Born June 27, 1880

From Anniversaries and Holidays: A Calendar of Days and How to Observe Them (Mary E. Hazeltine, American Library Association, Chicago, 1965).  

American lecturer and writer, blind and deaf since infancy; the inspiration of countless handicapped people throughout the world.

[Photo from Pushing to the Front Volume II by Orison Swett Marden, The Success Company, Petersburg, N.Y., 1911. More on Marden here.]

There was an inspiring story in this week’s newspaper as well.

Two fellows– one, Rob “Bobcat” Robinson, from around here, and the other, Gillian Anderson, from Kansas– have formed a nonprofit organization, Forever Outdoors. According to the front page story, “Their goal is to help people overcome obstacles that stand between them and outdoor experiences.” Their first project is a “‘wounded warriors’ deer hunting trip to Anderson’s place in Kansas for five soldiers who were severely injured in combat.” 

The organization is accepting donations to fund the trip and hunt, but Robinson said one of the main needs is for someone to volunteer to take the wounded warriors to Kansas in a motorhome. The hunt is set for Sept. 13-21 and Robinson said it is about 1,000 miles to Alexander’s property.

Should you wish to make a donation, make your checks payable to “Forever Outdoors.” The weekly newspaper published Robinson’s home address, his phone number, and email. 

Should you really wish to make a donation, the email is i hunt ks but just one string, no spaces, at yahoo and then a period mark and then “com.”

Inspirational, no? Well, yes. But that’s not the most inspirational part. 

I remember reading the back story last December. Unfortunately, December’s papers were put to other uses here on the farm and I no longer have them. Here’s what is reported now, supplemented with some memory.

The two first met in 2008, when Robinson began turkey hunting on Alexander’s land in Kansas. As I recall, it was a formal arrangement– they’d never met, didn’t hunt together and so on. But over a few years they got to know one another. Geeze. I wish I could find the December write-up but the newspaper doesn’t have their full archives online. What’s in this week’s paper I hope will give you a sense of inspiration:

Alexander, who had been fighting a kidney disease for about 20 years, was on kidney dialysis treatment by 2011 and badly in need of a transplant.

Robinson, who is a firefighter with the Starkville Fire Department, decided he would check to see if he could help and discovered his kidney was a match. After Alexander was cleared last year to receive a transplant from Robinson, the transplant was successfully completed on Nov. 26 at Kansas University Hospital.

Both men now say they want to give back because of their blessings, resulting in their decision to launch Forever Outdoors. Robinson said he has always wanted to start a hunting business — not for the money but to give back. Alexander, out of gratitude for his friendship and his kidney donation, told Robinson he wanted to help him.

“Both of us have been so blessed we wanted to give something back,” Alexander said Tuesday from his Kansas home. “We hope to be able to help people who can’t enjoy the outdoors (including kidney patients).”

Inspiration.

Robinson and Alexander and a dog

It is my habit to rigorously cite sources. I take this seriously:

Copyright

With the exception of materials (quotes, graphics, etc.) from cited sources, the rights to everything I write here– or in the case of photos, etc., share here– belong to me. Please feel free to re-post, re-pin, quote and so on. But please give me proper credit. I hate thieves. If you take my stuff and present it as your own, you have stolen my stuff. And I hate a thief.

I have quoted from, but not cited, my local weekly newspaper. If you want to re-post all or portions of this post that contain quotes from our little weekly newspaper, please contact me (see, “Contact”) and I’ll share the links, etc. 

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Oh. Dude or Dudette who’s tasked with following my little blog– you already know where I live so don’t make a federal case of my not including citations on the actual post. They’re just a click away.

And no. I am not going to give you a kidney because you should know better than to spy on your fellow Americans. 

You could, you know, renounce the Dark Side.  You could have a better life. Your choice.