charity — MomStart

Opportunity International Mother’s Day Global Opportunity Quilt

April 24, 2012 By Momstart 26 Comments

The non-profit called Opportunity International needs help in their latest campaign for Mother’s Day. The campaign will utilize Pinterest’s unique look and share-ability to create a global quilt made from individually chosen patches that can be purchased and shared with others.

The 2012 Mother’s Day campaign starts this week and will run through Mother’s Day on May 13^th. As mentioned, the goal of this campaign is to secure involvement and donations through the Global Opportunity Quilt. You can choose from 20 specially- designed patches with different inspiring quotes, photos, and images. After you choose a tribute amount and patch for a special woman in your life, you can share that patch on Pinterest and Facebook. Because of the unique design of Pinterest, Opportunity International’s Pinterest board will continue to build throughout the campaign to ultimately create a massive global quilt in honor of Mother’s Day.

This is sure to be an inspiring campaign that illustrates how social media like Pinterest can be used to share and connect both on personal and global levels!

Additional Information on Opportunity International:

Opportunity International provides savings, small business loans, insurance and training to over four million people–93% of whom are women–working their way out of poverty in the developing world. Clients in more than 20 countries use these financial services to start or expand a business, provide for their families, create jobs for their neighbors and build a safety net for the future. For more information, visit www.opportunity.org or join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Filed Under: charity Tagged With: Global Opportunity Quilt, opportunity international

Olive Garden Supports Take Our Daughters And Sons To Work Day With A Free Meal

April 24, 2012 By Momstart 9 Comments

I love Take your child to work day and many places are big supporters of this initiative. Even where my husband works they support it, it’s just the activities they have for the kids are for older kids. So once Miles and Zoe are a bit older daddy will be taking them to work with him. Another place I just found out that is supporting Take Our Daughters And Sons To Work Day is my husband’s favorite restaurant.

On Thursday, April 26, Olive Garden invites everyone who’s taking a child to work, to enjoy a lunch break or dinner at Olive Garden. So I’m thinking Thursday night Andrew needs to take the kids out to eat. I’ll be on my way to the airport and won’t be able to go out with them. If he chooses to take the kids Olive Garden will give him a free Kid’s Meal (for children 12 and under) for *every adult entrée purchased in-restaurant. So since it’s just him he’ll get one kids meal. If it was both of us then he would get two kids meals. If you plan to go to Olive Garden on the 26th then visit Facebook.com/OliveGarden to download your printable coupon.

Not only is Take Our Daughters And Sons To Work^â Day a great opportunity for families to spend time together, it offers children an opportunity to think about career options and what they want to be when they grow up. Take Our Daughters And Sons To Work Day® is one of several education-related initiatives that Olive Garden proudly supports.

I received a gift card to share this information with you.

Filed Under: charity Tagged With: coupons, free meal, freebie, Olive Garden, savings, Take Our daughters and sons to work foundation

Disney Princess Party/Lunch Fundraiser For Children’s Hospital

March 24, 2012 By Momstart 15 Comments

A friend of mine told me about this great fundraiser and I wanted to spread the word. Her mom is on the board at Mt. Vernon Children’s Hospital Guild.

On May 12th, there is going to be a Princess party/lunch (with people dressed as real live Disney princesses!) in Mt. Vernon. All of the proceeds to go to Children’s Hospital. If you’re not familiar with that area, it’s beautiful up there and about 1 hour and 15 min. drive to get there. Look at the website – it looks SUPER fun and is the day before Mother’s Day, so it won’t get in the way of what you’re doing the day of Mother’s Day. Plus, it’s cheaper than going to Disneyland to meet the princesses!

It is www.enchantingprincessevents.com. The price is $35 for the package for 1 adult and one child and then $15 to add an additional adult.

Meet Cinderella, Beauty, Snow White and Rapunzel and have your picture taken! Treat your little princess to a fabulous princess hairstyle by the ladies at Pure. Dance to the tunes from your favorite Disney movies and mingle with the Princesses. Get your make-up done by the ladies at Cascade Cosmetic Center and of course take a magical carriage ride!

This will be an event that you will never forget!

DATE: Saturday, May 12, 2012

TIME: 10am-2pm Arrive whenever is convenient for you

WHERE: Maplehurst Farm (18495 Dike Rd, Mount Vernon, WA)

~EVENT TICKET INCLUDES~

Petite Brunch, Dessert & Beverage Buffets
5×7 Photo with the Princesses by Sayeh Marie | Photography (1 complimentary photo per adult ticket)
Dancing to your favorite Disney music
Mingling with Cinderella, Beauty, Snow White & Rapunzel
Adult & Child make-up application by Cascade Cosmetic Center
Princess up-dos by Pure Salon & Spa
Crafts, Activities & More!

Filed Under: charity

INDi Custom Jeans Matching Donations/Purchases for Clothes 4 Souls

March 1, 2012 By Momstart 6 Comments

By Summer:

I love to purchase products I know are giving back through donation. Soles4Souls, Inc. just let Mom Start know for a limited time INDi, custom jean with a guaranteed fit, is offering 30% off custom premium jeans through Clothes4Souls. Use code JEANS4SOULS now through March 31, 2012 to personalize your pocket (image below) or designate $10 with your purchase. Your contribution will be doubled by INDi.

Clothes4Souls wanted Mom Start to pass this information on to our readers! I personally love the Presidio Trouser. If you’ve never used INDi there are three simple steps:
1. Pick Your Gender
2. Select Your Style
3. Choose Your Options
4. Customize Your Fit

You can also support Clothes4Souls by simply making a donation on their website, Liking them on Facebook, and following them on Twitter @Clothes4Souls.

Filed Under: charity Tagged With: charity, Clothes 4 Souls, custom fit jeans, INDi

Empowering Children to Give Back

February 10, 2012 By Momstart 10 Comments

I love empowering children to give, if you’ve been a long time reader then you know we’re always giving to charity and helping to encourage our children to give as well. All of my contributors contribute to charity in some way and we see our children already have such big hearts. I’ve heard a few moms and even thought to myself a time or two that we don’t want to let our kids give their brand new toy to charity or we try to encourage them to do something else………How do you handle children’s generosity?

Jen and Barb over at MomLife (JenandBarbMomLife.com) asked me to contribute a guest post on my thoughts on empowering children to give. And how we handle it at our house. Watch this video sponsored by Tyson and let me know how you empower your children

Ready my thoughts over at JenandBarbMomLife.com.

Filed Under: charity, personal Tagged With: charity, empower children to give, Jen and Barb, momlife

If Everyone Gave $1 We Could Help Wigs for Kids Raise $1800 or More

February 8, 2012 By Momstart 12 Comments

A friend of mine from MOMS Club of Woodinville has asked for some help raising money for Wigs for Kids. She spent a few years growing her hair out and has finally grown enough in the length to donate enough hair but the cost to make every wig is extremely high. So in order to make her contribution even better she’s trying to raise the entire amount to make the wig. Here’s her story…….

As some of you may know, I’ve been growing my hair for a couple of years. After my hair got so long, it seemed like such a waste to cut it off a little at a time and just sweep it up and throw it away. So I thought it would be a great idea to cut my long hair all at once and donate it to a cause that would turn it into a wig for someone who had lost their hair due to illness or accident. My friend Rachel suggested a charity called Wigs for Kids, which creates custom cranial prosthesis for children at no cost to the child’s family. I couldn’t think of a better use for my hair than to give it to a child!

According to the Wigs for Kids Website:

When Children lose their hair, whether as a result of medical treatments, health conditions, or burn accidents, they don’t just suffer physically. The change in their appearance can drastically undermine their self-image and sabotage their self-esteem. To combat this additional trauma, Certified Cosmetic TherapistTM Jeffrey Paul founded Wigs for Kids, a nonprofit organization that has been serving children suffering from hair loss since 1981.

Photo of Angie’s hair after it was cut

Wigs for Kids is a cooperative effort among Certified Cosmetic Therapists throughout North America who share a common goal. "Children shouldn’t have to worry about how they look, especially when they’re in the middle of a health crisis," says Jeffrey Paul. "We want to give these kids the opportunity to feel good about themselves again."

The value of each individually designed hair system ranges from $1,500 – $3,000. "These are custom-made hair replacements," says Jeffrey Paul. "Each prosthesis is hand-tied and is made completely from human hair. We make sure they look just like a child’s own hair."
They won’t come off on the baseball field or in the playground," he adds. "Kids can count on them. And because kids look just the way they did before, they feel better about themselves. They look in the mirror and their eyes light up. To see that light in their eyes-that’s priceless."

Each wig costs about $1800 in labor and materials to make, not including the hair Angie is donating. Like I said before she’d like to send as much of that money along with my hair donation as possible and she needs our help to reach that goal. Can you help her reach her fundraising goal of $1800? I have over 20,000 Twitter followers, and 1800 Facebook friends and almost 5000 Facebook fans, we should be able to help her easily. She set up a fundraising page at FirstGiving.com to raise that money and you can send it directly to Wigs For Kids to if you like. Thanks for any donation you can make!

Filed Under: charity Tagged With: Angie, charity, MOMS Club of Woodinville, wigs for kids

Seattle TweetDrive Door Prize Sponsor Microsoft Touch Mouse Review

November 30, 2011 By Momstart 6 Comments

I LOVE my Microsoft Touch Mouse and you can have one too! All you have to do is show up to the Seattle TweetDrive. Bring a toy for admission and you could win this fabulous door prize.

The Microsoft Touch Mouse makes navigating a breeze. It’s so easy to use and I use it with my Windows 7 laptop. Discover how its elegant design quickly handles everyday on-screen actions like scrolling, minimizing/maximizing, and docking with easy-to-learn finger gestures. My favorite feature is making all of the windows on my screen minimize just by flicking my hand down. LOVE IT. It works with swipes, back and fourth and up and down all do different things. Microsoft’s proprietary BlueTrack™ Technology works on more surfaces than both optical and laser mice. It uses high-angle imaging optics to generate an accurate picture of the surface.

Of course there are many more features. It’s easy to install, you just plug it in and it works, the first thing you get to do is run through the tutorial and then you know how to use it. It works! Plug-And-Go Nano Transceiver – Leave the Nano Transceiver plugged in when you’re on the go, or stow it in the mouse System Requirements – Computer/Operating System – Requires Windows 7 Hard Drive – 100 MB Available USB port 2 AA alkaline batteries required (included).

Join Microsoft for The Windows 7 Tech Chat every week. Here are the topic chats and the possible prizes for the rest of the year.

Windows Holiday Celebration with Microsoft Store (Dec. 6^th)

South West Airlines—Win two tickets to fly anywhere (Dec. 13^th)

Holiday Recovery—your new PC questions answered (Dec. 27^th)

Just follow #win7tech on Tuesdays at 12:00 PM Pacific!

As a Microsoft Windows 7 Champion, I asked them to make a donation and they sent me a mouse and one to give to charity.

Filed Under: charity, review Tagged With: Microsoft, Microsoft touch mouse, Touchmouse, tweetdrive

Seattle #TweetDrive Door Prize Epson Artisan 730 Printer from @MomStart

November 30, 2011 By Momstart 4 Comments

I wanted to make a contribution to the door prizes for the Seattle Tweet Drive 2011. So I decided to donate something. The Epson Printer. It’s in the box, an open box, and we even have EXTRA INK.

To win this all you have to do is show up, and you can even buy extra tickets for more chances to win.

Join us tomorrow at The Hard Rock! It’s all for Treehouse. Treehouse serves over 5,000 foster kids annually. All you need to do is bring a new toy for Treehouse or a suggested cash donation of $15.00.

Filed Under: charity Tagged With: epson, tweetdrive