Support Goodwill

I believe that I am  a full circle supporter of Goodwill, Salvation Army and The Rescue Mission.  I think many folk support these wonderful organizations by donating their gently used items.  And how great is that? they help the environment by keeping useful objects out of the landfills or incinerators (and no pesky packaging!), they provide quality items at affordable prices to consumers AND the money raised goes to support their varied and worthy causes, it is the trifecta!  I am in the process of decluttering and organizing for my own sanity.  This has led to quite a few thrift store drop offs.  For the record, I am not partial to any particular store, each had different qualities that I appreciate (and would be happy to delineate if you are interested, but this blog is not the place), and I am not kidding when I say I know where each store is with in a 90 minute radius from my home. So, by dropping off my goods, I am supporting these stores by giving them inventory.  

However, as a recovering thrift store fiend, I typically have to take a look at the treasures I can bring home.   There is almost always something.  And the good news is, I am dropping off much more than I take home.  So while I drop off outgrown toys, clothes, baby items, books and the like, I bring home things that are more useful in my life  shelves, picture frames, children's books, clothes for my kids to grow in to, board games...and on and on. I kind of consider it the thrift store version of closing the recycling loop to make sure there is a demand for the products created.  

Another good deed that benefits me.  I am noticing a trend here...  

Money for Schools - Run

My ever-active love just ran a half marathon.  It is an annual fundraiser with the following mission: At a time when such programs are increasingly minimized due to shrinking resources, the Run strives to draw attention to their importance and give participants an opportunity to raise funds to help maintain them at a school of their choice.

I mean, how cool is it to see a bunch of locals get together and decide to use their skills, energy and attention  to make positive change?  This seems like a double bonus.  I get a healthier husband (and his girls get a healthier father) and the school he chooses gets money.  

He is my hometown hero 

I Won't Need Them When I 'm Gone...

     This one is not a new one for me, but it was time to renew my driver's license and I checked the box that says I will donate my organs after I no longer need them (euphemism alert!).  It is my sincere hope that they will go well used, helping a med student learn or another human continue living.  Plus I get a neat little heart <3 on the front of my license.
   

Roots and Shoots

I am in the beginning phases of putting together a preschool - elementary age Roots and Shoots group.  I am absolutely in love with the idea of this group.  It is a worldwide movement that has a primary focus on three goals: helping people, the environment and animals.
We have had two formal Roots and Shoots meetings, and are in the process of looking for our first service project.  We were thinking that for our young age group, a litter pick up would be perfect.  So far, the few parks that I have scoped out have been relatively litter free (woo hoo! that is great.  it just makes finding a project a little more challenging).  So we are now on the look out for some alternate locations (and starting to suspect that there may be litter around, but it is just hidden beneath the autumn leaf litter) in addition, we are considering a simple fall flower bulb planting project so that our children, and those in the public location that we end up planting, can all see the benefits in the spring. 
I am just so very excited about this group, that I wanted to post.  and I hope that I will have many projects to post from this group in the coming year. 

Kiva

I hope this is the end of my hiatus and reign as the deadbeat blogging buddy! 

When I was in high school one of my teachers shared with me that she was typically happy to sponsor fundraisers that her students were participating in.  She said that when she was younger, she had more time than money so she spent more time volunteering. And now that she had 3 children and a dual career home to run, she had more money than time (which, now that I think back, I am sure each one of her 3 children are fully grown, so I am curious where she is now in this spectrum, and yes, I am that old!).

I seem to find myself in an in-between stage, with just a little extra money and just a little extra time, but neither a clear abundance of time nor money.  I have been unsure of where to focus my donating dollars (beyond the periodic fundraising done by friends and acquaintances which I will typically support). 

I ultimately decided to support Kiva.  This is a fairly well known micro-finance organization specifically focused on people in developing nations.  We got to pick the project/individual we wanted to support, and there are so many ways to select the project (by dollar amount, by country, by how close it is to being fully funded) that it was fun to look through the different projects and finally select one. There is a neat little video here which explains how Kiva works in an interesting way

 I used it as an opportunity to expand my four year old's perspective just a little bit.  We got out the globe and looked at where we live and where the person who we are loaning our money to lives.  We talked about the ways our lives are probably different and probably the same. 

I found a positive spin on being a deadbeat blogging buddy.  It has only been a couple of months since I did our first Kiva loan and we have already had 1/3 of it repaid.  This is no surprise, as Kiva has almost a 99% repayment rate.  But that means that I am beginning to see how the cycle of Kiva can work.  I plan on looking for another project to finance.  I intend to continue to include my children in the process, increasing their involvement as they grow!