Giving is the true test of the human spirit

Photo: Copyright PhotoXpress.com

Despite the depressed condition of today's global economy, giving has proven itself to be the tried and true test of the human spirit.

Organizations and individuals around the world instinctively step up to the plate when a need is made known to them.  Just because.

When a need is satisfied, filled, or even surpassed; the true giver expects nothing external in return. 

No pats on the back.  No fanfare.  No parades.

The internal reward for engaging in the act of giving provides the true giver with a sense of inner-contentment and inner-peace.

Photo: Copyright Biggs

Lifeline Foundation, Inc. and LifelinelineExtensions.blog began sharing the above June 2009 photograph of the school library at La Escuela Farallon in The Republic of Panama soon after the photo was taken. 

An invitation was offered to anyone who wanted to participate in LFI's 2009 Book Collection & Donation Drive to collect 1,000 children's books written in English to donate to the school.  The book drive runs through October 30th.

The book drive donations are being added to the 110 books donated in June, and all of the books donated will be used to develop the first Clifford & Ivy Greaves Library Collection in an impoverished community in Panama.

As a result of giving being the true test of the human spirit, 1,094 used & new children's books have been donated to the book drive as of September 30th; and the book donations continue pouring in!

Every giver's charitable act of kindness will travel over 2,000 miles in November 2009 to help put more smiles on the happy faces shown below; and to help improve Literacy Development, Bilingual Education, and ESL Education at La Escuela Farallon.

Photo: Copyright Biggs

Thank you.


Sharon M. Biggs, M.A., is a wife, mother, and 21st Century educational leader who serves as Co-Chair & President of Lifeline Foundation, Inc.  This 23-year educator is also Founder, Editor, and Chief Writer of LifelineExtensions.blog. View Sharon's other published works at http://www.examiner.com/.

Contact Sharon directly for more information: sharonbiggs@mylifelinefoundation.org

"Children are the globe's most precious commodity." (Terence H. Biggs, Jr. ~ 2009)

884 More Children's Books to Collect...LifelineExtensions.blog's Readers Can Help...

The continued success of my recent Geraldine R. Dodge Principal’s Fellowship Grant funded June 2009 trip to Panamá, Central America has been nothing less than outstanding and astounding. I'm grateful to the Dodge/FEA Foundation for making this experience possible.



http://www.mycentraljersey.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009907310303

http://www.thepanamanews.com/pn/v_15/issue_11/lifestyle_05.html

http://www.centraljersey.com/articles/2009/07/02/south_brunswick_post/news/doc4a4cc3977f325843867825.txt?sessinfo=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



La Directora (my new Panamánian Principal colleague) and I have e-mailed each other about the Children’s Book Donation experience and school site visit – she, her staff, and the almost 170 students at La Escuela are so genuinely thankful for the 110 children’s books written in English, which the Dodge Grant funds enabled me to purchase and donate to their school library.

This book donation represented the first collection of books written in English the school has ever had in their biblioteca (library).

Currently, instruction in the majority of schools in the public school system in Panamá occurs solely in Spanish. At La Escuela, a specialist visits the school one day each week to instruct the students in English for a portion of the school day; however, all other instruction takes place in Spanish.

Part of the reason for the book donation was to begin adding a healthy collection of age-appropriate authentic literature written in English so that we not only help combat illiteracy; but we help pave the way for consistent Bilingual and ESL education to occur at La Escuela on the small island of Panamá, which is my husband’s birthplace.


One of my follow-up goals after the trip is to keep the Lifeline Literacy Connection with La Escuela active and meaningful for the students and faculty there by hosting a Christmas 2009 Book Donation & Collection Drive.


LifelineExtensions.blog readers ~ you now have a chance to participate in this wonderful effort!

Between August 3, 2009 through November 6, 2009 I’d like to collect 1,000 children’s books to donate to La Escuela so that in late November, I can send a Christmas 2009 Book Donation package to my colleague in Panamá to add to the school’s extremely small library collection.


Here are a few ways our LifelineExtensions.blog's readers can help with donations of the remaining 884 books we have left to collect:


· Purchase one children’s book of your choice each month during August through early November.
· Collect one slightly used children’s book of your choice during the same months.
· Purchase or collect whatever amount you choose of children’s books during the same months (please use

Amazon.com for purchases if you can – however, we want you to purchase books from any place that’s the easiest for you):

http://www.amazon.com/Childrens-Books/b/ref=bhp_bb0309A_childr2?ie=UTF8&node=4&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf _rd_s=browse&pf_rd_r=152CCGP973DTD75N3FYV&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=482864351&pf_rd_i=283155


All LABELED book donations can be mailed to the following address by November 6, 2009 – please include your name on the inside front cover as the donor of any books you send:

Sharon Biggs, M.A.

Marketplace Dynamics, LLC
301 North Harrison Street, Suite 35
Princeton, NJ 08540-3512


I know how much we are all investing into helping kids around the globe prepare for life in the 21st Century.

By assisting in the process of building a healthy school library stocked with children’s books written in English to help improve the Bilingual and ESL education at La Escuela we will extend a lifeline.

This lifeline will help to better position one lively group of eager-to-learn students at a small and needy school in Panamá to reach their highest levels of individual excellence and success in this globally-focused 21st Century.


Thank you all in advance for your active participation in this tremendous book donation and collection drive! We appreciate every donation that will be made!


Sharon M. Biggs, M.A.
Educational Leader

Extension Of A Lifeline From New Jersey to Panama...

When I opened the acceptance letter in April 2009 from the Geraldine R. Dodge/FEA Principal Fellowship Foundation I knew then that my life and educational leadership would be changed forever. My impression of "change agent" had been completely re-defined and my perspective on what's really important was made crystal clear.

Receiving a 2009 Dodge/FEA grant afforded me the opportunity to travel to Panama, Central America in June '09 to visit and enjoy the landscape that had birthed my husband. The grant would also allow me to purchase 110 children's books written in English to donate to an elementary school in need on the small developing island.

After 23 years of quality professional development and educational coaching, it was clear that my focus would be on providing something practical, meaningful, and tangible to whatever school I was fortunate to link up with in Panama.

Meeting and speaking with the Directora (School Principal), tiny staff, and eager students at the Escuela to donate the carefully selected and age-appropriate storybooks was an experience that has far exceeded any other educational leadership experience I've encountered. And, the obvious gratitude shared by the youngest to oldest member of the impoverished school is something I'll never forget.

The donated books represent the school's first-ever collection of storybooks written in English, which have been added to their very modest biblioteca (school library). All instruction occurs in Spanish, with a specialist visiting the school one day each week to provide minimal English instruction.

It's been wonderful maintaining global e-mail communications with my new international colleague, and I've already been able to enlist the help from a number of individuals in both my professional and personal network who have agreed to make donations to a Christmas 2009 Book Collection Drive I've started!

We can't wait to mail off this additional collection of quality storybooks as a way to partner with my Panamanian educational colleagues in order to help combat illiteracy on the island and to pave the way for continued bilingual education to regularly occur at the school! Just our small way of making a deposit into the lives of 21st Century learners across the globe...

Sharon is one of about 30 individuals who's received a 2009 Geraldine R. Dodge Principal Fellowship Grant funded by Dodge/FEA to help support self-selected, non-traditional, imaginative, professional development, and personal and intellectual renewal to help promote growth as an educational leader. Sharon is grateful to Dodge/FEA, Mary Reece, Jen Hunsinger, and other Dodge/FEA folks for extending this lifeline to help enhance her evolving leadership.

The focus of Sharon's written grant proposal was to develop a Lifeline Literacy Connection between a suburban New Jersey, USA town and a small rural village in Panama, Central America as a way to say thank you to her husband for his many years of extending lifelines to Sharon and to others.

Sharon M. Biggs, M.A. ~ Educational Leader