Archive for Giving Back/Charity

Shopping Box Tops for Education with Jingit App #CBias #Social Fabric #JingIt4Edu

Posted by html404 on September 13, 2012
in Giving Back/Charity, School, Shopping, Uncategorized

School is back in session, your children may or may not still be at home depending upon their age, and if you homeschool or not. You can now support your child’s school or the school of your choice even more by shopping Box Tops for Education with Jingit app. If you are fans of General Mills, then you can shop for specific General Mills products today through Saturday and earn Box Tops for education for your child’s school through the Jingit app. Jingit helps you earn cash from brands you love by watching videos, answering a few questions after the video and finding your favorite brands in-store.

Several years ago we actively participated in Box Tops 4 Education for missionaries friends in Mexico. They taught in a school there and were able to participate in this program and earn much needed money for their school. We know it meant a lot to them to receive the box tops. For us, it was a blessing to be a part of helping others. It was pretty easy to save box tops, put them in a bag and send a full envelope of box tops to them regularly. We stopped due to the missionaries leaving the field (Mexico).

Shopping Box Tops 4 Education with Jingit App

My daughter and I went shopping (follow link for my Google+ photo album) Box Tops for Education with Jingit app last night and purchased a few things for Box Tops 4 Education. We chose a school in Chicago, Catherine Cook, knowing that many of those public schools are in need of more support. It always amazes me that government funded schools still need more money to provide a quality education. Regardless, Box Tops 4 Education helps fill in the gap, so we picked up a few necessary things on my daughter’s list and a few extras. So much for sticking to my list! Then we made our way to the cereal aisle.

The Box Top products we purchased were Honey Nut Cheerios, Nature Valley granola bars (ones my husband likes), Fiber One Brownies and Yoplait yogurt. Three of the four items we bought are products we’ve tried in the past, but have not been purchasing regularly due to our journey to better eating and cost factors. We tend to make homemade goodies and purchase packaged items when we are traveling.

Out of curiosity I visited Walmart.com to see if Jingit is mentioned or an option when you shop online and I couldn’t see anything while browsing General Mills products. However, if I click on shop Walmart on Jingit’s app page, it will take me to this Walmart page and allow me to shop using Jingit online.

I think the app is great, but as you will note in my Google+ story of our shopping experience, it has its quirks. Technology is amazing.

Support Your School

To support your child’s school and participate in Box Tops for Education start by signing up at Jingit . Then download the Jingit app here for your Android or iPhone.

You can also follow Jingit on Twitter use the hashtag #JingIt4Edu if you mention this app and Facebook as well.

“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™ and Jingit #CBias #SocialFabric. All opinions are my own.’

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Back to School With Boys and Girls Club of America (BGCA)

Posted by Professor on August 10, 2012
in Community Issues, Education, Family Stuff, Giving Back/Charity, News Worthy

Back to school season is here! I know we are in full swing around our house! The children have gathered and packed their school supplies in anticipation of the first day of school…and today we finally got our teacher assignment!

What are some of the things you do to prepare your children to head back to school?

I know we are a fortunate family in being able to clothe and supply our children for the upcoming school year. But we also remember that there are those less fortunate than ourselves and as a family have always participated in programs that assist unfortunate families during the back to school season.

There are many local, national, and global organizations that you can pick from to help the less fortunate…but Boys and Girls Club of America (BGCA) is a great organization that assists children in need.

This year Boys and Girls Club of America (BGCA) and Disney have partnered to launch the Tools for Back to School initiative. This initiative features a pop-quiz style game, where supplies are donated to BGCA for every correct answer you score.

This is a fun way to give back to the community without leaving your home…plus the kids can play too! Here is the link: http://www.bgca.org/backtoschool/Pages/Landing.aspx

I just played the trivia game and got all the answers correct! Can you beat my score? Reminder that each 5 correct answers = school supplies for a club kid!

The BGCA has also partnered with JCPenney – and in August you can join JCP cares and round up your purchase at the register to benefit BGCA. So…take a trip over to your local JCP, get the kids some back to school clothes and a free hair cut (JCP is giving away free haircuts in the month of August). Visit JCP website for more information: http://www.jcpenney.com/dotcom/jsp/browse/marketing/promotion.jsp?pageId=pg40013300014

Well I hope you are getting yourself and your children ready for the start of a new school season! Whether your children are home schooled or attend a traditional school remember that the BGCA website offers different educational content and tip sheets for parents to download and utilize. You can find them on the left hand side of the BGCA site under the ‘Get Ready’ header. You can find these handy tools here:

http://www.bgca.org/backtoschool/Pages/Landing.aspx

BGCA has really outdone themselves with tips for parents and children. I especially like the time management tip sheet that they have available. Do not forget to check the Get Ready section and see if any of the materials can work for you!

“I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of Boys and Girls Club. I received a promotional item to thank me for taking the time to participate.”

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Over The Moon – The Broadway Lullaby Project

Posted by Brande on July 29, 2012
in Books, DVDs & CDs, Encouragement for Moms, Family Stuff, Gift Ideas, Giving Back/Charity, Kids Stuff, Music, Parenting, Pregnancy and Birth, Reviews, Shopping

My daughter and I went on an inspiring and peaceful musical journey with Over the Moon – The Broadway Lullaby Project and I invite you to join us. This book and CD are not only fantastic for bed and nap time, it is very calming for adults also.

The Book – Over the Moon – The inside cover says it best…

It’s often said that “a picture speaks a thousand words,” that “music is the universal language,” that “all the world’s a stage,” and that lullabies fill the special place where babies and those who love them come together.

I’ve never read such a true statement. This 48 page hardcover book is beautifully illustrated and written by many artists, each donating their time for the Over the Moon Book and CD. The CD is attached to the back of the book.

The CD – Pop this 2 CD set of 13 songs each in your player. Sit down and close your eyes and let the music take you on a voyage. The calming flow of the music will take you and your little one away on a mini vacation. All the artists on the CD have beautiful melodic voices, including Vanessa Williams.

As is said earlier everyone has donated their time for Over The Moon-The Broadway Lullaby Project, which will raise money for breast cancer charities including the Breast Cancer Research Foundation and Yound Survival Coalition.

Visit the Over the Moon Website to purchase your collaboration today! You can also visit them on Facebook and Twitter.

This is such a wonderful book and CD. My daughter and I have listened to the CDs many times and we have gotten a lot of enjoyment out of them. Perfect for a new baby or baby shower gift!

Faith and Family Reviews received the following product in exchange for writing a review. While we consider it a privilege to receive free products to review, our reviews are our honest opinion and thoughts of the product.

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Back to School Supplies #BagItForward #CBias @Elmers @Walmart

Posted by html404 on July 19, 2012
in Education, Giving Back/Charity, Uncategorized

We are only a month into summer but school will soon be starting back up again as back to school sales indicate. Most show their teachers appreciate at the end of the school year. Some may not even show their appreciate at all! For shame! But if you forgot to do it a month or two ago, I am going to share a way you can easily do for this back to school session.

As you know, we homeschool, and just like any other family purchasing school supplies is a little like Christmas around here. New glue sticks, new markers, new crayons, new pens and pencil and erasers you can actually find, are a source of rejoicing in our home. Seriously.

The other night my two older daughters and I went out to Walmart at 11:30pm to shop for quality school supplies at low prices for Elmer’s simple service project, which is a campaign supporting teachers by offering a donation of buy 2 school supply items and Bag It Forward to the teacher of your choice. My daughters were tickled to be out a midnight with mom shopping and we had fun.

To help with our shopping experience, I downloaded Elmer’s 1st Day App, which is also available at the school supply list holder. I simply went to the website clicked download and it was quickly downloaded to my iPhone. It is an app to help parents and children to capture the memories of the first day of school. It is available for a free download here. Using the 1st Day App will actually help drive donations to the Kids in Need Foundation which provides funding to teachers and ultimately kids.

We shopped for notebooks, pens, pencils, erasers, more notebooks, glue, glue sticks and more pens and pencils.

Our donation gift is not wrapped in pretty paper or anything because our teacher is very practical and did not want wrapping paper or a gift bag wasted when the school supplies were just going on shelves.

This is going to be very weird and out of the norm for me in the giving back projects I usually participate in. My daughter was suppose to write this for me but she slept in! But here’s it is…we chose me as the teacher.

I admit my family doesn’t take time to officially show their appreciation at specific times of the year for all I do, other than Mother’s Day and my Birthday. However, there are little ways all throughout the year they thank me – my husband surprises me with big and little gifts when I least expect it or my oldest daughter will say she’s so thankful she’s homeschooled and will share that gratitude with me. There’s never been a time when we’ve taken our children on a field trip or another place that our children haven’t thanked us. So this simple service project was a way for us to get a jump start in purchasing school supplies for our eight children, as we go through a lot of school supplies. We are very grateful for this opportunity and privileged we have the option to homeschool.

My children woke up to the bags of school supplies yesterday and cheered, “Mom got school supplies!” And were soon asking for new markers and crayons to color.

I am still deliberating over who we could share a bag of school supplies with, as it just doesn’t feel right that we gave to us! Maybe I can call an elementary school and see if there’s a family in need of school supplies and give back that way.

Be sure to visit Bag It Forward on Pinterest, Elmer’s Facebook and Twitter. The Pinterest board has some very creative ideas!

“I am a member of the Collective Bias™ Social Fabric® Community. This content has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™ and Elmer’s. #BagItForward #CBias #SocialFabric. All opinions are my own.”

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Post Bowls of Hope SIMPLE Service Project #PostCFK

Posted by html404 on July 6, 2012
in Giving Back/Charity, Uncategorized

Last week we went shopping at Walmart for Post Bowls of Hope SIMPLE Service Project #PostCFK. You can see all the photos of my shopping trip here. We purchased two boxes of Post Original Shredded Wheat for our family and Post Honey Shredded Wheat for our local food pantry. We also reached out to our church, homeschool group, food co-op and family. We only had a couple actually respond Due to time constraints and distance, I did give people the option of just donating to their own local food pantry so they could help people in their own towns. Therefore, there may be more who donated but just didn’t let me know. It’s a little disappointing that more are not open and willing to give to those in need. I understand money being tight etc., but we are talking about a donation of less than $5. How many pay that in their Starbucks coffee or a trip to lunch at a fast food restaurant? Give those up for a day and that equals a box of cereal, know what I mean?

We donate to our food pantry several times throughout the year. I have had a box set aside to donate since our last Champions for Kids event. This project gave me the opportunity to finally take those boxes over. My husband and I went over and discovered it was closed due to it being July 4th. I would have thought they’d still be open as the needy still need to eat on the 4th of July too. They have such unique hours – 9-3 on M, W, F – that without a car during the day, it’s hard for me to get over there unless my husband is off from work. Due to my husband not being a able to get home in time today, we are going to take the food over next week. We have a small box of personal care products and a small box of food items.

In the past when I have asked, the food pantry has stated that they have a need for protein, so I would like to add a few cans of tuna to our box to help with that need since I forgot to pick some up last week. We do have two small jars of peanut butter in our box, but that is not a lot. The food pantry just doesn’t receive a lot of protein.

So has this campaign motivated you to help serve those who may be suffering from hunger? If so, please leave a comment and feel free to connect with Post and Champions for Kids at the following links:

Post’s Facebook
Post’s Twitter Handle
CFK’s Twitter Handle
CFK’s Facebook

“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™ and Champions for Kids #CBias #SocialFabric. All opinions are my own.”

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Kohl’s Cares Campaign – A Review

Posted by Professor on June 24, 2012
in Books, Education, Family Stuff, Fun Stuff, Gift Ideas, Giving Back/Charity, Kids Toys, Organization

Kohl’s is one of my favorite stores… not only because they offer a great variety of fashion but because of their low prices and great deals! But Kohl’s is awesome because they also give back though their Kohl’s Cares campaign.

Kohl’s Cares Campaign features merchandise for children and 100 percent of the net profit benefits children’s health and education initiatives nationwide.

Items available through the Kohl’s cares campaign for the Summer 2012 campaign feature Vibrant Guy Parker-Rees illustrated Books, Coordinating plush toys, and tote bag.

Kohl’s Cares Cause Merchandise for Kids Books include:

Down by the Cool of the Pool – Children will love to sing and dance along as the story comes alive with animal sounds and celebration!

Giraffes Can’t Dance – This adorable story will teach children about the importance of individuality in a tale of a giraffe with two left feet.

Dinosaurumpus! – Read this fun story aloud to children and watch their excitement as they get a glimpse into the life of a dinosaur. Who knew dinosaurs could dance? This book and coordinating plush are available exclusively at Kohls.com only.

NEW ITEM: Down by the Cool of the Pool tote bag – Resourceful and cute, this multi-purpose tote bag is great for the pool, a sleepover or even a trip to the grocery and features a vibrant illustration from Down by the Cool of the Pool – a must have for summer!

All items are ONLY $5.00 each

Kohl’s Cares Cause Merchandise for Grown-Ups

Kohl’s is treating adults to a tasty way to support children’s health and education with two cookbooks that are great for the entire family. Beat the summer heat and treat friends and family to a variety of homemade popsicles featured in POPS! Icy Treats for Everyone by Krystina Castella. Adults can also learn to master the art of outdoor grilling with Good Housekeeping: Grilling cookbook. Each cookbook is available for just $5 – a real value!

In addition to the merchandise program, Kohl’s Cares features the Kohl’s Cares Scholarship Program, which last year recognized more than 2,100 young volunteers with a total of $410,000 in scholarships and prizes; the Associates in Action program, which encourages associate volunteerism and provided more than $10 million in grants last year to youth-focused nonprofit organizations and fundraising gift cards for schools and youth-serving organizations. For more information, visit www.Kohls.com/Cares.

OUR REVIEW:

We were very excited to have the opportunity to review items from the Summer Kohl’s Cares Campaign. We received a plush monkey and two books (Giraffes Can’t Dance and Down by the Cool of the Pool). The monkey plush is so cute…my youngest (3 years old) totes it around everywhere and has deemed it her best friend. The books are also a favorite in our household. The stories are very cute and the illustrations are wonderful. The illustrations make the stories pop to life…my children absolutely love hearing the stories again and again.

I would not hesitate to purchase more from this series…not only because the kids love the books and plush but because all of the profit goes to charity. I actually went to Kohl’s today and stopped by the Kohl’s care campaign Kiosk to grab a tote bag…and to my disappointment the entire Kiosk was empty. So…this must be the hot campaign this summer. I hope my local Kohl’s restocks so that I can get some more goodies real soon! Stop by your local Kohl’s and check out what they have to offer!

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Father’s Day Frosty Weekend & Giveaway!

Posted by html404 on June 14, 2012
in Family Stuff, Fun Stuff, Giveaways, Giving Back/Charity, Holidays

This weekend is Father’s Day! What plans do you have? We do not have anything fancy planned, just a quiet day at home. Simple is our motto these days. However, if you are still clamoring for a gift for dad, perhaps you would like to give a gift that gives back. Wendy’s has something that you and your whole family can do that will also help other families! It has a yummy factor too!

Now through Father’s Day, anyone can help children in foster care find permanent, loving homes. Wendy’s is inviting all of us to help continue it’s Father’s Day Frosty Weekend tradition – for the sixth year in a row! Wendy’s is raising money for Wendy’s Wonderful Kids. This is a program of the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, which focuses on helping children in foster care find their forever homes.

Here’s what you need to know:

Who: Everyone! And dad, too!

What: Help Wendy’s make a big donation to Wendy’s Wonderful Kids, the signature program of the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption that is dedicated to finding permanent adoptive families for children in foster care. They want to beat last year’s $1.4 million donation! Let’s help them get there!

When: Father’s Day Weekend (June 16 – 17)

How: There are three ways to donate:

1. Buy any Frosty product: On Saturday, June 16 and Sunday, June 17, for each Frosty product purchased, participating Wendy’s will donate 50-cents to Wendy’s Wonderful Kids. (includes the original, parfaits, shakes and floats).

2. Use a mobile-friendly website to check in at Wendy’s: Wendy’s will donate 50-cents for every customer that checks in at Wendy’s restaurants during Father’s Day Weekend (June 16 and 17 only) using Wendy’s special mobile-friendly website found at www.wendys.com/treatitforward.

3. Re-tweet: Now through Father’s Day, re-tweet one of @Wendys special Twitter posts with the hashtag #TreatItFwd—and Wendy’s will make a 50-cent donation. You can follow @Wendys on Twitter at https://twitter.com/wendys.

Giveaway!

Prize: 3 winners will each win a $7.00 Wendy’s gift card!

How to Enter: Simply enter the Rafflecopter choices below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Faith and Family Reviews received a $10 Wendy’s gift card for our family’s use and a $7 Wendy’s gift card for the giveaway as a participant in this Wendy’s campaign through TheMotherhood.

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Noodle and Boo Reviews

Posted by html404 on April 13, 2012
in Giving Back/Charity, Organic, Personal Care Products, Pregnancy and Birth, Products for Mom

We all like to look good, feel good and smell good. I love the way my babies and children smell after a bath. Of course it’s because they are clean, but the personal care products we use on them play a part in them smelling good too. I tend to be picky when it comes to what baby bath, shampoo and soap we use on our children due to all the different chemical sensitivities we have experienced over the years. Plus I remember when I was younger having a reaction to different bubble baths and soaps, it’s not fun!

I love it that so many more companies are becoming aware of the ingredients they are putting into their products. Noodle and Boo is one of those companies.

Noodle and Boo – The Company and Ingredients

Noodle and Boo choose ingredients that are derived from natural resources and are certified organic (when available) and safe to use. Yay! I love it!

Their products do not contain parabens, sulfates, dyes, triclosan (new one for me), phthalates, PPG’s (another new one for me), GMO’s (Genetic Modified Organism) or formaldehyde donors. Looking good, eh?

Noodle and Boo products are made and manufactured in the USA. Another bonus! Their products are tested to minimize risk or allergic reactions and dermatologist and pediatrician tested. So the pros are in the know and Noodle and Boo has done their best to insure their products are safe for our wee ones.

Noodle and Boo – Giving Back

Noodle and Boo displays their social responsibility by giving back a significant portion of their profits to organizations like: St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital, Save the Children, Keep a Child Alive and Compassion International.

Noodle and Boo – The Products

We received Noodle and Boo’s Bouncing Baby Bubbles, Extra Gentle Shampoo and French-Milled Baby Soap. They came nicely packaged. But they have a whole line of products and gift items for both mom and baby/child that you can check out at their website! www.NoodleandBoo.com They even offer small samples, “try us to love us” is their slogan.

Noodle and Boo Reviews

I love the three products we received. They have a pleasant, but gentle scent, foam nicely and leave your skin smelling good! The only little thing is I think my daughter had a reaction to the Bouncing Baby Bubbles, but it does state on the back of the bottle a “common sense caution” regarding any irritation that occurs. So my sons get to enjoy all the bubbles!

Overall I highly recommend Noodle and Boo. Two thumbs up from me!

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Deals, Coupons and More….for Charity

Posted by html404 on March 28, 2012
in Coupons, Deals, Giving Back/Charity, SALES, Saving Money

Remember a couple of weeks ago when I wrote about our Champion for Kids SIMPLE service projects (here and here), and I said I was determined to coupon for charity more often? Well, we have been hard at work.

My older daughters are interested in helping so they have offered to help look for coupons, promo coupon codes and Target coupon codes that will allow us to save money on our purchases. So their job is to scour selected websites and blogs for deals, sales, coupons and more for charity. They print off the coupons, cut them out if necessary and file them for me.

The snag we have hit is our printer has not been cooperating. One of my daughters must have worked an hour on gathering information only to discover the printer would not allow her to print the coupons! Very frustrating to say the least. I am not sure if we didn’t have the appropriate coupon printing software installed or what, but at least one of the sites we have used before so I think it was just a printer issue.

Needless to say we kept working with the printer and I *think* we have finally got it to work…. most of the time. Therefore, my daughter will be at it again today to find more coupons in order for us to complete our shopping for charity and dropping off our donation.

Has that ever happened to you when you are working on project, especially a worthwhile one like couponing for charity, need to print something, only to have your printer act up and hinder you from completing your task? Arrrrrgh! is how I feel just thinking about it! But the feelings go away when I think of the cause we are supporting – our local food pantry or women and children’s shelter. A good thing, eh?

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Couponing for Good: A Donation to Turning Point #CBias #AllYouCFK

Posted by html404 on March 16, 2012
in Blog Stuff, Coupons, Family Stuff, Giving Back/Charity

I never thought about couponing for charity until I became involved in the Champion For Kids All You Couponing for Good campaign. Without a doubt it is an awesome idea, one I want our family to implement on regularly basis, which is why I am trying to get myself and my crew organized to hopefully do a monthly donation. Ask me next month to see if I have followed through! Better put it on my calendar to remind myself…..seriously.

Photo above shows most of the things we gave, but chips, tomato sauce and juice boxes are missing.

Shopping & Donating

If you haven’t read my first post about our shopping trip for our donation items, please read it here and see my complete shopping trip here. I was considering giving our goodies to our local food pantry but because I don’t have a car during the day, I decided to give our couponing for good donation to Turning Point instead because their hours were easier to coordinate with my husband’s work schedule.

Women’s Shelter

This week my children have all been sick in one form or another so unfortunately they did not go to the shelter with me. Oh some of them wanted to but I really didn’t want to be the cause of others getting sick with runny noses, stuffiness, wooziness/dizziness and headaches! We’ll just keep those germ bugs to ourselves! Yesterday my husband was home all day because I had a meeting and needed the car, so after that was over my oldest helped me load up the car with what we had already purchased at Walmart, juice boxes and juice/vegetable boxes I picked up at Costco, plus a few extras I took from our own pantry. Then I drove to Turning Point to drop off our goodies. Champions for Kids encourages SIMPLE service projects like this to help children (and women in this case) in our own communities.

I have never been to a women’s and children’s shelter before but was kind of surprised at the surveillance cameras outside, the door buzzer and locked door. I found it sad and scary – not for me, but for the women and children (workers too) who sought refuge there. The building was well taken care of and clean. I am always timid when it comes to asking if someone would mind me taking their picture so I never did ask the ladies working there. Maybe one day I will once I get to know them better. It might be a great blog post to interview them!

After I rang the buzzer and was let inside, the woman who let me in asked if I needed a cart, which I was grateful for and I only dumped one bag off the cart while rolling it in! I had to carry two bags, but the lady took those from me when I reached the door that she so kindly held open for me.

Our donation was appreciated and I was told to keep an eye on their website to stay current with their needs. It felt good to help a local organization assisting women and children in need of shelter from domestic abuse and violence.

Champions for Kids

To learn more about Champions for Kids visit:
Website: http://championsforkids.org/
Twitter Handle: https://twitter.com/#!/champions4kids
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ChampionsForKids

This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own. #CBias #AllYouCFK

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