GivingTuesday is coming up soon. And regardless of whether there’s any official activity in your community, you can still give of your time, talents or dollars, to those less fortunate. Dig deep. Think about what you have, and how you got to where you are today. I’m sure you’ll discover an organization whose mission is to support a cause that’s important to you.

For me, that’s Project Night Night. 15 years ago I began a journey through the darkest part of my life. My family and I struggled financially – we kept the power on in our home and kept food on the table, but we couldn’t always pay the mortgage or many of the other obligations we had. Somehow, we survived and even managed to keep our home. But for much of that time, I felt like we could have been just days or minutes away from homelessness.

What turned things around for us, was me stumbling into a job that became my entry point into the Salesforce ecosystem. It was really pure luck, and being at the right place and time. And from one person seeing something inside me, and giving me a chance at a new start to my career. (Thanks Pauline!) Shortly after that I was introduced to the Salesforce Community, and that’s when my career really started to blossom. Within a year, I started a local Salesforce Community group, and a year later I launched the very first Midwest Dreamin’, a Salesforce Community-led Conference. In 2012, I hosted the first Newbie “Reunion” Breakfast at Dreamforce – the event that became known as “The Bacon Breakfast.” Then, in 2013, I was named a Salesforce MVP for the first time, and it was at the 2013 Salesforce MVP Summit when I first met Project Night Night.

As soon as I discovered Project Night Night’s mission, it touched me deep in my heart, because I realized that the children they help, could have been my children – we were that close to homelessness. Project Night Night’s mission is to provide free Night Night Packages to homeless children from birth to pre-teen who need our childhood essentials to have a concrete and predictable source of security and increased exposure to high-quality literacy materials during this time of upheaval. Each Night Night Package contains a new security blanket, an age-appropriate children’s book, and a stuffed animal — all nestled inside of a new canvas tote bag. Put simply, the Night Night Packages provided by Project Night Night may be the only thing a child in homelessness had that they can truly call their own. It helps provide a sense of security, no matter where the child lays their head down every night.

They can’t fulfill their mission alone…won’t you please help me support the children of homelessness by supporting Project Night Night, by making a donation today?