Give Respect

My sister’s nonprofit, The Family Violence Prevention Fund, just launched their Give Respect website and campaign.


This site has a ton of resources for you and your family regarding healthy relationships. Even if you are not directly affected by violence in your home, you probably know of someone who has been in a toxic relationship. At my school, I hear many heartbreaking stories from my students about family members and friends being treated badly.

If you click under the families or parent’s corner section on the Give Respect website, you will find many files which may be used to talk to your child and family about violence and respect. The table topics for dinner discussion are especially great if you have tweens or teens in your home.

In addition to this great information, you can also find additional resources to support the fund, such as purchasing a bracelet at a participating Macy’s for $5.

Lastly, if you find this website as compelling as I do, please click here and add a Give Respect button to your blog, so that your followers and friends may learn more about this worthy cause.

-Kacey

Do Some Good

This week’s I came across an awesome website called Network for Good. It’s like Google, but for charity organizations. You can search for charities by cause, keyword, or areas of interest. If you sign up as a user and donate through this website, it will keep track of all of your donations. Come tax time you can log on and find all of your information, making your taxes much easier to file. Hooray! Have a charity close to your heart? You can create a charity badge, which allows you to send information to your friends and help gather donations. No money, but still want to give? Give some of your time to a local charity. Volunteer opportunities can also be found by keyword, areas of interest, or location. I just realized this is starting to sound very much like an infomercial. Sorry, but it's late and I'm very sleepy. Please bear with me... Finally, if you are looking for a last minute Christmas gift, Network for Good also offers Good Cards, which work much like a gift card. The recipient will be able to choose their own charity and make a donation in their name.

Act now! Operators are standing by. (Sorry, I couldn't resist.)

-Kacey

Worthy Choice

This week’s worthy cause is one close to my heart, Donor’s Choose. It is a wonderful organization/non-profit that helps teachers fund projects or receive items for their classroom. Last year, my students were having “space issues” on our rug. I happened to see this colorful rainbow rug in a education magazine where each child was assigned a specific space/square. Perfect!

The only problem was that it was $300!! What? I logged onto Donors Choose, wrote a proposal/sob story, and, voila, I had a new rug in less than 3 months! Fabulous. In exchange for the rug, my students and I had to write thank you letters. In addition, I had to take pictures of my students using the rug with a camera they provided.

Over the past two years, Donor's Choose have provided me with a new CD player and two large white boards for my classroom. I’m often asked what is a great gift to give a teacher and really it’s a donation to a proposal on this site. I encourage you to ask your child’s teacher if they have listed a proposal, and if not, you can point them in this direction. It’s free and does not cost anything to have your proposal listed.

As a donor, you can either fund the entire project or donate a certain amount. You can also search the site by city, your school name, or by price point. The amount donated is not revealed and every donor receives a thank you letter if the entire project is funded.

Now if only they funded summer vacation getaways...

-Kacey

Respect

With the holidays approaching and the economy going down the drain, I thought I’d blog about some very worthy non-profits who are striving to help those in need. My goal is to post about one great charity/non-profit every week for the month of December.

My younger sister Mindy, works long, long hours at her non-profit, Family Violence Prevention Fund. Recently, they launched a Respect campaign to help prevent domestic and sexual abuse.


By simply clicking the links on their website you can help in one of two ways:

1. By clicking the DONATE button, their sponsor, Geoffrey Beene Men’s Wear, will match your donation.

2. By clicking on the GIVE RESPECT button, you can give by either inviting a friend to the site or by sending a celebrity voice mail. For every act of respect you give, Geoffrey Beene will donate $5 to the Family Violence Prevention Fund. You don’t have to spend a dime, but can still have the warm and fuzzy feeling that you made a difference.

It’s a win win situation. Please show some Respect this holiday season and click for a worthy cause.

-Kacey