Kate is turning 30 on June 17th! Help celebrate her 30th birthday by donating 30 dollars to The Little Engine That Could. Our goal is 30 donors donating 30 dollars. This $900 will allow us to finish our STATE 501c3 paperwork, ($400), keep the website running for another year, ($300) and provide a boxcar to three or four hospitals. Of course we would love to exceed 30 donors too. Donating is easy, just use the button at the top of the site

Kate Zajac was inspired to start The Little Engine That Could at the age of 23 when her childhood friend's last suicide attempt, of many made during the course of their ten-year relationship, was unfortunately successful. Kate's friend spent much of her short life in inpatient pediatric mental health units. She often found these places lacking in appropriately stimulating things to pass the time between therapy sessions. This was particularly irksome to Kate because she had been hospitalized herself for physical issues  due to her Cerebral Palsy in one of the medical centers in question . Kate  knew that the other pediatric units boasted well-stocked and comfortable playrooms with toys for play, art,  and music therapy.. Kate was often angry when she thought of her friend dealing with the agonies of severe depression, and later bipolar disorder, without the oasis of a playroom. When Kate's friend died Kate vowed that she would create the opportunities for recreational therapy for hospitalized mentally ill children that her friend had never had and always yearned for.

For a variety of personal reasons, chief among them being her own grief over her friend's untimely passing, the idea was shelved for four years until Kate came across Clarity Child Guidance Center as a case study in a book about how to write effective fund raising materials that she was reading for her job at another non-profit. Intrigued, Kate contacted the Clarity Child Guidance Center and The Little Engine That Could was reborn. For a list of donations we have made to Clarity Child Guidance Center and other hospitals to date please visit the Testimonials page.

 For more information about where your donation goes, (and no it will not get sucked down a black hole), please read the blog post "Money ,Money, Money....Mon-ey."

Kate has 18 years of experience working for not-for-profits, starting during a 2 year stint as a Washtenaw County United Way poster child from 1992-1994.She has also worked with: Great Commission Air, PAWS

With a Cause, The American Cancer Society, The Association for African

Charities, Plan U.S.A and the Ann Arbor Center for Independent Living.

Thank you to everyone who made our March 6th Big Boy fundraiser a success, we raised $200, allowing us to defray the cost of running the website and send boxcars to New York,Arizona and Massachusetts.

Thomas Edison on serving others
The key to becoming successful is to figure out what others need, then fulfilling that need incredibly well.

“I never perfected an invention that I did not think about in terms of the service it might give others… I find out what the world needs, then I proceed to invent.” – Thomas Edison

If you spend some time thinking about all of the innovations that mankind has seen over its history, almost all of them directly resulted from someone identifying a need or a strong desire and figuring out a way to fulfill it. It’s all about serving others.

Thank you Trent Hamm and Thomas Alva Edison! Here's more wisdom about community service from Trent.

As the founder of a small charity I applaud Trent. If I had just ONE person in the Ann Arbor area make this commitment to me, depending on their skill set, here are some things I would like to see happen: the website and blog would get updated more frequently, we could coordinate one more major fundraiser or I could depend on someone to assemble and deliver all care packages. All of this would help out immeasurably.I may not NEED you for four hours every week, but just knowing you were willing to make a steady commitment would mean a lot.

Words of Wisdom From My Facebook Feed, thanks Molly and Meghan!

blah, blah, blah... insert some junk about how awesome/sad/crazy 2011 was and how 2012 is going to be so much better. Who cares! I'm not pinning my hopes on a regular day because I'll now be writing .../12 instead of .../11. "You must be the change you want to see in the world." -Mahatma Gandhi

This feeling is what I wish for our kids....

I was born to catch dragons in their dens and pick flowers. To tell tales and laugh away the morning. To drift and dream like a lazy stream and walk barefoot across sunshine days. [James Kavanaugh.

Sage words.....

You may be deceived if you trust too much, but you will live in torment if you do not trust enough.” – Frank Crane

I can't wait to start going to Northridge Church when I move! Love this post on my wall, had to share it with you all.

By Andrea Bledsoe, PhDMedically reviewed by Lindsey Marcellin MD, MPHPrintE-mail

Unfortunately, much of what people

they know about bipolar disorder is not accurate. It’s easy to absorb bipolar misconceptions, especially given the extreme behaviors portrayed on TV and in movies. But it’s important to learn the facts.

Bipolar disorder is a highly treatable, but cyclical, genetic illness that can be controlled. “The perception [of bipolar disorder] should be in the same vein as other chronic illnesses," says Suresh Sureddi, MD, an assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas and a director of Lifepath Systems, a community mental health clinic in Plano, Texas. Dr. Sureddi explains that it helps to remember that bipolar disorder is a chronic illness, like congestive heart failure or diabetes, which sometimes results in patients having to be hospitalized and needing ongoing treatment.

Although there is no cure for bipolar, many people with the disorder are able to control their condition. “I can’t tell you how devastating it was to believe my life was over,” says Larry Fricks, vice president of peer services for the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance. Fricks was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 1984 and later profiled in

by Richard M. Cohen. “But you don’t have to have your life taken over by a mental illness," Fricks says. "You’re still a person with hopes and dreams and you can get those. Bipolar disorder has a very high recovery rate if you are proactive about managing your illness.”

A person’s job performance does not have to be affected by bipolar disorder. “A lot of people with bipolar disorder hold high-functioning jobs. They become lawyers, doctors, scientists, engineers,” Sureddi says. By managing bipolar disorder with medications and positive lifestyle habits, such as adhering to regular schedules and sleep habits, they are able to live very stable and productive lives.

“I have bipolar disorder. I am

bipolar. There’s a big difference,” says Kristin Finn, the author of

a mental health advocate, and a member of the speakers bureau of the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance. Finn was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 1979 and is the mother of a 17-year-old who also has bipolar disorder. “Just as my next door neighbor may have cancer but wouldn’t say ‘I am cancer.’ I think it’s important not to define yourself by the condition.”

People with bipolar disorder have moods and feelings just like everyone else, and their moods are not always connected to the illness. Sureddi says family members sometimes think that once a loved one has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, the condition cannot be stabilized, so any misspoken word or perceived misdeed is blamed on the fact that that person has bipolar disorder. Finn agrees, adding that her daughter feels that she’s not allowed to just have a bad day. When she’s upset about something, those around her assume she’s having a bipolar episode. It's important to remember that that's not always the case.

While that range of mood symptoms does exist, not all people living with bipolar disorder experience symptoms that way. Some people have predominantly depressive episodes, with very few, mild symptoms of mania, called hypomania. Sureddi says people can have bipolar disorder symptoms for 10 or 12 years before they are diagnosed, because the symptoms of mania are not prominent and are therefore missed.

When people living with bipolar disorder decide they'll be fine without medications and stop treatment, the mood cycles start again. "Medications are necessary to maintain an active lifestyle,” says Sureddi. “Just as with other chronic illnesses, bipolar disorder requires ongoing treatment, without which symptoms only get worse rather than better.”

The more you know about bipolar disorder, the more you can help stop the spread of these misconceptions. “What you believe about mental illness may be more disabling than the illness itself,” Fricks says. If you would like more information about bipolar disorder, visit the

and the

. You can also find more in the Everyday Health

.

By Madeline Vann:

If you haven’t created a personal favorite relaxation playlist, here's a good reason to do so: Healing music can help you fight stress, find comfort, and manage pain. And if you want an additional release through music therapy, put down your earbuds and pick up a drum! Getting your groove on enhances the effect of healing music.

Start by identifying music that soothes you and helps you feel comfortable. Feeling obligated to include a little classical music? Only do so if it really works for you. Whether you like Mozart, Johnny Cash, or Aerosmith, the music that most helps you relax is a highly personal decision.

“What people say soothes them, soothes them, even if it’s heavy metal,” says music therapist Joanne Loewy, DA, director of the Louis Armstrong Center for Music and Medicine at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City. “The most important aspect is how it is incorporated in your life.”

If you aren’t sure what healing music suits you, Loewy recommends working with one of the 5,000 trained music therapists across the country. A music therapist can evaluate your taste and interests and make some recommendations in one visit.

For example, says Loewy, a shy person might benefit from “lilting” music that can be integrated with breathing rhythms, while a more expressive person might want to include vibrations such as gongs or drumming in their music therapy. As a personal test to see which personality type you more closely fit into, Loewy says you should ask yourself what you do when you stub your toe: Grin and bear it or curse and yell!

Women planning vaginal childbirth are usually encouraged to bring along music that will help them relax during their labor; some women even hire musicians to provide live accompaniment.

“The way that music seems to be helpful is either as a distraction, where the mind creates images, or as an integration to more actively create breaths,” says Loewy, who recommends a mix of fast and slow music to support the breathing changes of labor. “It’s also used as a release of pain during labor.”

Focusing on rhythmic music, inviting a drummer into the delivery room, or even beating out a rhythm with a free hand can interrupt the cycle of pain to provide release, says Loewy.

And don’t underestimate the benefit of control over your labor. Women generally recall the birth experience as positive in proportion to the amount of control they felt over their experience.

Having a supportive spouse is important of course, but the feeling of empowerment women gain from being able to choose music or the position in which they labor makes a significant difference in the birth experience.

You don’t have to be a musician to appreciate playing a musical instrument or drum. The ability of rhythm to ease pain has been noted among patients in cancer wards and nursing homes, and it could even counter painful menstrual cramps or other daily aches.

Simply joining a drum circle — an informal gathering of people for the purpose of creating rhythm — can extend the pain-fighting benefits by:

Here are some other direct connections between music and health:

So go compose that playlist, or fill up your iPod or CD changer with your favorite musical selections: This is an amazingly easy and entertaining way to combat stress and boost your overall sense of well-being.

1 Double Billing

We hope you can find everything you need. The Little Engine That Could will do everything we can to meet your expectations as a potential member of our organization, be that as a donor, volunteer or potential client.Look around our website and if you have any comments, questions, or other feedback please feel free to contact us at this number:

734-355-7249

or this emal

katezajac@thelittleenginethatcould.org