Happy Belated Turkey Day!

Not much to report. I am still just hanging out. Thanksgiving was spent with my family and Van. My younger Big brother Michael did all of the grocery shopping and Melanie and I helped him cook. I have much to be thankful for and it meant a lot to me to spend Thanksgiving with the people that matter most. I am looking forward to many more turkey dinners to come.

My white blood cell counts are finally stabilizing. With my new and improved immune system, I have decided that I need to get out of the house and be productive. My first idea was to start training Marshawn to become a therapy dog...you know the pets that visit senior citizen homes and hospitals. I think Marshawn would do a fantastic job because he is very sweet, friendly and smart. Plus he definitely brings sunshine into my life and I would love to share that with people who need a bit of cheering up. Unfortunately dogs have to be atleast 1 year old. :( Luckily I found a couple of other volunteer opportunities to keep myself busy.

I am tutoring at John Muir Elementary School in San Francisco on Thursdays with the Tzu Chi organization. We help the kids (1st - 5th grade) with their assignments. I've always loved working with kids and this was a great program to join. The kids really enjoy the one-on-one attention they get and some of them need a lot of help because they are quite behind on the fundamentals.

I also just started working at the AADP to set up a more structured volunteer/internship program. Hopefully we can get people to volunteer regularly at drives. I've noticed that most drives are run by the patient's friends and family, but it would be nice to have a core team of volunteers to work at any drive when needed.

It makes me really happy that I am able to dedicate myself to some great organizations. (Now I don't feel so guilty about all of my hours spent watching the Food Network channel and my new favorite reality show Jon & Kate Plus 8.) Please let me know if you want to join me! Both Tzu Chi and AADP can use all of the help they can get.


Love,
Michelle

P.S. Our new donor count is 1945. Big thanks to KPMG SVO, Most Holy Trinity Church, Great Exchange Church, Kaiser and Wat Buddhanusorn Thai Temple for all of the support and amazing results!

P.P.S. I'm running out of locations to host bone marrow drives. If you have a venue in mind please let me know!