Give just $10 to the Hope Center for Children and help serve 100 more families in 2016!

It's all too easy for us to be thankful on Thanksgiving Thursday and then back to our grumbling selves once Black Friday and Cyber Monday are done. Please feel free to extend your time of gracious thankfulness by helping me raise $500 for the Hope Center for Children.

All I need are 50 of my smartest, kindest and most attractive Facebook friends to give just $10 to alleviate the suffering child abuse and neglect create in Spartanburg.

I first became involved with the Hope Center for Children many years ago when it was the Ellen Hines Smith Girls' Home. It was my Junior League placement, and I had no idea how I (nerdy and sheltered) would be able to relate to these adolescent girls who'd experienced so much violence and trauma in their young lives. However, these young ladies taught me more about the resiliency of the human spirit, the power of acceptance, and persistence of hope than anyone I've ever met.

My support of EHSGH continued as it merged with Spartanburg's Children Shelter and became the Hope Center for Children. I'm proud to be affiliated with a nonprofit that doesn't just respond to the results of child abuse but offers programs to actually reduce incidents, working to end the cycle of abuse and neglect. The Hope Center for Children is doing amazing things in our community, and I invite YOU to become a part of growing their success.

So, ask yourself - are you one of my smartest friends? Are you one of my kindest friends? Are you one of my most attractive friends? Or are you a true superstar and encompass all three attributes? It's easy to prove - just donate $10 to Hope Center for Children.

And I know you're out there. I see your posts everyday about all the smart, kind, and attractive activities you've been up to. Don't make me unlike those posts :( I also know that I have way more than 50 brilliant, saintly, beautiful friends, so feel free to exceed my goal.

As we begin this holiday season, please join me in building a better Upstate South Carolina #familybyfamily. We can support families in crisis and make a difference to children facing the risk of abuse or neglect in our community. We all benefit when families are healthy and thriving. Won't YOU support Hope Center for Children's prevention programs?

"It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men." - Frederick Douglass