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By Mom Unplugged, November 16, 2008 8:16 pm

This week’s Unplugged Project was a little different. After mentioning my massive sorting project, by popular demand the theme became Sort-Junk-Donate. Hopefully this theme inspired many out there to tackle those piles around the house. Whether it be toys, clothes, or just plain junk, we all need to purge from time to time.

Or maybe you recycled some throw-aways into art? I look forward to your projects.

As for me, I’ll simply show you a picture of what we donated so far. There is more on the way, but the photo above is the bulk of it. (Georgio Armani the cat is NOT a giveaway of course!)

Plus, a few awards!!

My oldest daughter wins the award for The Strangest Item Found: In her closet I found a plastic food storage container full of brown sugar.

My 2 year-old daughter wins the award for The Least Number of Stuffed Animals donated: 0 (although she did part with some toys).

My son wins the award for The Most Toys Donated (aka. The Unexpected Generosity Award): I didn’t count, but he even gave away his fancy space station to a friend who always played with it when he came over.

Of course you can donate to your local thrift store, but here are a few links to help you figure out a more original way to pass on no longer needed new, like-new or gently-used items:

New = New, tag-on

Like-new = No tag, but good enough to give as a gift

Gently-used = used, but still in great condition

• Samaritan’s Purse (Christian Relief Organization): Pack a Christmas shoe box of small new items for children “in desperate situations” around the world. Hurry up because this year’s deadline for drop-off is November 17-24. (Many thanks to Karen B. for this idea!)

• Project Night Night: Donates comfort tote bags to children ages 0-10 in homeless shelters. Each bag contains a security blanket, stuffed animal, and age-appropriate book. They take new blankets (handmade or cribsize), new stuffed animals, or new/like-new books, store gift cards (even if only a few dollars left), fleece or flannel fabric. Be sure to read the guidelines for items to be donated and drop-off/mail-in locations here.

• Books for America: Donates to Washington DC area schools, libraries, homeless shelters and hospitals. Provides underpriveleged kids with their first take-home books. Accepts new or like-new books (but NO HARDCOVER FICTION), movies (DVD or VHS), CD’s, audiobooks, and collectible items that can be auctioned. Children’s books are urgently needed. Please see here for donation guidelines and locations (drop-off and ship-to).

• Books for Africa: Sends books to rural African schools and libraries. Gently used textbooks can be hard to find homes for, but Books for Africa wants textbooks (no more than 15 years old), as well as popular fiction and non-fiction (hard and softcover), encyclopedias and dictionaries 1995 and newer, new school supplies. There is also a list of what not to send, so please check here first.

• Soles4Soules: Sends new and gently used shoes to needy and disaster-relief areas worldwide. Their estimate is that 1.5 billion pairs of shoes lie unworn in American closets. I am ashamed to say that many of those are in mine. Donation guidelines are here.

• Shoe4Africa: Accepts new and gently-used running shoes. Shoes must have at least another 100 miles of running in them! Shoes should be sent via AIRMAIL ONLY to Kenya. Instructions are here.

• Send new or gently used stuffed animals and toys to Iraq: Here is an address for someone stationed in Iraq who wants used stuffed animals and toys to distribute to poor children there. I found this on Google and know nothing more, but I offer the link here!

• Old computers and other electronics: Find a list of places to donate for reuse or recycling at the US Environmental Protection Agency. I just found out I can send back my ancient Nokia cell phone for free with a prepaid shipping label that I can print out. Who knew?

• The Help Kenya Project: Based in Westchester, NY. Accepts computers (and accessories), books, clothing, sports equipment, and more. Please see the website and contact them for more information.

• Foster children often must transport their meager belongings in garbage bags. Here is more information on how to collect and donate luggage. Consider donating suitcases or duffel bags to your local foster care agency or homeless shelter.

• Also, don’t forget to check locally. Google something like “used computers San Francisco donate” and see what you come up with. Substitute what you want to donate and your area.

• Of course for good-condition book donations there is always also your local library or schools (especially those in low-income areas).

• Garage sale for your favorite charity? If you have the energy, then give that a go!

If anyone else has a favorite place for donating “stuff,” please share your idea in a comment.

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If you participated in this week’s Unplugged Project theme of Sort-Junk-Donate, then please leave the link to your project rather than just your blog in Mr. Linky below. That way we’ll all be able to find your project, forever and ever! If you didn’t participate, but are interested in learning more, then read about it all here and consider joining in next week.

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Next week’s Unplugged Project theme will be more like the usual kind:

Thankful

We did this one last year for the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday. I don’t really like to repeat, but since it is probably advisable to think about being thankful at least once a year no matter what country you reside in, I will repeat the theme. We’ll do something new though!

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By Mom Unplugged, May 27, 2008 9:44 pm

Those of you who have been visiting Unplug Your Kids for a while, might remember my children’s Heifer International fund raising efforts. They made and sold Christmas ornaments, and earned money from their “Candy Bank” to contribute to my oldest daughter, E’s, class charity fundraising project.

E got so wrapped up in the fun of helping others, that she announced that for Christmas she wanted a book about different charities and what they do. “Santa” brought her A Kids Guide to Giving by Freddi Zeiler.

I promised you a review if we liked it, so here it is - finally!

Ms. Zeiler (age 20 at the time of publication) really began work on this book at age 14 when she became interested in charities, and started researching and compiling notes on different charitable organizations and how they spend their money. Her parents encouraged her to expand her research and turn it into a book to inspire other young people.

This book was just what E was hoping for. The first half discusses why to give, how to choose a cause, types of contributions (money, things, and time/effort), fund-raising ideas, and more. There are also sections on why it is important to know how a charity spends its money and how to avoid scams.

The last portion is a guide to tons of kid-friendly charities arranged by subject (“People,” “Animals,” and “The Environment”). It explains what each charity does and gives contact information, website, breakdown of how each dollar donated is spent, etc.

There is a small section for notes at the end, although my daughter likes to just put a check mark by her preferred charities. The hard cover and fold-over magnetic flap make it appealing in almost a diary, or notebook-like way.

My daughter likes to sit and read it, and I am happy to let her do so. Since this is a guide for children, the charities are comprehensible to children. You will not find yourself having to explain to your 7 year-old what a rape crisis center is, for example.

My children’s “charity of the day” is the African Wildlife Foundation (discovered through this book). They have already “adopted” one animal, a leopard, and are working on raising money to adopt another.

A final note: The recommended age range for the A Kids Guide to Giving, is 12 and up. My daughter is only 7, but she is an excellent reader. In my opinion, this book is suitable for children younger than age 12 provided they have the necessary interest and reading skills.

GREAT REALTED LINK: Topaz Took was kind enough to offer a link (in her comment on my Heifer-results post) to a wonderful website called Doing Good Together, about volunteering together as a family. There is a wealth of information including how to get your family involved in helping others, as well as an interesting resources section (books, videos, and websites arranged by topic and age). Thank you Topaz!

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By Mom Unplugged, March 15, 2008 5:19 pm

A Heifer International fund raising update:

My daughter’s Montessori class ( 1st-3rd grade) of 20 children raised a total of $1,067 to donate to Heifer International! Each child raised money their own way.

Last semester the class studied basic human needs, and this semester they are studying the continent of Africa. This fund raising project ties in with both those themes.

My daughter (and 5 year-old son) made and sold Christmas ornaments by the side of the road and contributed candy and junky “toys” to their Candy Bank to earn money for the project. In addition to each child’s individual earnings, the class also held a bake sale in the school parking lot (on a very snowy day!!).

I just wanted to post an update about this project since someone out there who knew my address, was so kind as to spread the word and organize contributions from all over the country. Truly amazing! Thank you again whoever you are!

The class earned nearly double their original goal and instead of buying an animal or two for one family, they are able to fund a project that will help an entire African village.

Your generosity, and that of our local community, makes a HUGE difference. Not only to a village in Africa, but to my daughter and her classmates who now know how good it feels to give and to help others. Thank you!

Photo (Zambia) courtesy of Heifer International.

Comments (5)

By Mom Unplugged, December 1, 2007 12:14 pm

My last few posts have been all about Holiday shopping. If you really want to pare down your Holidays and return to the basic spirit of it all, you could consider giving to a charity in someone’s name rather than buying a gift.

Jules at Andamom.com recently wrote a really great post, Donating is the True Spirit of the Season, listing links to 37 worthy organizations and a brief description of what that charity does. Please read her list. I can also add a few from my left sidebar:
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Darfur Stoves (provides more efficient stoves for Darfur refugees thereby dramatically reducing the frequency of women’s dangerous excursions outside the camp to collect firewood)
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Best Friends Animal Society (No-kill shelter and permanent Utah sanctuary for stray, unadoptable and rescued animals of all kinds)

Also: Sponsor a specific Best Friends shelter pet as a holiday gift:

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Half the Sky Foundation (Donations provide full-time nannies for infants in Chinese orphanages, help build preschools in Chinese orphanages and train preschool teachers, provide educational opportunities for older orphans to enable them to make their way in the world, and Family Villages where children with medical and developmental issues can live in a real home with permanent, loving families)
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Humane Society of the United States (or your local Humane Society or ASPCA)

Or shop for gifts at the HSUS online store:

Or the ASPCA online store.

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My Stuff Bags Foundation (Provide bags containing stuffed animals, blankets, and other comfort items for children displaced by abuse, neglect, or natural disaster)

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National Wildlife Federation (protecting wildlife and the environment)

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A children’s hospital such as Phoenix Children’s or St. Jude’s.

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Make-A-Wish Foundation (Grants wishes to children with life-threatening illnesses)

- I personally know a family whose little boy with terminal cancer was given a trip to Hawaii via Make-A-Wish. An amazing organization. There are local chapters to donate to also.
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It is impossible to list every charity. I can think of many others and I am sure you can too. But if you wish, feel free to add any in the comments that are not on Andamom’s list, or in this post.

My best advice is to think of a cause that really means something to you or your intended recipient, then Google for related charities. I am sure you’ll find several to choose from!

Read all the Christmas/Holidays Unplugged posts here.

Comments (9)

By Mom Unplugged, September 10, 2007 10:28 am

For me, it is one of those dreaded times of year again: birthday party time. A Good Mom probably cherishes these milestone moments and decorates for hours, bakes a cake from scratch, plans fun games and then sits back and enjoys watching her wee one having the time of his or her little life with perfectly well-behaved and polite little friends at The Birthday Party.

I, however, have come to rather dread The Birthday Party. For me it symbolizes a time of excess, greed and waste. Just call me Birthday Scrooge. I have grown tired of watching my kids rip wrapping paper off yet another toy we don’t need, only to toss it aside to rip the paper off the next one, as all the other kids “ooh” and “aah” with envy.This year I decided to suggest something different to my daughter. Having recently spent a lot of time at the local Humane Society shelter adopting a dog and three cats to add to our already large menagerie, I suggested that this year we have a Humane Society birthday where we would ask guests to bring an item for the shelter animals instead of the usual gift. My daughter loves animals and understands that many animals are homeless, but I wasn’t sure that a 7 year-old could be altruistic enough to forgo the excitement of birthday presents.

I picked my moment carefully (after we had finished sorting out a bunch of old, unplayed-with toys to donate) and made the suggestion:

“Every year at your birthday party you always get a lot of toys like these that you never play with and that just clutter up the house. How about this year we ask everyone to bring pet food, or something for all those homeless animals at the shelter instead?”

“Oh yes, yes, yes!!!” she said. Even her little brother asked if he could do that for his birthday too (we’ll see if he still wants to when his time comes next June).

We asked our cat sitter, who works at the Humane Society, to tell us what they really needed most right now. We put this list on an insert inside the party invitations. My daughter was very excited to help make the insert requesting donations instead of gifts. We even added some photos of our recent shelter adoptees.

We had the party on Saturday, and as you can see from the photo, the eight guests were extremely generous in their donations of food and toys for the animals! The parents all commented on what a great idea our party was. I am sure they were happier spending their money on food for the homeless animals than on a cheap toy for the child who has too much.

Today after school is the really exciting moment. I will pick my children up from school and we will take everything down to the shelter to give to them. My daughter can’t wait!

I must say that as I write this, I feel every bit the Proud Mama. My daughter, at only age 7, was able to derive pleasure from giving rather than receiving. For once, this was a truly enjoyable birthday party for us all!