Buy One, Donate One- Your New Shoes Will Give a Child in Texas, Florida or Puerto Rico New Shoes, too!

Who Knew Compassion Could be So Comfortable?

Buy a pair of Tom’s shoes. They are a one-for-one organization that donates a new pair of shoes to a child in need for every pair of Toms purchased. Visit http://www.toms.com/ to learn more about the cause and view the various styles. I like the shiny glittery Tom’s!

The Red Cross can use more than your blood; more ways you can help Puerto Rico

Give Life

Donate blood. One donation can help up to four people. If that’s not inspiring enough, every three seconds, someone needs a blood transfusion due to various injuries, illnesses, or conditions. Donating is completely free and completely safe. (http://www.bloodcenters.org/) Go to the American Red Cross website (http://www.redcrossblood.org/make-donation) to find a location near you. And you usually get cookies and juice after your donation! Did you know this?

For some people, health, time, and logistical restraints means donating blood isn’t possible. But blood donation isn’t the only way to support organizations like the Red Cress. As well as financial donations, the Red Cross also accepts airline miles and credit card rewards. Easily transferable from your computer, these sorts of donations don’t cost anything but can still make a difference.

Let No Child Go Hungry; Another Way to Help the Families in Texas and Florida

Share Your Strength

When I worked on the Random Acts of Kindness project, we looked around for places to donate profits from the books and SHARE OUR STRENGTH came highly recommended. It remains an organization I deem as a real good in the world. Did you know one in children in America deal with hunger on a daily basis? Join SOS’s campaign www.nokidhungy.org so we can take care of those who need it most.

Don’t Just Go through It, Grow Through It

An attitude of gratitude can make a profound difference in our day-to-day lives, yet, as we all come to know, not every day is filled with all good things. We each endure difficult passages: illnesses, money trouble, work woes, relationship issues, the loss of a loved one, and countless others. These are the vicissitudes of life. However, it is the attitude you bring to each situation that makes all the difference. Share what you learned from others from your life lessons and offer it if you think it can be of help to a fellow traveler who is walking a hard path.

Help Our Elders Including Those In Texas and Florida Who Are In the Most Need

Give Someone’s Grandfather or Great Aunt What They Always Wanted

Grant a Wish to a Senior Citizen. Volunteers for the Twilight Wish Foundation grant wishes by donating items (like a home computer requested by a grandmother who wanted to e-mail her grandkids) or by contributing their time. Lean all about it at www.twilightwish.org  Some wishes—like one from a retired postman who wanted to go over his old route one last time—require planning instead of money, and volunteers tend to choose items or actions that most speak to them. 

Here's how You Can Help the Kids Going Back to School in Texas and Florida

Pack a shoebox with new toys, school supplies, socks… go to www.samaritianspurse.org for more information on how to pack a box. It will be donated to a child in need (you can decide the gender and age group) and you can even track the box to see where it ends up! 

Check out this website for some packing ideas: http://faithfulprovisions.com/2012/10/01/101-operation-christmas-child-shoebox-ideas/

Craft Up a Storm to Help our Storm Survivors!

Here is my favorite resource that lists many ways to knit, sew and quilt your way to a better world. www.handcraftedwithlove.net:

      Socks For Soldiers knits socks for soldiers serving in the Middle East.

      Stitch for a Cause knits, crochets, sews, and quilts blankets and infant apparel for local children's agencies. Based in Louisville, KY, USA.

      Stitches From the Heart sends handmade clothing and blankets to premature babies across the nation. Based in Santa Monica, CA, USA.

      Stitching Up The World knits, crochets and sews items to donate to a variety of organizations. Their main effort is items for chemotherapy patients in New Hampshire, Based in Candia, NH, USA.

      Threads of Love provides clothing, blankets and other handmade articles for premature and sick infants. Threads of Love has chapters in the United States, Canada and London, England.

      Tiny Stitches is based in Gwinnett County, Georgia and provides basic layettes to disadvantaged newborns and preemies in north Georgia. They also provide burial ensembles to families who lose an infant.

      Ugly Quilts for the Homeless, My Brothers' Keeper.

      Victoria's Quilts and Victoria's Quilts Canada. Quilts for cancer patients.

Did you know your old prom dresses can become a kid's favorite blanket?

Do you remember Linus of the venerated Peanuts cartoon? He was a piano virtuoso who loved his blankie and also shows how universal that love for just the right soft cloth can be. My mom and aunts are amazing quilters and can seemingly take anything and make a gorgeous, collectible quilt from it. Even if you, like me, lack that “quilting gene,” you can blanket the world with your love and good intentions by collecting them for donation.  I put out a call and got a ton of nice comforters to donate to Project Linus,  www.projectlinus.org for gifting cozy quilts and oh-so-warm blankets to kids in shelters, hospices, hospitals and wherever the cloaking comfort of love might be needed. My mom recently made a quilt of some of my crazy outfits from the 80’s!

Blanket the World With Love

Crafting Kindness: Inspired Ideas for Helping Flood Victims in Texas:

Compassionate Crafts

Some of my friends love to knit and crochet. Everyone I know already has a colorful throw given to them. So now what to do with the products of all that handwork? Look no further!

www.woolworks.irg has a section on knitting and crocheting for charity listed by state, with links for organizations that make donations to U.S. troops; to centers for battered women and children; to Native Americans Reservations in Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah; and to the homeless in cities all over the U.S.

www.newbornsinneed.org would love clothing and bedding items for newborn, sick, needy, and premature babies. You can donate blankets, hats, booties, and afghans. All they ask is that you use the softest yarn possible.

www.warmingfamiles.org is a 100% volunteer project that delivers donated blankets and other warm items to the homeless and displaced while strengthening families with their charity work. They supply to local shelters and nursing homes.