March 7 (Day 7) - A Fun Way to Feed Dogs & Cats

What a colorful fun webpage!  Just viewing this page makes you smile.  This charity was started in April 2008 by 12 year old Mimi Ausland of Bend, Oregon and since it's inception has donated over 190 tons of dog and cat kibble to many shelters across the country! 

How it works:

Visit the webpage at www.freekibble.com and there is a trivia question with 4 possible answers.  Click on the answer you feel is correct.  It doesn't matter if you are right or wrong,  every day you click on an answer, sponsors will provide 10 pcs of kibble.  The more people who visit the site and play, the more kibble is donated.   Again, let me remind you... since April of 2008 over 190 tons of kibble have been donated!  The power of multiplying one small act by many people.   While you are there, click on the link to feed cats.

Another fun way to help feed hungry dogs... play Kibble Katch on your iPhone to feed REAL food to REAL shelter dogs, sponsored by Halo, Purely for Pets!  Watch a demo and download the app at http://www.freekibble.com/katch/

Wow -  an amazing site and great work being done, all because a 12 year old girl wanted to "do what she could, where she was, with what she had!"  Way to go Mimi!  You inspire us all!



Source:  www.freekibble.com

March 6 (Day 6) - Help Wanted: Young Artists Needed!

Color A Smile is a great way for budding young artists to get involved in helping others.  This is a great project for younger children or classrooms and there is very little cost to participate.  The only cost is for postage to mail the masterpieces.  Color A Smile  is a non-profit organization spreading smiles with cheerful drawings. 

from the website:

Color A Smile collects crayon drawings from school children. Every month we distribute these drawings to Nursing Homes, Meals on Wheels Programs, and Individuals all across the country. Our goal is to make people smile!

Visit the website http://www.colorasmile.org/  to see how you can participate.  They do ask that all artwork match certain criteria (no get well messages) and you can even download coloring pages to color and send.  It can't get much easier than this!   If you know of anyone who might benefit from receiving artwork, you can submit their name on the website. 

March 5 (Day 5) - Easter Baskets for Homeless Kids

Families now make up 40 percent of the country’s homeless population. Within these families, more than 1.3 million children are homeless at some time each year. On any given day, at least 800,000 Americans, including about 200,000 children, find themselves without a home.

Homelessness is a growing problem in America and a large segment of the homeless population is families with children.  There are many things that you can do to brighten the lives of homeless children - our idea for today is to provide Easter Baskets to children at your local homeless shelter.  This is a great way to involve your children in giving to others.  Easter is a month away so start by contacting your local homeless shelter (you can use the widget below to locate a shelter in your area)  and ask them if you can provide Easter baskets for the children at the shelter. The shelter will tell you how many children they currently are housing, make sure to make a few extra just in case.  This is something my sister and I did with our kids several years ago.  We were able to obtain low cost easter baskets (Dollar stores are great places to find these items) and filled them with candy and small toys.  I believe we created 19 baskets and it made us feel so good when we dropped the baskets off at the shelter.  Small gestures like this can go a long way toward helping children maintain a sense of normalcy and routine in a very difficult situation.

March 4 (Day 4) - Shelter Animals Need Your Help

Because of the economy many shelters have seen the number of surrendered animals increase beyond their capacity. Sadly, because of foreclosures and job losses many family pets have been surrendered as families are unable to afford to care for them.  Many shelters are full and struggling with caring for the increased number of animals.  Most shelters are seeking volunteers to help them in a variety of ways.  Click on the petfinder link www.petfinder.com/shelters.html and you can search for shelters in your area.  Check out the shelter's webpage and see what opportunities are available to assist - most shelters will list the areas in which they need help.  

WAYS TO HELP:

Wish List:  Does the shelter have a wishlist posted?  Can you provide them with some of the items on their wishlist? 

Volunteer:  Many shelters are looking for volunteers to assist in many ways... administrative work, cuddling with kittens, walking dogs, cleaning up.  There are many ways you can help! 

Foster an Animal:  Maybe you are unable to commit to adopting an animal but consider fostering an animal... you can provide a loving home for an animal until it is adopted by it's forever family. 

Adopt a Shelter Animal:  Can you provide a loving forever home to an animal in need?  Please consider adopting a shelter animal.  What's in it for you?  Besides knowing that you will be saving a life, you will enjoy the love and happiness of the animal you saved.

The ways to help and the needs are as varied as the shelters and animals they serve, but the reward is the same!   Lots of purrs and tail wags and the love and adoration of your new forever family member.

March 3 (Day 3) Donate Your Shoes

Soles 4 Souls is "changing the world one pair at a time."   What an awesome charity providing new and gently used shoes to those who need them. Most recently Soles 4 Souls has been making a difference by providing shoes to earthquake victims in Haiti and Chile.  Make sure you check out their website at www.soles4souls.org and take a look around at all they are doing.  If you have 1 or 2 pairs of shoes to donate, click on the participation location link, put in your zip code and stores accepting individual donations in your area will display.  They also can provide you with information on how to host a shoe drive if you would like to help in that way.  You can also use your cell phone to collect funds for Soles4Souls! Through Mobile Giving, you and others can simply text the word SHOES to 20222 and donate through your mobile carrier!

from the website: 

Soles4Souls has a simple concept: we get shoes and give them away. Soles4Souls is a Nashville-based charity that collects shoes from the warehouses of footwear companies and the closets of people like you. The charity distributes these shoes free of charge to people in need, regardless of race, religion, class, or any other criteria. Since 2005, Soles4Souls has given away over 7 million pairs of new and gently worn shoes (currently donating one pair every 9 seconds.) The shoes have been distributed to people in over 125 countries, including Kenya, Thailand, Nepal and the United States.

March 2 (Day 2) - CHRISTMAS JARS

This is a simple project which is great for families wanting to share lessons on giving with their children.  Find or purchase an empty jar (many families make a tradition of decorating the jar together) and every day each family member dumps their change into the jar. As you continue to dump your change in the jar on a daily basis, the fund continues to grow. On Christmas day, you give the jar to a needy person or family anonymously.  Many who have participated in this tradition will tell you the giver receives so much more than the recipient.   

Check out the novel by Jason Wright which has really helped to inspire this tradition for many families.  You can also go to his website http://www.christmasjars.com/main.php to read or share stories of Christmas jar miracles. 

I have started my Christmas jar and I am looking forward to giving it away this Christmas!

March 1 (Day 1) - Click for Breast Cancer

Since this is my first post, I thought I would start out with something simple.  Please visit the Breast Cancer Site at http://www.thebreastcancersite.com/  and make sure you click on the "click here to give" button to help fund mammogram screenings for women in need.  This is paid for by the advertisers who display ads on the page. This is such a simple way to help... Let's make sure we visit this site everyday and click the give button.  You can see a breakdown of where women were helped (by state) on the results page. 

Some facts about breast cancer:

Breast cancer is the most common cancer among American women, after skin cancer. Today, approximately 1 in almost every 8 women (13.4%) will develop breast cancer in her lifetime. Breast cancer is the second-leading cause of cancer death in women after lung cancer -- and is the leading cause of cancer death among women ages 35 to 54. The American Cancer Society estimates that in 2009, approximately 192,370 women will be diagnosed with invasive breast cancer and approximately 40,610 will die. Although these numbers may sound frightening, research reveals that the mortality rate could decrease by 30% if all women age 50 and older who need a mammogram had one.

From the site:

Your clicks count! Last year, visitor clicks funded 2,808 mammograms (down from 2008, which was 3,315). Purchases at The Breast Cancer Site store funded an additional 4,178 mammograms for women in need (down from 4,262 in 2008). Let's get those click numbers back up in 2010! Please click every day and tell others about The Breast Cancer Site! Since The Breast Cancer Site began in 2000, together we have funded free mammograms for more than 18,000 women in need through clicks alone!

Don't forget to come back everyday to see another way to help.