It’s hard to believe that Thanksgiving is almost here. With it, are recipes that have been handed down from one generation to the next, dishes that are reserved for the holidays. As family and friends gather, it’s a great time to begin putting something together for MS awareness or maybe even to help with donations.

I think it was about a year ago I saw in the news where a Scottish MS Society, which had some talented members, had gotten together and had written a number of short stories. They put them together in an electronic book and made it available from the society’s website. They figured that they would get some responses from both Scotland and England; they were surprised when requests came from around the world.

Now I know that most people don’t consider themselves talented writers that could sit down and write a book; and I’m one of them. However there are some other ideas that could be done for little or nothing, that would make a difference in the fight against Multiple Sclerosis. What hobby or job are you an expert? If you’re a fly fisherman and you tie flies, why not write a blog about tying flies. Gardeners, share your knowledge of how you grow those giant tomatoes or pumpkins. For those that knit or sew, how about a blog to teach others.

As I sat down to start writing this post, I had the idea (somewhat taken from my Mom) of creating a family cookbook. A few years ago, Mom came up with a neat idea of creating a family cookbook. It might have been all of us calling for cooking information that gave her the idea; but she had recipes from her family and my dad’s family.  Also there were the recipes my brother and sister-in-law brought into the family.  There was the recipe for Aunt Shirley’s Turkey Mexicali, a great way to use up leftover turkey; I look forward to that as much as I do the main meal. A Thanksgiving and Christmas staple in my family, is Aunt Betty’s Tomato Pudding. Don’t say yuck unless you’ve tried it. But don’t have your cholesterol checked right after eating some either. Then there is my wife’s stuffed zucchini that’s fantastic. Yes, I’ll include a link to these recipes so you can try them.

There are several ways to accomplish your MS Awareness cookbook or guide. You can do like Mom did, by using a word processing software to write the recipes or articles, print them out, and put them in a binder that can be purchased through an office supply store. A better way, for what I’m proposing, would be to put it online using a blog or website. Both Blogger and Wordpress blog platforms are available at no cost. They are easy to use, even for a beginner.

You can put in a link to the National MS Society, their local chapter, or another organization you prefer. If you are someone with MS, you can make it more personal by putting a statement on the site about how Multiple Sclerosis affects your life. If you are putting the cookbook or guide together for someone that has MS, ask them to submit a statement that you can place on the site.

Write the recipe as a post or article. Consider making it easy for someone to use the recipes by saving them on your site as a PDF file. Then place a link on the post or article to the file. You can write the recipes in Microsoft Word, or another word processing software, and either get a program to convert them to PDF or find one online for free. Just use your favorite search engine; I like GoodSearch.com, because I can set it so they make donations to the MS Society.  Search for the term “convert word to pdf”.  By doing this, the recipes can then be easily emailed to others.

Though it is not required, you can make it easier for someone to get to your blog or website by buying a domain and mapping it to your blog. Don’t worry it’s easy to map a domain, and you can get help doing it. I recommend Go Daddy.com to purchase your domain; I feel they have the best price and great support. You can also get a domain at Wordpress.

Once you get your blog or website up, promote it. I’ve lost track of the number of times someone has told me they have a website, and nobody goes to it. They have to know about it, to go to it.

a)      If you are using a blog, which is what I recommend, go to www.PingoMatic.com and enter your blog’s information; it will cost you nothing but it will get your blog out there so it will be seen.

b)      On each recipe put your website’s URL. Such as “Find this and more recipes at example.com,” (dot) net, (dot) info or whatever extension that’s yours. Use a different color text so it stands out. You might also include a statement something like, ”Support Multiple Sclerosis Research, visit www.NationalMSSociety.org”.

c)       Include your domain as part of your email signature.

d)      Include your blog address on the outside of the envelope that you mail bills in, or anything else.

Make your blog make money for MS research by getting a free Adsense account from Google and placing it on your Blogger blog.  Note: Wordpress does not allow pay-per-click advertising at this time.

As you can see, this project can be put together for nothing, except a little time. Even if you want to get creative, you’re only out a few bucks (dollars). Several family members or friends can work on this, too, which makes it easier to get the blog up and makes it a lot more fun. Don’t forget to keep updating it with new recipes that your family has found, and loves to have. And remember, when someone needs a family recipe they can just go online. The best part is, you’ll be helping to create a world free of MS.

To get the recipes and see an example of what can be done click here.