Two weeks ago, several friends and I stayed up all night cooking BBQ on a smoker—we were helping a family, that we are all connected to, raise money to bring home a child they are adopting from the Ukraine.

The boys name is Tavin. He is a special child. His legs are twisted and being an orphan that makes him ‘unwanted’ by most—and even in his own country that equates to him spending the first two years of his life confined to a crib.

Imagine not being held because you are different, or being sent to a ‘hospital’ to live out the rest of your days when you are not adopted in the first couple years. (&that the mortality rate in the first year in the hospital is nearly half)

For the last year the couple that is adopting Tavin has been raising money toward the adoption and travel expenses. At the BBQ we raised $3500, leaving them several thousand short of the total they needed.

So I wrote a poem & provided a link to their site.

Which led to a bunch of virtual friends going to their site and donating.

Betsy, a friend for the last 6 years, that I only know through our websites, wrote a post.

And even more friends gave money. And friends I have not met yet, gave money.

All of this happened in the last week.

All adoption expenses are accounted for. There is enough surplus that the family is considering adopting another child once they are in country—especially if they find that Tavin has an undisclosed sibling.

I share this not because I am asking for money—but because this is the power of what happens when we come together. People we never knew prior can change our life and the lives of those around us. This is the kind of community that I want to be a part of.

Maybe we don’t have to give money or don’t have money to give…but we all have our words…both in our writing of poems…and in our encouragement of each other. When we get that right–amazing things are possible.

If you are looking for inspiration for your poem for OLN, maybe write about someone that has touched your life, or a worthy cause you support—or maybe you want to share in the comments below.

Thank you to all those that give. See you tomorrow at 3 PM.  ~Brian

Note: In two weeks, I plan on addressing critique. We have had several that have offered to act as crit partners to poets.

Note2: We have had a handful of people submit pictures for the new header. Please keep sending them in to dversepoets@gmail.com