This past weekend I was lucky enough to attend two very special fundraising events. They both made me realize that caring people are not a silent minority and that change can happen if we want it to.

The first event, the Keith Hamm Foundation's annual fundraiser, was a truly amazing night (I went this past Saturday night).  Here's a little background.

Last year I wrote about Quicken Loans VP Mark Miller being named the Michigan Lymphoma and Leukemia Society's Man of the Year for organizing the Keith Hamm Foundation, dedicated to the discovery of a cure for blood-borne cancers. Mark and his close friends created the Keith Hamm Foundation as a lasting memorial to Keith, who died of cancer last year.

This year's fundraiser was a great success and generated over $20,000 for cancer research.

Tax time can be frustrating, but here at the DIFF, we found a super simple chart that Yahoo! Finance posted from the IRS which breaks down when you'll receive your tax rebate by your social security number! However, we must insist you only check it out after you've finished filing your taxes, so get on it if you haven't already....sure hope everyone is getting a refund!

I already think the Wii is pretty great. I'm an excellent bowler and can totally hold my own at boxing. Not so great at tennis, though.

And get this: According to Yahoo! Games, the U.S. Department of Energy has made it possible to defuse bombs using the Wii remotes! They've replaced the typical joystick with the ultra-sensitive Wii remote and have made great strides in controlling their fancy bomb-defusing robots. "By virtue of its unique motion-detection capabilities, the Wiimote has streamlined the process and allows operators to focus more on the collected data and less on how to steer."

Maybe I'll work on honing my Wii skills tonight....you never know when I might get called in for some major covert operation to save the world.

I moved from Michigan to South Carolina last year. While my family is dealing with the usual adjustment issues, I’m also confronted with lots of stereotypes – Yankees, Southerners, dialects, and who eats what. It’s been an experience with a lot of surprises. I’m really enjoying watching all these nasty assumptions fall apart. Really, it’s for the best that they do.

According to Infoplease.com:

It took 15 years to create the federal Martin Luther King, Jr., holiday. Congressman John Conyers, Democrat from Michigan, first introduced legislation for a commemorative holiday four days after King was assassinated in 1968.

Michigan. Yeah. That makes me proud.

What makes me not-so-proud:

2005: South Carolina becomes the last state to make MLK Day a paid holiday for all state employees. Until now, employees could choose between celebrating it or one of three Confederate-related holidays.

Go to www.freerice.com and do your part to eliminate world hunger while you test your English language skills.

What a cool site!

And talk about viral.  The first day the site began donations, 830 grains of rice were donated.  77,126,310 grains of rice were donated yesterday! 

FreeRice is a sister site of the world poverty site, Poverty.com, and according to its site, has two goals:

1. Provide English vocabulary to everyone for free.
2. Help end world hunger by providing rice to hungry people for free.

So, check it out, test (and hopefully improve) your English language skills, and get some rice in the mouths of those who need it most.  The more words you get right the more grains of rice are donated.  It's that simple. 

In this case simple is very good.

I salute the folks behind freerice.com for not only creating a great site for two great reasons, but also creating something that is actually "viral" – one of the most misunderstood and overused terms in business today! 

Editors note: This is a bit different than most DIFF posts, but it’s a good story about people working together to stop a burglary ring and we wanted to share it with our readers…

by David O'Janpa

Last January, as we began seating thousands of princes and princesses and their parents attending a performance of Disney on Ice: Princess Wishes, Arena Team Leaders met with detectives from the Amherst, Ohio police. 

An Amherst home had been burglarized and two tickets to that performance were among the items taken.  We were given the section, row, and seat numbers of the pilfered ducats.  A plan was put into effect to arrange for the police detectives to interview anyone who showed up with the stolen tickets.  A man, woman and small child arrived with the tickets just as the show began and they were whisked away quickly and quietly to the arena's police room.

Larry Hagman’s career has spanned decades. He’s starred in countless television shows and movies, but he’s probably best known for two roles: The ruthless oil baron, J.R. Ewing from Dallas; and Major Nelson from I Dream of Jeanie.

You probably wouldn’t expect a former television oil baron to be an advocate for the environment, and user of clean, environmentally friendly energy, but Larry Hagman is nearly completely off the electricity grid. His electricity bill was a mere $13 for all of last year—that’s about $1.08 a month to power a 10,000 square foot home.

Hagman is generating so much alternative energy that he decided to run lines from his solar power sources to five low income homes near his ranch, all of which are now completely powered by his solar energy. In addition to his solar efforts, Hagman has recently installed wind turbines, drives a Toyota Prius Hybrid and an electric Dodge Gem.

This year the 75-year-old actor started a campaign, refundsforgood.org, directing people how to claim telephone tax refunds and turn that money over to environmental funds like the Solar Electric Light Fund, which helps developing nations build solar energy infrastructures.

by Eric Whitener

What would you say if I told you that every healthy adult has the ability to change the world?  What would you say if I told that every one of them could save the lives of others without any training or know how?  Would you want to be one of the people that make the world a better place, or would you be standing on the sidelines leaving it up to others?  That is exactly what 95% of eligible blood donors do in the United States each year.

Only 5% of eligible donors donate in a given year, and that is why there is a continuous shortage of blood.  It’s a relatively simple process that takes under an hour, and each pint of blood collected can help up to three different people!  When it’s put in the perspective that one hour of a person’s life can lead to saving the lives of three different people; it’s a mystery that more people are not donors.

By Ryan Charlton

I had the opportunity to attend the retirement party of a friend, Pat Furnner. Pat has been in education for over 20 yrs in the Pontiac School System.  She is also a very satisfied client of Quicken Loans (Phil Hatley- Team Bad Boyz)

During her retirement speech, Pat spoke of her son, Scott.  Scott is a husband and father, expecting his second child. Scott was not able to attend the function. 

Senior Master Sergeant Scott Furnner, a career military man, is serving our country in Iraq.  That's him in the picture.

By Mark Messing

It is very rare that we will get ourselves fired up for a specific concert by our favorite band, and then decide not to go because of where it's held. 

Really, the only contributing factors are location and price. It is an extreme rarity that anyone would hesitate to see their favorite band because of, let’s say, the parking.

And yet, that's exactly what I was contemplating early this summer when I sat on ticketmaster.com wondering whether or not I should join my friends in seeing the Dave Matthews Band in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio.

By Ann-Marie Murphy

I couldn't care less about Michael Vick. And I would never ever advocate the harming of animals. But what does get my blood boiling is when we condemn a man (or a woman for that matter) before a trial of his peers has deemed him guilty. In this country, we're supposed to be innocent until proven guilty.

In case you live on Venus and haven't been paying attention to the news, Michael Vick, the quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons, has been indicted by a federal grand jury on dog fighting charges. However, an indictment is not a conviction. An indictment only means that formal charges have been brought against Vick. The actual trial could be years away.

Yet, the NFL has told Vick that he can't attend the Falcons' training camp until they finish reviewing the charges brought against him. While they haven't yet formally disciplined Vick yet, not allowing a professional athlete to practice with his team is punishment if you ask me.

By Cassie Bixler - winner of the 2007 Summer DIFF Intern Blogger Contest

Traveling…if you ever want to develop your patience level, start traveling a lot and on a time schedule.  From the coordination of the event, travel time, to your arrival, several things can occur that irritate you beyond measure. You try to ensure your plans are good to go, foolproof. Regardless, there always seems to be a set back.

Airport security, road construction, reservation screw-ups, and sometimes it is a combination of all the above. The challenge lies in determining how you face the set backs. I have learned that in a trying situation, whatever it may be, the general secret is just chill out.

By Mark Messing

We are all familiar with the typical war heros provided to us by the media.  When we think of the history of war some of the only images we visualize are of the John Waynes and Tom Hankses of Hollywood portraying “true American” heroes in the most famous “true American” battles. 

And just so I’m not misunderstood, I want to make it clear that I love these kind of movies.  The stories they represent are intriguing, patriotic and entertaining.  However, for every story told to us by 14 different major movies at the same time, there are stories which are told by none.  Though they are full of heroics and patriotism; some stories just slip through the cracks.  With the essence of Memorial Day still at hand, I have decided it’s about time someone mentioned a war story that Hollywood hasn’t yet, a tale of “Diff” sized proportions. 

It's about the Nisei.  Never heard of them?  That's a shame, considering the Nisei were some of the bravest fighters in WWII.

By Mark Swistock

Mark Swistock was a banking intern last semester.  He's now a mortgage banker in our Livonia office.  Congratulations on being hired full-time, Mark!

Ever since I can recall, my dad has been the one to display what we like to call The Diff.

From early in my life, I have understood what it means to earn your money and hard work is only the beginning of it.

My dad has always been what is called a blue collar worker, but I don’t think that title either fits him or gives him any justice what so ever. Work ethic is something I can truly say that I learned and now express thanks to things my dad has taught me. He is always told me, “If you’re early you’re on time, if you’re on time then you’re late.” This holds true to all, and is definitely something I try to fulfill in my own career.

Ever since Clayton Closson joined the Quicken Loans Marketing team; he has gone head-to-head against Doug Peeples in a "Costco vs. Sam's" battle.

Costco is Clayton's favorite place to be. Not his favorite store, but place. He'd rather be at Costco, sampling all the hors d'ouvres, than at the Red Wings game.

After listening to them do battle day after day, I noticed an article in Costco's Connections magazine. (Yes, I choose Costco over Sam's as well.)

This article details how Costco goes above and beyond.

I can't go into Home Depot now without whining that they don't offer baskets throughout the store. You know, the little ones you carry when your arms are full of duct tape, cabinet door hinges and paint brushes. Just as you're about to drop everything, you find the one thing you forgot you needed: Swiffer dust cloths. Now, at Lowe's I could skip to the end of the aisle and drop everything into a basket and be happy.

But, no. I have to get cranky, because I've come to expect Home Depot to understand my plight and pre-empt my need with the solution.

I've become very critical, and I blame Dan Gilbert.

I’ve often heard about "Doctors Without Borders," or more accurately "Médecins Sans Frontières," the actual French name of the humanitarian organization that was founded in 1971. 

In fact, I've seen Doctors Without Borders (DWB to keep things simple) hundreds of times on newscasts about some famine or horrible situation somewhere in the world.   But I don't really know anything about DWB.

What exactly is DWB?  Who are these doctors who often put their lives in danger to help the world's least fortunate?  Why do they do it?  How do they do it? 

Well, I decided to do a little research and this is what I found on the DWB Web site:

“DWB is a private nonprofit association, with an international network in 19 countries that provides services in over 70 countries. The organization’s mandate is to both provide emergency medical assistance and raise awareness for the plight of the people it assists.

By Kathy Fawcett

Have you ever had to dive into a pitch-black lake at midnight to possibly locate a missing child on the murky lake floor? My daughter has. She tells me that the adrenaline rush that her body gets when called out of a deep sleep to do this job is staggering, but that all her training kicks in to autopilot.

That's why my feathers get ruffled when someone makes the comment about how cool it would be to lifeguard in the summer, "just hanging around on the beach, getting a tan."

Editor's note: we are pleased to post our first entry submitted by someone not affiliated with Quicken Loans or one of our partner companies.  Who is next to appear on the DIFF?

By C. Thomas Terry

In the nether months of 2006, I received this picture from my holiday work party. Apart from the fashionable co-workers flanking my mid-party mug, the picture tells an ugly story and was a real wake-up call. Having not seen a recent picture of myself in recent months, I was stunned at how--let's be gracious--horrific I looked (contrary to the optics, I wasn't over-served; I was blinking).  When had I started shaving only a few times a week? How did I not notice? How did I ever think this looked remotely cool? When had my face swelled to look like a Hamtramck paczki?  When did I get this OLD?

Yes, you read that headline correctly.

One of my favorite things to do is to read weird news stories because it sometimes makes me laugh. Here's one that really fascinated me and made my jaw drop this time. It's a story about a Golden Retriever that saved its owners life by performing the Heimlich Maneuver on her after she started choking on a piece of fruit. It just goes to show you don't have to understand what the DIFF is to be the DIFF.

Read the story on MSNBC here: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17819432

By Lea Puckett

Just wanted to give you an update on the "Open Mic for Freestyle Fridays" fund, we donated to from Donor's Choose (4 weeks ago). This project has been fully funded. Below is a letter Mr. Salgado, the teacher requesting the funds, sent to me.

"Dear Lea,

What an awesome thing you've done in helping to fund our Freestyle Friday sound system! The De Diego Community Academy 8th graders (and teachers) thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Your gesture of generosity has immeasurable benefits to their personal esteem and self-expression. We cannot wait to start using it! Thank you kindly. We'll be sure to send out photos of our poets, singers, and artists soon."

I want to thank you all for supporting Grilled Cheese Wednesday.

By Paul J. Pickett

Have you ever been in the middle of moving to a new residence, and then said to yourself, “Wow, I didn’t know I had this much stuff!” I feel like I say that to myself every time I move, and this last move was no exception. My wife and I were on our second day of a two day truck rental with Budget Truck Rental service. After the moving company we had hired to help move our large furniture didn’t show up (no call, no show...definitely an anti-DIFF experience), we realized we weren’t going to return the moving truck in time.

By Kathy Fawcett

Someone once said that good fences make for good neighbors, but I say that fences can make us silos in our own communities.

Chuck is a neighbor of mine that doesn't let fences stop him.

The other night he brought our mail over – 4 Netflix that mistakenly landed in his mailbox. A person of lesser ethics could have kept them, and we'd be none the wiser. Of course, this single dad would have been sorely disappointed in the actual selections. About twice a year Steve lets me look over his shoulder at the Netflix queue. My husband, who considers anyone watching an episode of "24" on DVD without him as a betrayal, said: "Upstairs, Downstairs should be coming in tomorrow. Go ahead and watch them while I'm in Cleveland."

But that's not the point.

By Christy Brewer

I saw this sign at the entrance of a subdivision on my way to work this morning. Everyone makes mistakes. It takes courage to own up to those mistakes. Some people are so afraid to go back and admit it. I know, I know...you have an ego to protect. It’s not too late to make it right. It never is. Being “the DIFF” means admitting you made a mistake, even if there were two mistakes in a row – hitting the car, then choosing to hide from it.

For everyone who has ever made a mistake, it’s our own choice to make it right that makes this world a better place. The sooner we realize that we all have choices, the sooner we begin living the difference every day. And that’s when we realize it’s not always about “me” and my embarrassment over having made a mistake.