Salts N Soap

Just came across this article from 2008 about the Just The Right Attitude Food Bank.  It is one of my favorites so I thought I would share it.  Here is an excerpt from the article that is available in the Nola.com’s archives…

Woman’s bad times help others

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Sheila Stroup

Just the Right Attitude is more than a food bank in eastern New Orleans.

“Debra South gives out everything from hot meals to hugs,” Ray Reggie said. “She has a personal rapport with everyone. She understands what it means to need help.”

Ray Reggie (now Chairman of the Board of JTRA), managing partner with Premier Promotions, serves on the board of Just the Right Attitude along with Troy Duhon, president of Premier Automotive Group.

In 2002, when the men heard about the little food pantry Debra was operating out of her garage, they decided to offer her a space on the second floor of a car dealership. And Just the Right Attitude began to grow.

“We love her cause,” Ray Reggie said. “Everybody wanted to help.”

— Growing out of need —

The idea for the community resource began a decade ago with a trip Debra made to the food stamp office. She was a mother in her 30s fighting ovarian and thyroid cancer, and she’d had to retire from her accounting job. Her first husband had taken off, and she was surviving on disability checks and help from family and friends.

She didn’t make enough money to feed her son and daughter, but she was rudely told she made too much to qualify for food stamps.

“I felt so humiliated,” she said.

She promised God that if she got better she would find a way to help people who were hungry and struggling.

From that promise, and a few shelves of canned goods, grew a United Way agency that doles out hope and 2.5 million pounds of food a year.

When Ray Reggie asked a man what he’d do without Debra’s food bank, he answered, “I would be hungry.”

— Place to get a hand —

In April, Just the Right Attitude, with the help of Ray Reggie, moved into two buildings next to Toyota of New Orleans on the I-10 Service Road. And since then, Debra has been giving out lots of hot meals, boxes of staples and hugs….

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I think it is good to remind myself why the work I do with JTRA is so important and this does. Have a Blessed day.

–Ray Reggie–

Some people may wonder why homemade soap?  Sounds like a lot of work.  But it is also a lot of fun if you are at all interested in cooking, creating or aromatherapy.  The reason that I began using and eventually making homemade soap is the sheer endless variety.  I have soaps for every season and reason.  I have soaps especially made for each person in my house, which is not a very small number I might add.

The number one reason to use homemade soaps is because it is healthier for you and your skin.  Homemade soap is usually made from all natural ingredients and therefore you get to miss out on all the nasty chemicals and preservatives that is in store bought soaps.  In addition to it being healthier, it can save you a great deal of money.  If made well, homemade soap will last longer.  If you make it yourself, you can make a whole batch for pretty close to the cost of a couple of bars of soap at the store.

Making the soap yourself makes it even better as you can make it whatever colors and fragrances that you would like to.  You can make some for dry skin and some for oily skin, some for the dog and some for the baby.  Don’t forget your own custom made hair products, cleaning products and skin care products that you can make yourself with all natural ingredients.  Check back soon as we will be telling you how to do just that!

Image by Onilad via Flickr One of the easiest ways to prevent acne and stall the aging process is to commit to a daily skin care regimine.  It is best to perform this process just before going to bed, giving your face time to rejuvinate while you are resting and not exposing it to all of the drying factors of daily life.

Begin with a gentle make up remover to take off all the make up from the day.  Next cleanse with an all natural cleanser and warm water.  If you can’t find anything all natural locally, you can find them on the internet or you could make your own.

If you tend to have oily skin, you can use a toner or astringent to further cleanse and help cut back on the sebum that you skin excretes.

No matter what your skin type is, it is important to moisturize after cleansing.  I don’t like the things that are added to commercial moisturizers so I use a tiny bit of my favorite essential oil blended with grapeseed or safflower oil.  Use a very small amount at first until you can judge the right amount for you.