Hit!

Thank you for doing this.

Our first donation arrived at 12:03. From a long-time contributor to these events. Thanks again, Pat!

Jack, Love the blog, even if I don't always agree with you.

You have selected some great charities, and if you would select one of mine, I would add one that helps the animals, like Friends of Felines.

Why? I am sure that Stenchy would approve, the Sam Rand twins would not approve, and if you select me, I will buy you a gift certificate to Beau Breedlove's restaurant, so maybe you can do a one-on-one interview with Beau so you can find out the truth about him and Mayor Creepy.

Consider me a unique visitor for today's worthy cause.

You are unique every day, Sir J.

Greetings from New Jersey! Good luck today.

Good Luck today Jack!
Spreading the word to my family and friends here in Nebraska.

Jack, thank you for your blog. In an era of diminished journalism, this is what a blog is supposed to be. It provides information not covered, or lost under bigger headlines. It provides new perspectives. It's focused, but willing to step outside its bounds to look at other issues from time to time. It balances news with humor. For all these reasons, I visit the site everyday.

As for my contribution. Well, it's been a rough week. And after weeks like we've collectively had, you have to make a choice of either growing bitter and retreating from an increasingly crazy world, or you have to chose to find a path forward and make society grow from the experience. And so I share with you a fitting poem by Whitman:

A Chirstmas Greeting - Walt Whitman

Welcome, Brazilian brother--thy ample place is ready;
A loving hand--a smile from the north--a sunny instant hall!
(Let the future care for itself, where it reveals its troubles,
impedimentas,
Ours, ours the present throe, the democratic aim, the acceptance and
the faith;)
To thee to-day our reaching arm, our turning neck--to thee from us
the expectant eye,
Thou cluster free! thou brilliant lustrous one! thou, learning well,
The true lesson of a nation's light in the sky,
(More shining than the Cross, more than the Crown,)
The height to be superb humanity.

I'm trying to get the word out, too. Thank you for this, Jack: you're one of the Good Ones.

Good morning!
Happy to be here!

Merry Christmas Jack. I rang the bell for the Oregon Food Bank. Thanks for giving all of us an opportunity to give back.

Be generous, folks! Use your credit cards. Remember, the world is ending on Friday, before the bill comes.

Best of luck on buck a hit! Human Solutions received our contribution today, and I’ll see you and your readers at the “Cyber-Office Christmas Party” tomorrow.

Just through a C-note to the Oregon Food Bank. As the day goes on I may make a few more donations. All very worthy causes.

Happy “Buck-A-Hit” day! Before breaking out the credit card this year I decided to Google the history for the organizations listed, because I really knew just a smidgen about each. I wanted to read the real story about why each was started, and why. Better than reading the news lately, right? I was a little worried it might be depressing, but hell, surfing the net couldn’t get much worse than the info posted this week anyway. Luckily, I was inspired and lifted into a renewed Christmas spirit. That’s why I intend to give a little today, and still have a strong desire to stick around this nasty old world for as long as I can (at least until the end comes Friday).

Hi there all you people.

This is my first comment here.
Just kidding.

I've been reading bojack, for a long time.

How is it that Jack, a liberal democrat, can be so much like me while at the same time remaining liberal in many other ways?

He's messing up the natural order of things.
We can't maintain the great divide in this country if clowns like Jack are continually blurring the stereotyping lines of separation.

I've noticed the local deep blue progressives don't like him at all and the far righies get agitated when his liberal core surfaces.

So how are we to label this bojack guy?
A freak of nature? That can't be.
He a charitable guy with a nice wife, two lovely little girls, a home in a neighborhood and Stenchy.

Is he just too normal? The new normal?
Eeek! That's got to be offensive to a lot of people.
Too bad.

I'm going with that for now.

So Merry Christmas to Jack "the new normal" (and family) for disrupting the polarization of society one clever blog at a time.

Not to distract from the value of these charities; if you have usable household items that you are needing to find a new home for please consider the Community Warehouse. Heading over there soon as they opened at 10.

They have sites at NE Shaver and MLK as well as a hard to find spot in Tualatin on a portion of Nyberg Rd by the railroad tracks east of Haggens. The history, their mission, what they accept and their hours can be found here.

www.communitywarehouse.org/

I'd like to nominate the head coach of the Winthrop University men's basketball team to speak in my place. This is about 2 minutes long, and worth your time:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfO2I7k9xtA

Thanks for all you do, Jack!

So this is a little more serious than I was planning, but in looking at some of my original poems to share I found this one. I hope you like it.

Words are powerful. Let’s use their power for good, and not for evil.

The Power of Words

Sticks and stones
will only break bones
but words cut hard and deep
crushing heart and soul
when cruelly we speak
leaving scars no one can see

Sticks and stones
can make buildings and homes
but words sink soft and deep
lifting heart and soul
when lovingly we speak
healing scars only God can see

Take care with your words
use encouraging ones
let the cruel ones remain unspoken
shower kindness and love
offer mercy from above
in a world already too broken

Merry Christmas, Jack!

I nominate the words of "neighbor" on December 19 for comment of the day.

Jack, thanks for all you do - my sister works at OFB, and I used to work with Jean DeMaster, head of Human Solutions. I began life in Portland as a Jesuit Volunteer, working in the Old Town neighborhood when Portland was a far grittier town, just as Sisters of the Road was getting started. I know the other agencies are also delivering needed services, and as a group, are merely the tip of the iceberg representing hundreds of fine non-profits in the metro area.

"No donation is too small!"

It's the shrinkage factor, you have to take it into account, when men get out of the surf or a swimming pool or the currents of commerce, there's a shrinkage factor.

Oh. wait. I thought that said 'bonation.'

Oh, it's 'Buck-a-hit,' too. That's not what I thought it said. Ducks are it.

rock star jack,
i write from nyc to vote for portland-based Flawless Foundation. why? look at what they do (www.flawlessfoundation.org), then look at what just happened in Newtown (or VaTech, or Tuscon, Okla City, or.....take your pick), then read http://thebluereview.org/i-am-adam-lanzas-mother/
and read http://www.theglobalconversation.com/blog/?p=3145#.UM30Ges_XwM.twitter
and finally, maybe, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/janine-francolini/meaningful-action_b_2311372.html.
someone's got to keep this conversation front and center, and help on the ground meanwhile. flawless and its collaborative problem solving program do that, and all centered right down the block from you.
so, that gets my vote.
and you get my thanks.
xo S

Thanks for all that you do Jack! You have been a no-nonsense voice in Portland that I have grown to respect and admire. Thanks for the Clackamas County support. Merry Christmas and Cheers to a Happy/Healthy 2013!
Lindsay Berschauer

Nice job raising funds for some very worthy causes Jack. I'm a long time reader and glad to kick in for Sisters of the Road. Happy holidays to you and yours.

Something I learned today, “Nearly twice as many children die from congenital heart defects each year in the United States as from all forms of childhood cancer combined yet pediatric cancer research receives nearly five times the funding.”

I also found out a little about who Virginia Garcia was, how many people are hungry in Oregon every day, and what a Ronald McDonald House actually is. Good causes all Jack.

Part of my new employer's mission statement is to better the lives of others, and part of that is to contribute financially and physically to local charities. The local Ronald McDonald House here in Bend is a great bunch of folks, and we spent some time with them as a company last weekend, helping them out with whatever they needed done. We cooked, we cleaned, and met some really good, caring people. All these charities are great, but I figured I'd throw my had towards the Ronald McDonald House folks.

"Things are more the way they are today than they have ever been before"
-- Dwight Eisenhower

Now let's make them even more so by coming together for these good causes.

Here is my hope and prayer for the New Year.

Each among us has a relative, friend, neighbor or acquaintance who seems strange, doesn’t fit in, is distant and disillusioned or isn’t all there. That’s someone who especially needs a hug, a warm smile, a friendly wave or a kind word. Please find it in your heart. Someone who acts out horrifically does so only when he has lost hope. A small gesture guarantees nothing, but it can go an incredibly long way. This, each and every one of us can do.

Thank you.

I'm pleased to donate once again to the Oregon Food Bank. The needs of food banks seemingly everywhere this year are at an all time high. Please donate folks, it can do a world of good for someone less fortunate.

Rang the bell for fifty to Ronny Mac House...

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to Jack and all of the Bojackers...

Off to the SoCA casa for the holidays, but will check in from time to time

Cheers, It's Mike

Thanks for reminding us of what we should be considering at all times of the year. I've been a long-time volunteer myself and know that the need is greater than ever - for almost every service. Don't forget that many good non-profits will also accept goods as well as money. I gave to Sisters and often stop by to drop off items. Sisters will take coats, tarps, tents, new personal hygiene items, etc. and William Temple House, one of my all-time favorites, has both the thrift store and its own food bank. They offer counseling, food, eyeglasses, etc. Also, don't forgot The Pongo Fund: Portland's Pet Food Bank and Portland’s first dedicated pet food charitable resource.

Press Release Meter 2012:
Jack Bog
1

(Portland, Oregon) "10th Annual Buck-a-Hit Day Rousing Success Thanks to Faithful Blog Readers"

Your "No donation is too small" got me. We had a wicked year, mostly owing to enormous medical expenses. But I made a "too small" donation, in thanks for everything you do here and my partaking of it, to Ronald McDonald House.

Separately: my mother is well advanced into some sort of dementia, in all probability Alzheimer's. But I happened to speak with her last Friday, the day of the horror in Newtown, Connecticut. Somehow that monstrosity had penetrated past and through all the disconnections and un-comprehensions in her brain. We had a conversation almost like those we would have had, and did, years ago. She even sounded like her old self. Somehow that tragedy brought a few moments of clarity as well as tears. Things that make you wonder.

God bless your mom.

Thank you, Jack. Hope I sent some hits your way today.

I always figured I'd end my life living in a van down by the river - actually it's going pretty well so far. But it ain't over yet, so I may be stopping by your place for this $100 back someday. Meanwhile, thanks for all you do, Jack!

There but for fate, joss, luck, the gods, whatever....those in need could have been or be any of us.