Hello Splendid BMT Kindness Project

By

Heard about the BMT Kindness Project and want to help? Here’s a link to our Amazon Wishlist, designed to help patients of the bone marrow transplant unit at UCSD. You can also see/hear me get out of my very comfy zone of public writing and head into my much less comfy zone of public speaking right here.

Hello Splendid Jillian Warner BMT Kindness Project

I recently had the privilege of being a Keynote speaker at the Mom 2.0 Summit in Austin, TX and it was both terrifying and amazing! I spoke on the topic of being kind on the Internet as part of Google’s #BeInternetAwesome initiative, which aims to empower parents to raise their kids as good citizens both on and offline.  [Read more…]

Patient With A Purpose

By

As many of you know, my worst fears were realized on September 21st. My leukemia is back and I need a bone marrow or stem cell transplant to have a chance at living through the next year. After just over a year of remission, I received that life altering phone call and well, here we go again.

Remission always haunted me because you have something to lose. Being in active treatment, my brain recognizes it as being the cornered animal when the only choice you have is to fight like heck or die. And perhaps mentally I thrive with having nothing to lose (well, everything to lose but also everything to gain) versus sitting around praying something sticks.

From that phone call to hospital admission I had about 72 hours to process my emotions, tell our family and tell our kids. To plan backup help from friends and neighbors, squeeze in a high and low filled family day and pack for a 4-6 week stay at UCSD La Jolla for another induction chemotherapy in the hopes of remission. [Read more…]

Fight Hunger, Spark Change, Spread Smiles

By

This post is sponsored by Mirium, but opinions expressed are my own #UnileverFightsHunger You can help fight hunger and spark change.

Kayla and I spend a few days during each school break volunteering at our local food pantry. We’ve spent hours sorting through donation bins dropped off by local grocery stores and stocking shelves in the marketplace pantry.

Fight Hunger, Spark Change with Unilever #UnileverFightsHunger

The work is physical and repetitive. There are no pats on the back or words of praise. Which I really like. It’s exactly as acts of kindness should be. Giving with zero expectation of return. Though of course, the return is massive when it comes to lessons in empathy, awareness and action. [Read more…]

Holiday Giving with Ralphs

By

Thanks to Ralph’s for helping us give back by providing gift cards for us to donate to a family in need this holiday season #LoveMyRalphs

For many, giving back during the holiday season can feel overwhelming or confusing. Where to give? How to give? What to give? Is it enough? These are all questions I’ve asked myself many times. If you don’t have a regular charity that you give to it’s hard to decide with the flurry of requests.

ralphs-4

The best answer is give in a way that makes you feel good. Whatever that may be. For about as many years as I can remember, our family has embraced a family here in San Diego for the holiday season. It’s not something I usually talk about publicly, it’s just a small thing we do that quite frankly brings me great joy while helping a family in need and giving my own children a reminder that their normal is not everyone’s normal.  [Read more…]

World Food Day Bucket Filling

By

Tracking PixelHow can you help fight world hunger and empower your kids to do the same? It’s easier than you think! This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Knorr®. #ShareAMeal

I recently read a statistic that has stuck with me. One in four people in the world don’t receive the vitamins and minerals they need to live a healthy life. One in four! That’s devastating. Like many, our family is a family of four. I am one of four sisters. There are mothers, fathers, sisters and brothers around the world not knowing where their next meal is coming from. But how can we help?

Bucket Filling Buckets | How to help on World Food Day | Have you filled a bucket today | from Hello Splendid www.hellosplendid.com #ShareAMeal [Read more…]

Give Back for Back to School – SoCozy + State Bags

By

We’re giving back at back to school with SoCozy’s exclusive State Bags Give Back Pack. Thanks to SoCozy for sponsoring this post.

Do you remember when “I Wish My Teacher Knew” went viral? Basically, a pretty awesome teacher in a school district of predominantly low income families asked her students to write down one thing they wished she knew about them. As you can imagine, many of the the responses were heartbreaking. One in particular has stuck with me many months later.

 “I wish my teacher knew I don’t have pencils at home to do my homework.”

SoCozy State Bags back to school

The thing that really struck a nerve about this child’s problem is that it’s one which is totally avoidable and easily fixed if only someone cares enough to help.  It made me realize that this child is probably one of hundreds of thousands of children facing the same unbelievable issue of not having the most basic of tools to succeed. Pencils should not be an economic privilege.

[Read more…]