Category Archives: Charity

Give Back This Holiday with Wild Republic – Project Night Night

This post contains affiliate links. All opinions are my own.

Alt1_WR_728x90With the holidays approaching, I think it’s nice to think about ways we can give back. We buy so many gifts, and I always love finding presents that are not only great for the recipient, but also help our local or global community. logo-1

Wild Republic, one of  our favorite stuffed animal brands, has partnered with Project Night Night, a charitable organization that provides blankets, books and toys to children in homeless shelters across the United States.

From November 16 – December 16, all purchases of $35 or more on the Wild Republic site will receive:

  1. Free shipping,
  2. A free stuffed animal, and
  3. Wild Republic will also donate a stuffed animal to Project Night Night!

It’s such a simple way to help children in need, just by buying the gifts you’d be purchasing anyway!

Wild Republic isn’t just stuffed animals, they offer so much more for every kid (or kid at heart) on your list! Arts & crafts, building sets, figurines & vehicles, jewelry, posters, and even masks and other fun dress-up items!

Check out a few of the items that Avery put on her list:

Wild Republic ToysIf your kids have any stuffed animals on their list, or if they love love animals in general, definitely check out Wild Republic. They get a gift, you get another stuffed animal FREE, and you help a child in need! It doesn’t get much better than that!

A mother and her two young children. The text reads "Every mother's child deserves to be well-nourished."

Help a Mother Save Her Child’s Life – Edesia Global

A little over a week ago I was blessed to visit and learn about an incredible non-profit, based right here in Rhode Island.

Edesia global nutrition solutions logo

Edesia Global Nutrition Solutions produces Plumpy’Nut and other peanut-based, ready-to-use nutritious foods used to treat and prevent childhood malnutrition in developing countries worldwide.

Since production began in early 2010, Edesia has reached over 2.5 million children in 44 countries, including Chad, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Haiti, Pakistan, and Syria.
A mother and her two young children. The text reads "Every mother's child deserves to be well-nourished."

“Every mother’s child deserves to be well-nourished.”

I plan to write a full, detailed, post about Edesia and the millions of children they help, Worldwide, but I wanted to let you know about their Mother’s Day initiative.

As a mother, I cannot imagine the pain of not being able to feed my child the proper foods she needs to thrive. To watch as she became malnourished. To see her growth slow down, or stop. To watch her waste away, her brain development reduced and cognitive development impaired.

Millions of mothers worldwide experience this scenario every day. And they would do ANYTHING to help their children.

A beautiful mother and her baby Edesia Global. The text reads "Every mother's child needs 40 vitamins and minerals to survive and thrive."

“Every mother’s child needs 40 vitamins and minerals to survive and thrive.”

This Mother’s Day, you can help a mother to save her child’s life! By making a donation to Edesia, you can help a child get the lifesaving therapeutic food supplement they need. These supplements can bring a severely malnourished child back to health in about 7 weeks!

It only takes $55 to save a child from life-threatening starvation!

Even a small donation can have a huge impact on the life of a child.

Share your love by helping a mother save the life of her child.

A mother and child Solving global malnutrition Edesia Global The text reads "The future belongs to a well-nourished child."

“The future belongs to a well-nourished child.”

After you make your gift, you will be given access to a special tribute e-card to download and share! This is a gift that won’t be tucked in a drawer, or discarded, it is a gift that will save a child’s life. Please consider making a donation HERE

To Learn more about Edesia, please visit their WEBSITE and follow on TWITTER   FACEBOOK   and   INSTAGRAM

I promise a full, detailed post about Edesia, and the incredible work they do, very soon!!!

Choose To Be Nice – 25 Simple Ways to Be Nice

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I want Avery to be nice.  I want her to be kind to everyone she meets, respect people, show compassion and have empathy for those around her.  I want her to stand up for kids who are being picked on or bullied. I want her to share, to give, to help, to care. In a world that is often cruel and cold, I want her to be nice.

I’m not perfect. I say mean things, I’m not always as generous as I could be. I don’t always do the right thing. I can be selfish, and I can be nasty. I fully admit that, but, I try. Some situations are harder than others, sometimes it  takes everything I have to be nice.  But, I do try. I just hope that I am teaching Avery to be nice!

This weekend at the Cranberry Harvest Celebration we met Dina Creiger, Founder of Choose To Be Nice.  We’ve all seen stories of bullying in the news, and unfortunately many of us have experienced it personally or have a child who has experienced it. Dina was a victim of bullying as a young child, and for years she had thought about starting a foundation that would inspire young people to spread kindness.  After the Boston Marathon Bombings she knew she needed to move forward. The world needed more kindness and love!

The Choose To Be Nice mission is simple: Inspire, promote and encourage kindness whenever and wherever possible. Their goal is to find a million people who want to make the world a better place and to help spread their message.

Choose To Be Nice partners with schools and local non-profits, like The Tomorrow Fund and Habitat for Humanity to help raise funds for those groups! It’s a wonderful way to spread their message and help give back to the community at the same time! By making the promise and purchasing (and wearing) your Choose To Be Nice shirt you helping to spread the message, and also helping benefit your community!

Avery, Dave and I have made the promise and you can, too!

MAKE THE PROMISE HERE!

“I promise to help spread kindness wherever and whenever possible. And to the very best of my ability, I’ll be nice to those with whom I come into contact on a daily basis.”

Choose to be nice promise

You can buy your own Choose To Be Nice apparel  HERE.  

The Choose To Be Nice promise isn’t about being perfect, it’s about trying your best to be nice.

Do your best!

25 Simple ways that you can Choose To Be Nice:

  1. Send a card or a real handwritten letter to a friend or loved one, just because.
  2. Donate clothes, books or toys to a local shelter or other organization.
  3. Check in on your neighbors. Especially if they are older, or have health issues. You can bring over cookies, or shovel their driveway, mow their lawn, or just stop over to say “Hello!”
  4. Volunteer! See if your local animal shelter, senior center, homeless shelter, etc. is looking for volunteers!
  5. Call someone just to say you’re thinking of them!
  6. Compliment people! Tell them you like their shirt, or that you are proud of an accomplishment.
  7.  If you receive great service at a store or restaurant, make sure to let the manager know! We often tell management when we’re unhappy, but we should let them know about great service as well!
  8. Visit a senior center or nursing home.
  9. Take time to listen to people, like, really listen.
  10. Say “Please” and “Thank You”
  11. Use your talents and skills to help someone in need. Maybe you are great at fixing things, help a neighbor or friend with work they need done.
  12. Give.  Give Blood, give money, give of your time. Just give.
  13. Read to someone. Read to your child, or someone else who can’t read for whatever reason. Children can read to younger siblings, or younger friends.
  14. Stand up for someone who is being picked on or bullied!
  15. THINK before you speak! T – is it True? H – is it Helpful? I – is it Inspiring? N – is it Necessary? K – is it Kind?
  16. Make cards for soldiers overseas, nursing home residents or children in the hospital.
  17. Pay for someone’s coffee, lunch, groceries…
  18. Forgive someone who has hurt you, and ask for forgiveness from those you have hurt.
  19. If you see someone sitting alone at lunch, or on the playground, go over, say Hello, and ask them if they’d like company.
  20. Express gratitude to those who have been kind to you.
  21. Leave small gifts, or notes for people to find.
  22. Try to be understanding of a friend’s situation. Compassion and empathy go a long way.
  23. Be sensitive. Not everyone has the things you have.
  24. Hold a door open for someone.
  25. Smile and say Hello to people you encounter!

What would you add to this list?  What have you done to show kindness to others?

I hope all of our readers here will make the Choose To Be Nice Promise! Together, we can change the world!!

To learn more about Choose To Be Nice, please follow them on TWITTER & FACEBOOK, and check out their WEBSITE

*I was not compensated in any way for this post, I just love the message that Choose To Be Nice is promoting, and wanted to share with all of you!*

Why I Did The Ice Bucket Challenge For ALS

Challenge accepted petefrates.com ice bucket challenge ALS

If you have facebook or twitter I’m sure you’ve seen the Ice Bucket Challenge. #IceBucketChallenge is trending and videos of people dumping icy water on their head have taken over social media.

If you have somehow missed this here is a simple breakdown: A person dumps ice water on themselves, and then they challenge others to do the same. If those people refuse, then they must make a donation to an ALS charity. If they accept the challenge, the original challenger makes a donation. Either way, awareness is raised and a donation is made. (Originally the donation was $100, but I think ANY donation is sufficient–every dollar counts and not everyone has $100 to spare)

The challenge was started, locally, by Pete Frates. A 29 year old from Massachusetts who has been  living with ALS since 2012. Frates is a former Boston College Baseball player who works incredibly hard to raise awareness of Lou Gehrig’s Disease.

If you don’t know anything about ALS, here is some info from ALSA.org: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord. Motor neurons reach from the brain to the spinal cord and from the spinal cord to the muscles throughout the body. The progressive degeneration of the motor neurons in ALS eventually leads to their death. When the motor neurons  die, the ability of the brain to initiate and control muscle movement is lost. With voluntary muscle action progressively affected, patients in the later stages of the disease may become totally paralyzed. (you can learn more HERE)

Symptoms include; muscle weakness in one or more of the following: hands, arms, legs or the muscles of speech, swallowing or breathing. Twitching (fasciculation) and cramping of muscles, especially those in the hands and feet. Impairment of the use of the arms and legs. “Thick speech” and difficulty in projecting the voice, and in more advanced stages, shortness of breath, difficulty in breathing and swallowing.

It is awful.

There is no cure. In fact, other than one drug that can help slow progression, there isn’t even a treatment that halts or reverses ALS.

So why the Ice Bucket Challenge? Well, why not?  We run and walk for cancer, we jump in the frigid ocean for the Special Olympics, we bike for MS. So why not dump water on our heads for ALS?  It’s something ANYONE can do. I can’t run a marathon (well, maybe I COULD, with lots of training and even more tears) but I CAN stand in my backyard with my family and dump a bucket of ice water on my head.

Why did I do it? Well, I’ll tell you one thing for sure, I didn’t do it to be “cool” (bad pun) as so many have been saying of those participating.  I did it because I have friends who have loved ones who are living with ALS and other friends who have lost loved ones to this monster.  I did it because I can. And if my video, and subsequent posts (including this blog post) can raise even a single dollar to fight against this beast, then I am happy to have done it.

Sure, I could just write a check (if I had checks. Do people still use checks?) but, this is fun, and it gets people talking!  I have hundreds of friends on Facebook. and I tagged my friends which in turn shows my video to hundreds of their friends…when they do the challenge there are hundreds more who see it.  Thousands of people see the videos, thousands of people who may then think to make a donation or at least do a little research on what ALS is.

I’ve seen people posting on Facebook about how this challenge is stupid and pointless. That it isn’t raising any kind of awareness or money. They are wrong. According to the ALS Association, this week $168,000 has been raised, online nationally. (This number was released on Aug. 8th and doesn’t include the donations that folks are making to local chapters)  Last year, during this same period of time,  $14,000 was raised.

Is the Ice Bucket Challenge working?  Yeah, I’d say so.

The ALS Association thinks it’s wonderful, as do the people who are living with this disease and their friends and family.   So why do some people have such a problem with a fun little challenge that is raising awareness and clearly, funding, to such a terrible debilitating disease? Why make negative comments about people who are trying to do something positive? Why?

Instead of complaining about your news feed being full of “stupid” videos, close out of Facebook, and go to alsa.org to make a donation. I challenge you!

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To learn more about ALS or to make a donation visit  www.alsa.org
And check out Team FrateTrain on FACEBOOK

#IceBucketCHallenge  #StrikeOutALS

Wear Your Music: Guitar String Bracelets: Review & Giveaway

wear your music wearyourmusic.org  Guitar string bracelets benefitting charity! #jewelry

I love Rock & Roll. I also love cool jewelry. When you combine the two? BAM! Super awesome!!

I recently heard about wear your music.org from fellow Rhody Blogger, Hannah Garrison and I knew, immediately, that I wanted to check it out!

Wear your music.org was founded by Steve Bernstein (Zenbu Media, LLC) and Hannah Garrison (Garrison Design, LLC) The two met through a craigslist ad that Steve posted, and the rest is history (You can read more about that HERE)

The company was built on the four pillars of Music, Sustainability, Fashion & Charity. The company has three main collections:

The Strings Collection features one-size-fits-all guitar and bass string bracelets guitar string rings and keychains. They come in a variety of colors!

The Rock Recycled Collection features guitar string bracelets and earrings made from recycled strings collected from earth-conscious students and budding musicians around the globe.

The Famous Artists Collection is made from strings donated by famous artists like Eric Clapton, Ani Defranco, Bonnie Raitt, Peter Frampton and many more incredibly awesome musicians. Oh!  And 100% of net profits go to the artists’ chosen charity!

Wear Your Music bracelets stackable trendy on trend

I’m IN LOVE with my wear your music.org bracelets! My favorite colors are Totally Teal, Punk Pink and Groovy Green.

I also love the “classic” Simply Silver, Backstage Black and Guitar Gold! They go with everything!

Wear Your Music bracelects come in many colors including traditional black, gold and silver

The bracelets are unisex and even my total “man’s man” of a husband thinks they are cool! He likes the Backstage Black Bass String Bracelet the best, but would totally rock the Simply Silver, too. (He draws the line at Punk Pink…hey, can’t win ’em all!)

Wear Your Music bracelets are unisex

Oh, and remember that whole “one-size fits all” thing?  It’s true!  Even Avery can wear them while composing the next great symphony…or something.

Even kids love Wear Your Music bracelets!

Learn more about wear your music.org by visiting their WEBSITE, FACEBOOK, and TWITTER!

And now for the moment you’ve all been waiting for…the GIVEAWAY!!!

Four..that’s right!  FOUR lucky readers will win their very own bracelet from the Strings Collection!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Creating Smiles with #Colgate4Kids Champions for Kids

One thing I really love about being a blogger is that sometimes I am given the opportunity to help those in need. This month, we were blessed to partner with Colgate for the Champions for Kids SIMPLE Service Project, “Bright Smiles, Bright Futures.”  We headed to our local Walmart and shopped for Colgate oral care products to donate to a charity benefiting children.

#Colgate4Kids Champions for Kids

Walmart made the Colgate products easy to find, with this large Easter display featuring kids Dora, Spongebob and Transformers toothbrushes and toothpaste! As you can see, Avery was completely shocked by the large selection of toothbrushes available.

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She helped me choose toothpaste for the donations.

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And then she put the products through a rigorous Quality Control check (and taste test)

PicMonkey Collage

After giving her seal of approval, we took our items to the check out, and then headed home to sort and organize everything! (As you can see, Avery was VERY helpful)

donations

After making sure we had enough of everything, we headed out to The Ronald McDonald House in Providence!  This charity is close to our hearts, as a family friend has recently had to utilize their services!  (You can find their donation Wish list HERE!)

The Ronald McDonald House of Providence provides programs that directly improve the health and well-being of hospitalized children and their families. Our programs allow families to spend additional time with a sick child, help ease financial burdens, provide a sense of normalcy and keep families together during times of medical crisis.

Avery and I loved meeting the sweet volunteers at RMHP!

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We had so much fun shopping, that we decided to help ANOTHER charity! We headed back out to the store and picked up MORE toothbrushes and toothpaste!!  I contacted House of Hope, a “community development corporation” that provides shelters and other housing as well as social services to the areas homeless, to  to see if they needed oral care items.  They did, and so we packed everything up and took it over to their main offices! (You can find their donation Wish list HERE!)

House of Hope Community Development Corporation strives to prevent and end homelessness by developing and applying innovative models that couple housing with client-centered services.

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Thanks to Katheryn, at House of Hope, for taking this photo!

We really had fun shopping for Colgate products and donating them to local charities.  I hope that Avery learns from being part of these experiences and continues to develop a strong sense of charity!  I feel so blessed that our family is able to help other families in our community, even in small ways.

Please join us in the Champions for Kids SIMPLE Service Project by donating Colgate dental hygiene products to a charity in need. Every child deserves a happy healthy smile, and you can help provide for the hygiene needs of a child in your area!  No donation is too small, every little bit helps! What may seem insignificant to you, may mean the world to someone in need!

 

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Learn more about Champions for Kids and Colgate follow them on Twitter:
@Champions4Kids  @ColgateSmile

And on Facebook:
facebook.com/Colgate        facebook.com/ChampionsforKids

#Colgate4Kids

I am a member of the Collective Bias®  Social Fabric® Community.  This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias®  Colgate and Champions for Kids #cbias #SocialFabric. All opinions are my own.