Earlier this week, our friend Jeannett from Life Rearranged wrote a sponsored post for Toys R Us, but instead of spending her profit from that post on peppermint lattes and manicures, she and two of her kids spent all of the money buying things to donate to Toys for Tots.
Pretty amazing, right? I thought so.
But then Jeannett took it one step further, because she is awesome.
She decided to give one of her readers $100 to do the same thing. That was $100 of her own money, from her heart. To enter, all her readers had to do was leave a comment telling her the nicest thing anyone had ever done for them.
You guys. These comments? They were amazing, and inspiring. (Jeannett has promised to punch Jenny and me in the face if we call her inspiring, but I think she’d agree that that’s an appropriate description of the comments.) (Also? She is inspiring.)
Anyway, Jeannett’s giveaway ended yesterday, but you should still click over and read the comments on her post. You will be glad you did, I promise. Kate and I read them together, and we had to keep taking turns reading them aloud because we kept getting choked up.
So, because Jenny and I were so moved by this whole thing, we’ve decided to completely rip off Jeannett’s idea and do the same thing here on Mommin’ It Up. We’re going to give one reader $100 to do something good this holiday season. We don’t care what it is (although we do want to hear about it!), just something good.
But we’re going to have to move quickly, because Christmas is like 24 hours away. Or 13 days. Something like that. So we’ll close comments on Tuesday, December 17 and randomly choose a winner.
And to make sure our idea-ripping-off is complete, we are going to have the same rules as Jeannett:
1. You must use the money to do good, however you see that. Toys for Tots, donations to a food pantry, adopt a family – whatever. Just something that is kind and will make someone else happy.
2. You must have a social media account of some kind. Whether its a personal Facebook page, Twitter, Instagram, whatever. Just some way to share at least one photo of what you decided to do.
3. Take a pic and tag Mommin’ It Up (on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter) so we can see what you’ve done and enjoy it with you, and share it with all of our readers.
4. Shady people need not apply. Don’t enter if you’re going to blow it on Mt. Dew and cheez puffs. (Not that I know anyone who eats those things. *cough*Jenny*cough*).
Just leave ONE comment telling us:
WHAT WAS THE NICEST THING SOMEONE HAS EVER DONE FOR YOU?
Kohl’s provided me with a $200 gift card to purchase Christmas gifts for children in my area with foster care. No other compensation has been provided to me, and all opinions on my shopping experience are my own. Thank you Kohl’s!
A couple of years ago, you all helped me raise money in an effort to help my friend Jeni provide Christmas gifts for all the foster kids in Greene County (which is the county next to mine). She called it “Fostering Christmas Care”. And it was awesome! Since then, Jeni has continued to try and provide gifts for the foster kids in her county by getting wish lists from case workers and getting her friends and family to commit to shopping for a kid or two each. Last year, I took the kids to Kohl’s to go shopping for the kids we’d been assigned. We went to Kohl’s because they have a really great toy selection and AWESOME sales around the holidays!
Just an example of the great sales Kohl’s has online and in-store during the holidays
This year, I wanted to do a little something more, so I got the bright idea to ask Kohl’s if they would sponsor my efforts to provide some gifts for foster kids – and they said YES, to the tune of $200! I guess you could say that this is a sponsored post, but really it’s just me telling you how generous Kohl’s is and how I’m trying to be a good steward of their $200 gift card they sent me to buy gifts for foster kids with and maximize their great sales to get as many gifts for those kids as I can!
But let me back up and tell you the reason I got the idea in the first place. This year, foster care has become a little more real to me. For the past several months, my brother, sister-in-law, and their four kids have been preparing their home and their hearts, and this fall Andy & Sarah were officially licensed as foster parents. Just about three weeks ago they got their first foster child, a little girl. We first met her at Sophie’s birthday party, about a week after she was placed with my brother’s family. Sophie was SO excited and prays for her every night!
Anticipating a new member of our family all summer had me thinking about foster care and the holidays early. And when I emailed my contact at Kohl’s, they responded generously and sent me a $200 gift card just in time to take advantage of Black Friday sales! I did my first round of shopping online. I don’t have a “wish list” from the case workers yet, so I bought items for mostly little kids who wouldn’t necessarily have a strong wish list. When I shopped online at Kohls.com, I used a Black Friday coupon code, got free shipping over $50 AND earned $15 Kohl’s cash for every $50 I spent! I spent just over $55 and got six great toys AND $15 Kohl’s cash to spend the next week!!
A few days later, this big ol’ Kohl’s box arrived!
Here’s the haul I got shopping online for less than $56!
All these great toys for less than $56 shipped and I got $15 Kohl’s cash to buy more toys for foster kiddos!
I decided to do my next round of shopping in the store, and tool my little helpers with me again – I wanted Joshua and Sophie to once again experience selecting a toy for a child who otherwise might not be getting one.
My super-shoppers ready to go into Kohl’s and find some great toys to give!
Just like last year, Kohl’s had a really big selection of toys -tons of great brands like Hot Wheels, Barbie, Disney, Fisher-Price, Little Tykes, Playmobil, Melissa & Doug, and tons more – and it was all on sale!
After m-u-c-h careful examination and deliberation, Joshua and Sophie each picked out a toy for a child their own age, and I picked out one for a child Jonah’s age (I picked a Little People school bus, which Jonah is in fact also getting for his birthday from my mom – who got it at Kohl’s, too!)
The Super Shoppers with their selections
We also picked up a pair of Hello Kitty slippers for my foster niece, because we DO have her wish list since my sister-in-law can let me know what she wants and needs.
We took our purchases up to the register, and after my $15 Kohl’s cash that I earned from shopping online on Black Friday, I spent just over $40 on the Kohl’s gift card. Here’s what we got!
Paid a little over $40 for all this after our Kohl’s cash!
So far we have 11 presents for little kids, and we still have $103.24 to spend on the older kids whose wish lists we will *hopefully* get next week! I will of course report back with what we get for them! Stay tuned for part 2 of our Fostering Christmas Care adventure!
I am a member of the Collective Bias Social Fabric community. I have been compensated to share my experience with you by Collective Bias and their client, Mastercard.
Cortney is one of my BFFs. We met in 5th grade. She and her husband are both cancer survivors!
Monday night I went out with some girlfriends for a much-needed break. It had been months since we’d been together. Our time together was priceless, and as a bonus? It was more than just reconnecting with friends. As a proud MasterCard holder, I got to help fight cancer with MasterCard while laughing it up with some girlfriends and devouring some delicious dessert. Because from now until December 31st of this year when you dine out with MasterCard and spend $10 or more, they donate to Stand Up to Cancer through their Dig In & Do Good program. It’s time to get your eat on, because MasterCard will donate up to $4,000,000 to Stand Up to Cancer. No, I did NOT add an extra couple of zeroes there. That’s four million bucks!! And that? Is something I’m more than happy to be a part of. Because like all of you, I’ve been affected by cancer. And I want it to GO AWAY. Here are some of the stories I wish I didn’t have to tell…about cancer and those I love.
Unless you’ve been reading this blog for over five years, you might not know that my dad had prostate cancer. In March of 2008, we had a huge snowstorm. And on a snowy day when there was no point in even getting out of my pajamas, my mom called and said, “I have something to tell you about your daddy’s prostate.” Typically not the words you want to hear from your mom at anytime, period, but especially when the word “cancer” is in the next sentence.
Since this month is “Movember”, it’s fitting that I’m re-living our family’s experience with prostate cancer now. Fortunately, it went about as well as an episode of cancer can go. My dad got his prostate removed in May of 2008, and it was effectively a cure as it was found very early and there was just a small amount. Prostates! WHO NEEDS ‘EM? Not this guy:
I am very, very thankful for the surgeons and technology that enabled my dad to beat his cancer and still live a happy, healthy life. And I’m thankful for programs like MasterCard’s Dig In & Do Good that make cancer research and developments in treatment possible with funding! Here are some memories we wouldn’t have made without those people and tools:
It has been a great joy of mine to see my father dote on my children.
FYI, I pretty much hit the jackpot in the dad department!
I get overly-cheesy about the Best Dad Ever. Whaddya do? It’s been five-and-a-half years since we waved bye-bye to my dad’s prostate (c’mon, not literally) and his cancer. Five years of endless thanks! (I do have *one* memory thanks to prostate cancer that I wish I could forget and I pray my dad doesn’t remember…it was an, um interesting conversation we had when he was still loopy on pain meds! And that is all I will disclose! Sorry, Dad!)
Unfortunately, not all cancer stories end this way. And for our family, cancer has also brought heartbreak that is difficult to put into words. But I’ll try – for awareness, for love, for the importance of remembering someone I wish everyone in the world had been lucky enough to know.
This is my Aunt Kathy. She more famously holds the title of Emily’s mom and Anna’s mom. Here we are together at my Grandma’s house on my 2nd Christmas. Concealed beneath her blouse and empty gift box is her pregnancy – she was about four months along with Emily here. So you could say this is the first pic Emily and I took together!
What I remember most about my Aunt Kathy is her warmth. She was a physically and emotionally warm person. I still get a physical sensation of warmth when I recall her smile, which was so beautiful. I see it in her daughter’s faces often.
Kathy was 34 and the mother of two young daughters when she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. You’ve seen Emily and I write passionately about ovarian cancer awareness many times before. And this is why.
Kathy had surgery. She had treatments. All was thought to be well, for awhile.
But it wasn’t. She had more cancer to fight. And it already had the upper hand.
The last time I saw my aunt was my 9th birthday in September 1986. She gave me a Minnie Mouse nightgown for that birthday and my mother saved it for years. My mom then gave it back to me when I was an adult and I gave it to Emily for Kate so she could have something her Grandma Kathy picked out.
We lost her a few weeks later on October 27, 1986.TODAY, my friends, would have been her 64th birthday. (The date this post was to be published was not chosen by me. Coincidence?)
Twenty-seven years later and I do not talk, think, or write about her without crying. She was beloved by me but it doesn’t compare to what her girls lost. Most of the tears I shed are not for myself, though I do miss her. They are for what her husband, daughters and grandchildren do not have because of cancer. I can’t really communicate the loss. Although as she would have wanted them to, her daughters have grown up to be smart, kind, talented women and wonderful mothers they still miss her every day, and no amount of time can make her loss less tragic.
Hang in there with me, friends, I know this is getting real. But cancer is real. And we’ve got to talk about it. It’s vital to spread the word about campaigns like Dig In & Do Good and and get behind companies like MasterCard that are using their corporate citizenship to fund cancer research. And I believe this next example will show you why.
Twenty-five years after losing my Aunt Kathy to ovarian cancer, I was shocked and frightened when one of my good friends, Elizabeth (aka E) was also diagnosed with ovarian cancer. She was 38 and had three young kids and this cancer thing seemed to come out of nowhere. E was one of the most healthy, exercise-loving people I knew. But one minute she was feeling really bloated and the next – wham! – stage 3 ovarian cancer. In the blink of an eye, her life changed. She underwent a big surgery including a complete hysterectomy and the doctors were able to get all of her cancer. She then had several months of chemotherapy – a special, research-y kind which she was so happy to be able to get. If you’ve been reading this blog for awhile, you’ll recall that Emily and I led a group of E’s friends who blog into a fundraising effort called “GimmE Five!” and YOU and all our readers helped us raise over $2,000 for her family in one day, and ultimately over $5,000! These funds paid for some cancer-related expenses and for E and her husband Steve to be able to hire a nanny for their three young kids while E had chemo.
Six months after her cancer journey began, E was officially cancer-free, and had a par-tay to celebrate!
Over two years later, she is still doing great. All of her checkups have been excellent. This September, coincidentally Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month (seriously ladies, KNOW THE SYMPTOMS. Soapbox: your ovaries can kill you a lot faster than your boobs can.), E had the chemo port that had been inside of her for the better part of three years removed. We all thank God for healing E, and for the special researchy-chemo that knocked out her cancer. And for all the new technologies that are available for E and for all of us women that weren’t available in the 1980’s.
A couple of months after her cancer-free party, E guest blogged for us during Ovarian Cancer Awareness month about her journey up to that point. If you didn’t read it then, read it now.
Now E spends a large amount of her time volunteering at her kids’ school, and taking them on adventures near and far with her husband, Steve (they are traveling FOOLS!).
E’s primary identity is not “cancer survivor” – but she is one!! She is a reminder to me of lots of things: be aware of your ovaries, no one is immune to cancer, God is good in all things, and cancer research is vitally important.
We all have cancer stories. Thanks for listening to mine, and please feel free to share your own in the comments. And remember during the crazy busy-ness of this holiday season, that until December 31, 2013, fighting cancer is something you can raise your fork and your glass in honor of.Because you canDig In & Do Good and be a big part of contributing up tofour million dollarsto Stand Up To Cancer when you eat out and spend $10 or more on your MasterCard.
Do it, my friends! Do it so that one day we won’t have any more cancer stories to tell.
