A Tribute to Mother's Everywhere

A Message from our Founder, Cynthia Brian

Of all of the gifts that life has to offer, a loving mother is the greatest of them ." Anonymous

People often ask me if I can name my greatest accomplishment. Without hesitation I can truthfully answer that being a caring and dedicated Mom has been my most fervent joy and my most supreme achievement. Although I always strive to walk in the footsteps of my dear Mother, I will probably never alight to her superlative talents. Moms are special people. Jugglers, doctors, cooks, cleaners, carpoolers, teachers, disciplinarians, and architects of the futures of their children are just a few of their unique abilities. Although I believe Mother'™s Day is every day, let us all honor our Mothers this Mother's Day. Make a call, write a heartfelt poem, give a rose plant, or just show up and if you Mother is no longer of this earth, celebrate the memories.

We hope youâ€™ll join us this Saturday, May 13th at the 11th Annual Moraga Faire in Rheem where Be the Star You Are!Â® volunteers will be painting faces of tots to teens, sharing stories in the Reading Circle, and giving books to kids by authors Brooks Olbrys and Diana Zimmerman. Meet our Express Yourself!â„¢ radio hosts and reporters, buy a book or T-shirt for your Mom or other loved one, and pick up some home grown potpourri. Our gratitude once again to Michael VerBrugge Construction for making our booth possible!

BTSYA has a fresh new web site at www.BTSYA.com or www.BTSYA.org with thanks to our new professional web designer volunteer, Tim Barger of TimBarger.com. Tim was able to move our hundreds of book reviews to the new site and help keep the site easily navigational. He'll be tweaking it in between his full time web design company and his devoted Daddy role to his three-month old daughter. If you need a fast, friendly, competent web designer and consultant, give Tim a holler. He's terrific!

Tim@TimBarger.com, 206-850-7668.

Enjoy this beautiful month of May. Check out my recent garden articles for tips on how to enjoy spring.

Sending love and light to every Mother and child this Mother's Day!

Thanks for supporting Be the Star You Are!Â®

Cynthia Brian

Founder/Executive Director

Be the Star You Are!Â® 501 c3

http://www.BetheStarYouAre.org

Cynthia@BetheStarYouAre.org

PO Box 376

Moraga, California 94556

Moraga Faire This Satruday MAY 13th!!!

MEET OUR WEB DESIGNER, TIM BARGER

Tim Barger is assisting Be the Star You Are!Â® with updating our www.BTSYA.com website. He's been a joy to work with and we highly recommend his expertise and talents. Contact him for your web needs!

Tim lives in Sultan, Washington with his wife Erin and their daughter, Winter.

He has a Bachelor's Degree in Game Art and Design and has been working in Web Design for over six years.

He can quickly and efficiently create a clean, professional web design that you will be proud to have representing your business, at an affordable price. Let me take care of your web design and management so you can get back to doing the things that matter the most to you.â€

timbarger.com

tim@timbarger.com

206-850-7668

Volunteer Spotlight

SPOTLIGHT ON VOLUNTEER, MARIA WONG

Maria Wong is a reporter and host on Express Yourself!! Teen Radio. She is also our Book Review Coordinator and works on social media postings for Be the Star You Are!®. Maria has recently been accepted to CAL Berkeley.

â€œI am so excited to attend Cal and I am so thankful for all of your encouragement, positive energy, and opportunities you have given me these last two years! I do not know where I would be without the help of Express Yourself! and Be the Star you Are! So, thank you so much for everything!!

INTERESTED IN BECOMING A RADIO REPORTER

Express Yourself Teen Radio is looking for talented and dedicated individuals to join our radio family of reporters. Young adults ages 13-30 are encouraged to apply. Email Cynthia@BetheStarYouAre.org for information.

WHY MOTHER'S DAY?

By Karen Kitchel

Mother's Day is a holiday honoring motherhood that is observed in different forms throughout the world. Celebrations of mothers can be traced back to the ancient Greeks and Romans, who held festivals in honor of the mother goddesses Rhea and Cybele, but the real precedent for Mother's Day is the early Christian festival known as â€œMothering Sunday.â€ Once a major tradition in parts of Europe, this celebration fell on the fourth Sunday in Lent and was originally seen as a time when the faithful would return to their mother church the main church in the vicinity of their home or a special service. Over time the Mothering Sunday tradition shifted into a more secular holiday, and children would present their mothers with flowers and other tokens of appreciation.

The roots of the modern American Mother's Day date back to the 19th century. In the years before the Civil War, Ann Reeves Jarvis of West Virginia helped start Mother's Day Work Clubs to teach local women how to properly care for their children. In 1868, Jarvis organized â€œMothersâ€™ Friendship Day,â€ at which mothers gathered with former Union and Confederate soldiers to promote reconciliation.

The official Motherâ€™s Day holiday arose in the 1900s as a result of the efforts of Anna Jarvis, daughter of Ann Reeves Jarvis. Following her motherâ€™s 1905 death, Anna Jarvis conceived of Motherâ€™s Day as a way of honoring the sacrifices mothers made for their children. After gaining financial backing from a Philadelphia department store owner named John Wanamaker, in May 1908, she organized the first official Motherâ€™s Day celebration at a Methodist church in Grafton, West Virginia. That same day also saw thousands of people attend a Motherâ€™s Day event at one of Wanamakerâ€™s retail stores in Philadelphia.

Following the success of her first Motherâ€™s Day, Jarvisâ€”who remained unmarried and childless her whole lifeâ€”resolved to see her holiday added to the national calendar. Arguing that American holidays were biased toward male achievements, she started a massive letter writing campaign to newspapers and prominent politicians urging the adoption of a special day honoring motherhood. By 1912 many states, towns and churches had adopted Motherâ€™s Day as an annual holiday, and Jarvis had established the Motherâ€™s Day International Association to help promote her cause. Her persistence paid off in 1914 when President Woodrow Wilson signed a measure officially establishing the second Sunday in May as Motherâ€™s Day.

Karen Kitchel is a Community Volunteer who is passionate about helping those who are homeless or disadvantaged. Previously she served as President of Cheerful Givers, a nonprofit organization and Director of BI University at BI Worldwide. She can be reached at karenkitchel@comcast.net

Shop, Give, and Get Connected

If you would like to make a direct donation to our giving fund, please visit our Paypal page!

https://www.paypal.com/us/webapps/mpp/search-cause?charityId=1504&s=3

Ways to Help

1. AmazonSmile donates .5% of purchases http://smile.amazon.com/ch/94-3333882

2. Discounted books at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/shops/be_the_star_you_are_charity

3. Buy or Sell on EBAY:http://givingworks.ebay.com/charity-auctions/charity/be-the-star-you-are-501-c-3/1504/?favorite=link

4. Use GoodSearch to search the web & buy from your favorite stores,. Choose Be the Star You Are as your charity to support. You can log in with Facebook, too! http://www.goodsearch.com/goodto-go/be-the-star-you-are

5. Shop at over 1300 stores on IGIVE: http://www.iGive.com/BTSYA

6. BTSYA Logo Store: http://btsya.rylees.net

7. Giving Assistant: Shop. Earn. Give! Use Giving Assistant to earn cash back at 1800+ popular online stores, then donate a percentage to BTSYA: https://givingassistant.org/np#be-the-star-you-are-inc

If you would like to make a direct donation to our giving fund, please visit our Paypal page! https://www.paypal.com/us/webapps/mpp/search-cause?charityId=1504&s=3

Links you can use for Be the Star You Are!Â®

Positive Results: http://www.bethestaryouare.org/positive-results

About Us: http://www.bethestaryouare.org/about_us

Programs: http://www.bethestaryouare.org/programs

How to Help: http://www.bethestaryouare.org/how-to-help

Blog:http://www.bethestaryouare.org/blog

Events:http://www.bethestaryouare.org/events

Contact us: http://www.bethestaryouare.org/contact

GREAT NON PROFITS REVIEWS: http://greatnonprofits.org/reviews/be-the-star-you-are-inc/

Please join us on Star-Style Radio and Express Yourself! Teen Radio.

Please drop in and give us a listen! www.StarStyleRadio.com

We love connecting with so many great people on the air and it would be fantastic if you could listen in as well! Join us at BTSYA!