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Season of Giving Day 24: Toy Drives

November 24, 2011 By 4 Comments

By Summer:

Happy Thanksgiving! Today’s giving tip is easy … go out tomorrow during the Black Friday sales and buy an extra toy or two or more. Give the new toy to a collection program to make someone else’s Christmas a little brighter. Here are some of the charities I’ve come across:

Shaq-A-Claus at Toys R Us – This program give to Toys for Tots, so see below, though this program is promoted more with the name and picture of Shaq you’ll see in any information that the Toys For Tots train logo appears.

Toys For Tots – This is a toy drive set up by the Marines. They have multiple drop off locations somewhere close to you. There are no specifications on toys besides having them unwrapped. Wrapping paper, gift bags and tissue paper are happily accepted in addition to gifts for all ages.

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Local Food Banks (check your local food bank or find one near you at Feeding America) – Contact your local food bank about their needs including specific ages of clients. The food bank may also have wish lists for clients.

The Salvation Army’s Angel Tree at JC Penny – An Angel Tree has tags on it with specific toys or items desired by a specific person. Go to an Angel Tree location and shop for a tag of an item you wish to purchase to help a family.

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Tweet Fest 2011 – There are parties nationally in 36 citiies. Search Bing “TweetFest2011 [city name]” to see if there is a TweetFest in your area. Here in Seattle the party will be at the Hard Rock Café in conjunction with MySeattleNightOut.com. You can follow the Seattle TweetFest on Twitter @SEAtweetdrive. Follow national talk @TweetDriveHQ or use #TweetDrive.

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If you know of one, leave a comment and let us all know. I think picking up an extra toy, especially during Black Friday deals, is so easy. Happy shopping!!!

About Summer:

Summer is very active in our Local MOMS Club chapter, she is the mother of two adorable active boys, and is always thinking of ways to help others. She is a friend, a wife, and always busy as all mommies are. She is very active on Facebook, addicted to Geocaching and very interested in organic and green living while cooking up a storm

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Season of Giving Day 9 Looking to the Stars

November 9, 2011 By 3 Comments

BY Summer

Mom Start is exploring a lot of different charities, but what do you chose if any of the ones we’re presenting to you? If you’re not too sure, then look at the stars … don’t grab your telescope or horoscope, grab your US Weekly. Stars love to show off their charities because they could influence others to give to their cause. One of my favorite examples is Leonardo DiCaprio who tweets about the environmental charities he supports. On Twitter @LeoDiCaprio, DiCaprio promotes WWF’s Save Tigers Now campaign. On a recent plane ride in the airline’s magazine was in a TAG Heuer watch advertisement about their partnership with DiCaprio to benefit Natural Resources Defense Council. DiCaprio has been on the NRDC’s Board of Trustees since 2003.

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Here are some other stars and their choice causes and charities:

Kal Penn is into politics and served under President Obama as the associate director in the White House’s Office of Public Liaison and Intergovernmental Affairs. Find a political movement you can stand behind and support it.

Katie Holmes and the show “So You Think You Can Dance?” support the Dizzy Feet Foundation which is associated with supporting the art of dance.

Jane Lynch and the cast of the show “Glee” support the Give A Note foundation. Glee recently gave $1,000,000 in support of helping at-risk music programs nationwide.

LiveStrong, the creators of the original rubber wristbands, stands for fighting against cancer and was started by Lance Armstrong.

“The Biggest Loser” show supports Feeding America, which is a network of food banks nationwide.

Jamie Oliver started and supports The Food Revolution to offer better meals, especially to children through their school’s lunch program.

Who do you follow? What stars do you see doing or giving to charity? Everyone has something they believe in — the environment, education, obesity, autism. What are your causes? Maybe just follow your stars and find your giving niche.

 

About Summer:

Summer is very active in our Local MOMS Club chapter, she is the mother of two adorable active boys, and is always thinking of ways to help others. She is a friend, a wife, and always busy as all mommies are. She is very active on Facebook, addicted to Geocaching and very interested in organic and green living while cooking up a storm.

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Season of Giving Day 6 Host a Diaper Drive

November 6, 2011 By 7 Comments

You might have noticed that yesterday I used the wrong phrase for this series. I called it the Season of sharing, but whatever you call it, Season of Giving, Season of Sharing Spirit of giving, we here at MomStart hope to encourage you to find a way to give this year.

By Summer,

Pampers

Calling all parents! Quick, look in your bag, stroller, child’s closet, bathroom, car – chances are you’ve got some “leftover” diapers from a stage your child is no longer in just lying around. You know the stragglers you can count on one hand. You may know they’re there and just haven’t known what to do with them, or they might be sitting there waiting to be discovers, but I have a solution for you. Check with your local food bank to see if they accept “open package” diaper donations. My local food bank, Maltby Food Bank, happily accept diaper stragglers to help their patrons as diapers are so expensive! There is also a local support for single moms-to-be in my neighborhood called Special Delivery and they will take your open diaper packages too. Mom Start worked with Pampers and Johnson’s earlier this year to help support Special Delivery.

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My local organizations also accepts other diapering and baby supplies such as open packages of wipes, diaper cream, pacifiers, bottles, and cans of formula (including samples received in the mail). Check with your local organization when you’re looking to get rid of these items. Remember, product donations to your local non-profit 501(c) are tax deductible.

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If you want to make a bigger impact, ask your friends to search their homes to find their straggler diapers too. If you’re donating to the food bank add some non-perishable food items. Organizations in need of diapers will also gladly accept cash donations and gift cards to purchases items needed by their cliental.

Feeding America is a group of food banks and Feeding America can help you find a local food bank in your area if you don’t know where one is located. Feeding America can also be found on Facebook and Twitter.

About Summer:

Summer is very active in our Local MOMS Club chapter, she is the mother of two adorable active boys, and is always thinking of ways to help others. She is a friend, a wife, and always busy as all mommies are. She is very active on Facebook, addicted to Geocaching and very interested in organic and green living while cooking up a storm.

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Places to Donate Used Items To

December 11, 2010 By 5 Comments

What great tips we’ve had this week from Summer. Let’s run through all the ways to get rid of your electronics:

Places to Sell Your Electronics Yourself

Recycle Cell Phones through Operation Gratitude

Places that Buy Back your Electronics

Ways to Recycle Your Christmas Lights

Today’s Tip is for more than just electronics. You can give away more than you think you can. I know in my case, I’ve found that if you think outside the box, there is a place that will take your used items. And giving them to someone in need is much better than letting imagethem stack up in your house, or ending up in a landfill or dumpster. So, think of places to give to the less fortunate by giving. Here are a few places that Summer came up with, and thanks to her, I’ve been giving to a few of these already!

Reuse it by giving it!

(AND ask for a tax receipt so you can deduct the value on your 2010 taxes.)

- Contact your local food bank about taking your gently used toys for Christmas or even clothing. They may even have a family in need of housing items or other things you’re getting rid of at the end of the year. Check with your food bank before stopping by with your items. If you don’t know where your local food bank is located you can find an incomplete list through Feeding America.

- Give items to a specific charity with a need. For example, take your gently used blankets and give them to Project Linus, or One Warm Coat will take your gentle used coats.

- Donate to the Goodwill or the Salvation Army.

I’ve been donating to a local charity called Pave because they come and pick up the donations right at my doorstep every other month!

About Summer:

Summer is the President of our Local MOMS Club chapter, she is the mother of two adorable active boys, and is always thinking of ways to help others. She is a friend, a wife, and always busy as all mommies are. She is very active on Facebook, addicted to Geocaching and very interested in organic and green living.

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Hamburger Helper Show Your Helping Hand Feeding America Giveaway

November 23, 2010 By 49 Comments

Did you know how easy it is to support your local food bank. By using coupons and sales, you can get food, supplies, and all kinds of things for free, or next to nothing and then take it to your local food shelter. When I was really big into contacting companies for coupons I found out that many companies, send food to Feeding America, and then Feeding America disperses the food to food banks across the country. I found that to be very interesting. So when MyBlogSpark contacted me about Hamburger Helper’s Show Your Helping Hand campaign to support Feeding America, I realized I wanted to help in any way that I could and by posting this post PrintHamburger Helper will make a $10 donation to the Show Your Helping Hand campaign on Mom Start’s behalf.

According to Feeding America, approximately 5.7 million different people receive emergency food assistance from the organization in any given week.

To raise awareness about the national issue of hunger, Hamburger Helper® is partnering with GRAMMY® Award-winning singer, songwriter and actor Tim McGraw to help Feeding America deliver millions of meals to local food banks through the Show Your Helping HandTM campaign. McGraw will lend his voice to the campaign through a Public Service Announcement which will be distributed nationwide.

Support the campaign by submitting codes from specially marked boxes of Hamburger Helper at www.showyourhelpinghand.com or by logging on to make a donation. Hamburger Helper has already donated more than half a million dollars and will contribute up to an additional $100,000 to Feeding America through this program. Don´t think one code will make a difference? The 17 cents Hamburger Helper donates per code is enough for Feeding America to deliver one meal to a local food bank. And your friends and family can also syhh gift packhave a chance to win an autographed copy of Tim McGraw´s "Southern Voice" CD by visiting www.showyourhelpinghand.com.

Enter to Win:

A prize pack that includes a box of Hamburger Helper skillet meals, a Hamburger Helper foam "Helping Hand" and a copy of Tim McGraw´s "Southern Voice" CD

To Enter:

Leave A comment on this post telling me how you will encourage others to submit codes to Show your Helping Hand.

Extra Entries:

Tweet: Show Your Helping Hand & Win Tim McGraw´s "Southern Voice" CD Prize Pack #MyBlogSpark #giveaway http://bit.ly/hzBzed

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This giveaway ends December 13th, I received a product as compensation from MyBlogSpark on behalf of Hamburger Helper! All rules can be found under giveaway rules.

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Great American Bake Sale Giveaway

May 13, 2010 By 350 Comments

GABSOne thing that MOMS Club of Woodinville is really big on is charity projects. We do a different project almost every month. We are often gathering food for our local food bank, this month we are doing birthday bags. We buy or gather left over birthday party supplies and put them together into birthday bags, birthday bags are sets that can be used by other families to throw a party. They include cake mix, candles, plates, you know, the necessities. We do this to help our community. Here is a photo of my donation!

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I was recently contacted by C&H Sugar to host a bake sale for my community, and although I don’t have time to put together a bake sale, as you can see, I strongly support Feeding America and helping out others. 

For the third year in a row, C&H Sugar is the presenting sponsor for Share our Strength’s® Great American Bake Sale to help fight childhood hunger. Great American Bake Sale raises money to fight childhood hunger across the U.S. by encouraging individuals, families, organizations and schools to hold bake sales and donate the profits to help Share our Strength provide millions of meals and snacks to America’s children.

 

 

Hosting a bake sale or donating to your local food bank is a great way to involve your kids and teaching them the importance of helping out and giving back to those in need. C&H Sugar has a wonderful website with everything you need to host a bake sale, including location ideas, information on how to promote the sale, printable signs, pricing suggestions, and of course, recipes.

Enter to win:

25.00 American Express Gift Card (in hopes you would help your community with it)

To Enter:

Visit Great American Bake Sale page and tell me how you can get involoved.

Extra Entries:

Like the Share our Strength on Facebook

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Tweet:

Feeding America Bake Sale #Giveaway http://bit.ly/dCnuiH 

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The contest will run until May 31st 11:59 pm Pacific. All rules can be found under giveaway rules. 

 

 

C&H provided the information for this post and the prize for the giveaway.

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Grateful Platefuls, Join Marcia Cross Desperate Housewives and Chinet in Feeding America

November 13, 2009 By 1 Comment

 

There are people in our country that are wondering where there next meal will be coming from.
To help address the nation’s hunger problem, the Chinet brand and Feeding America—the nation’s leading domestic hunger-relief charity—are partnering with actress Marcia Cross to launch the Grateful Platefuls program.

You are invited to join this online initiative at facebook.com/mychinet by simply sharing what your’re grateful for. When you do you will be adding to the amount that Chinet will be donating up to 100.000.

“There is so much to be grateful for during the holidays and we need to recognize the opportunities we have to give to others,” said Cross. “I encourage people to visit the Grateful Platefuls page on Facebook and share their gratitude, because it only takes a few clicks of a mouse to make a real difference in the lives of people in need.”

Feel free to add a photo or customize your gratefulness with your choice of plate design

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Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs Movie Bucket #giveaway

September 24, 2009 By 997 Comments

“Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” is currently in movie theatres and ready to be watched. It was created by Burger King and Sony Pictures. As part of the promotion, BK is supporting Feeding America, the film’s charitable partner, by promoting awareness of Feeding America’s childhood hunger initiatives and philanthropic empowerment in kids. Go BK!  We love Feeding America at Mom Start.

9-14-2009 10-30-07 AM BK’s newly revamped kids’ site, www.clubbk.com, offers kids the opportunity to become “Hunger Helpers” and rally behind the charitable organization, via a movie-themed online game where they can earn “Crowns” (the virtual currency for Club BK) and then donate them to show support for the Feeding America cause. They can also access more information about the charity and get tips on how to support local food banks all at ClubBk.com

 

Kids have donated more than 1 million Crowns in charitable shows of support to Feeding America only after seven days. They have just surpassed the community’s goal! How excited but the fun isn’t over. Children are still asked to go on and make contributions.

· To celebrate Club BK’s efforts toward philanthropic empowerment to kids and as a valued partner to both Feeding America and Burger King Corp., Kraft Foods is supporting Hunger Action Month with a $25,000 donation to Feeding America.

And now for the prize:

My children are helping me to show you what you will win with this promotion. BK has a movie promotion bucket to share with one lucky reader.

The bucket contains:

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· $20 BK Crown Card to grab a bite to eat before or after the movie

· $40 movie gift card to see the film

· Full set of Club BK Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs kids toys

· Club BK’s Adventures newsletter

· Original Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs book

 

The full set of toys got my children and I through this afternoon. I wasn’t feeling very well so I opened all the packages and let them play with it. We also looked through the book. Not as many pictures as I was hoping for but my kids like listening to words.

To Enter:

Visit Club BK and tell me what you think of the children’s involvement in charity.

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The contest will run until October 19th 11:59 pm Pacific. The winner will be selected by www.random.org

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Hellmann’s and Billy Ray Cyrus are Feeding America and we can help with our Facebook accounts

August 20, 2009 By 1 Comment

Feeding America

Feeding America is one of my favorite charities because no one should have to go hungry. Today I’m writing to you to tell you about a program that Billy Ray Cyrus and Hellmann’s are teaming up. Mom Select told me about this opportunity.

As moms, we know that no matter what lunch we prepare for our kids, they always seem to want to swap sandwiches with their friends once they get to the cafeteria at school!  Which you can fight with some creativity but that’s another post all in itself. This post is about swapping sandwiches.

Hellmann's

When it comes to the time-honored tradition of swapping sandwiches, kids will do what kids will do. Thank Goodness, Hellmann’s® and Best Foods® Mayonnaise has teamed up with musician and actor Billy Ray Cyrus to encourage people of all ages to celebrate their favorite childhood ritual and join the virtual Sandwich Swap ‘n’ Share program to raise money for Feeding America®, the nation’s leading domestic hunger-relief charity.

How To Help:

For every sandwich created as part of the virtual Sandwich Swap ‘n’ Share program on Facebook.com/hellmanns, Hellmann’s® and Best Foods® will donate 7 lunches[1] to Feeding America®. 

So go to facebook and create a sandwich.

What you can get out of it:

If that isn’t enough to get you to click over right now, you just might win a $250 grocery store gift certificate.

Then get more donations

And for every friend on Facebook® that you share your sandwich with, Hellmann’s Facebook and Best Foods® will donate an additional 7 lunches to the charity.

So just by making a sandwich, and sending to four friends on the first day, 35 lunches will be donated.

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