Pie in the Sky

Have you heard of Community Servings' Pie in the Sky? Community Servings provides medically-tailored meals to 1,525 sick people a day in 20 communities throughout Massachusetts. For $30, you can have a delicious Apple, Sweet Potato, Pecan, or Pumpkin pie baked from one of Greater Boston's best bakers (who donate their time to this cause!). You then pick up your pie on Wednesday, November 23rd (the day before Thanksgiving) at one of 80 convenient pick up sites throughout Greater Boston. For those local to Foxboro, there are locations in Sharon, Walpole, Canton, and Dedham. No matter where you live in the greater Boston area there is most likely a location near you. You can check out their Pick Up Site Locator HERE.

Wait...wait...you haven't even heard the best part yet. Each pie that is sold provides one week's worth of nutritious, made from scratch, home delivered meals to someone who is too sick to shop or cook for themselves and their family. $0.93 of every $1 raised goes directly to individuals in need so you can rest assured that your money is going directly to good use.

This year when you sit down to eat pie on Thanksgiving you can feel extra awesome because your good deed is helping someone else enjoy their Thanksgiving as well. Don't like pie (is that possible?) or you wont be around for the holiday? You can still purchase a pie and it will be donated to a Community Servings' client to enjoy.

Ready to buy? Click HERE to be directed to my personal page. Thanks for your consideration!

Pay It Forward Challenge and Giveaway from Stop and Shop

So far in 2015, Stop & Shop has donated over $12 million and 300,000 holiday meals to hunger relief organizations and to those in need. They kicked off the 2015 holiday season by encouraging their neighbors to give back and create a stronger community throughout New England. By learning more about Stop & Shop’s commitment to being a better neighbor, they hope customers and families will be encouraged to bring back random acts of kindness and turn neighbors into friends, and neighborhoods into communities. Stop and Shop reached out to me to see if I would like to be a part of their Pay It Forward Challenge. They offered me a Stop and Shop gift card to use in any way that I saw fit to help benefit my local community. So cool, right?

I took this opportunity to support LYNN Ministries which stands for Love Your Neighbor Now. LYNN Ministries assists the local homeless population in the Foxboro/Attleboro/Brockton area. Each month, they deliver a hot meal, fresh fruit, fresh baked items, clothing, blankets, and personal care items to those without a permanent home. They also help facilitate a connection to resources, local churches, and provide one of the best gifts of all - hope.

I reached out to Debbie Snow, who runs the organization along with her husband, to see how Stop and Shop's donation might be able to assist them best. I know with charities they sometimes have an abundance of one item but are really low on others so I wanted to make sure that our donation was truly useful at this time. Debbie agreed to meet up with me and the kids after school at Stop and Shop (she must be a saint, right?) in order to tell us more about the organization and help us pick out items. The kids were really excited to be a part of the purchase and donation. 

We learned that LYNN Ministries hands out 150 baggies each month with necessary toiletries and supplies for the homeless. These individuals and families do not have a permanent place to put their things so travel sized items are what are needed most. Currently, the ministry was very low on toothpaste so we were able to pick up a bunch for them.

The kids were fascinated to hear that some people live in tents (year round) so Debbie was kind enough to share this photo with me of one of her friend's homes. I say friend's home because that is exactly what the people she supports are to Debbie - her friends.

The picture really helps put it in perspective.

LYNN Ministries also provides a meal each month that they cook fresh, package up in individual containers, and deliver to those in need. We were able to purchase pork for them to serve at their holiday meal. The money they save from not having to purchase the meat themselves, they will now put towards winter coats, gloves, and socks. I loved hearing how Stop and Shop's donation of toiletries and meat would then have a trigger effect of allowing them to purchase other items that are desperately needed.

Here we are heading to the check out - bunny ears and all!

Debbie and John Snow with the donations that we purchased courtesy of Stop and Shop's generosity (WOW!!)

If you are interested in learning more about how you might be able to help, you can check out the supply list of items that LYNN Ministries is in need of (year round) HERE. If you are local to Foxboro, MA, I'd be happy to help coordinate with you a pick up/drop off of any donations. This really is such a great, hands on ministry where donations go directly to those in need.

Feeling touched and moved? Awesome, because it's your turn! I am giving away a $50 Stop and Shop gift card so that YOU can help pay it forward this holiday season. You can choose to spend the gift card on however you see fit - donating to your local food bank, buying toys/books for children in need, the list is endless! Once you do spend your money, we would love for you to share your donation story with others so that they might be inspired to do the same. Share your story and photo using the hashtag #PayItForwardwithSS on Facebook, Instagram, etc so that we can all enjoy them!

Best of luck - I can't wait to hear how you're sharing the love this holiday season!

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Princess Kiley's Pediatric Cancer Research Fundraiser

Several years ago, my mother in law remarried which made my husband's already large family that much larger. We instantly, officially, inherited a whole new family to add to our gang. One of the members is a step niece, Kiley, who like most of the nieces and nephews was no more than a toddler on that wedding day. No one could have imagined the long, hard battle that she and her family would start just a few short years later. Only a couple of weeks after her fifth birthday in 2014, Kiley was diagnosed with Rhabdomyosarcoma, a rare pediatric cancer. Since then, she has been facing a very difficult battle including surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy. 

In order to gain more funding for pediatric cancer, her family is hosting a "Princess Kiley's Me and My Doll Experience" fundraiser on both Feb 14th and 21st. All proceeds will be donated to The Children's Cancer Therapy Development Institute. 

The Sullivan family has turned their former house into a virtual American Girl museum for children to explore. There will be American Girl (and various other brand) clothes, accessories, furniture, and shoes available for sale. In addition, there will be an "interactive school" where girls can bring their dolls to play and be students. They'll also have extra dolls in case anyone doesn't have one! In addition, the event will sell homemade items, crafts, books, and baked goods. Raffles and silent auction items will also be taking place during the event. So fun, right?

Event Details: 

Princess Kiley's Me and My Doll Experience

Feb 14th AND 21st

12pm-4pm

85 Wardwell Road

West Hartford, CT

 

 

Isabelle and I will be attending and helping out on the 14th and we'd love to see you there!

If you'd like to learn more about Kiley and follow along with her journey, please like her Facebook page HERE. If you are interested in volunteering at the event, you can find out more information HERE. If you can't attend but would like to donate towards pediatric cancer research, you can click HERE.

Gooooooooo, Team Kiley!

Teaching Generosity to Children

Each month at Pre-K Isabelle works towards earning a badge that goes on her backpack. So far they have had: I am a Friend, I am Kind, and I am Thankful. This month they are working towards I am Generous and had specific instructions on how to earn it. Each child has to do something around the house to earn money. They then need to take that money and purchase hats and/or mittens for children in need.

Isabelle was excited about the idea of earning money so she would volunteer to do things whenever she saw the opportunity. One day she even went to the curb and grabbed the recycling bins (one of my least favorite chores – score!). She also helped do prep work for a gathering of friends that I had coming over in addition to picking up toys, etc. So after her hard work, she had earned enough money that we headed to the store for her to pick out some hats and gloves. She loved picking out the items and then proudly paid the cashier with her own money. 

I thought it was such a great way to get the kids involved with the spirit of giving. She worked hard at home to earn the money and then was excited to use it to buy for someone less fortunate. She’ll be heading to school today with her hats and gloves to hang on the “Giving Tree” that they have set up in the classroom. I’m so glad that Isabelle’s school focuses on not just academic teaching but also teaching them how to be good and caring people. It’s such an important lesson!  

National Reading Month: Give the Gift of Literacy!

Did you know that experts believe that almost 40% of 4^th graders don’t have basic reading proficiency? Did you know that 2/3 of American children living in poverty do not have ANY books at home? These statistics are alarming to me. My 3 and 4 year old (who can’t even read yet) go to bed with about twenty books each in their beds to look through at night.  I often go in to my 19 month old’s room in the morning to find him happily sitting and thumbing through a board book. Imagine living in a house with no books?  I can’t (and I’m not even personally an avid reader!).

Instead of just pushing these facts aside, Stowed Stuff and I have decided to try to do something about it. In honor of March being National Reading Month, we have decided to support Reading is Fundamental (RIF) in their vision of “a literate America in which all children have access to books and discover the joys and value of reading.”  RIF delivers free books and literacy tools to the people who need them most. Volunteers spend their time in schools, homeless shelters, and wherever they are needed most to plant the seeds of learning in the next generation. How could we not want to help?  How could YOU not want to help? We are asking that each of you make a small donation and help us with this journey.
 

All you need to do is click on DONATE in the box below and follow the instructions. We are also not going to be doing this for just today but also for the entire month of March. Yup, that’s right, get ready for lots of reminders about it! Through the end of March, you will see the donate box on my right side bar so you can donate at any time. I would also love, love, love if you would share this post with others.  Shares = More Views = More Donations = Happy Dollops.

If your children are anything like mine, they have access to endless books around the house (I trip over them constantly!), they have easy access to local libraries where any book they need can be at their fingertips, and they have access to the internet which can help them learn to read. Please take a moment to think of the children who do not have these luxuries. Please think about them and then click donate. Every little bit helps. We can make a difference – one book at a time!

Toddler Isabelle reminds us it's never too early to start reading to our family!