I have done some volunteer work and knitting for charity in the past, but not much of it lately.  I'll tell myself that I need to give back and then quickly become distracted by my little monkies or any other number of daily distractions.  Riding the wave of community spirit inspired by our new president, I've decided to take the pledge.  Sadly, I know I may not follow through if I set my sights on going to a soup kitchen or planting trees; I just have too much going on at home at this point in my life.  However, I can knit hats and booties for newborns that aren't as fortunate as my own children, and I can make cards for soldiers serving overseas to send to their family.  These are both things that I can do from home with supplies that I pretty much already have on hand.  I can even enlist my older daughter to help with the cards teaching her a valuable lesson in the process.  So there, I've made it official and now I am accountable to anyone who may happen to read this.  I'm also making the call for anyone else out there to Take the Pledge.  The new Starbuck's campaign is asking for everyone to give 5 hours and I think that's reasonable.  If you stop into your local Starbuck's you'll even get a tall coffee in exchange for taking the pledge.  For additional information about ways you can help, check out these sites:  cardsforheroes.org, knittingforcharity.org, and pledge5.starbucks.com.