This post is sponsored by Comcast and our opinions are our own.

Last week I attended an event with Comcast and Olympic Gold medal winners Jocelyne and Monique Lamoureux. These two women are inspiring others to be strong and make a difference wherever they go. They have so many important passions like equal pay, fitness in children, and social responsibility.

Jocelyne and Monique have been fighting for gender equality and equal pay for hockey players. They are quite passionate about how this transcends to all employment opportunities. As they continue to work towards this equality they told us that they had to do a lot of research. They had to learn about the wages men were getting and it was a challenge to push forward but they did. They also fought hard for maternity leave saying, “you shouldn’t have to choose between being a mom and your career in hockey”. This carries over into so many different career paths in our country. They recently joined the “Know Your Value” platform, an NBC News digital media platform that supports women to advocate for their value that was founded by Mika Brzezinski, co-host of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”

What were they doing in Seattle?

Jocelyne and Monique are using their platform to help bridge the gap for children in lower-income areas. With the help of Comcast they are giving away computers to students across the country in an initiative to raise awareness to Comcasts Internet Essentials. They gave away 150 computers to 5th and 6th grade students in Seattle just last week. Students were so excited they were in tears from receiving this amazing gift.

For 7 years now Comcast has been offering a subsidized internet plan for low income families. For only 9.99 a month families can get a Terabyte of date allowing students to be able to do the homework they need to do to be successful in life.

Imagine this:

(this is a story we were told during the round table Comcast event)

A young child has to go to the library to get her homework done. She has to put her name on a list because the computer has to be shared. While she is waiting for her turn she works on her other homework. Once it’s her turn she has 30 minutes to use the computer. If she doesn’t finish she has to put her name on the list and wait again. She does this until the library closes at 9 PM and then walks home. Comcast asked her how often she did this and she said every day Monday – Friday. They gave this student a computer and 1 year free of Internet Essentials. When she told her mother what was happening her mother was so appreciative. What may seem so small to some of us is going to make a huge difference in this young girl’s life. She will be able to get her homework done at home.

How do you qualify for Internet Essentials?

There are quite a few ways to qualify for Internet Essentials. For families, if your student goes to a school where 40% of the students are on the free lunch program, all families are elibilble for Internet Essentials. The program is also open to low-income veterans. Comcast is reaching out to people in low-income areas through different charitable groups. They are working with HUD through public housing initiatives. They are also working through the VA, the Elizabeth Dole program and Psych Armor Institute.

Comcast Corporate Responsibility

As part of its effort to promote equal opportunities for all in its own workforce, Comcast publishes an annual diversity and inclusion report, sharing information about workforce, governance, procurement, programming, and community impact.  According to this year’s Corporate Social Responsibility and Diversity and Inclusion reports, Comcast:

• Provided approximately $470 million in cash and in-kind contributions to nearly 5,000 nonprofit organizations
• At year end 2017, women or people of color made up 61% of the company’s overall workforce
• Hired over 15,000 military community members since 2010
• Helped more than 4 million individuals access low-cost internet service at home through Internet Essentials, the nation’s largest and most comprehensive high-speed Internet adoption program
• During the company’s 17^th annual Comcast Cares Day, more than 115,000 Comcast NBCUniversal employees and their families, friends and community partners spent nearly 700,000 hours volunteering at over 1,200 projects in 23 countries around the world

Sonic sent us a gift card for sharing this idea.

It’s getting close to the end of the school year and you might want to get your teacher a gift to show them appreciation. Teacher Appreciation week might have been a few weeks ago, but there is always a reason to appreciate the teachers and Sonic has been doing that all month with their Limeades for learning partnership.

“SONIC^® Drive-In (NASDAQ: SONC), a longtime supporter of public school teachers through its philanthropic initiative Limeades for Learning^®, today launches the third-annual #ThanksTeach social media campaign to recognize, celebrate and reward teachers throughout May in honor of Teacher Appreciation Month. All month, SONIC is sharing inspiring stories of real teachers making a difference in the classroom, and encourages others to join in and say thank you to important teachers in their lives by sharing the hashtag #ThanksTeach. To top it all off, SONIC is donating $1 million to public school teachers in SONIC markets from coast to coast. “

You can get in on the fun using the Smile to Say #ThanksTeach Facebook camera filter and sharing your photo with the hashtag #ThanksTeach.

Throughout the month of May, SONIC will celebrate these unsung heroes across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube by sharing the stories of real public school teachers using the hashtag #ThanksTeach and encouraging others to do the same. SONIC also invites Facebook fans to Smile to Say #ThanksTeach via a Facebook augmented reality (AR) application that springs to life when the user smiles into the camera on their mobile phone, creating a video or photo that can be easily shared.

Since 2009, SONIC has supported and celebrated public school teachers through Limeades for Learning in partnership with DonorsChoose.org to provide teachers with essential materials and supplies needed for their classrooms. To date, SONIC has donated more than $9.7 million in financial grants to public school teachers, funding more than 18,983 classroom projects and benefiting more than 569,490 students. This month, SONIC is donating $1 million to public school teachers in SONIC markets who have requested to be eligible for SONIC funding.

Our Teacher Appreciate Gift Idea is to give your teacher a gift card to Sonic. Or buy them a Limeade!

This is a sponsored post.

Tis the season of giving and it’s so important to do so. We love to help out others and thanks to my blog, we’re able to use your platform to make a different in our community. It’s so much easier to help others when you have the resources to do so. But let’s say, you want to help someone but you feel you don’t have the resources to do so. You actually can make a big difference and you probably didn’t even no it. One Warm Coat is a resource you could use.

One Warm Coat is a national non-profit organization dedicated to providing a free, warm coat to any person in need. And they make it extremely easy and fun for you to participate, or even do your own coat drive. 

Imagine not having a coat to keep you warm as the temperatures begin to drop. Now you and your children can help!

How It Works:  One Warm Coat provides the tools and resources needed to hold a successful coat drive in 6 easy steps! The organization’s website helps organizers (individuals, schools, community groups, church groups and businesses) plan, promote and implement a coat drive. Once a drive is registered, One Warm Coat will send Ambassadors all of the materials they need to host a coat drive, including a banner, box labels, stickers and more. Once coats are collected, they will be distributed within their community to any person in need, without charge, discrimination or obligation through the organization’s network of non-profit partners. To donate a coat, search the One Warm Coat drive locator to find an active coat drive near you.

Coat drives are easy to host and an ideal activity for:

•         Parents, teachers and students looking to make a positive impact on their community through a service project

•         People seeking to add a philanthropic component to an upcoming family gathering or party

•         Community members finding ways to give back during the winter months

•         Professionals who would like to engage their colleagues in a good cause

•         People who may be moving or looking for ways to recycle

•         Corporations and Brands who want to make a difference in the communities where their employees and customers work and live

So it’s actually fun because your kids can feel involved. They can decorate the box, they can use the provided stickers, they can donate a coat they no longer fit in. They can ask their friends. It can be a great bonding experience all while making a difference and helping One Warm Coat reach their goal of collecting 1 million coats this season.

About One Warm Coat:

The organization began in 1992 with its first coat drive on a Thanksgiving weekend in San Francisco. Since its inception, One Warm Coat has grown as a national organization collecting more than 5 million coats and supporting 3,500 coat drives each year. In dedicating the last 25 years to providing a warm coat to anyone in need, free of charge, One Warm Coat’s efforts have been recognized with a number of awards, accolades and rankings including Top-Rated Nonprofit by Great Nonprofits and Gold Star Nonprofit by Guidestar.  The organization has collaborated with top companies such as J.Crew, Coca-Cola, Delta and Brooks Brothers among many others to give warmth to those in need. To learn more about One Warm Coat, visit https://www.onewarmcoat.org/