Thank YOU!!! You guys took the time out of your day to vote and I appreciate it! I'm sure my face in your Facebook news feed became annoying because I was sick of seeing my face as well!
The website www.weatherist.com will be making their official announcement on Monday, but it appears WE (all of us) won. As I mentioned at the start of this competition, there are many people in my business more deserving of the title. I love my job, I love working in Region 8, and I hope it shows each night.
But, I wanted to push this competition because $500+ will go to The Children's Shelter in Walnut Ridge. While $500 is a lot of money for them, I think Region 8 can do even more. That's why I want to encourage you to donate to them online.
Some of you have asked why I chose The Children's Shelter and if there was a personal connection. The short answer is, yes.
There is something going in Arkansas that we don't talk about much, we don't see it on the news too often, and honestly, we try to ignore it. Over 4,000 kids are in the foster care system in Arkansas. Over 1,000 of those kids are in Region 8. What does that mean? Generally speaking, these kids do not have parents that can take care of them. It might be temporary or it might be permanent, but they need somewhere to sleep, eat, be encouraged, be trained, and be loved. I chose The Children's Shelter because that is a place where a small percentage of these kids can go.
What can you do to help the problem? There are several options:
- Become foster parents.
- Adopt the kids that need permanent homes
- Donate to a children's shelter, home, or orphanage.
- Volunteer time at a local organization that helps this problem: The Call, Christians for Kids, Children's Shelter, Children's Home in Paragould, or many more.
- Constantly ask your State Senators and Representatives what we are doing to help solve this problem.
If you are a Christian, James 1:27 says that we should take action. If you are not a Christian, I'm sure you also understand that we all have to help when there are 4,000 foster children in our state. We can do more. We must do more. Despite what we may or may not think about the parents involved in these situations, we can agree that the kids deserve an opportunity.
Finally, I want to thank my friend, Eric Sorensen. Eric is the meteorologist in Rockford, IL that came in second and gave me a scare a few times that we were going to lose. Eric has a great charity that he supports as well. His Facebook page can be found here.
I can't thank you enough. It's been fun. Maybe I can take what I've learned to run for political office one day! Ha! Kidding... or am I?
Have a great weekend!
Ryan
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