Wow! My first blog post for Stories of Strength. I’m delighted to see our beautiful new site– thank you, Richard Cobbett, for the great design and for donating the hosting! Which is a fitting start to what I’d like to say first:

You’d be amazed by how many people have offered to help with this project. It’s humbling and exciting to find letters in my inbox every day from people who believe in this book and this cause and want to be involved. It’s clear to me that people from all over the world know what it means to be part of a global community and to look out for one another.

I know people who donated $10 and people who donated $1 million to relief efforts. I know people who went to the affected areas to distribute medical supplies, and people who opened their homes to evacuees. Yet none of them felt like it was “enough.” We all want to do more and give more.

This is one way we’re giving more. We have high hopes, sure, but what fun is it to have “reasonable” hopes, anyway? Our hope is to raise a whole lot of money to help people rebuild their lives. Our hope is to raise so much of it that the person who opens the envelope with our first check inside will faint. (Um, and recover quickly, of course.)

Thank you to the generous souls who offered to lend their talents to this project. We had publishers offering their cover designers; photographers and painters offering their work; dozens of proofreaders, copy editors, and developmental editors offering to put their own work aside to help us meet an unbelievably tight (self-imposed) deadline; writers offering to distribute press releases and fliers and write reviews and articles about the book… in short, we were inundated with caring and support.

We definitely made the right choice when we decided to publish the book through Lulu, a printing company that could help us get the book out quickly. They not only responded with no-holds-barred enthusiasm, but they jumped right on board with our intentions and offered to donate their profits from the book, as well. We’re in the proofreading stage right now, and Lulu is helping us to format the book and get it ready for distribution by November.

With all of you cheering us on, there’s no way we can fail. We hope to make you proud.

Thank you for helping us make a difference.

-- Jenna Glatzer

I’d like to look into arranging some book signing events in New Jersey, and would like to know what other contributors are from the area and would be willing to participate. I’d like to get this going as soon as possible, as I think this would be a great item for Thanksgiving and Holiday giving. contact me at westwind16@aol.com Noreen Braman — November 3, 2005