For Advent I have been focusing mostly on topics that should unite us.

The Simi Valley Samaritan Center helps homeless and near homeless people with a variety of services. I am interested in helping by issuing my readers a challenge:

For every person that posts something they will donate to a local provider of services for homeless people by the end of the year I will bring needed supplies to the Samaritan Center.

Post a comment with what you are going to do to help. The Samaritan Center always can use toiletries and socks.

Where we end up in life is a mixture of choices and luck. When I sometimes become proud of the choices I have made I try to remember all the good fortune I have been blessed with in life. I know I can do a better job knowing that the difference between myself and the people that need services from places like the Samaritan Center often are factors we don't have control over.

I don't want to leave an impression that I have made any major contributions to helping local homeless people. My contributions are minimal, especially compared to the many volunteers that have given so much to help out. While I am at it thanks to Kari Lev and her team for doing an awesome job with the canned food drive this year at Royal High School.

Check out their new website design:

http://www.thesamaritancenterofsimivalley.org/

Look at what my readers did last year to inspire me.

I created a fanpage on Facebook to honor their work. When it grows to a respectable size I will give control over to the center to get their message out. Let's make helping the homeless more popular than any local politician. Please become a fan:

( I am a real big fan of U2 and the theological messages in their music.)

People from across Simi Valley and Ventura County have been doing significantly more to help get the poor off of the streets then in the past and much more than many of us might have realized.

In Simi Valley recent progress has been made in helping homeless people and helping others from becoming homeless. I was really inspired and proud of the people in the homeless task force when I read this story from The Star.

The Ventura County has a whole section devoted to understanding the plight of homeless video that includes individual stories, videos, pictures and more.

Click here for the new section from The Star.

Click here for the Samaritan Center of Simi Valley's website. The website is currently down but I linked to a cached version of it. The center takes donations of many basics of life including white athletic socks, toothpaste, toothbrushes, deodorant, chapstick, and other basic grooming supplies.

Let's play the inspiration game. if you as a reader will leave a comment with your real name and pledge to make a donation of needed items to the Samaritan Center by Christmas eve I will make a pledge to do something to help for each person that takes the pledge.

The things I am willing to do is interview homeless people and post the interviews, make donations, volunteer at my church's community dinner, blog about upcoming meetings, and ask others to help. I am also open to suggestions.

Let's start inspiring each other.

UPDATE: The Star's blogs were down for awhile so I am extending the challenge. So far I am bringing more to the Samaritan Center because Kim posted that she will be bringing some of the requested items on their list. Let's keep it going.

Challenge me!