Delivery Day!!

Today is the day we will be delivering all the supplies to Servite Primary in Brown's Town. So excited!! Will post pictures later.

Yahoo!!!

Leaving on a Jet Plane

Folks, the time has come and we are off!

If this post is live, it means we've left for our trip and are well on our way to delivering the shoes and school supplies we've been collecting all summer long. We will have dragged the 5 extra large (50 pounds a piece!) suitcases with us.

Delivery day at Servite Primary will be Thursday, November 29. Mrs. Crawford and the children can look for us to be coming. I hope they love all the school supplies, books, and other goodies we will be bringing. I'm excited to give this gift from all of us to them!

Thank you for making this happen. Thank you for taking the time to donate something. Thank you for making the difference in the lives of those receiving these gifts. Thank you for giving back in such an easy way. Thank you for supporting me to make this happen. Thank you.

Giving Tuesday

Tomorrow is Giving Tuesday, (#GivingTuesday) also known as Generous Tuesday. What is that you say? It is a national day of giving on November 27, 2012, the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, called #GivingTuesday, will be the first of its kind. Coinciding with the kickoff of the holiday shopping season, #GivingTuesday will harness the power of social media to create a national moment around the holidays dedicated to giving, similar to how Black Friday and Cyber Monday have become days that are synonymous with holiday shopping. (as mentioned on www.nonprofitpathways.org)

I'd like to take this day to formally highlight Kansas City Rescue Mission. I know you've seen my posts about this organization lately, but I'd really like you to get to know it, its needs, and just how you can help.

I was first introduced to this organization just about a month ago. A friend told me she had volunteered there, and liked it. I was looking for a shelter that could use some cake mix and cereal I'd purchased at Target after Halloween, and this was the outlet I needed. After making another donation just last week I decided to be apart of a blog hop today, and hopefully give KCRM a boost.

In 2011, KCRM served 1,471 individual people, giving them shelter for the night, a meal, or support. They served 86,855 meals. That my friends, is a lot of food. It takes an small army of volunteers (think 2,027 people giving 13,258 hours of their time) to produce the meals needed to feed those hungry people. One way you and your family could help out this season (or all year round) is to give your time. It doesn't cost you anything. You get the feel-good feeling of helping out those in need. You can share with your children the importance of giving.

Another way you could help out is by donating items to the shelter. Right now they are in desperate need of men's white socks, underwear, coats, and jeans. They need foods like meat, sugar, breakfast cereals and meat, and canned goods. Over-the-counter medicines (without alcohol) are also needed. Toiletries like deodorant, shave gel and razors, combs, and soap. Don't feel like you have to have a car full of stuff in order to make a difference. It all does. Perhaps you'd like to have a shelter drive in your neighborhood. Pick out one or two items, keep the focus small, and ask your neighbors to drop the items off at your house. Then take them down.

Maybe you'd like to give in another way. Consider a baked goods drive. While the shelter does receive donations from local grocery store bakeries, we all know nothing beats homemade treats. Get together with your neighbors, moms group, office workers, running club, scout troop, or church. Pick a day that you want to collect the baked goods and have everyone bring them. Plan on driving to KCRM that afternoon or the next day with a car full of goodies. This is an easy outreach. You can make it fun by having your kids help you bake, and explain to them just who you're baking for. It's a win-win. You get quality time with your kids and the shelter gets some tasty treats that provide a little ray of hope.

I hope you consider getting involved with Kansas City Rescue Mission, or another shelter of your choosing. If we all took the time to do just one of these easy ideas, this shelter, or any shelter, would be filled with love and hope, encouragement for a brighter tomorrow.

Please help make #GivingTuesday 2012 a success.

Get involved.

Make a difference.

To learn about other Kansas City charities and how you can make the season brighter for others, visit these great blogs:

Everyday Truth --- Bear Hugs

it's me, debcb! --- Safehome

Back to Allen --- The Children's Place

Whatcha Makin Now --- Wayside Waifs

Soleful Suitcases --- KC Rescue Mission

Wayward Dogs --- Midwest Adopt-a-Bull

Sarah Scoop --- Toys for Tots

Laughing Cat Creations --- Turning Point

Blogchickabowow --- Jewish Family Services

Healthnut Foodie --- Veronica's Voice

Raising the Barrs --- Hillcrest Transitional Housing

KC Edventures --- Salvation Army; Children's Mercy

The Happy Family Movement --- Rose Brooks Women's Center

Thanksgiving Love to Kansas City Rescue Mission

Thanks to my neighbors and friends who answered my pleas for homemade baked goods, the men at Kansas City Rescue Mission will have some tasty pies, quick breads, and muffins tomorrow to munch on; a little pre-Thanksgiving treat.

They will also have 15 loaves of Hostess bread, and 20 packages of Hostess cookies. Thank you Hostess for having a fire sale on your Bakery Outlet stores, and allowing the prices to be unbeatable. I feel blessed to be able to buy these items and give to those in need.

Do you want to be part of a large baked good drive I'll be hosting mid-December? While making your holiday goodies, why not make an extra batch and set it aside for the men at Kansas City Rescue Mission. I'll post more details as the time gets closer, but please plan on helping. A loaf of banana bread to us is small, but it is a huge ray of hope to those in desperate need.

Guadalupe Centers

I had to take my car in to be repaired today, and while waiting in the lobby, I was watching the tv. They had it tuned into Fox 4, a local station running a bit on The Guadalupe Centers, a local charity in town focused on the needs of Latino families. The Center was looking for people or families in the KC metro area willing to adopt a person or family in need for the holiday season. The adopting family would get information on the family in need, do the shopping, and help make the needy family have a great holiday season. Or, you could just donate money and The Center would do the shopping for you.

I think this sounds like a great cause to be involved with. You can find information about the center here at http://www.guadalupecenters.org/ or 816-415-1015.

Or, if you are not in the Kansas City area and still want to be involved, consider looking at taking a tag from the Giving Tree in your local mall or church. My gym even has a giving tree. Those gifts really to make a difference to the people on the receiving end. Share with us how you are getting involved this holiday season.

30 Days of Thanks!

It is Friday, the weekend before Thanksgiving, and we are all starting to rush around with the busyness of the season. Our minds are on what we are cooking or eating this coming week, what gifts are on sale that we need to buy, wrap, and give. We are in go-go-go mode and there is no stopping till after the New Year starts.

However, now is the time we should also stop, take a moment, and count our blessings. Realize what we are thankful for, and be happy for the joys in our life. I've tried to take this to heart this year, and have been doing a 30 Days of Thanks challenge on Facebook. I've posted something each day I'm thankful for. Some days it is the little things like the DVD player in my car to keep my boys entertained while we are out doing a full day of errands. Another day was my feet, and how they can carry me on a long run to complete a race. There have also been several days were I've been thankful for the healthcare and doctors that have been taking such great care of my dad as he battles his illnesses.

Whatever your reasons to be thankful this year, be sure and keep them in mind. Share your reasons with your friends and family - let them know you are thankful for them and all they do to and for you. I have yet to meet someone who doesn't like to be told you are thankful for them.

I know that in just over a week, there will be a lot of thankful children at Servite Primary school who will be receiving lots of books and school supplies. And about 65 adults in the Runaway Bay area who will be receiving shoes and socks that you donated. While they might not say "thank you" to you in person, have no doubts they will be thankful as well.

Comment here and share what you're thankful for, or how you are celebrating the season.

Beds, Sheets, or Bedding to Spare?

In my quest to highlight some worthy causes, and yet make things easy to follow through with, I've decided to share with you an organization I found just recently. The organization is called Sleepyhead Beds, and they do great work here in Kansas City.

The process is simple. You have an unwanted or unneeded bed. Could be the whole thing with frame, mattress, and box springs. Could just be a mattress or box springs. You don't know how to get rid of it since Goodwill or other places won't take it, yet you don't want to waste it by throwing it away. So, you get in touch with Sleepyhead Beds, and they clean it and get it into the home of needy children all across the metro.

Or perhaps, like me, you cleaned out your linen closet and discovered you had *way* more sheet sets that you could ever need or hope to use. So, you wash them and bundle them up so the sets match, you label them with the size, and then donate them. Sleepyhead Beds gets them onto the beds they deliver of kids that would otherwise be sleeping on floors.

The process is simple, the need is great, and the results are quick. I dropped my sheet sets off with Monica, and she later told me via email that all my sheets were onto beds in needy homes within a week. Amazing. They didn't sit around in a warehouse waiting to be sorted and cataloged. They were just put into use. I'm thrilled to be able to be of assistance to an organization that does so much good in our area, and does it quickly.

If you have a bed, mattress, box springs, sheets, blankets, or new pillows, please consider making a donation to Sleepyhead Beds. They are always in need of beds. Or if you have a truck and some time, consider taking a few hours to deliver and set up beds. You won't get a bigger thanks that the one you'll get from the person who will finally have a bed to call their own.

You can contact Sleepyhead Beds via their website www.sleepyheadbeds.org. They have a donate form you can fill out, or a link to paypal for a direct cash donation.

Shelter Donations

Hey friends and followers,

I know I've been radio-silent for a little bit, but I don't want you to think I'm going to let this blog die. So, keep coming back!

While our trip has been rescheduled for just after Thanksgiving, and our suitcases are still packed and ready to go, I've been busy cooking up other ways to give back in my head, and I'd like to share one of them with you today. I think after our trip is done, and I've updated everyone on how things went, I'd like to use this blog as a platform to introduce you to, or highlight ways, in which we as a collective, can give to those in need in small, easy and affordable ways.

So, let me start with this one.

A few days ago I was at Target do to my normal grocery shopping and walked past the Halloween aisle, with all its 90% off glory. I didn't really find anything that interested me, but there was an entire shelf of Halloween themed cake mixes. Normally priced at $1.69 (ish), they were included in the 90% off sale, making them 12 cents. That's right, I said 12 cents. Humm, I thought. With all the food donation barrels out around town, I could pick up a few and drop them in. Someone would eat this for 12 cents. So, I picked up 44 of them, put them in my cart, and kept on walking. I did take a picture and post my find on Facebook, hoping someone else would do the same thing I was.

I little walking later I ran into an end cape with Halloween cereal, normally $2.66 per box, marked down to $1.66. However, being as it was Halloween themed, I picked up a box, found a price scanner, and learned it was really only $0.26 per box. And, bonus time folks, it was a General Mills cereal, and I had coupons for those.

On my first trip through the register, I was able to purchase 44 cake mixes and 24 boxes of cereal for 6.52 + tax after coupons. After taking those out to my car, I decided I couldn't let the rest sit on the shelves and went back for them all. Grand take was 70 boxes of cake mix and 53 boxes of cereal.

I asked for ideas as to where to take the items, and my friend Kelly from my local M.O.M.S. Club suggested Kansas City Rescue Mission. www.kcrm.org They were in desperate need of food, and would really be able to use what I had. I called them up, and yes in fact, they would be so excited to have this donation. I told them my husband would drop it off the next morning on his way to work, and we were set.  I decided to do a little more reading about them on their website, and learned they are a men's shelter downtown serving the needs of those down there who need a bed and a meal for the night, but also offer more long term help and solutions. I added some basic toiletries like shave gel, body wash, lotion, and a brand new diabetes testing kit my husband had received at a health fair to the donation pile, and we were set.

The next day Paul from the shelter called to once again thank us for our donation. The shelter is grateful for the donation. I'm happy to have helped fill a need, and even more excited that I was able to stretch my dollar and make it work for those really in need.

Please consider looking around your Target for the super cheap food stuffs and donating them to a shelter in your area. You certainly don't have to buy them all, but even just a few cake mixes, cereal boxes, or other items are an affordable donation anyone can do. Just drop them in one of the many food donation barrels blanketed across your city, and make a difference. Be sure to comment here with what you're doing to help out.