An awesome twist on "Can we have class outside today?"

Remember when you were a kid in school and you'd look out the classroom window and wish you could be "out there" instead of cooped up at your desk?

So you'd plead with your teacher, "Can we please have class outside today?"

For some Lansing-area students, having class outside is a reality.

And this is what $13,781 buys you for an outdoor classroom.

That's what the Capital Region Community Foundation granted to Annie's BIG Nature Lesson, a program that immerses children, teachers and parents in the beauty and wonder of the natural world.

Started in 1999 by Michigan Teacher of the Year Margaret Holtschlag, this program is unrivaled in the experience it gives kids. For one week, a class uses community resources as its classroom — in Lansing, that's at Woldumar Nature Center, a nonprofit environmental education organization situated along the Grand River and boasting more than five miles of trails.

"Kids spend so much time tuning out," Holtschlag said. "To do their homework, they have to tune out the TV in the other room, tune out traffic, tune out other people in the family. Here, we're asking them to tune in."

Random rant on enthusiasm

During a bout of insomnia last night, this fell out of my brain:

Enthusiasm is underrated. People who don’t – or can’t, or refuse to – get excited about things frustrate me. How can you go through life feeling ho-hum and blasé about the world around you all the time?

Abused women find a safe home at EVE's house in Lansing

In a brightly painted room filled with comfortable couches and lots and lots of chairs, you might think you were in someone’s home for a tea party.

Instead, you’re in a meeting room at EVE’s house.

EVE — or End Violent Encounters — provides shelter and supportive services to the victims of domestic violence. Their offices are housed, literally, in a nondescript house on a nondescript street.

That’s the point.

Haven House keeps families together when it matters most

Imagine losing your home. You, your spouse and your children are on the verge of being homeless.

You look around for a shelter where you can find temporary housing and get some help getting back on your feet.

But men aren’t allowed in the shelter. Only women — and only boys younger than 12.

So your family has to split up at a time it matters most to stay together for support.

That’s the case for many families in search of temporary housing, but not if they can find help through Haven House in East Lansing.

LAAN’s food pantry provides unique service

Food pantries across our region provide valuable help to people in need of groceries to feed themselves and their families.

But add to the equation someone in the family dealing with HIV or AIDS and suddenly nutritional needs go beyond the general to the very specific.

Since the late 1980s, the Lansing Area AIDS Network’s Food Pantry Program has been serving clients in a personal and vital way.

At a typical food pantry, clients are given pre-selected grocery items. But at LAAN’s pantry, clients can adjust their grocery list based on their nutritional needs.

Side effects from medications means careful attention to diets. Going in to a regular food pantry, clients often can’t ask for grocery adjustments to help with that attention — whether because of pantry rules or clients’ concern for their own privacy.

“People are encouraged to tell us what they can and can’t tolerate,” said Nancy English, auxiliary services coordinator for LAAN. “We accommodate everyone as best as we can.”

Kids with disabilities thrive on horseback

A classroom aide pushed what looked like a cross between a stroller and a wheelchair into the riding stable. In it sat a tiny, pink-clad girl who looked half asleep, eyes gazing at nothing.

After a few seconds, the little girl realized where she was and sprung to life, jumping out of the chair and running over to Janet Gross, program manager at the Beekman Therapeutic Riding Stables.

“Good morning, Faith! Are you ready to ride?” Gross asked.

Faith bounced up and down enthusiastically as Gross located a riding helmet small enough to fit the girl’s head.

Once she was suited up, volunteers helped Faith get situated on Flash, one of Beekman’s three ponies ridden by the littlest kids. She grabbed hold of the reins and said, “Horse!”

And just like that, Faith was in her element.

Helping kids find their voices through photography

“I wish my mother would write to me saying, ‘I love you, Joslin. I miss you.When you come see me again, I’m going to give you the largest kiss in the world.’ I wish she would write, ‘I miss you’ as many times as you can fit into a letter because we are not a happy family right now.”

Joslin was just 9 years old when she wrote that letter to her incarcerated mother.

On any given day, more than 1.5 million children in the U.S. have a parent serving a sentence in a state or federal prison, according to the Annie E. Casey Foundation.

To help a portion of those kids, Lansing’s NorthWest Initiative runs the Children with Incarcerated Parents or Relatives Program, with help from a grant from the Capital Region Community Foundation.

More than just 'Grandma'

Who couldn't use an extra grandma?

The Foster Grandparent program was developed in the 1960s by Sargent Shriver and was designed to attract low-income seniors to volunteer work. Qualifying "grandparents" are given a small stipend to offset the cost of volunteering -- transportation, food, perhaps a new outfit -- and in return they give their time to local classrooms and students.

But the program means far more than that.

A quick, happy note about self-esteem

I love it when something like this crosses my desk:

I wanted to send you a huge "THANK YOU" for allowing my son the opportunity to attend the YMCA. Brad can walk to the DeWitt Y and goes to "work out" every single day. He has lost 20 lbs and feels so much better about himself.

You have no idea how grateful we are that Brad has this opportunity. His attitude has changed drastically.

Brad was able to take advantate of a 3 mo. membership thanks to you. We appreciate this so much.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Brad was one of the many kids who benefitted from the Capital Region Community Foundation's "Invest in Youth" grant to the local YMCA. I love that Brad is having great success and I love that his mom took the time to thank us for it and share a little of her son's story. Makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside on a bright, sunny day.

Go Brad!

Feeding the belly ... and the spirit

A number of mid-Michigan shelters offer a place for homeless people to sleep at night. That's great. That's necessary. But what do those people do during the day?

Or what about the working poor who need a support system during the day as they move toward what many of us think of as normal life? Where can they go to just "be"?

The Open Door Ministry in downtown Lansing's Central United Methodist Church is a day shelter for the homeless and working poor, but it feels more like a community center. The large dining hall in the church's basement is full of activity from the moment the doors open at 8:30 a.m. each weekday. Coffee, juice, pastries and listening ears are ready and waiting for anyone in need. There's no sign-in sheet. No one's required to show ID or proof of need. Just come in, have a seat, take a nap in one of the recliners or catch up with friends.

Turning $6,400 into $772,702.06

Who wouldn't kill for that ability, right?

Meet Veronica Almaguer, case manager at Cristo Rey Community Center in Lansing, Mich.

Cristo Rey is the only organization in mid-Michigan with one staff member entirely devoted to assisting uninsured, low-income residents with access to free medication. Almaguer is an angel to hundreds of tri-county residents who otherwise would never be able to navigate the intricacies of all of the forms drug companies require to qualify for such assistance.

"If you're not familiar with the system, you're lost," she said. "It can be overwhelming, especially for seniors, especially for those who speak only Spanish."

Veronica evaluates all clients personally and pairs them with the programs they will qualify for.

As a result of the Capital Region Community Foundation's $6,400 grant in 2009 as well as money from other funding sources, the prescription assistance program was able to secure $772,702.06 worth of prescription medication for 1,365 people.

Changing the blogging course

When I began this blog, I had no idea what I wanted to write about, I just knew I wanted to play around with the technology and I figured the blog would create itself.

I tried a couple of approaches, including one I was pretty excited about: The Socially-Conscious Critic. My plan was to write a new kind of movie and television review, focusing on socially relevant -- or harmful -- messages in the media.

When I left my 18-year career in newspapers for a job in the nonprofit world, I assumed I'd have an even greater desire to find an outlet for my pop-culture-fueled interests and writing. Instead, I discovered that was the last thing I wanted to write about. I was very interested in becoming a private consumer of pop culture and media.