Giving Back this Holiday Season

The Holidays are upon us and thus the gift buying begins. While you are deciding what to get people this year pause and think for a minute as to what your gift will bring other than happiness. Are you buying something that is fair trade? Something that gives back? Or something that supports local business? There are some great ways this year to help give back while also getting things for those you love:

• West Elm has mugs for $10 and $5 supports one of I believe seven causes
• Look for the St. Jude’s symbol at stores to help give to St. Judes
• Gap has a gift card that when purchased 2% goes to Care or Communities in Schools
•  Think about purchasing fair trade items; visit Ten Thousand Villages or Whole Foods
• Purchase local; think about going to the little stores around town instead of the big corporations
• Instead of giving gifts, donate to a non-profit
• While the sales continue purchase children’s toys and items and donate them to a local non-profit, hospital, daycare, etc.

The list goes on and on. There are so many ways that you can help make a difference this holiday season, just figure out how you want to do so. Happy Holidays!

Until next week,

Annie

Helpful Websites:

St. Judes: http://www.tg.stjude.org/partners

Gap: http://www.gap.com/customerService/info.do?cid=2116&tid=gpemmain1&EV=GWMET11082012&DI=91419277&CD=GNC_GPR

Ten Thousand Villages: http://www.tenthousandvillages.com/

America Recycles Day

I apologize for my absence but am going to make a great effort to post every week from now through the holidays! Tomorrow is America Recycles Day; cue Annie’s inner nerd. If you are someone that already recycles that is great; keep doing it. If you are someone that does not yet participate in the art of recycling then tomorrow is a great day for you to start doing so. There are so many ways you can help our environment and I am going to post just a few here. You should also check out the America Recycles Day webpage and take the pledge to recycle more. In the meantime here are some recycling tips:

• Make sure to buy materials made from recycled materials (seventh generation is a company that does a great job at this)

• Plastic bags can be recycled and many grocery stores and now even some department stores have containers for them

• Start collecting materials that are not usually recyclable to send into Terracycle

• Recycle every can of soda, water bottle, orange juice, and milk container

• Look at the bottom of your items, a lot of times they can be recycled

• When you are done reading your weekly People Magazine either lend it to someone else to read or recycle it

• Join recyclebank and learn about ways to recycle while earning points

These are just some ideas for you to do more but the most important thing is that you are at least thinking about and making an effort to recycle. A lot of places make it very easy for you by having curbside pick-up but if you don’t, do not let that stop you from recycling. I always enjoyed going to the recycling center in college to drop my stuff off, it makes for a fun adventure. Happy Recycling!

Until next week,

Annie

America Recycles Day: http://americarecyclesday.org/

Terracycle: http://www.terracycle.com/en-US/

Seventh Generation: http://www.seventhgeneration.com/

Recyclebank: https://www.recyclebank.com/join/earnpoints

Toys "R" Us Wish List

This week’s post is only good through tomorrow but I thought I would tell you all about it anyway. Toys-R-Us has teamed up with Make-a-Wish and for every wish list made on Toys-R-Us’s website through tomorrow, they will donate $1 to Make-A-Wish. This is pretty awesome and can be done by anyone! So if you have some freetime in the next day and want to help support Make-A-Wish, head on over to Toys “R” Us’s website and make a list! Happy shopping!

Until next time,

Annie

Toys “R” Us Wish List: http://ht.ly/euO5S

International Day of the Girl

This week we are going to educate ourselves on (or learn more about) child marriage. Today is International Day of the Girl and Care as well as other groups are focusing on the girl and education. According to Care there are “60 million girls around the world forced into marriage before the age of 18”. The other significant thing about that is that means there are 60 million girls without an education that goes through secondary school. A cool and promising fact is that girls who complete secondary school are 6 times less likely to become a child bride. So this week I want you to become informed on the situation. Care’s site is awesome, has a ton of information and facts, and also things for you to do, like spread the word to your friends. They have some great facts that you can post on Facebook or Twitter as well as many other things. You can also check out videos and stories from Half the Sky which aired on PBS last week or visit She’s the First, a not-for-profit that focuses on girls education in the developing world. There is so much you can do so this week so all I’m asking is that you take a few minutes and visit either Care, the website for Half the Sky, or She’s the First and try to learn a few things.

Until next time,

Annie

Care: http://www.care.org/getinvolved/international-day-of-the-girl/index.asp?loc=home_CAR1

Half the Sky: http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/half-the-sky/

She’s the First: http://www.shesthefirst.org/

The Cleanhouse Challenge

Sorry for my very long break from posting but I’m back! This week we are learning ways of green cleaning and while doing so earning rewards! Seventh Generation and Real Simple have teamed up to bring us the Cleanhouse Challenge. The challenge is an interactive game giving you ideas of ways to keep a greener home while exploring a virtual home and getting coupons. Seventh Generation is a great company that has been creating environmentally friendly products and packaging for years. Something that makes the game even better is that when you complete the Cleanhouse Challenge, $10 will be donated to 350.org whose mission is to build a global grassroots movement to solve the climate crisis. So this week not only will you be learning about new ways to keep your house clean and green, but also getting coupons for items and then having a donation made to help our environment solely by your playing. Check it out, you might even have a bit of fun. Happy playing!

Until next week,

Annie

For those that want to play the game that don’t have facebook:

http://cleanhousechallenge.com/

For those that want to play the game via facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/SeventhGeneration/app_156218351098324

World Humanitarian Day

I apologize for my absence but my entry this week (or for last week if I find something for this week) is an important one trying to bring together literally a billion people. The UN celebrates World Humanitarian Day every year and this year they want all of us to get involved. They want everyone to say ‘I Was Here’ on August 19^th and commit to doing something good, somewhere, for someone else. ‘I Was Here’ is inspired by Beyonce’s song (I was at the taping for the music video that will air on the 19^th!) and is aiming at getting everyone involved and showing that those that are abroad doing humanitarian work are awesome and great but that we can all help and make a difference. Right now when you visit the website you can sign-up to have a World Humanitarian Day message posted on your facebook or twitter on the 19^th and then you can check out the ideas they have to help others or come up with one of your own. For example, my sister and I make no-sew fleece blankets and donate them so at the least I will definitely be making one this Sunday. So take a look at the site, sign up, and then take part on Sunday! Happy Humanitarian Day!

Until next week,

Annie

http://www.whd-iwashere.org/