Thanks & Giving 2017

Last year a friend of ours introduced us to this website called Donors Choose, a website that allows the public to connect to public schools.

Teachers can raise money for projects, supplies, trips, etc for their classrooms and schools through this website. Our friend, Mrs. Pfaff, last year was raising money for her 1st grade class for supplies so her kiddos could have hands on experience building and learning more about engineering. Way cool! We were so excited to help out, we ended up donating the remainder of the money they needed so they could meet their goal. It wasn't a lot, just a couple hundred dollars, but it made us feel great that our small contribution went to something bigger. 

A couple weeks later I signed up with Refugee Care Collective and committed to buying sets of towels for 52 Refugee Kits to give to newly displaced refugees coming into Portland. You should have seen the looks I got at IKEA! I had an entire cart full of towels. One guy actually asked "Are you opening up a hotel? My wife and I are wondering why you're buying so many towels...and we decided, you must be opening up a hotel!" 

This year for 2017 I am giving back even more than last year and again focusing on my local community. For me personally I like being able to see an immediate impact on my donation of time and funds. It makes me feel like I make a little bit of a difference. 

I have a child I have sponsored through Children's International and truthfully I forget about it sometimes. I get the occasional letter and birthday reminder and I'm happy to help, but what I'm really all about is being able to visit the classroom I was able to help raise funds for or meet with the families that my humble towels might have helped. 

This year I am donating 10% of all sales to different classrooms. I'll be doing it weekly and choosing a different classroom to donate to every week through the end of the year. If there are certain classrooms that I've chosen to support that look like they might get their funding in time, I will most likely focus on those, especially if they're the most in need. 

So this week, I donated to Mrs. Capps class who is raising money for playground equipment and classroom supplies. 

Stay tuned for more updates and to see which other classrooms I will be donating proceeds from my little ole shop too! You're a part of this too!!