Yesterday I met an absolutely amazing woman by the name of Eva Kor. Eva is a survivor. At the age of 10, Eva and her twin sister Miriam were sent to Auschwitz and subjected to medical experimentation by Dr. Josef Mengele. They remained in the Nazi death camp for about 9 months before being rescued from the sub-human and torturous conditions.
I was able to hear Eva speak yesterday in an interview format with a video presentation behind her on the big screen. The pictures were difficult to watch and her story was equally gruesome. I expected that, tho.
Back in the day when I actually had time to watch TV, I used to watch the Jenny Jones show. I am a Jenny fan and I have been for quite some time. Jenny is also a fellow percussionist so that gives her instant cool points in my book anyway.
Recently I was notified about a new venture called “Jenny’s Heroes.” I checked out the web site and found out that Jenny is giving away $1,000,000 this year to deserving individuals who want to better their community. There is an application process and Jenny is directly involved in the selection and follow-up processes. This is a great motivator, not because people are getting cold, hard cash to spend, but that they are being rewarded for their sacrifice and dedication to helping others in need. You can read each recipient’s story and follow the diary to see how they used the funds to make a difference. Major kudos to Jenny for such a brilliant program.
Side note: This is especially intriguing to me because one of my goals with Girls Can’t WHAT? is to build up enough revenue to also give away one million dollars. I’m quite a ways off from reaching that goal, but that won’t stop me from trying. In fact, I am not waiting until I have amassed my fortune to do this. I regularly contribute to charities and good causes directly from my Girls Can’t WHAT? account and I frequently donate my designs and products to women’s organizations for fundraisers, etc. I track it in a spreadsheet and every once in a while I take a peek to see where I am with the total. Some day I will be able to say I gave away one million dollars - not because I want to pat myself on the back - but because I want to inspire others to do the same. I have everything I need already. Some people don’t. I can help.
My all-girl band, Amplified, has released a 4-track CD! After a year of sweat, blood and tears (or more like a lot of driving, staring at our overly-packed schedules, several pounds of coffee and gallons of green tea, a lot of very looong nights and Triscuits with cream cheese thrown in for good measure) we managed to assemble all five of us in the studio long enough to record 4 of our best songs.
The CD is simply called Amplified and features Kelli Kopetz, Leslie Swafford and Katrina Fisher on vocals, Lindsay Strohkirch on Keyboards and Gretchen Cawthon (that’s me) on Drums. Our producer, Kevin Turner at Marina Park Music added bass and guitar to the tracks and Kelli also played flute on “Evidence of Grace”.
Meet Lori Olson White, age 46, an American expat originally from Minnesota and Texas. Most recently she lived in Saudi Arabia for five years and is currently residing in Australia. She is mother, a writer and an adventure seeker who has a passion for empowering young women. I met Lori through the Linked-In social network and knew she would be a fantastic person to interview for Girls Can’t WHAT?
GCW: Lori, what is your main passion and describe when you first became interested in it.
Lori: My passion is telling the seemingly little stories which have surprisingly big implications. I think I have always had this passion. I knew from an early age I would be a writer and story teller. As for my love of the little stories - hehe who knows! I do know, however, I wrote my first book at 11. My parents brought it to an author friend of theirs who graciously had it “published” at a local print shop. I still have that book as well as the first check I ever earned for writing - $2.18 USD! Read more
Meet Caroline Clift, a 21 years old Boston resident who is in the process of becoming a firefighter. Dreaming of fighting fires since she was little, Caroline is determined to suit up and come to the rescue. Caroline recently took time to tell Girls Can’t WHAT? about her ambitions and the challenges she has faced while chasing her dream.
GCW: What is your main passion and describe when you first became interested in it?
Caroline: Fire and firefighting have interested me all my life, but I never seriously considered becoming a firefighter until this past year. When I was little I had toy fire trucks that I would rush, siren noises and all, to my doll houses to rescue whatever poor stuffed animal was trapped in the burning building. In elementary school I told people that I wanted to be an arsonist when I grew up. When I found out that that was not a career and was, in fact, illegal, I decided to be a pyrotechnician. Finally, this past year, I moved to Boston where I’ve had the opportunity to see firefighters in action. My apartment is right on a busy intersection that has more than its fair share of car accidents. Each time something happened, all I could do was watch the fire department arrive along with police and ambulances. I wanted desperately to be down there helping. I started to seriously consider applying to the fire department after I talked to some recruiters who came to my college campus. I’m only 5′1″ so I thought I was being completely unrealistic, but after the recruiters told me that there were actually firefighters shorter than me, I decided to go for it.
Yesterday I met an absolutely amazing woman by the name of Eva Kor. Eva is a survivor. At the age of 10, Eva and her twin sister Miriam were sent to Auschwitz and subjected to medical experimentation by Dr. Josef Mengele. They remained in the Nazi death camp for about 9 months before being rescued from the sub-human and torturous conditions.
Meet Lori Olson White, age 46, an American expat originally from Minnesota and Texas. Most recently she lived in Saudi Arabia for five years and is currently residing in Australia. She is mother, a writer and an adventure seeker who has a passion for empowering young women. I met Lori through the Linked-In social network and knew she would be a fantastic person to interview for Girls Can’t WHAT?
