Be The Pebble

By Buddy Shuh – Recently I was at a meeting that the Wayne Ripple Effect was leading. What an incredible group of people! They are volunteering and serving to make Wayne a better place to live, shop, and relax in! One phrase that they said stuck out to me. It was: “Be the pebble.” The message was clear…be the person that begins a series of waves to do good in the community.
How do I begin, you may ask? The way I approach this problem is two-fold: identify an area you see that is lacking and that you care about, and then try to make it better. I have noticed some people cleaning up the graffiti around Wayne recently. This is exactly the sort of thing I’m talking about!
One “pebble” that I’m trying to be covers the entire State of Michigan. I am the president of the Michigan chapter of the TEARS Foundation. What this organization does is raise money to help families that lose an infant (ages 20 weeks gestation up to one year old) to pay for caskets and grave markers when they don’t have the resources for those items.
The reason I care so much about this cause is because my wife and I found ourselves in that situation in 2006. The funeral expenses were going to be $1,500 for our daughter and we didn’t have it. Family and friends took up a collection for us and two days later we had the money we needed. Now we are trying to help others in that same place.
Our big annual fundraiser is in September and is called the Rock and Walk. Anyone who wants to can form a team and walk for the cause.  Some people like me form a team and walk in memory of their child who passed away. (The “rock” stands for rocking chairs in the middle of the track because some people rock in memory of their child).
We will have a kickoff meeting for this fundraiser on Thursday, May 1st, from 6-8 pm at the Friendship Center, 1119 Newburgh in Westland. The meeting is free, but there will be the opportunity to join a team, form your own team, or become a corporate sponsor. You are invited! If you know someone who might connect with this event, please spread the word!
TEARS is my cause. Now it’s your turn.
Be the pebble. Because there’s always more to the story….