I wondered what many things January was the month of. There are all kinds of unoffical (and some official) holidays during the year that we don’t recognize on the average calender.
According to National Day Calender, January is the month of:
National Bath Safety Month
National Black Diamond Month
National Blood Donor Month
National Braille Literacy Month
National Hobby Month
National Hot Tea Month
National Mentoring Month
National Oatmeal Month
National Slow Cooking Month
National Soup Month
National Sunday Supper Month
Interesting amount of things that share the same month. Now some of these are just fun things to celebrate, like National Soup Month, or Oatmeal Month. But some of these things are things we should take a closer look at.
National Blood Donor Month
National Blood Donor Month is a way of celebrating people who take the time to donate their blood to the blood banks. Giving Blood is a good way to help out your community in time of trouble. Blood is a perishable item, so banks are often in need of pretty much any blood type. Not only could you be helping someone else, but in the tragic event something happens to you and you need blood, the more people who donate mean more likely a chance that your blood type will be on stock and be able to be given immediately.
For more information see the Red Cross’ page on NBDM
National Braille Literacy Month
Braille is a language of raised dots that allow someone to feel their way through writing. I knew quite a few of my classmates in college were taking a course on reading and writing in braille. Braille is named after Louis Braille, a blind man who developed the system. He was born in January, so there is a good reason for this month to be about Braille.
For more information, see the Carroll Center for the Blind’s page on NBLM
National Mentoring Month
I actually was part of a mentoring program during my senior year at college. It didn’t turn out well for me, mostly because I have social anxiety issues and my mentee wasn’t in need of all that mentoring.
However, I found that I would have enjoyed having someone to help me out when I first got there. Learning how to navigate campus, learning where to go to get information I needed for signing up for classes, or IT help etc.
National Mentoring Month covers more then just helping a freshmen being able to find the food court. Check out the National Mentoring Month webpage for more information about mentoring.
Sokorra Lewis 