Daily Read #18: Serving the Servers

Got Vote? (My Dad's Eyes) http://contest.hoopesvision.com/vote.html

So in most parts of the world it's Sunday for atleast another few hours, which means you are likely looking for ways to do good - in a Sabbath sort of way. Here is a very easy one.

On Facebook? Set this as your status.

Just helped an awesome guy/husband/father/war vet in his family's attempt to win him free Lasik. Click the link below and vote for My Dad's Eyes in the Humorous category.
http://contest.hoopesvision.com/vote.html

On Twitter? Send this tweet out to your followers.

Help a guy/husband/father/war vet win Lasik. Vote for My Dad's Eyes in the humorous category http://contest.hoopesvision.com/vote.html

More an email kind of person? Copy, Paste and Send this message to some of your nearest and dearest.

Hey [Friend], (Insert name here for maximum impact)

I know you love helping people out so I thought of you when I got to pitch in with this. A very deserving guy/husband/father/war vet is in the finals to win a video contest for free Lasik. His wife and daughters entered him and really want this to be a great Christmas present for their entire family. You can watch the video 'My Dad's Eyes (kid drawn picture of man in blue striped pajamas) in the funny category here: http://contest.hoopesvision.com/finalists.html

You can vote for him to win here http://contest.hoopesvision.com/vote.html. Choose My Dads Eyes in the Humorous category.

If you want to learn more about the guy or his family there's a lot of information at this blog: goodreadsforgooddeeds.blogspot.com

Really please do vote today [11/28] before midnight.

Thanks for always being a good example to me of selfless service!

Your name.

Remember when we're helping we're happy. When we help others people help too it can only make us happier. Rachel and Ryan appreciate your help a lot and every little bit you could do today, the last day to vote, will be awesome.

Now to give you maximum time to get out the word and really rally votes, today I'll keep the rest of my message short.

Hopefully you've got a sense for who Ryan and Rachel are through this blog. In addition to rewarding you with warm fuzzies and a couple of honest chuckles for your efforts in consistently voting, I wanted to give them the well deserved praise for who they are and what they do. Winning or not winning a contest won't take away the many valuable contributions they've both made in my life and the lives of many others.

I've decided that we have too much fascination in our society for people who are increasingly narcissistic, bizarre, unstable, masochistic, amoral or immoral. We worship/follow/absorb the opinions/lifestyles/promotions of people that we know only in 2-D on TV, Magazine covers, the Internet. I think we often see them for what they are but that doesn't make us want to look away.

Here's to two very honorable people who live ordinary lives with extraordinarily good intentions and who more often than not nurture these good intentions into good actions.

Ryan and Rachel have taught me of the power that serving others can have in refocusing all of your focus, worry and stress from yourself and diffusing it onto a much more deserving world.

In their church callings: Rachel spent most of the last year being both Young Women's camp directer and Cubscout Master [I'd imagine that either one of these would make most people's top 3 least desired callings so to have both simultaneously and not just accept them but magnify them is admirable to say the least. Ryan is currently serving in both his Ward's Young Men's presidency and the Stake's young men's presidency. I can't think of better people to serve in positions where young people are shaping their personal expectations for who they should become. With Ryan or Rachel as their gold standard, the Richfield area youth will move towards adulthood empowered by decency, hardwork, service, compassion and joyful living.

Rachel and Ryan have also shown that we should never limit our ability to influence others in a positive way by only serving within religious denomination. Ryan volunteers significant amounts of his time and talents for the local high school sports teams. Very few other schools in the state let alone one their size has access to an athletic trainer like RHS does. Rachel serves as part of the Family Readiness Group (the organized family group) for the 222 National Guard unit. The national guard knows that their units strength is no greater than the sum strength of each members individual family. The FRG's purpose is to provide guard wives and mothers with the tools they need to maintain their sanity leading up to/during and following an activation. Strong families = strong servicemen.

Add to this the good works that they do in their own home raising bright and polite little girls who will one day show the world that there is power in goodness and virtue and the strength that they both give to their individual families and hopefully you can see why I can without a shred of hesitation promote them to have some of that good they send out to the world reverberate back their way.

Thank you for your help.
Thank you for your time.
Thank you for voting. http://contest.hoopesvision.com/vote.html
Thank you for getting out the vote.

We'll keep you posted tomorrow. There will likely be two posts tomorrow a pre-game show if you will before 9:00 am and a post announcement celebration post that very well rests on your ability and willingness to get your friends, family and communities to pitch in and vote. We fully anticipate that this will be very very close. Every vote counts.

Voting closes tonight at 11:00 pm MST.