Do good Challenge: Week 2

So, I know I'm a little late with this linkup for the week, but it's never to late to do good, right?

In the past week, here are a few of the things I've done

• Cleaned out some clothes and a few household appliances that we don't use anymore and donated them to the Red Cross.
  
• Went through the canned goods in my cabinets to find some to drop in the food bank bin.
  
• Supported some good causes, like the Army of Women, by retweeting their requests for help.
  
• Bought 2 board books to donate to the Children's Hospital through my MOM's Club service project.
  

And here are a few easy ways you can donate online without spending money.

For each like on their Facebook page, Leap frog will donate $10 to Toys for Tots.

Donate meals to the World Food Project by taking or sharing this quiz.

Subaru will make a donation to the cause of your choice for every like on their Facebook page.

For every virtual cookie you send from Glad's cookie exchange, they will donate 10 cents to Pediatric Cancer research.

And there's still time to donate through Kidfresh or Huddle to Fight Hunger

Happy Do gooding! Please link up!

Do Good: Give 30 (or more) meals

Just in time for my Do Good Challenge, I found out about this awesome initiative from Kidfresh.

Kidfresh is a company that makes ready to eat food for kids that it is both healthy and delicious. Since I am always interested in getting more real and whole foods into our lives, and especially into my daughter, this is something I would love to try. It's also a family run company, which makes me want to support them even more.

But what I'm here to talk about today is their initiative with City Harvest. City Harvest is a food relief organization in New York that feeds over 300,000 people a week. And until December 15, for every new like on their facebook page, Kidfresh will donate 30 meals to them. How amazing! And what an easy thing to do!

Because I wrote this post, Kidfresh will donate an additional 300 meals to City Harvest. If you have a blog and would like to do the same, let me know, and I will send you the details. Happy do-gooding!

Do Good this holiday season: A linkup and challenge

It's the holiday season, and I know that for me giving and helping others is a huge part of what makes it special. So, I thought I'd go ahead and start a Do Good challenge here on my blog. I'm going to try to come up with at least one thing I can do every day to help others, particularly things that I can do without spending a lot of time or money, and share them with you. I may not post about them every day, but I'll try to get at least 5 of them up every week.

I invite you to participate in my Do good challenge also! Link up below any Do good posts you write for your blog this week. Link up as many times as you like!

So here goes, my "do good" task for today is to read a book on We Give Books

We give books is a great website where you can read digital copies of children's books for free. For every book you read, Penguin Publishers donates one new book to the children's charity you choose. I cannot think of a simpler way to enjoy giving, and teach your children to give, this holiday season.

Now get linking!

Do Good: Huddle to Fight Hunger

It's that time again! Every year, Kraft hosts a fundraiser for Feeding America, the biggest network of foodbanks in the country. This year, all you have to do is like Huddle to Fight Hunger on Facebook, and Kraft will donate one free meal to a foodbank in your area. Then, play the 2 minute trivia game to donate even more meals.

Tip for the game: the faster you answer the questions, the more yards you gain (meaning you get touchdowns, and therefore meals, faster). I managed to donate 5 meals in my two minutes, but next time I'm hoping for more!

For more ways to donate to charity without spending money, also check out my lens on ways to Click to donate for free

Free stuff to donate!

Are you getting geared up for the Stamp Out Hunger food drive? What's that, you say, you have nothing to donate? Here are some things you can pick up this week for free that your local food bank would love to have.

Walgreens

Carefree Pantiliners are on sale for $0.99.
Use $1/1 from last Sunday's Smart Source coupon insert.

Tylenol Precise on sale for $7.99. (This is either a cream or a heating pad and is not with the pain relievers in my store, so you know.
Use $5/1 printable coupon.
AND use the $3/1 store coupon from the Walgreens May Coupon Booklet (found in the front of the store)

Nature Made Calcium 120 ct is on sale for $5. This was not marked down in my store but still rung up for $5!
Use $5 printable coupon on the Walgreens facebook page


Target

Aquafresh Extreme Clean .8oz Travel Size regular price .97 (In the travel aisle)
Use $1/1 Any Aquafresh Extreme Clean Product HERE

Reach Floss $1
Use $1/1 Printable coupon (no longer available)

CVS
Similac Ready to Feed Formula (32 oz) – $4.99
Use $5.00/1 Similac Product from 4/3 Smart Source insert

Thanks to Coupon Katarina and Totally Target for finding these deals. If you have more time and more coupons, check out their awesome sites!

Don't forget to join the Facebook cause to ask Campbells to donate a pound of food and like Valpak to donate another $1

Do Good: Stamp Out Hunger

Stamp Out Hunger, the national letter carriers' food drive, is coming up on Saturday, May 14. If you, like me, have an overflowing stockpile of non-perishable foods and health and beauty aids, this is a great way to clean out your pantry while helping others. And it's so easy! Just leave the food out by your mailbox next Saturday, and it will be donated to a local food bank for you.

Plus when you join Stamp out Hunger on facebook causes, Campbells will donate 1 pound of food on your behalf. What are you waiting for? Go join!

Do Good: Free $1 donation to Japan relief efforts

Right now when you like Voskos Yogurt and their current status, they will donate $1 to relief efforts in Japan.

As I find more ways to help Japan charities, I will post them on my Ways to Help Japan Now lens on Squidoo. Please feel free to link up your ideas there or here.

Do Good: Join my village is back!

One of my favorite sites for donating for free, Join My Village is back for 2011. Unlike last year, when you could earn several dollars a day for the Malawi village of your choice, now you can only take one action a month. So far each of these actions have been videos to watch, and each has earned $1 or $2 for your village. Not as high an impact as last year’s program, but still definitely worth taking a few minutes to do. The coolest part is hearing about what the villages are doing with the money to help improve education and create jobs and businesses.
The sponsors will also match any donations you make, so if you are interested in giving for poverty relief, it’s a great way to raise the impact of your donations.

Do good: Feed a child in Haiti for free

Right now, at the World Food Program's website you can Feed a child in Haiti simply by taking a free quiz. Please take a minute to go do it. Every little bit helps.

Do good: Give a day of water

http://changents.com http://givehealth.changents.com

Please enter your email address above to donate a day of water. Share it on facebook or twitter to donate even more.

Do good: 100,000 Heartbeats for Women

Do Good with your smartphone

I recently discovered a smartphone ap called Cause World which allows you to donate to charity for free using your smartphone. Simply download this free ap to your Iphone or Droid and companies will donate to charity every time you do simple actions like walking into a store. If you already have one of these phones, it sounds like a great way to give a little extra.

For more ways to give for free check out Click to Donate on squidoo.

Do Good: Share the Table

Right now if you go to Share the Table and click to support family meals, Barilla will give $1 to Meals on Wheels. $1 for one click is a pretty big impact.

Plus, if you're into sweepstakes, you can enter to win a pasta meal. The odds are pretty good, and it's pretty easy to enter.

Do Good: Army of Women

If you are a woman and you've been looking for a way to make a difference, consider signing up for Army of Women and their landmark study Health of Women. It is a giant, comprehensive women's health study focusing on finding causes of women's cancers. They need both cancer patients and survivors, and women who have never had cancer. As a member you will participate in surveys and be eligible for clinical studies that will help to unlock some of the mysteries about women's health. In short, they will accumulate information from participants over time and keep track of what factors seem to affect cancer growth.

This is a great opportunity to make a difference in women's health.

A Time to Give: Gifts that give twice

It's the holiday season, and I am always looking for more ways to give, both to the people I know and love and to charities that do important work. The ideal for me is to give gifts that do both: bring joy to the people around me and help people around the world.

Because I'm very anti-clutter, whenever possible I like to give gifts that won't just end up sitting around people's houses. Both Heifer International and Oxfam America have unique collections of clutter free gifts that help to end hunger and poverty in the world. Through Heifer International, you can give things like sheep and goats to villages in need and send your family a card. The Oxfam program is similar, but with a larger variety and price range of gifts. What I like best about these two programs is that you are giving a donation in someone's name, but they are also able to see exactly what that donation will accomplish.

If you would rather give something tangible, consider giving a gift that also triggers a donation and supports humanitarian work. Mercy Corps coffee is grown through a partnership that allows $2 from the sale of each pound of coffee (that's 1/3 of the price) to go directly back into Mercy Corps charitable programs. I also like the artisan collection at The Child Health Site because it does good in two ways. The items are made by artisans in the developing world, thus supporting the growth of small businesses internationally. Plus, every purchase triggers a donation through The Child Health Site to charities that support children. If you aren't into the artisan items, you can check out the large number of items for sale across The Hunger Site suite, many of which raise awareness and all of which trigger donations to good causes. Or, if you are looking for a more traditional gift, consider shopping through iGive, a charity portal that allows you to give to the charity of your choice while purchasing at the stores you normally frequent online.

While I'm on the subject, consider the sources of your holiday cards. It may be a little late for this year, but Feeding America has a collection of Christmas cards that raise money and awareness to help fight hunger in America. One of my favorites though is St. Jude's Ranch, a shelter for homeless and abandoned children which sells recycled cards made by the children themselves. They also accept donations of used card fronts. Read the website for more details.

Please feel free to share with me your favorite ways to give gifts that give twice, and check out more ways to give at Saving and Giving.

Do good this Thanksgiving

A few more sites that let you do good by helping charities at no cost to you:

Help Feeding America Take a food related trivia quiz and Kraft Foods will donate to Feeding America

Good Egg Project Pledge to eat well and contribute to your community and one egg will be donated to Feeding America.

I'm a big fan of Feeding America this holiday season. They distribute food to a network of food banks all over the country, usually food that would otherwise go in a landfill. I love charities that help the hungry and the environment at the same time.

Do Good: Join My Village

I've written about a number of ways you can make a difference with your computer, and I just found this new one. At Join my village, you can unlock donations for a village of your choice in Malawi just by taking simple daily actions. Every time you take a short quiz, General Mills will donate $1 to your village. Plus, they will match your personal donations, up to $50 per person. So, let's get out there and do some good!

A time to give: Giving with your computer

You may have noticed the new charity banners on my sidebar. Whenever possible, I like to use the Internet and my computer to help me help charities I care about. Here are a few of the sites that I use to give with my time instead of my money.

Better the World is a new giving community. You can earn points towards cash donations to your favorite charity by visiting their website, filling out profiles, viewing ads, installing a browser toolbar, or by putting a widget on your website, social network profiles or blog (like the one to the right). You can generate lots of charitable donations for activities you do anyway.

Social vibe is a very similar concept. Donate to charity by installing sponsor messages on your websites or profiles, and by participating in the social community. Choose your cause and choose your sponsor. Some sponsors also give out "perks" but I have yet to get anything.


If you have more time, check out my list of Click to donate sites on squidoo with a great list of different ways to give to charity without spending money.

For more ways to give, check out A Time to Give at Saving and Giving.

Do good: Plant some trees for free

Register at Cool Tribe and complete your profile, and they will plant a tree on your behalf.

Sign up for the Celestial Seasonings newsletter, and they will plant a tree.

Do good: Do Something 101

Staples is partnering with Do Something, an organization which promotes teen volunteering to sponsor Do Something 101, a nationwide school supply drive. According to Money Saving Mom, there are lots of free or cheap school supplies at CVS this week. It seems like a great and inexpensive way to make a difference in a child's life.