Basically, Caring.com will donate $10 to the Alzheimer’s Association for every blog or website (up to 1000) that creates a purple ribbon and puts it on their site. You do need to click on the ribbon once in order to activate it (I’m assuming that upon activation, the ribbon is validated and the donation will be made).

Seems like an easy thing to do for a good cause! If you like, please take a moment to create your own ribbon today.

Is it Alzheimer’s?

Get a Web Ribbon

Although we believe wholeheartedly in St. Jude’s cause, it is difficult for us to become more directly involved with them because of our physical location. At some point in my life, I would like to return to the bench to do some more science, and St. Jude’s tops my list of who I would like to work for. In the meantime, we’ve been trying to get involved with more local charities.

But St. Jude’s is super cool. They called us and asked if we would be willing to take part in their mailing campaign, where we sent out donation requests to close friends and family. Any donations are mailed back to us, and then we mail it back to St. Jude. I think that this is a wonderful way for us to encourage others to give without being too pushy. It also gets us more directly involved with their cause.

What about you? Do you have a charity that isn’t local that you are involved with? What do you do?

In case you are wondering, here is some general information about the IRC taken directly from their website:

Founded in 1933, the IRC is a global leader in emergency relief, rehabilitation, protection of human rights, post-conflict development, resettlement services and advocacy for those uprooted or affected by conflict and oppression.

Of every $1 the IRC spends, 90¢ goes to programs and services that directly benefit refugees and war-affected populations.

I put a badge on my sidebar if you feel like signing the pledge directly, or you can follow this link.

Happy Monday everyone!

If you’re a fellow blogger, you can even download a widget (like I did) to put in your sidebar.

I know that our lives our busy, but taking a minute or two to send a thoughtful message helps put things in perspective.  Have a wonderful week!

After a little bit of searching on the internet, I found a site call Any Soldier.  Please visit the site – the general idea is that military members overseas notify the site of their needs.  Quite honestly, I was amazed at the simplicity of some of the requests.  If you have extra razors, hygiene or sanitary items, reading material, or prepackaged food, there is a soldier that would greatly appreciate them.

In addition, many of the troops are requesting toys to hand out to the children.  I think that this is a great opportunity to teach my son about giving to others – we’re going to pick out a couple of his smaller toys (so that the troops can carry them easily) to send over.

Without getting too political about my thoughts on the war, I can easily say that I support our troops and everything that they do for us.  I want to do more then just say that I support them.

What do you do?  What do you plan on doing?

Dolly, bless her soul, has started a program called the Imagination Library.  This program partners with local communities to provide free books (1 per month) for any child under the age of 5 who signs up.  Here is an excerpt from her website:

Here’s how it works:

A community must make the program accessible to all preschool children in their area. The community pays for the books and mailing, promotes the program, registers the children, and enters the information into the database.

From there The Dollywood Foundation takes over and manages the system to deliver the books to the home.

The books are already selected based on the age of the child – each kid receives 1 free book per month until the age of 5.  To see if your community participates, you can check out the affiliates link here.

We filled out the form on our brochure (our community does not allow online registration), and received a confirmation letter.  We are still waiting for our first book, but I wanted to share this information now so that others can sign up.  Happy reading!

Angel Food Ministries is a non-profit, non-denominational organization dedicated to providing grocery relief and financial support to communities throughout the United States.

There are no qualifications, minimums, income restrictions, or applications.

Everyone is encouraged to participate. Some churches even encourage participants to apply the money they saved to help someone else in need.

Angel Food is available in a quantity that can fit into a medium-sized box at $30 per unit. Each month’s menu is different than the previous month and consists of both fresh and frozen items with an average retail value of approximately $60. Comparison shopping has been done across the country in various communities using a wide range of retail grocery stores and has resulted in the same food items costing from between $42 and $78.

Generally, one unit of food assists in feeding a family of four for about one week or a single senior citizen for almost a month. The food is all the same high quality one could purchase at a grocery store. There are no second-hand items, no damaged or out-dated goods, no dented cans without labels, no day-old breads and no produce that is almost too ripe.

Also offered are specialty boxes such as steaks, chicken and pork. Many participants in this bonus program appreciate the expanded choices. Additionally, there is no limit to the number of units or bonus foods an individual can receive, and there are no applications to complete or qualifications to which participants must adhere. Angel Food Ministries also participates in the U.S. Food Stamp program, using the Off-Line Food Stamp Voucher system.

I checked out a sample menu on their site, and there is quite a nice spread! Although there is not a location near us, I know of a lot of people I am going to tell about this program (if it weren’t 2am, I would be on the phone with my gramama right now!).

If you have any experience with this program, I would love to know what you think!

I mentioned that I picked up a bin for our bathroom this weekend. Our bathroom is not that large, and we only have one of them (gasp!). Since I’ve been getting some good deals at CVS, I have been running out of room to put things like toilet paper and shampoo – hence the bin. While transferring items to the bin, I was forced to come to terms with all those useless gifts I’ve been hesitating to throw out.

A useless gift? Could there be such a thing? In this case, I’m talking about lotions and other crap like body sprays that I never use but are always in some gift that I receive. I have a bottle of Suave cocoa butter (I think that it was in the $2-$3 range) that I use in the winter, and that’s all I need. I hate to throw out these things – some of them are from Bath and Body Works, and I keep thinking that there has to be someone who would take them. I do like to use Freecycle, but for these items I rather have them in a location where people can try them before deciding if they want them or not.

I was talking to my mom this weekend, and she suggested bringing them home with me and putting them out at my grandma’s senior citizen complex for free. She did this herself last year, and said that everything was gone within an hour. I would have never thought of this, but I really like the idea. A lot of the people there are on limited incomes, and would greatly appreciate (and use!) these items.

Do you have any other ideas for giving away these items? My mom did check with my grandma’s complex manager, and she thought it was a wonderful idea. I can’t wait to clear up the additional space in our bathroom, and am happy to see these items go somewhere other than the landfill!

In the meantime, I would like to bring attention to others who have started worthy causes. I recently stumbled across a lady who is doing some amazing work for others. Sue Thompson started Head Huggers, which knits and sews caps for people who have lost their hair from chemotherapy, brain surgery, or other medical procedures. There are patterns provided on the site to get started, as well as some useful suggestions about what materials are best suited for different types of caps. The hats, once submitted, are delivered directly to nurses who are involved with the patients who have lost their hair. You can even get involved by forming your own local Head Huggers group, and information about local groups is posted on the main website.

This is a wonderful way to get directly involved in helping others when your free time permits, and provides a great incentive to try to learn something new. I have always wanted to learn how to knit, but I never really got started. My local craft store always has a weekly coupon for 40%-50% off a single item. Perhaps it is time to set a couple dollars aside and pick up some knitting needles and yarn!