you are spending and where you can cut. For example, we thought we could save money by taking our recycling to a drop off point verses paying to have it picked up. This was true until gas prices started to rise. Now the cost of curb pick up seems blissfully cheap compared to taking it ourselves. Plus we no longer have to store it longer than two weeks at a time.

Save up your errands to run all together. Or, alternatively, run them on the way to or from work or school. For one item stops, pass your cash to someone else that is going if they will pick up that one thing for you.

Be careful buying in bulk. Many manufacturers have caught on to the bulk craze and you may not be saving as much as you think. The same is true for some thrift stores. Tip: thrift stores in upscale strip malls are often more expensive than the same store and item in a more economically stressed neighborhood.

Sign up for e-mail lists from your favorite retailers. Decide if handfuls of useless e-mails are worth the occasional one with that can’t-pass-it-up bargain. Your time is valuable; you could be doing something else with it – so choose wisely.

Check out consumer web sites, particularly big ticket items like appliances, vehicles, etc… In a pinch, look at Amazon.com for the product and read the reviews.  Consumer Reports is the gold standard, but is subscription based, with annual and monthly options. There are plenty of free review sites out there. Read the threads, if there is a Stan or sock puppet in there, usually they will get found out.


Look for alternatives that generate equal results. For some pants, blouses and sweaters I will use Dryel, but winter coats and such need to be dry cleaned to keep them in good shape and decrease the chance that they will need to be replaced.


Learn how to mend! Basic sewing kids cost very little, and being able to replace a button, darn a small hole, or repair a loose hem can save you a lot of money, particularly if you are part of a family. (Kids clothes are particularly prone to mending needs.)

Invest in a good stain remover – it is much less expensive than replacing clothes.

Do not throw away the circulars you get in the mail. Sometimes you can find good bargains on big ticket items like HVAC maintenance and roof repair. On the other end of the budget, $1 off of brand name cereal may not seem like a lot, but if you use one every week, that can add up quick. I also advise planning grocery shopping around store sales.

Put some of your saved money away for something fun, even if you feel like you cannot afford it. Even if it is a DVD for the family to enjoy, or dinner out, find something that pays you back in enjoyment for your time and effort. Being “poor” does not equal not having modern human needs. Recreation is a part of sanity maintenance!

Now you can share your favorite tips below!

On Planned Parenthood, O’Donnell, and Beck

So, unless you store your head under a USian rock, you know that Planned Parenthood was, and is, under attack by the right wing here in the US. You also know that the Democrats to an all-to-rare stand on that issue and the EPA. Online, and in the news, there were plenty of well-spoken, well-written testimonies about Planned Parenthood. Out of all of them, I found Lawrence O’Donnell’s piece on The Last Word to be remarkable, and perhaps able to reach both those directly and indirectly concerned with Planned Parenthood.

Blog note: I am an avid (rabid?) watcher of MSNBC. It is on most of the time in our home. I am also someone that often criticizes the station when I feel it gets things wrong, or when it adds to the oppression of some to the benefit of others. I am also one of those never-satisfied liberals that always thinks that we (humans) can and should do better in all things. That the fight to acknowledge each others humanity is ongoing and it is the one fight, above others, that is worth fighting, always. So, potential bias and definite perspective stated, we should move on…

The Last Word piece is here, and you should watch it: “Rewriting Lies on Planned Parenthood.” The original lie came from John Kly, and was definitely worth rewriting. Our host offers up insight on how the echo chamber works, and how it can ruin a person’s perceived integrity. What I noted with great interest was what came next – a reading of a letter from a friend dependent on Planned Parenthood. What was in the letter mirrors the feelings and needs of thousands of women in the US. O’Donnell’s reaction rang true to me and I have great respect for the courage it takes to show those moments of vulnerability. Our culture does not encourage those moments, and actively discourages them from men in particular.

Of course, the piece did not go without some criticism. This is Glenn Beck, and Lawrence O'Donnell’s response to Beck’s response to O’Donnell: “Defending Planned Parenthood.” According to Beck, only “prostitutes” that need “400 abortions” use PP. O’Donnell is able to put that down with ease, and far more grace than I could have mustered, to be sure. Other noteworthy content includes a meta commentary on the nature of commentating on television which would be well worth watching by itself.

Planned Parenthood’s response to Glenn Beck’s hateful claim is here: Planned Parenthood Press Release.

Although I want to dedicate an entry to it shortly, here is my CrowdRise Planned Parenthood fundraiser:  Lizz Winstead’s “Planned Parenthood, I am here for you!” Tour.
 

I had more to say, but I think I am out of spoons.

SmartAss Protips: Eyeglass Donations

This is just a quick hit, because I needed to look this up myself today.

People that wear prescription glasses sometimes have this problem - after a couple of different sets, you have a stack of glasses you will never wear again. What do you do with them? They were costly, you do not want to throw them away. You hold on to your most recent old pair, in case your current ones break - or at least I do, having run into that before! But the rest? Especially if you are part of a family of glasses-wearers, they can stack up.


Well, there are plenty of people that can use your old glasses!


There are several organizations with many, many drop off locations for your used glasses. Some also take sunglasses or non-prescription reading glasses. So if you have old glasses, give them to a organization that will get them to people that need them locally to globally.

Lions Club
One Vision
New Eyes for the Needy



I am taking our old glasses to a library in Indianapolis, as they collect for the Lion's Club and we visit our neighborhood library often. 

If you know of other places that take eyeglasses donations, please leave their information in a comment. Thank you!