Dr. Shellie Hipsky's

"Gratitude Giving”

Mon, 28 May 2012 21:26:43 GMT

Does your organization create products that contribute to bettering the lives of those throughout the world? Do you want to reach out to an audience who cares deeply about charitable giving and making a difference in the lives of others? Does your brand give back in a unique way? You are our inspiration and we would love to partner with your organization to show others that “Inspiration is just a story away!"

Dr. Shellie interviews Alicia Kozakiewicz (kidnapping survivor/ activist) about how she is now helping the FBI, speaking to children internationally, and getting laws passed to keep children safe.

(Photo Credit: Joe Greig, Warobe: Etcetera, and Jewerly: Tammy Funk Sabika)

Dr. Shellie Hipsky, a loving wife and mother, Professor at Robert Morris University, award-winning author and business owner will be adding a new role to her professional career as Talk Show Host, “Inspiring Lives with Dr. Shellie,” which will be seen on WPXI/NBC’s Affiliate on PCNC during the new fall line-up in 2012.

“Inspiring Lives with Dr. Shellie” is an inspirational talk show marked by the life stories of people who have triumphed over personal obstacles and are now reaching out to make a positive difference in the lives of others.

How does this affect YOUR organization?

Dr. Shellie is seeking organizations who would like to feature their product(s) that gives back to a charity on the television show “Inspiring Lives with Dr. Shellie,” which will broadcast throughout the tri-state area, reaching approximately 850,000 households!

Not sure if your product is quite what Dr. Shellie is looking for? Check out two of the organizations who have products being featured on “Inspiring Lives with Dr. Shellie”…

Signing Works: http://www.signingworks.net/

The Homeless Garden Project http://www.homelessgardenproject.org/

Learn more about Dr. Shellie Hipsky and her many giving projects at: http://www.ShellieHipsky.com/

(Photo Credit: Gail Lace, Wardrobe: Etcetera, and Jewerly: Tammy Funk Sabika)

Jennifer Hain, Inspiring Lives Gratitude Giving Coordinator

To inquire about having your product featured on “Inspiring Lives with Dr. Shellie,” please contact Jennifer Hain at: 412-600-6411, Twitter @ShellieHipsky, or email jennifer.hain@yahoo.com.

Money Matters: What Kids Need To Know About Finances

Mon, 14 May 2012 02:56:43 GMT

As a baby, coins plunked into the little pink bank, which triggered the piggy to play the song “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” to my daughter. She squealed with joy as the pennies drop to the bottom, rewarding her with a tune. As she swayed back and forth to the music, a smile spread across her face. In the real world though, saving is tough because we are not instantly rewarded.

Patrick Sweeney, a financial advisor for a leading financial services company, took the time to talk with Connecting with Kids. He speaks from the dual perspectives of both a parent and a professional in the field about determining what to teach our children about money. Many parents begin with the piggy bank and focus on teaching their child to save in small ways. Teaching a child to save is a big deal. However, the bigger deal is teaching them the power of compounding interest. In a culture that craves immediate gratification, the ability to "hold off" and wait and make a decision based on a need versus a want has a tremendous financial reward.

Compounding Interest
Say you won a million dollars in the lottery today and did not immediately spend any of those winnings to buy a car, take a fancy vacation, or buy a new house. The average interest generated in that first year would be a conservative 3 to 4%. By waiting just 12 months you could purchase a car, enjoy the vacation, make a down payment on a house, or achieve a multitude of goals … and not even touch the principal. You have now extended the life of your winnings because you have not depleted the principal. According to Einstein, the power of compounding interest is one of the greatest “forces in nature”.

Investing
Obviously, timing plays a critical role in investing. Depending on the length of time an investor has in relation to his goal/objective, the amount of risk an investor can afford to take, great or small, is quantified. Therefore, Pat’s three-year-old daughter can afford to put more of her money into stocks because of a longer time horizon; her grandparents, however, need to have more of their investments in bonds because of their short time horizon.

Allowances
If you, as a parent, are deciding whether or not to offer an allowance in exchange for performing a chore, begin by defining what a “chore” is in your family. If it means that your kids keep their own room clean, wash the dishes, walk the dog, or clean their bathroom, monetary reward is not appropriate according to the expert in finances. Pat clarifies this by stating, “Rewarding a child for a behavior or expectation does not add up. These activities are put in place to help teach your children how to become self sufficient and work in a family/team setting where everyone helps. These are skills that will be needed and used later in life as a productive adult.”

On the flip side, he strongly encourages rewarding a child for hard work. Activities that the parent would otherwise have to pay someone to do, such as shoveling snow, raking leaves, babysitting, or cutting the grass, should be recognized and monetarily rewarded because money is a medium of exchange for a good or service. Over time we learn the relationship between the implied or stored value of items and their cost. For example, when buying a house, we don't look at just one. The same can be said for a car; we shop around. Essentially we are comparing costs and determining values. Quality and workmanship should have meaning and value for you and your children.

Young Adults and Credit
Young adults need to understand that using a credit card means borrowing money that they will have to pay back with interest. Parents should explain the rate at which money is borrowed (cost of funds) and that the lower the interest rates the cheaper it is to borrow money. Anyone under the age of 21 should not be allowed to own a credit card. Credit cards can enslave users to a possible lifetime of debt. Finally, as kids grow up they do have to have discipline in managing their credit. The grown-up report card known as a credit report lets lenders know how responsible individuals are at managing and paying off debt. Patrick Sweeney reminds us that, “At the end of the day, we all must realize that there is no free lunch and the best way to pay for that lunch is with cash.”

Article Update

When this original article was published in my former column Connecting with Kids in Point Magazine, it was when my Alyssa was a baby. This week, she had the great joy of opening her first bank account at 5-year-old. She earned quarters for doing things around the house such as putting away the kids plates from the dishwasher and making her bed (of course this goes against Patrick's advice slightly... but as a parent sometimes we just have to go with what works for our children). Once she saved up, Marsha A Tylak, Assistant Vice President/Manager of First Commonwealth Bank in Wexford did a fantastic job of getting her set up and doing a tour of the branch bank. Alyssa's favorite parts were getting a new piggy bank and using the money counter, she even got to wrap a hundred dollars!

As a parent, I was glad when Marsha took the time to teach my daughter about banking including the basics of keeping a savings register and why it is important to let a savings account grow. From the music playing piggy bank as a baby to the tour of the bank vault as a preschooler... setting a child up to understand money may not make them perfect at handing credit down the road or cause them to be a good business person... yet, it does provide them with a foundation for understanding future finances.

Educator of the Year Award Winner: Myra McNeill

Mon, 02 Jan 2012 20:06:09 GMT

Sometimes it’s the quiet, unsung heroes whose tales must be told and celebrated. At my last gala event to raise money for the Homeless Children’s Education Fund, a woman of high quality, Myra McNeil was honored with a well-deserved award. Months prior to An Extraordinary Evening, I traveled with the Social Justice Conference from Duquesne University into the shelters that I have been working with for years to obtain funding….

HCEF Founder Dr. Joe Lagana and I in one of the 12 Learning Centers in the shelters

I recalled a a quote from my book Ordinary People Extraordinary Planet, that detailed teenager Shannon McNamara’s story about helping 8,000 people in Africa by creating libraries and providing other resources. She said during the interview…

EXCERPT FROM

Ordinary People Extraordinary Planet by Dr. Shellie Hipsky

“When we started SHARE, we got a list of all the needs in the community, which made people there feel like somebody was finally listening to them.” (p. 77).

Recalling those insightful words, I asked the woman who ran the Learning Center in the shelter, "If you could have any one thing for the kids what it would be?" Her eyes lit up as she exclaimed "a WiiFit." She explained that it was not safe for the kids to play outside, there was no room, they are on a busy street, and many of them are in hiding from physically abusive fathers. The WiiFit would provide hours of safe movement and entertainment. I got on my cell phone as I pulled away from the conference, found a sponsor... and in a week, Dr. Lagana and I delivered the machine to a very happy shelter teacher.

Soon the time arrived to nominate the Educator of the Year for The Robert Morris University School of Education and Social Sciences. I had already seen Myra McNiell in action in the shelters taking care of and teaching children for little monetary compensation and acclaim. We provided her two free VIP Tickets to the red carpet event which was also attended by the governor.

I was delighted to see her face as Sheldon Ingram from Channel 4 Action News team read the description about all she had done for homeless kids after obtaining her degree at Yale University...

Priceless picture of surprise by our Educator of the Year!

Myra McNeill receiving the Educator of the Year Award

Dr. Mary Ann Roth, Dean of the School of Education and Social Sciences at RMU

Dr. David Jamison, Provost Robert Morris University

Educator of the Year for RMU School of Education and Social Sciences, Myra McNeill

Myra stated in a note about our connection, "Thank you so much for making me feel so incredibly special this year. You are a blessing!" I feel from the bottom of my heart that people who live and work in the trenches with the children who have extreme needs are the true blessing to our world.

Who do you know who should be honored for their great work?

CREDITS: Event photos taken by John Colombo

Hunger Hero: Mary K. Hoodhood

Sun, 11 Dec 2011 06:17:54 GMT

The Presidential Citizenship Medal recognizes American citizen who have

“performed exemplary deeds of service for their country or their follow citizens.”

When I was a special education teacher and then an assistant principal, many of my “kiddos” lived in extremely impoverished conditions (including in some cases no running water or sheets for doors in their trailers). I have known first-hand the ache of wanting to help children feed their bellies or find safe shelter. My friend, Mary K. Hoodhood, has experienced this as well.

When the Ford factories closed in Grand Rapids, Michigan, many families who once could provide, no longer could. It was during this time that Mary Ann Prisichenko, who is a school principal, explained to her friend Mary K. that she caught kids digging through a trash can… searching for their dinner.

This story reminded me of my former elementary students who were hungry. They struggled with learning and retaining information. Often they were sick. They were frequently in a survival-mode thinking of their physical hunger needs instead of being able to focus on the task at hand such as learning their multiplication tables. There are many children around the country with similar needs.

According to the Share of Strength: No Kid Hungry’s Childhood Fact Hunger Sheet (2011):

More than 16 million children in America are at risk of hunger. That’s more than 1 in 5.
15.7 million children in America live in poverty.
Over 20 million children get a free or reduced-price school lunch on an average school day.

Mary K.’s organization Kids' Food Basket successfully meets the needs of the children in her town. It is so empowering for the over 150 community members volunteers each day to pack and deliver these sack suppers, particularly when you learn that some kids know that they are making their own dinners. Currently, the Kids Food Basket serves over 4,800 children at 32 schools, along with a summer program that serves hundreds of kids.

Hearing her story on Ray Leonard’s radio show, doing an interview to fill in the gaps on the phone, attending a KFB fundraiser, and interviewing this incredible woman on camera was fabulously inspiring to me personally. I continue to be blown away by her passion for the cause. I was also moved to tears by the love between her and her husband. She told me about Jeff in the following excerpt from the book which explains a part of what it was like to wake up as a quadriplegic…

EXCERPT FROM

Ordinary People Extraordinary Planet

“I have been married to my husband, Jeff, now for thirty years. I recall when I woke up after the accident, my first thought was,‘Jeff will never leave me.’ I knew in my heart that even though we were not yet married, he would be by my side. He says with a grin that he knew ‘he couldn’t let this one get away.’ Even though others were concerned that caring for me would take a toll on our relationship, we have proven how strong our love is for each other.”

It is seeing first hand this type of love and self-less service towards others that fills my heart with great joy. I am delighted to be the storyteller to spread the inspiration. Thank you to Mark K. Hoodhood who received acclaim from Lifetime Television and the Presidential Citizenship Medal. If you want to help, please visit Kid’s Food Basket’s website. Even if you can’t donate money, check out how a group of children can color lunch bags to brighten the day of children in need.

Please let me know if you were moved by Mary K. Hoodhood’s story in this post and in greater detail in Ordinary People Extraordinary Planet. Think about all the things you are capable of doing and then utilize your skill sets as Mary K. does daily!

Go Big or Go Shelter

Mon, 21 Nov 2011 02:50:08 GMT

One of my mottos has always been, "Go big or go home." I have been heard saying this phrase at the gym while lifting, when pumping up an audience, or encouraging a friend. According to the Urban Dictionary this phrase means:

"...an expression the speaker says to the listener to encourage the listener to be extravagant, to go all the way, and do whatever you are doing to its fullest - and not flake out."

I try to I live this daily, for instance when I spoke to over 1,400 people at Pepperdine University's Convocation regarding my life story and my book Ordinary People Extraordinary Planet...

Or while performing at one of my fundraisers for the Homeless Children's Education Fund...

The reality for me though is that I am a teacher at heart. I adore the stage and taking on a role... but there is something about a small colorful carpet in a classroom or a homeless shelter that brings out the teacher in me.

Here I am last week at the transitional shelter Healthy Start reading a story to kiddos...

If you have a calling, such as I do to educate, entertain, and inspire... I would suggest that you get to it! I would suggest that you get to it! But remember that while it can be good to take it "over the top" at times... make sure you take time to back to your roots... where you began to fall in love with your mission. Lead with your whole heart while you create precious moments and a terrific foundation for your future!

Brotherly Love

Fri, 18 Nov 2011 05:00:44 GMT

"A brother is a friend given by Nature." - Jean Baptiste Legouve

I watch my kids as they form bonds as siblings. It’s a beautiful thing to observe. As I listen as Allie pretends to read to her brother Jake or they play imaginary games together, I am reminded of a humble hero in my life. It is so easy to make the comparison since they look and act just like us back in the day. He’s my “baby brother”, John… Yes. He is over thirty now, but my younger brother… forever.

John Jacobs has dedicated his life to healing and helping people around the world as a traveling nurse. When he was in high school he started volunteering in Mexico in Wahaca teaching about basic health care. Now, he travels to places such as Haiti and the Dominican Republic to support their needs (he also has brief stints in fun city locales such as Boston). It is these far away jaunts he has been doing for year that have always impressed me as his big sister. It also amazes me that no matter what remote location he is he always seems to find a way to answer my own nursing questions or drop everything to help me from far away when he can.

This is rooted in our history together. When he was a toddler, I was the only one who could understand him and had to explain what he said. When I was a rebellious teenager, he used to cover up for me (much to my parent's dismay). As an elementary teacher in a special education room, a giant map of the world hung in my room and my students would plot his travels and read the many postcards he would write to the learning disabled kids. Many in this classroom had never been much farther than the trailer park they were living at an reading stories of floating down the Amazon River opened up the world to them. Now Skype allows him to be a super uncle from where ever he may be. He's always been there for me no matter how far away he is in location.

Fortunately, John always has his camera with him and gets some fabulous shots of people and children. As an education professor, I delight in showcasing his awesome collection of children from around the world in my office. Here he is taking a picture of children...

The pictures from around the world include those from almost all the continents. Here are three of my favorites from his recent trip to the Dominican Republic…

John Jacobs ©

I am proud to call John my brother and my friend. Now, I will go back to listening to my own children and continue to be amazed at the beauty of sibling relationships. I would love to hear about others who have witnessed close bonds with siblings.

The Smile on the Face of a Homeless Child

Wed, 16 Nov 2011 06:32:17 GMT

Tonight, my 4-year-old Alyssa and I ventured out on our first volunteer project together. We began with a story from about when I started volunteering at 12 years old with students with special needs during our long car ride. She likes the idea of volunteering because it has always been something I have spoken about with great joy while raising over $35,000 for the Homeless Children's Education Fund (HCEF). In fact, for the past two years, Allie has raised money for “mommy’s homeless kids” by collecting nickels and dimes and was recognized by the HCEF for her service. I am very proud of her!

We walked into the transitional housing together. The aroma of greens, chicken, and sweet potatoes filled the air. The awesome dinner was cooked by one of the women from the shelter. It was wonderful to start the evening out like this as we broke bread with the kiddos and their moms.

Then Roy Juarez, Jr. and I did an on-camera interview filmed by Dreamcatchers Films. Roy has been "couch surfing" around America with his Homeless by Choice Tour about when he was homeless at 14 years old with his baby brother and young sister. I first met him through Ray Leonard the radio host at kmr-media when we featured Roy in the book Ordinary People Extraordinary Planet. It was incredible to have his personal understanding of what these kids are facing there with us in the shelter.

After our interview, I went up upstairs and got the Luv My Woobie, Inc. ® blankets. In my immediate family, every Christmas morning we would stand at the top of the steps as my dad would check and see if Santa was gone and the coast was clear. It felt like that for me as I asked the kids if they wanted their blankets. They raced down the flights of stairs and burst into the playroom. My Allie helped me to pass out the blankets to the babies and toddlers. One precious one was literally 4 days old. Yes… 4 DAYS old. We were awe struck by the baby’s newness and beauty…

The kids loved their blankets. I want to thank the mothers for allowing us to show their adorable faces on this site. The littlest ones got pacifiers to tuck into the built-in blanket pockets from Luv My Woobie, Inc.

For the slightly older ones, my daughter realized that the kids needed something for the their woobie pockets, so the night before she went to her toys and brought out two little hands full of pocket-sized toys to let the kids pick.

After the woobie blanket drop (which is simultaneously happening this week in an LA shelter and in with Getrude Matshe in Zimbabwe through the Africa Alive Education Foundation the babies who were orphaned by AIDS)... I got to read the Eric Carle book Polar Bear Polar Bear What Do You See? Complete with a story teller apron, the stuffed animal attachments and the beautiful kids crawling on me naming the animals and the sounds they make. It definitely brought me back to my teaching days!

Following the bedtime story snuggled up in their woobies and yummy cookies, the adults went to the community center room and we were joined by teenage boys from a local shelter. After I introduced him, Roy Juarez told his incredibly powerful story.

As I tucked my Allie in tonight, we reminisced about the babies, especially the one who attached herself to me...

Alyssa said to me as we snuggled warm into her own bed as she clutched her woobie, “I am glad we aren’t homeless. I liked helping those cute babies.” Please buy your baby a blanket at www.luvmywoobie.com so that we can continue to help blanket the world with love and kindness, because for every one purchased... a special woobie is made for a child in need!

Throw Away Kids

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 00:08:12 GMT

“You don’t have to tell her… she lived it,” mentioned the nurse at the school for emotional and behavioral students where I was once an assistant principal. I went through so much with those kids and the staff years ago. My university students at Robert Morris University have heard the tales the schizophrenic student who hurled shoes at my head, the boy who walked the streets of Chicago with his mother who was a prostitute, and the child who shoved a pair of scissors straight through a fellow teacher’s hand out of anger. However, until they visited my former work place today, I don’t think they truly understood what I had been describing in class.

I recalled a brief opening of the school year speech I did there almost a decade ago. Standing in front of the large staff on the hill in the outdoor classroom on the over three hundred acres of land, I threw a crumbled piece of paper in the can, and talked about the task ahead of us. Later in the talk, I pulled the paper back out open and smoothed it out revealing that the wrinkled sheets of paper had children’s first names on it. Many of the 200 children from first to twelfth grade had been abused, in trouble with the law, or inflicted pain on themselves because of past hurts. I explained that many of our children at the school had been thrown away by society and that it was up to us to pick them up, and think of them as individual children and meet their needs so they could be educated.

Today, I was delighted that the school continues to flourish. They have adopted the Sanctuary Model ® that according to Healing Magazine, “...focuses on addressing the traumas in clients’ lives that have led them into residential treatment.” It looks at:

Seven commitments that serve as goals for resolving trauma-based issues:
1. Nonviolence
2. Emotional Intelligence
3. Social Learning
4. Social Responsibility
5. Shared Governance
6. Open Communication
7. Growth and Change

When I was an administrator, I used to do yoga or visualization exercises in my office with the students who had been emotionally triggered. My future teachers and I liked that now every child, teacher, and even administrator had badges with five things that they could do to calm themselves down while experiencing a frustrating event (e.g., quiet time at the computer). Also, the sensory room for the autistic children was impressive and allows for the upset child to experience some peaceful time while deescalating. Here are my university students chilling out in the sensory room...

Shawna tried out the swing that is utilized by the school's autistic students that was purchased by a grant.

Sarah witnessed how soothing some of the other sensory room tools such as the light displays can be for students.

It was wonderful to get the hugs of people whom I haven’t worked with in eight years and to see that this school continues to lift up and help children who were once thrown away by society. No child should ever be given up on; all children have something to give back to the world whether they are a non-verbal autistic child or child who is acting out due to past trauma. Treasure our children.

Don’t Cry Over Spilled (Chocolate) Milk

Sun, 13 Nov 2011 17:22:43 GMT

“Mommy, Jake spilled the whole carton of chocolate milk on the carpet!” This is what Allie exclaimed as she ran into our room today. It had been a great morning, including snuggle time and reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar in Jake’s new bed that my dad made him in his workshop. But, this he had my husband and I running in to see what will most likely be a huge stain on our light carpet. Looking down at the mess beneath our feet we both sprung into action. Jake had to go to his room and we started to clean… blotting… “Resolving”… and some words of frustration were expressed. The whole scene made images of the hilarious book Sh*t My Kids Ruined: A-Z Celebration of Kid-Destruction by Julie Haas Brophy spring to my mind.

One of the other times that this photo packed book came to mind was when 2-year-old Jake put his toy golf club through the TV. I am trying to work on learning balancing and equilibrating experiences by recognizing both the up and down sides to all situations. I struggled to think of the good part about having a potentially ruined carpet.

Because of my work with the homeless kids, the answer was so obvious. We HAVE a carpet. My family has a safe and comfortable home. I have two little kiddos that are adorable and healthy enough to run, play, and yes… even destroy. No crying over spilled milk today!

Loving Luv My Woobie!

Sat, 12 Nov 2011 19:06:14 GMT

What fun! We broke out the new woobies from the amazing sisters Tori Burak and Betsi Wilson in LA. I teamed up with them, Rob Hartley and the incredible humanitarian Getrude Matshe to blanket the world with kindness during this season of giving. Here we are opening the package to see their new cuddly blankets...

"What's in there, Mommy? Our woobies?"

"We want our woobies, please!"

"The hula girls are so cute and girlie!"

Jake gets his treasured woobie from Luv My Woobie!

Now that the trademarked woobie pockets for pacifiers have been filled with Jake's mini solider and Allie's "jewels," they are ready to snuggle up with them. Wednesday they will come with me to give blankets to the local babies and toddlers who live in homeless shelters. I hope you will pop back to the Wink Link for some more uplifting pictures and messages soon. Be sure to get the little ones on your list their own special woobie at luvmywoobie.com For each one purchased, a special one will be created for a child in need from America's homeless kiddos to Africa's babies orphaned by AIDS. Together, we can spread the inspiration and love!

By the way, what are you doing during the upcoming season of thanks and giving with your families and friends? I would love to know more!