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Archive for the ‘Bettina Network Foundation’ Category

BN FOUNDATION NEEDS VOLUNTEERS

Thursday, June 25th, 2015

The Bettina Network Foundation, inc. is calling for volunteers to help us pack up and move the contents of a town house from Melrose, MA. to several people who are establishing permanent homes for their family.

On Saturday, June 27, 2015 at 9am we will meet for breakfast in Harvard Square Cambridge, MA. and to talk about what to expect – suggestions on how best to handle this move – suggestions for the future – getting to know one another.

From there we will go to Melrose planning to arrive at 10:30am

Please bring boxes and any wrapping paper – such as newspapers, etc. – so we can get the job done quickly and easily – many hands make light work.

We will have a U-Haul truck rented for the occasion.  If you have transportation you can offer to someone who wants to help, but is without transportation, let us know.  If you have a truck which could supplement what we have, let us know that also.

In addition, we will need – going into the week – other volunteers who can work with families helping them clean and organize their homes; teaching them how to care for what they have; and looking around the houses to see what else they might need and be able to use.  Two or more people can work together in one house to get this done.  We also ask that you look in on the same people you helped to get their homes cleaned and organized, in a few weeks, to make sure they are holding it together and the house is still in good shape.  If not, we may ask you to help again, or if the situation isn’t working out, we will ask your advice on should we drop that family from our list of those we help.

If you are a designer, we could use your help to look in on families and talk to them about designing their homes; looking at how they use the home and helping them work through the best placement of what they have and again – helping us with feed back to know what else those families need.

If you are a photographer, we would love to have pictures of the work being done with the people doing the work and some of the before and after shots in some homes where the people who live in the homes do not mind our taking pictures, without their names being attached.

Call or email us at either 617 497 9166 or 800 347 9166.  Email us at bettina-network@comcast.net.

____________________________________

Learn More About How We Use Your Donation!

[give_form id=”3763″]

______________________________________________________________

Want to join us? Have a home that you want to open to become one of Bettina Network’s Hedge Schools? Call us and lets talk – or email us.

Ed. Note: Members of the Bettina Network Lifestyle Community can contribute to the Bettina Network Blog whenever they have anything they want to say and be heard by this fantastic group of people. Send your blog to bettinanetwork@comcast.net or mail it to us at P. O. Box 380585 Cambridge, MA. 02238 or call us on the telephone at 617-497-9166 to tell us what you want to say and we will write it for you.

Volunteer with Bettina Network Foundation, inc. to work estate sales; to help move items from one home to another; to contribute your ideas on how we can better use our resources in this effort to relieve and eliminate homelessness and poverty. We also need photographers; designers; and more. However much or little time you have, we are grateful.

Send your event information to be included in Bettina Network’s Menu of Events to: bettina-network@comcast.net

This is a curated blog so you cannot write your responses at the end of each entry. TO RESPOND TO THIS BLOG email bettina-network@comcast.net or info@bettina-network.com

TO LEARN MORE try www.bettina-network.com

 

The Black Race*

Friday, June 19th, 2015

WOW! Powerful! Thank you! I wanted to respond, but being white, I thought I should keep my mouth shut. Your blog has changed that. I am going to say what I think, wherever I am and let the chips fall where they may. I have been afraid of being called a racist most of my life. Today it really doesn’t matter. I need to be heard.

From your blog – lets start a new race! The Black Race. Since it was your blog I should let you be the charter and first member, however, in my new space I am going to be the charter and first member.

The Black Race is —

A ‘race’ you can’t be born into – you have to elect to join.

Your skin color does not matter nor does your sex.

The major criteria for joining is your need to be with people who understand equality and are equal to you and you and you to them.

A race concerned about this planet and how we take care of it.

A race of people concerned about the food we eat and what is being done to it.

A race of people into which you can put your most cherished foods, holidays, symbols, sayings which were a part of your former ‘race’ and which you want to remember and hang on to – and where others will also celebrate ‘your’ things as their own.

A race of people whose members reach out to one another to mutually be there for those of us having a difficult time getting through this life.

A race of people whose members do not tolerate homelessness.

You may maintain ‘membership’ in the Black Race and any other race you choose at the same time. (added 6/20/2015)

The Black Race has members spread around the globe and are citizens of many countries.  It is not limited to one country.  (added 6/20/2015)

Your name needs to be inscribed in the membership book of The Black Race.  Currently, you can do that by sending an email to bettinanetwork@comcast.net until a separate site is established for The Black Race and then new members would send their names to that new address. (added 6/21/2015)

Only those who sign up to be members of The Black Race are accepted.  No one is automatically a member of the Black Race. (added 6/21/2015)

We need a creed and a membership card. Each person who joins The Black Race should have their own card made up with additional cards to give to their friends, relatives and colleagues.  All are welcome to join the Black Race – and to tell the media and others that you are Black.  Maybe we should have little dinner parties to announce to our friends that we are now Black.

I will start the Black Race Creed:

I, (your name), am a member of the Black Race. If you do harm to one of us you do harm to all of us.

As a member of the Black Race I give up whatever White Privilege I have been given. (added 6/21/2015)

If there is anything you want to add to this definition of the Black Race, please feel free to do so.  If there is anything you want to add to the “Black Race Creed”, please feel free to do that also.

If you want to be public about your membership in the Black Race, send a blog to Bettina’s with your name and reasons for joining.  Come out of the closet all of you Black people.

Does someone want to contribute bumper stickers which read “I am a member of the Black Race” ?

*Ed Note:  Currently, there is no such thing as a Black Race, so this conversation about whether or not Rachel Dolezal is Black or not is a ridiculous conversation.  African Americans also don’t constitute a race of people.  So this initiative to start such a race has a clear field.

And oh, by the way, we have had a couple telephone calls asking us to find out where Rachel Dolezal has her hair done.  Anyone know the answer to that?

_____________________________________________

Learn More About How We Use Your Donation!

[give_form id=”3763″]

______________________________________________________________

Want to join us? Have a home that you want to open to become one of Bettina Network’s Hedge Schools? Call us and lets talk – or email us.

Ed. Note: Members of the Bettina Network Lifestyle Community can contribute to the Bettina Network Blog whenever they have anything they want to say and be heard by this fantastic group of people. Send your blog to bettinanetwork@comcast.net or mail it to us at P. O. Box 380585 Cambridge, MA. 02238 or call us on the telephone at 617-497-9166 to tell us what you want to say and we will write it for you.

Volunteer with Bettina Network Foundation, inc. to work estate sales; to help move items from one home to another; to contribute your ideas on how we can better use our resources in this effort to relieve and eliminate homelessness and poverty. We also need photographers; designers; and more. However much or little time you have, we are grateful.

Send your event information to be included in Bettina Network’s Menu of Events to: bettina-network@comcast.net

This is a curated blog so you cannot write your responses at the end of each entry. TO RESPOND TO THIS BLOG email bettina-network@comcast.net or info@bettina-network.com

TO LEARN MORE try www.bettina-network.com

A Bettina Network Moving Sale

Thursday, April 30th, 2015

Sale happens Saturday May 2, 2015    –   Look for the Bettina Network Flag flying in front of the house to know you are in the right place.

Starts at 10am and ends at 3pm

An Exciting Event Always

Bettina Network Lifestyle Community Members will be allowed in at 9am on May 2, 2015.

The address of the sale is 65 Huntington St, Milton, MA. 02186.

There are interesting items for sale:

IMG_20150429_132608132

 

An elevator chair, which goes up and down the stairs.  The company will take it off the wall and we are sure for a small amount of money they will reinstall the chairs in your home.  There are two chairs.  One goes from the first to the second floor.  The second goes from the basement to the first floor – where the two stairs are not contiguous.

Many of the items we could not picture because Word Press only takes pictures up to 2MB.  So next time we will click accordingly – once we learn how.

IMG_20150429_132544509

There are two lovely Tiffany-style hanging lamps which are quite old and beautiful.

Dining room table and chairs.  Porcelain dinner service.  Stem glasses.

Opalescent glass figures.  Book cases.  Bedroom set with queen-sized bed – real wood.

Mahogany book cases.  Pine book cases stained mahogany.

Miscellaneous items that will look lovely in your living or dining room where you need an extra something.

Clothes.  Fur coats.  A collection of 1930’s mink and fox throws for over the shoulder – remember the kind with the head, feet and tails intact – well come and see these (No conservationist comments please – this was the 1930’s and there were not many of these made).

Off-white Pinch pleated thermal drapes – lots of them.  The way they conserve heat and cold in your home will make up for the fox and mink shoulder stoles.

Nylon curtains – some with frilly ruffles for just $5.00.

An old sewing machine case – a little rubbing with coconut oil will make this case look lovely.

Oriental-style rugs – one for $25 and it is room size – the second for $125.

Pots and pans.  Kitchen miscellaneous.

Basement items, including professional floor cleaning equipment ideal for someone just starting a new business.  Use these until you have earned enough to buy the new, super shiny, over-priced machines that will take away most of your profit.

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As in all Bettina Network Sales, whatever is left after the sale is donated to Bettina Network Foundation, inc.  A 501 ( c ) 3 organization and the family gets a tax credit for the amount of the items so donated.  The Bettina Network Foundation, inc. gives all of these items to people who are recently homeless and are beginning to furnish their new permanent home and/or to people in difficult situations who these items can benefit and make their lives a bit easier.  We work with Therapists and Social Workers to determine who can best use the items available.  They are not stored they are taken immediately to their new home so volunteers at the end of each sale are crucial.

If you are a Social Worker, Therapist or someone working with the homeless and would like to volunteer to help in this effort to eradicate homelessness as best we can, call us.  We send you an inventory of items available and you let us know which ones your clients can use.

If you would like to volunteer some of your time to work with the Bettina Network Foundation, inc. we welcome you.  Speak to one of the people working the sale and they will give you more information.  It is fun -a good learning experience – and who knows where it will lead for you.  We need photographers, designers to help those receiving items have an idea as to how to place them for maximum beauty, those who like to clean and work with others to help them learn how to keep up what they now own, etc., but especially those who enjoy giving – being creative – finding a way where there was no way, etc.

=====================================================

Learn More About How We Use Your Donation!

[give_form id=”3763″]

______________________________________________________________

Want to join us? Have a home that you want to open to become one of Bettina Network’s Hedge Schools? Call us and lets talk – or email us.

Ed. Note: Members of the Bettina Network Lifestyle Community can contribute to the Bettina Network Blog whenever they have anything they want to say and be heard by this fantastic group of people. Send your blog to bettinanetwork@comcast.net or mail it to us at P. O. Box 380585 Cambridge, MA. 02238 or call us on the telephone at 617-497-9166 to tell us what you want to say and we will write it for you.

Volunteer with Bettina Network Foundation, inc. to work estate sales; to help move items from one home to another; to contribute your ideas on how we can better use our resources in this effort to relieve and eliminate homelessness and poverty. We also need photographers; designers; and more. However much or little time you have, we are grateful.

Send your event information to be included in Bettina Network’s Menu of Events to: bettina-network@comcast.net

This is a curated blog so you cannot write your responses at the end of each entry. TO RESPOND TO THIS BLOG email bettina-network@comcast.net or info@bettina-network.com

TO LEARN MORE try www.bettina-network.com

A New World Order

Tuesday, April 21st, 2015

copyright Bettina Network, inc. 2015

We first heard of a “New World Order” when George Bush was president and let those words slip.  We want to pick up those words and expand and change what that means – just a little.

We live and see others prosper as we recapture the past and move into the future world order.  Some of us see the past as that place full of light and goodness.  Others see this new technology creating that place full of light and goodness.  We think they are both wrong and totally destroying what they are trying to achieve and capture.  How does that happen?  How did and do they get it so wrong?

We have to go back to the old world understanding that we don’t own anything on this earth.  We contribute those ways of thinking to the ‘primitives’.  Those groups of people who didn’t understand and were very ‘unintelligent’ in their ways of thinking.  Their basic belief was that we don’t and can’t own anything in this world.  All of that changed.  But did it really or only in new constructs we chose to use to define who we are and how we live!

When we enter this world we do so with nothing except the body we take on at conception.  When we leave it, we leave with nothing – not even the body with which we have identified for as long as we have lived on this earth.  So how have we gotten everything so messed up, mixed up, confused and just downright wrong?

We need to go back to accept the fact of who we are instead of who our leaders have created us to be through their mythology – which we have accepted – and look at and accept who we really are and what we really own, if anything.  Once we do that, the Bettina Lifestyle is simple – it is a “New World Order” based on our shared humanity – and a joy to live.

Whatever we receive in this life is a gift and something we own only temporarily.  It really belongs to the earth – whatever that means.  So we should take care of every pin, every dot, every tittle and iota that comes into our possession because it is not permanent and it is not ours.  We keep all of these things for a second and then pass them on to someone else, unless we have ruined all of what we have possessed in the meantime and then we throw our things into the landfills.  Those things we claim to own came from someplace else and are going someplace else when we no longer have use of whatever we have acquired.

Enter the Estate Sale – the Yard Sale – the Garage Sale.  All ways we use to get rid of our ‘old’ stuff’ that we no longer want nor think we can use.  The thought of taking care of our things because we are passing them along in the future very seldom enters our minds.  We are the throw away society.  We use it and throw it away.  And what happens to those waiting to receive those throw away items?  Sorry, but they were trashed, discarded, uncared for because the person using them interrupted the cycle by their inability to recognize their humanity and the need to share everything with those waiting to receive.  We have dehumanized those waiting to receive to justify the way we have dehumanized ourselves.  We have re-created ourselves in the image of the god we created who would put up with our sins, and wastefulness and uglinesses to ourselves and to others.

If we had taken good care of what we ‘owned’ temporarily, and understood that what we have must be used by someone else, those things would continue their lives and would continue to be useful someplace else and to someone else.

Some people can only buy and use “new” stuff.  Some of us delight and cherish the ‘old stuff’ that we find at Estate Sales.  It is like winning the lottery to find something wonderful for a fraction of what we would have to pay for the same item “new”.  It is living on society’s throw aways, but what a luxury life.

Clothes are the best example.  If you wear your clothes carefully, you can pass them on to continue to be used by someone else.  So Bettina provides for that.  Bettina Network, inc. has estate sales.  Bettina Network Foundation, inc. gives away that which is given to us to those who need the give-aways to be able to participate in this society.  How wonderful to find those give-aways in good condition.

There is no understanding of the ugliness and selfishness of the society in which we live until one becomes homeless.  You can understand it on a very small basis as you interact and see the political fights, the petty jealousies, the coveting thy neighbors belongings. You can understand it only so far, if you also have a position which pays you money to work; friends in the same or better position of whom you can be jealous; belongings which don’t quite measure up to those of your neighbors.  Homeless,  you are cut off from all of that and are standing outside alone or with children or with other family or with friends- all of you alone -it is a stark emptiness, fear and feeling of what was it all about and what is it all about now that I am on the street!  But oddly enough, that tendency to create negative structures in which to live is so strong that the homeless recreate the same scenarios only on a different level from that which we find in the society at large.  What stops that?  What intervenes to get rid of all the myths which we have created to continue this insanity?

To be homeless raises the question as to what got me in this place? Did I do something or not do something that I wound up homeless and cut off from everyone and everything except those in my condition?  There are a few people who reach out to help, but they are not my friends.  They are making themselves feel good as a part of their “belonging,”‘  enhancing their position in society; reaching out to ‘do good’, but going back into the lifestyle and the society which created the underbelly of people that are not doing so good.

Why do we throw away our children onto the streets?  Why do we cast our elderly into buildings which harbor and collect all of the germs and diseases one gets as one gets older and keeps them from being seen and interacted with by others – the normal younger ones?  Why do we eliminate youth and family from these buildings and put those who are only one step above the elderly in such places to ‘care’ for them?  Is there something about youth who don’t tow the line and the elderly who shouldn’t be seen with the rest of us that makes us segregate?

As racism subsides are we so quickly replacing it with this form of elder-ism and creating more isms – so we don’t run out and might have to acknowledge our equality?  Separate and unequal now true for the elderly and for our children?

It is interesting that one sees, on the streets, people active until about age 70 and then it is rare to see those much older unless we see them amongst the homeless.  We have to go out of our way to these elder-buildings to see anyone older than 70.  Why do we so desperately need to be better than, that we will destroy other human beings to fill our need to be better than?

Marketing and advertising create the image of being stunned by those over 40 who look good (translate young) – who are not ill – who are active in society.  We just gasp at a 50 year old who looks younger and is still very active.  Corporations almost totally refuse to hire anyone over 45 and we go along with that.  Somehow, wisdom does not count.  And we can see that in how our society operates.  If wisdom were allowed in, and we commonly shared the experiences we have acquired  from having lived many years through much,  that might change the structures of our world and those who are busy creating this horror might have to give way to others who understand, acknowledge and act out of our common humanity.

If we treated our possessions as being with us only temporarily would that change all of this?  If we consciously understood that when we leave this earth we would not even be able to do so taking our own bodies?  Would that make a change?  If we passed on what we now own and use when we either no longer want or need it and we passed that on in good shape to others would all of this change?

As of now, wearing clothes someone else bought and wore and now throws away is not considered great.  Many of us won’t wear other peoples’ clothes.  We expect to immediately get sick and die from some terminal disease we catch in that process.  This need for new stuff and only new stuff has been created by a marketing and advertising campaign which has made us deathly afraid of each other and sometimes of ourselves.  We must feed the “growth through throw away” societal structure.  The faster we can get others to discard and throw away the faster new industries and companies can grow.

Look at this, –  we can’t stand to be around someone who has an odor. That has created a whole industry, which is thriving.  Try it sometimes and see how repulsed your friends and even your family can be if you smell.  And we all smell.  The exception is those who temporarily get rid of their smell by using chemicals which in the long run are harmful to one’s health.  Maybe those products need the addition in their television commercials to list all the bad things they do to the body, if you use them, as soothing music plays in the background.  Your smell is as unique as everything else.  Get used to it.  Can you walk into a room and know any of the people who just exited by the odors left or do you know the odors left by the brand of the chemicals used by the individuals?

We prefer to be around those who have more than we do and we will do some strange things to each other reaching ‘up’.  We cater to those who seem to have more, hoping they will acknowledge us and pull us ‘up’ with them.  And those already ‘up’ are doing their best to distance themselves from those who have less because they don’t want their ‘position’ compromised, especially by the unwashed.

Take a look at what keeps us without an odor – full of chemicals.  Take a look at what  keeps us clothed – chemicals, oil, especially in the middle classes and you will find these  chemicals and processed oils giving off gases into our bodies.  The food the chefs, who now make millions of dollars for the prattle produce, – can be really fowl, only we claim it to be exquisite because we repeat what we are expected to repeat to stay a member of the group.  Once upon a time these Chefs touted Olive Oil as the only Oil to cook with if you wanted to be healthy.  Slowly, too slowly, word got out that one can’t really cook with Olive Oil because it goes rancid as the temperature in the pot goes up and it doesn’t have to go up very far for the rancidity to appear killing all of the B vitamins in our system.

Try life in this New World Order.  Take good care of what you currently own,  with the thought that it will be owned by someone else in the not too dBettina Trademarkistant future and you want to preserve it so it can continue to be used and enjoyed.  Pass your belongings on to those who either won’t or can’t pay the top dollars required of the people buying new stuff.  What is this new stuff they are buying?  Shoes full of chemicals way into four figures; New pocketbooks which show off a certain status costing into five figures.  Instead of landfill, make sure those items with which you currently live are in such good condition they can be passed on to others to enjoy.

Find someone homeless and bring them into your social circle.  Include them in your parties, your dinners, your outings, your vacations.  You don’t have to provide them with permanent housing.  When dinner is over they go back to their homeless state.  When you return from vacation, they go back to their homeless state.  When you pass someone homeless on the street – smile and speak.  When you pass anyone on the street – smile and acknowledge your common humanity.  What will that do?  Possibly cure this society’s penchant for creating homelessness and then not taking responsibility for what we have created.  How? By acknowledging our common humanity.  If I have a lot in common with that person on the street how can I do otherwise than to at least speak.  Maybe one day……………..

As the homeless are more included in your life and the lives of your friends and family maybe they will see another way to move out of the state they are in.  Maybe doors have been opened for them and within them to help move them off the street.

Try this beginning of a truly New World Order and see how far it takes you and us.

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Learn More About How We Use Your Donation!

[give_form id=”3763″]

______________________________________________________________

Want to join us? Have a home that you want to open to become one of Bettina Network’s Hedge Schools? Call us and lets talk – or email us.

Ed. Note: Members of the Bettina Network Lifestyle Community can contribute to the Bettina Network Blog whenever they have anything they want to say and be heard by this fantastic group of people. Send your blog to bettinanetwork@comcast.net or mail it to us at P. O. Box 380585 Cambridge, MA. 02238 or call us on the telephone at 617-497-9166 to tell us what you want to say and we will write it for you.

Volunteer with Bettina Network Foundation, inc. to work estate sales; to help move items from one home to another; to contribute your ideas on how we can better use our resources in this effort to relieve and eliminate homelessness and poverty. We also need photographers; designers; and more. However much or little time you have, we are grateful.

Send your event information to be included in Bettina Network’s Menu of Events to: bettina-network@comcast.net

This is a curated blog so you cannot write your responses at the end of each entry. TO RESPOND TO THIS BLOG email bettina-network@comcast.net or info@bettina-network.com

TO LEARN MORE try www.bettina-network.com

A Bettina Network Foundation Day on the Town

Monday, February 9th, 2015

February 7, 2015 – Quincy, MA.

We had a great Saturday.

Those who volunteered to help us move the furnishings from an apartment in Quincy, MA., to give to others who could use the items, gathered together for a bit of food, conversation, getting to know each other, learning what the day would be like, and prayer.

The morning started with breakfast made by the Rev. Dr. Robert Bennett so we were off to a good start.

Before going out the door on our way, we joined hands in a circle of prayer and it set the tone for the rest of our time together.

The volunteers were eight Seminarians from Harvard Divinity School – gathered together by Jonathan Bett Fields, also an HDS Seminarian.  Next time we will include a photographer – the possibilities for great pictures to share with you were endless.

Cheryl Nicholas, who was the inspiration behind all of this, brought the UHaul truck and oversaw the move to get everything into the UHaul so her job of off-loading the items as she went about delivering the furnishings would be easier.  Cheryl didn’t get away without an injury, but we put a bit of medicine on her cut to stop the bleeding and she and the rest of us continued.  Next time, we will bring a first aid kit, we did need one.  A few cuts and bruises, but no one noticed, everyone just kept moving to get the job done.

Ramesh Iyer, who made the donation to Bettina Network Foundation, inc. was a joy.  His ‘gentle reminders’ will become a part of Bettina lore and will be stored in the Bettina archives.  We picked up his spirit and instead of calling or emailing to say what needs to be done – NOW, we have established the practice of sending ‘gentle reminders’.

Kaitlyn Justus was a wonder.  Everytime we looked around she was out the door with yet another piece of furniture or a very large box.

Farris Blount worked with Cheryl outside making sure the items were in the UHaul properly.

Chavis T. Jones became a whirlwind of activity when he saw a watch in a box that might be added to his collection, under the right circumstances

Ryan Cogswell felt good about the “manual labor” he was doing.  He must have been totally exhausted at the end of the day.

Everyone pitched in to move the first pieces out the door, which were unbelievably heavy, bulky, hard to move and maneuver and turned out to be a godsend to those who received them – beautiful leather couches, in like-new condition.  One piece, that took everybody together to move, was a pull-out bed whose mattress was still wrapped in the plastic in which it was delivered when first purchased.  We took turns deciding how to get the pieces out the door – it was finally all these ideas together that succeeded.

We learned many lessons on Saturday.  Mostly, we learned how beautiful is the human spirit when we are all engaged in God’s work.

Marceline Donaldson made lunch which ended this part of our day together.

We were a very diverse group.  God for each one of us would be described in different terms, but bottom line what prevailed was that which is within us, that makes us know we are all one and responsible for one another – no matter our different physical appearances or religions or other seeming differences, or how we describe the God we worship.

May it ever be so in all that we do.

________________________________________________________________

Learn More About How We Use Your Donation!

[give_form id=”3763″]

______________________________________________________________

Want to join us? Have a home that you want to open to become one of Bettina Network’s Hedge Schools? Call us and lets talk – or email us.

Ed. Note: Members of the Bettina Network Lifestyle Community can contribute to the Bettina Network Blog whenever they have anything they want to say and be heard by this fantastic group of people. Send your blog to bettinanetwork@comcast.net or mail it to us at P. O. Box 380585 Cambridge, MA. 02238 or call us on the telephone at 617-497-9166 to tell us what you want to say and we will write it for you.

Volunteer with Bettina Network Foundation, inc. to work estate sales; to help move items from one home to another; to contribute your ideas on how we can better use our resources in this effort to relieve and eliminate homelessness and poverty. We also need photographers; designers; and more. However much or little time you have, we are grateful.

Send your event information to be included in Bettina Network’s Menu of Events to: bettina-network@comcast.net

This is a curated blog so you cannot write your responses at the end of each entry. TO RESPOND TO THIS BLOG email bettina-network@comcast.net or info@bettina-network.com

TO LEARN MORE about Bettina Network, inc. try www.bettina-network.com

IF YOU ENJOY OUR BLOG, USE OUR SERVICES TO BOOK ACCOMODATIONS WHEN YOU TRAVEL!

1-800-347-9166 inside the U. S. or 617 497 9166 outside or inside the U. S.

 

 

 

Bettina’s Educational Institute

Sunday, February 8th, 2015

‘Pass It On!’

What is? A way to pass on to others what you have learned in this life and to receive from others their legacy.

Pass on your life lessons, serendipitously!

________________________________________________________________

Learn More About How We Use Your Donation!

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______________________________________________________________

Want to join us? Have a home that you want to open to become one of Bettina Network’s Hedge Schools? Call us and lets talk – or email us.

Ed. Note: Members of the Bettina Network Lifestyle Community can contribute to the Bettina Network Blog whenever they have anything they want to say and be heard by this fantastic group of people. Send your blog to bettinanetwork@comcast.net or mail it to us at P. O. Box 380585 Cambridge, MA. 02238 or call us on the telephone at 617-497-9166 to tell us what you want to say and we will write it for you.

Volunteer with Bettina Network Foundation, inc. to work estate sales; to help move items from one home to another; to contribute your ideas on how we can better use our resources in this effort to relieve and eliminate homelessness and poverty. We also need photographers; designers; and more. However much or little time you have, we are grateful.

Send your event information to be included in Bettina Network’s Menu of Events to: bettina-network@comcast.net

This is a curated blog so you cannot write your responses at the end of each entry. TO RESPOND TO THIS BLOG email bettina-network@comcast.net or info@bettina-network.com

TO LEARN MORE about Bettina Network, inc. try www.bettina-network.com

IF YOU ENJOY OUR BLOG, USE OUR SERVICES TO BOOK ACCOMODATIONS WHEN YOU TRAVEL!

1-800-347-9166 inside the U. S. or 617 497 9166 outside or inside the U. S.

Martin Luther King Day at Bettina’s

Tuesday, January 20th, 2015

copyright Bettina Network, inc. 2015

Hate murdered a man, at 39 years of age, who preached love.

Hate murdered a man, at 39 years of age, who preached love.

It has been amazing and humbling to watch the progress of the Martin Luther King holiday over the years.  We watched from the beginning, when there was much conflict, confrontation, opposition, loud voices of angry protest at the very idea that such a man, with his history and achievements should be honored. We watched until today when the determination and love of those who were going to make sure Martin and the work of the Black Civil Rights movement was recognized.  This 2015 year we celebrated and recognized a man and a movement with time out of school for our children, to the closing of banks, the post office and some of our corporations.  To get even this far, has been a long, hard, painful, but very rewarding journey for many.

How do we treat greatness when discovered or suspected in African Americans?

How do we treat greatness when discovered or suspected in African Americans?

We attended and participated in events which recognized Martin Luther King and the movement of which he was one of the leaders.  The events, their venues, the people participating were a cross section – not only of America – but across parts of the world where the work of the Civil Rights Movement was remembered.

There was much “breakfast table talk” about the history which brought us to this day.  We hope it continues throughout the year. I thought we would share some of that conversation with you:

“We had a fantastic breakfast – I would have to call it a ‘breakfast seminar.’   Only one person at the table had been through the Civil Rights Movement which created this holiday.  The rest of us were either not yet born or were on the other side.  I was one of those on the other side at the time because, to me, what was happening with the protests, the disruptions, the dogs, the hoses aimed at the hurting of even young children was something I couldn’t abide.  I didn’t think there was anything wrong with life the way we were living it.  My point of view was not that of those who were willing to die for their freedom and were looking to the future at their children’s future, but of someone whose life was being disrupted.  Not seriously disrupted, but enough to be inconvenienced and I just wanted it to stop and things to go back to the way they were.  I don’t know when God took hold of me to shake me up and to shake those attitudes out of my life, but somehow it happened and I am now a part of the Black Lives Matter demonstrations.  My grey hair can be seen among all of those young people and I hope somehow, even though it is a very little and very late, my efforts will matter to those who come behind me.”

 

Are you listening out there in Simi Valley? How diverse is your neighborhood!

Are you listening out there in Simi Valley? How diverse is your neighborhood!

WOW!

WOW!

 

“What a history lesson!  I remember studying the Civil Rights Movement in school.  We learned about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and what that time was all about, but I had never talked to someone who was a part of that history before.  This was a very different perspective.  I think of history as being about the study of dead people and past times.  Here I was in the middle of a conversation with someone who lived that history and those past times are still with us today.  I have never been a part of a demonstration of any kind.  Never talked to anyone who had.  Didn’t intend to talk to anyone who was a part of something like that and here I was in the middle of breakfast deep into a conversation that changed my life. Thank you to my breakfast companions for putting up with me.  My responses must have been horrible to you, yet you were so kind – well almost kind, after you got over the shock of my being at the breakfast table.   I don’t know what I expected, but certainly not what happened.  I have never even thought twice about the Martin Luther King holiday.  No different from all those other holidays I don’t celebrate.  Maybe it is the newness of this one – with the pain still being felt by those who experienced the events which led up to this being important enough to remember once a year. This is, however, a holiday I am bringing back to my family to celebrate every year by learning something new about that time in history and by trying to be a little better about dealing with my prejudices which have caused so many people pain. But – is ‘celebrate’ really what I want to say.  I almost feel as though we should all be in sack cloth and ashes for what we’ve done, but ‘celebrate’ is what I feel.”

A truth the world needs to hear! From the religious aristocrats to the homeless on our streets, none of us is immune from this need! To be accepted by proving that we can discriminate against our brothers and sisters just as good as the next person.

A truth the world needs to hear! From the world’s elite,  the corporate billionaires, the religious aristocrats, the homeless on our streets, no one   is immune from the need to be silent so we can be accepted. “I am sorry, but I can’t get involved. Only when my earthly masters signal their approval.”

“A small group of us (women all) get together every year on Martin Luther King day to try to continue to work through our conflicting thoughts about the Black Civil Rights Movement.  It was a difficult time for us.  Women  – who were discriminated against, not only by the wider society, but also by the Black Civil Rights Movement.  It was very male oriented and some, in the movement, felt embarrassed if women were perceived as being in any leadership position.  We withdrew, but still supported what was happening with our money, by marching and by being a part of.  At the same time, we gathered together to fight for the equality of women and here was an example where those discriminated against were discriminating against us. That is so the human condition!  Flawed, full of sin, dragging our own history and almost blind to that of others.  Our time together, each year, is to try to reconcile and acknowledge our being human and to root out our separateness to be able to embrace everyone and not feel victimized as we work with those also fighting for their freedom in a society which seems to need to have a group on top and a group less than and which needs to manage and continue their being on top by playing one ‘less than’ group against another.”

images-5

 

 

“I love Bettina’s.  It is a safe place to be able to express whatever and you never know who is going to be at breakfast.  May you all live long and prosper.”

 

 

 

Ed Note:  We had a lot more expressions of breakfast at Bettina’s on Martin Luther King Day.  We shared just a few.  The places where people came from, knowing the history of King and the Movement amazed even us.  We could put this all together in a book, but we will stop here.  Hope this gives more meaning to your day and information to your life.

 

129902141An insight into a reality we find hard to accept!

 

________________________________________________________________

Learn More About How We Use Your Donation!

[give_form id=”3763″]

______________________________________________________________

Want to join us? Have a home that you want to open to become one of Bettina Network’s Hedge Schools? Call us and lets talk – or email us.

Ed. Note: Members of the Bettina Network Lifestyle Community can contribute to the Bettina Network Blog whenever they have anything they want to say and be heard by this fantastic group of people. Send your blog to bettinanetwork@comcast.net or mail it to us at P. O. Box 380585 Cambridge, MA. 02238 or call us on the telephone at 617-497-9166 to tell us what you want to say and we will write it for you.

Volunteer with Bettina Network Foundation, inc. to work estate sales; to help move items from one home to another; to contribute your ideas on how we can better use our resources in this effort to relieve and eliminate homelessness and poverty. We also need photographers; designers; and more. However much or little time you have, we are grateful.

Send your event information to be included in Bettina Network’s Menu of Events to: bettina-network@comcast.net

This is a curated blog so you cannot write your responses at the end of each entry. TO RESPOND TO THIS BLOG email bettina-network@comcast.net or info@bettina-network.com

TO LEARN MORE about Bettina Network, inc. try www.bettina-network.com

IF YOU ENJOY OUR BLOG, USE OUR SERVICES TO BOOK ACCOMODATIONS WHEN YOU TRAVEL!

1-800-347-9166 inside the U. S. or 617 497 9166 outside or inside the U. S.

 

Happy New Year and Our Year End Review!

Monday, December 29th, 2014
Bettina Network, inc. Trademark

Bettina Network, inc. Trademark

We wish all of you a very Happy New Year and much success, joy and gracious living throughout 2015!

We review what we have done, at the end of each year, within the corporation.   We thought we would do something different this year and share that review of Bettina Network, inc. with those who have used our services and those who care about us as much as we care about them.

One of our goals for the year was accomplished towards the end of 2014 through the establishment of Bettina Network Foundation, inc.

It took longer than expected for that to happen, but we worked hard on the structure of the Foundation and to bring it out as a 501©3 organization before the end of 2014.  If you would like to know more about this organization, we encourage you to read about it in the Blog – just click on Bettina Network Foundation and the articles written throughout the year will come up for your information.  Our mission statement is “We exist to help those in need to restructure and reframe their lives and their thinking through various avenues and tools so they may become entrepreneurs with the mindset, education, requisite tools, resources and skills to start and grow their own business.  We establish ourselves in memory of all those who have had wonderful ideas, who worked to bring those ideas into reality in the form of their own businesses, but who died without having reached that goal.”

We tried to set Bettina Network Foundation, inc. up as a self-funding organization and we think we have succeeded in that goal also.   Although it is majorly self-funding, we are certainly open to contributions.  The Bettina Network, inc.’s web site has a section for the Foundation and there will be a way for you to contribute by going onto the web site and clicking the top link which says “foundation” and there will be a page for contributions.

We were also able to establish  an education institute as a part of Bettina Network, inc.  There will be more about that later, but for now and for your information, we are basically looking for homes to add to the Bettina Network, inc. which offer an educational component.  Guests/scholars/researchers/business people/students -even tourists – will be able to stay and take part in the educational offerings of the home owners as well as visit, tour, take care of other business, visit family and more during their stay in a particular city.

Bettina Network’s Blog has held its own this year and developed from a few hundred visitors a day, at the beginning of 2014, to a consistent 1,000 plus visitors towards the end of the year.  Our readership jumped to some 6,000 readers, but the company which is our managed server managed to mess that up – big time – by cutting off whole countries from having access to the Blog.  At one point we could not access our own blog because our part of the United States had been cut off from having access to the Blog.  When they straightened that out, we still had a difficult time with access because their machines were down more than they were up and active, so we had to re-build the readership and we were not happy campers.  It was a horror story which we are still in the process of working through.

Technology is one of the largest problems companies have and we are experiencing the good and the bad of all that technology can do.

Our dream of establishing Bettina Network’s Lifestyle Community has started to happen.  We were able to send out passwords to those who used Bettina Network, inc. over the years and welcomed them into the Community.  Their first benefit was using their password to access Bettina’s Menu of Events whenever they wish.  It is not yet a worldwide Menu, but we are on the way to expanding it so that it will soon become such a calendar of events.

Members of the Community were also able to add events to the Menu using their passwords.  We have not have many people use that benefit.  It will take time for it to catch on and for Bettina Network’s Lifestyle Community to realize the many benefits they now can access.  We are hoping that small, very choice, community events around the world that we would never otherwise know about, become a part of Bettina’s Menu of Events by those in the Community using their passwords to add their favorite events for others to enjoy.

Our dream is that members of Bettina Network’s Lifestyle Community will be able to use their passwords to access events around the world for any date and any location they choose and will be able to use Bettina’s Menu of Events as often as they need to do so.

As you can see we have been busy.  We hope you will continue to read Bettina Network’s Blog and to use the services of Bettina Network, inc.

If you have feedback for us, we are open to hearing from you.  We were able, over this past year, to bring several things into fruition that we had only been able to dream about, but we continued to work hoping for good results and some of that happened in 2014.  Since we are self-funding and do not have the hundred of millions of dollars others seem to be able to access, we think we have done an outstanding job and have congratulated ourselves for about five minutes before getting to work a little harder because we now have a bit of wind behind our backs.

We want to move forward with your input added to our own, to produce a company that serves others and brings goodness into the world.  We hope you will send us your suggestions and will stay in touch and use our services for many years to come.

Who knows what 2015 will bring!  We hope it brings greatness to us, to you and to your family!

Sincerely,

All of us at Bettina Network, inc.

 ________________________________________________________________

Learn More About How We Use Your Donation!

[give_form id=”3763″]

______________________________________________________________

Want to join us? Have a home that you want to open to become one of Bettina Network’s Hedge Schools? Call us and lets talk – or email us.

Ed. Note: Members of the Bettina Network Lifestyle Community can contribute to the Bettina Network Blog whenever they have anything they want to say and be heard by this fantastic group of people. Send your blog to bettinanetwork@comcast.net or mail it to us at P. O. Box 380585 Cambridge, MA. 02238 or call us on the telephone at 617-497-9166 to tell us what you want to say and we will write it for you.

Volunteer with Bettina Network Foundation, inc. to work estate sales; to help move items from one home to another; to contribute your ideas on how we can better use our resources in this effort to relieve and eliminate homelessness and poverty. We also need photographers; designers; and more. However much or little time you have, we are grateful.

Send your event information to be included in Bettina Network’s Menu of Events to: bettina-network@comcast.net

This is a curated blog so you cannot write your responses at the end of each entry. TO RESPOND TO THIS BLOG email bettina-network@comcast.net or info@bettina-network.com

TO LEARN MORE about Bettina Network, inc. try www.bettina-network.com

IF YOU ENJOY OUR BLOG, USE OUR SERVICES TO BOOK ACCOMODATIONS WHEN YOU TRAVEL!

1-800-347-9166 inside the U. S. or 617 497 9166 outside or inside the U. S.

 

BN Foundation’s Mission Statement

Monday, July 7th, 2014

copyright Bettina Network Foundation 2014

501(c)3 status applied for

We have developed and are expanding Bettina Network’s Foundation. As it moves along we would like to share what we are doing with you.

While trying to define what it is we are doing – we came up with a mission statement which will guide all of our efforts.  We have reproduced it below for your information, feedback, comments, criticisms.

“The Bettina Network Foundation is about helping people to restructure and re-frame their lives and their thinking using various avenues and tools to get that accomplished.” 

TRAINING/EDUCATION  –  HOUSING  –  JOBS

Join Us.

________________________________________________________________

Learn More About How We Use Your Donation!

[give_form id=”3763″]

______________________________________________________________

Want to join us? Have a home that you want to open to become one of Bettina Network’s Hedge Schools? Call us and lets talk – or email us.

Ed. Note: Members of the Bettina Network Lifestyle Community can contribute to the Bettina Network Blog whenever they have anything they want to say and be heard by this fantastic group of people. Send your blog to bettinanetwork@comcast.net or mail it to us at P. O. Box 380585 Cambridge, MA. 02238 or call us on the telephone at 617-497-9166 to tell us what you want to say and we will write it for you.

Volunteer with Bettina Network Foundation, inc. to work estate sales; to help move items from one home to another; to contribute your ideas on how we can better use our resources in this effort to relieve and eliminate homelessness and poverty. We also need photographers; designers; and more. However much or little time you have, we are grateful.

Send your event information to be included in Bettina Network’s Menu of Events to: bettina-network@comcast.net

This is a curated blog so you cannot write your responses at the end of each entry. TO RESPOND TO THIS BLOG email bettina-network@comcast.net or info@bettina-network.com

TO LEARN MORE about Bettina Network, inc. try www.bettina-network.com

IF YOU ENJOY OUR BLOG, USE OUR SERVICES TO BOOK ACCOMODATIONS WHEN YOU TRAVEL!

1-800-347-9166 inside the U. S. or 617 497 9166 outside or inside the U. S.

How Exciting is This!!!!!

Tuesday, June 24th, 2014

Sometimes life gives you lemons, sugar and beautifully clear water all at the same time and all mixed together ready for you to drink.

That is how we feel this morning in Bettina Networks little community.

Why?

Something very small, but very important in the way we live and are with each other.

At the end of a Bettina estate sale, everything left goes to the Bettina Network Foundation and we look for those who are in need and work with them to help them establish a better, more productive lifestyle.  We prefer helping those who are recently homeless, because they have the greater need.

Well, one such person established a new policy with these sales.  It is called “When you are given something, give back.”  No matter how little you have you can always find a way to give to others.

One young woman, in difficult circumstances, was given a dining room table and chairs from one of our sales – something that didn’t sell.  She called the person from Bettina’s who gave her the gift and said “I would like to help on your next sale.”  And help she did.  She didn’t help in the actual sale, she helped during those evening hours after the sale when we pack and move what is left to clean out the house and leave it ‘broom clean’ for the next inhabitants.

We couldn’t have finished our last sale without her help.  What she did was to make it possible for someone else to receive a gift as she had and to make sure the gifts could continue to be given because we were fulfilling our obligations to those who were ultimately providing these gifts.

At the end of her work evening – and she worked unbelievably hard – she decided she wanted to join our small band permanently.  She liked what we did – the way we were with each other – and felt she had a lot to contribute.

She also wholeheartedly joined the rest of us who do this work for the benefits of weight loss and the exercise it provides.  We don’t have to join a gym to work out we have our own calisthenics and weight loss machines to help us reduce fat and move it around the body from one place to another:)   I won’t give her name.  You will see her around Bettina Network activities and hope you will reach out to embrace another human being who has decided it is time for all of us to look out for each other – without agendas.

We all need to give back.  No matter how independent we think we are and no matter how strongly we consider ourselves ‘self-made’.

Sometimes, we just don’t know how to give back or to who.   Well, Bettina Network Foundation is providing a way for you to do that.  Join us and help us to help more people get their lives on a new footing.  We are lawyers, doctors, management, sales people, bankers, therapists, psychiatrists and the very young learning to live in a way that we thrive realizing and committing ourselves to make sure that others thrive also.

________________________________________________________________

Learn More About How We Use Your Donation!

[give_form id=”3763″]

______________________________________________________________

Want to join us? Have a home that you want to open to become one of Bettina Network’s Hedge Schools? Call us and lets talk – or email us.

Ed. Note: Members of the Bettina Network Lifestyle Community can contribute to the Bettina Network Blog whenever they have anything they want to say and be heard by this fantastic group of people. Send your blog to bettinanetwork@comcast.net or mail it to us at P. O. Box 380585 Cambridge, MA. 02238 or call us on the telephone at 617-497-9166 to tell us what you want to say and we will write it for you.

Volunteer with Bettina Network Foundation, inc. to work estate sales; to help move items from one home to another; to contribute your ideas on how we can better use our resources in this effort to relieve and eliminate homelessness and poverty. We also need photographers; designers; and more. However much or little time you have, we are grateful.

Send your event information to be included in Bettina Network’s Menu of Events to: bettina-network@comcast.net

This is a curated blog so you cannot write your responses at the end of each entry. TO RESPOND TO THIS BLOG email bettina-network@comcast.net or info@bettina-network.com

TO LEARN MORE about Bettina Network, inc. try www.bettina-network.com

IF YOU ENJOY OUR BLOG, USE OUR SERVICES TO BOOK ACCOMODATIONS WHEN YOU TRAVEL!

1-800-347-9166 inside the U. S. or 617 497 9166 outside or inside the U. S.


Bettina's Lifestyle Commnity!

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Bettina’s Lifestyle Community

Making a difference in this very difficult and changeable world.

Bettina's Lifestyle Commnity!

Join us!