: two of my favorite charities : and how to be a good human :

hi!


today i wanted to talk about charities.
well, mostly just a little recap of one of my faves.
plus a little snippet of where my money goes every month.

a while back, i wrote this post about the importance of donating.
its still one of my fave posts i have written.
as a small business, i make it a point to donate a percentage of my profits EACH month to a charity that means a lot to me.
this month, i am donating [plus blake and i both match the percentage with our own money] to charity : water.
they provide clean water, wells, drilling equipment and education to folks around the world.
i took this screen shot of their home page ; the numbers are so powerful.
check out their site for more info on how you can help.

in february, i will be donating money to cancer research, in memory of my grandpa. he passed away a year and a half ago from cancer. february is his birthday month and i thought a little extra money might help save someone else's grandpa.

if you run a business, i highly suggest you give a portion of profits to charity.
and if you are a consumer, i beg you to support businesses that donate to charity.
if we all give a little, everybody gains a lot.

one of my monthly goals is to volunteer time with an organization blake and i care about.
we have given time to the salvation army, the biking greenway here in town and the food shelf, ect.

one of my favorite local organizations is feed my staving children. [they are not entirely local. they do mobile-packing events all over the country. but they have a few local kitchens here in the cities.]

its a 2-hour time commitment & you gather with 30-45 folks [people you dont even know!!] and you work together in groups of 4-6.
you work to hand-pack meals that are specifically created for malnourished children.
two people hold small food-pack bags while two other people scoop in dry food.
once its full, it gets weighed, sealed and packed.
another group of folks pack the boxes and they are shipped to over 70 countries around the world ; including haiti, which you know has a special space in my heart.

driving home from a volunteering experience like that, just makes your heart so huge. it fills you with so much inspiration and the feeling that your tiny bit of help is really helping the greater picture.
blake and i dont have a lot of money. we work hard to pay off school loans and save for a house.
we dont really go out to eat & we keep our spending to a minimum.
i feel so lucky to have found a partner that has such a huge heart and doesnt mind spending a tuesday night surrounded by kids in hairnets ;)

do you volunteer? 
why or why not? [i am not judging!]
what are your favorite organizations to support?

have a good day, everybody.

be nice to one another!

: do you have extra coupons lying around?! : lets help some storm victims! :

hi everybody.


so, i know that we all have causes. we all have things that are super important to us.
i try not to push my important stuff on other humans, but this is SO simple and EASY, that i just had to share.

i love a good deal. and there are a few great coupon sites that i go to everyday.
i ran across the post below a few days ago and decided to help out.

[each month, i give a portion of my sales to TWO organizations that are important to me.]
[one of them is ALWAYS world concern - they do amazing things in haiti, and the other is a new organization each month.]
[for may, we picked an organization that is doing relief work in the south for the tornados and flooding]

here is the post i found in its entirety :

SEND COUPONS.  Send coupons to a collection point in the South (see address below).  Coupons will be divided among seasoned couponers who KNOW how to work the deals, play the drugstore game, etc.  These fabulous people will turn your coupons into PRODUCTS which will then be DONATED to victims in numerous affected counties.

Their goal?  500 items donated

COME ON!!!  Let’s help them BLOW PAST that goal!

Here is some info from Hollie – including the basic concept for this coupon drive and what coupons would be the most helpful:

This week alone 11 items were completely free between 3 stores in my area which gave me this idea.   With an active network of couponers set up in different areas (those affected by the tornadoes in the southeast right now where I am have 5 active networks in place), we can make a huge difference with little cash and little effort by a few people.

Example:
11 items free x 6 coupons merchant allows = 66 items free PER shopper.
Multiply that by 10 shoppers in each geographical area and that is 660 items to go to those affected by the tornadoes last week with NO money spent out of pocket (less the cost of newspaper and stamp). Can you see the potential? My hope is to grow this into something that could fill boxes for our soldiers, shoe boxes for angel ministries, homeless shelters, battered women shelters and families affected by job loss.

I am asking all couponers who want to help to gather your coupons for all things hygiene:

Soap
Toothbrush
Toothpaste
Dental Floss
Deodorant
Razors
Tampons
Panty Liners
Lotion
After Shave
Denture Care
Laundry detergent

Every single coupon will add up to make a difference!

Mail your (non expired!) coupons to:
NorthPoint Church
Attn: Hollie
P.O. Box 444
Adairsville, GA 30103

tonight, blake and i went through a huge stack we had and sent about 45 coupons that will go out in the morning.

if you have a few [or get the sunday paper!!!], send them along.

please.

because, lets be honest : 

we are all in this together!

cheers.

: remembering haiti :

so, a year ago today, haiti was rocked with a shattering earthquake.
blake and i went on our first date the day after the quake.
most of our night was filled with talk of haiti; about how i wanted to adopt a baby from haiti, how we both wanted to go ad volunteer this summer, and the politics of the country.

months went by.
we decided that we should be together forever.
raise a bunch of money for haiti.
and make this country a huge part of our lives.

we spent 3 1/2 weeks in haiti this summer.
it definitely changed our lives.
and we still talk about haiti everyday.

here are a few of my favorite pictures from our time there.
[also, please keep haiti in your thoughts. send some good vibes. and if your vibes are worth any money, contact me and i can give you names of a few non-profits that i think are doing incredible work]

over 1.3 million humans are living in tents like these. right now. this second. 365 days after disaster. [too friggin long, if you ask me!]

 we were in this tent city when a torrential downpour rocked this tent. these people live on a hill. and all of this water rushes through the tents. the tents that dont have floors. [think about it]

 this was our job. hauling hundreds of buckets, daily. all full of 25+ pounds of rubble.

 hipstamatic photos :

 our guys. we miss you. all of you. we are always thinking of you.

haiti, heres to a healthy and progressive new year.
[and, if i have my way, we will be seeing you in the next few months...]