Mundie Moms

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Thoughtful Thursday & Giveaway

We love charities. We think that making others aware of what's out there, helps spread the word about ways we can all give back and make a difference in someone else's life. That's how our Thoughtful Thursday started. We wanted to spotlight charities and organizations who make a difference in the world around us.

Today we wanted to to see what charities you think we should spotlight.

Leave us a link with a charity or organization you'd like to see us spotlight and why. You'll then be entered for a chance to win some SIGNED swag. Here's what one lucky person will win:

* a signed The Body Finder poster by Kimberly Derting
* a signed Linger bookmark by Maggie Stiefvater
* a signed 13 To Life postcard by Shannon Delany
* a signed Shadowed Summer bookmark by Saundra Mitchell

AND you can receive extra entries by:
+ 1 referring friends to leave us a comment w/ their favorite charity
+1 RTing our post about this on Twitter (post the link in your comments)
+5 for following our blog or/and being a forum member

This contest ends July 15th. ONE winner will be drawn using Random.Org We'll contact that winner via email and post their name on our blog, the following day.
Please be sure to include a valid email address and ONE entry per person, please.

*This is open to our worldwide followers.
*We plan to spotlight most all, if not all of the charities and organizations listed and thank the person who brought it to our attention in the post.

33 comments:

  1. If I were to choose a charity to feature, it would be one that has personally benefited my own family. Two years ago, my son was born 9.5 weeks early (at 3 lbs. 1 oz.). We lived an hour away from the hospital he was born at, and while I was out of the hospital after 5 days, my baby stayed a whole seven weeks longer. On the weekends my husband and I were able to stay in a hotel near the hospital so we could easily visit our newborn son. The hotel rooms were paid for by donations to the St. Vincent Foundation and Peyton Manning Children's Hospital. If it hadn't been for those donations, we wouldn't have been able to spend as much time with our new baby. The people in the NICU, our doctors, nurses, and social workers were a true blessing. Being able to stay down there by him was a comfort, and I would wish that any parent in a similar situation would have that same comfort.

    +5 Follower of your blog
    +2 Tweet http://twitter.com/wheems01/status/16408522333 (I also retweeted your original post http://twitter.com/MundieMoms/status/16405665062)

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  2. I've already won something today so you don't have to put me in the running but I do have some favorite charities to shout out to. The World Wildlife Fund is my favorite followed closely by the National Wildlife Federation, both of which I have buttons to on my blog!

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  3. Mine isn't necessarily a charity, more like an organization and I also have some personal ties to it. I had never heard of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (more commonly known as just lupus) until I was diagnosed with it in October of 2004.

    It's estimated that about 80% of the general population knows nothing or very little about lupus. Which I find a very surprising statistic since lupus impacts the lives of 1.5 million Americans and when we think worldwide that number jumps to 5 million. The Lupus Foundation of America (www.lupus.org) is all about spreading awareness and raising money for lupus research so we can one day find a cure for this disease. The LFA is trying to educate people on what lupus is, how it's diagnosed, as well as how it's treated. They also sponsor events such as the Walk for Lupus Now event in cities all across the United States (I participated in my first one last month.)

    I think if more people learned about lupus and then helped to spread awareness we just might be able to find a cure. The LFA is working to make this possible.

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  4. I think you are AWESOME for doing this. :) I have MANY, many suggestions, but will keep it to a few. :)

    STAND: http://standnow.org/ Student-led anti-genocide advocacy org. I ran a chapter in my undergrad. They've done so much (i.e. - Speak Up) for people experiencing genocide across the globe. These young people are inspiring and a force!

    Break the Cycle: http://www.breakthecycle.org/ Agency that empowers young people to end dating violence, since it is unfortunately on the rise among young people. You can read more about them on my blog post: http://ashleyhoffenberg.blogspot.com/2010/06/cause-of-month-break-cycle.html

    Girl Up http://www.girlup.org/ and The Girl Effect http://www.girleffect.org/
    Both support the importance girls can have in their communities across the globe. Many cultures and countries do not respect females for anything other than their fertility. Many aren't given the option of education, etc. If given then opportunity, girls can create major change in their homes and communities.

    The TAP Project: http://www.tapproject.org/about/
    Every day 4,100 children die of water-related diseases. Nearly 900 million people worldwide lack access to safe drinking water. Almost half of them are children. Just $1 raised through the UNICEF Tap Project can provide a child with safe water for 40 days.

    +5 I am a follower of your blog.
    +1 I Tweeted your lovely idea! http://twitter.com/SmashAttackAsh/statuses/16410710869

    a.hoffenberg at gmail dot com

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  5. The Meningitis Trust is a really important organisation in the UK. I lost a friend at 17 to meningitis. It turns out that he had been carrying the virus in his throat for some time (not uncommon) and that several recent bouts of illness had, in all likelihood, been meningitis. The Meningitis Trust aims to raise awareness of the disease and particularly awareness of the symptoms - vital for a disease that is incredibly fast moving and not as uncommon as people think. I think it is a particularly important organisation for teens. People generally think of meningitis mainly being a danger to small children, but teens are an at risk group who could benefit from the advice, support and information that the Meningitis Trust provide. A great organisation.

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  6. My charity choice is http://www.stollerykids.com/
    The Strollery Childerns in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada - lots of people from all over the world coem to Edmonton for the Childerns hospital for their childern if needed. We always hope that everyones childern won't have to go to a hospital and that they are all super healthy but we can't always control that and the Stollery specializes in child health.

    This charity is near and dear to me because my boyfriends niece and nephew have both had to be at the Stollery for some time and they were nothing but nice and helpful!

    +5 for blog memeber

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  7. my favourite charity is the RSPCA in the UK, and more specifically, the Woodside Animal Shelter where i rescued my cat Riley. they are a non profit org and they rely completely on donations to keep their wonderful, no-kill shelter up. they accept all types of animals, sick or non and they always accept them back if the adoptions dont work out. it is a fantastic, well run, beautiful place in the country, http://woodsidesanctuary.org.uk. :)

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  8. My favorite charity would have to be The Harry Potter Alliance for many of reasons...(and these are not in any order of importance)
    1. They are Harry Potter Themed and that just makes them even more amazing
    2. In April they had people all around the world send books to the Mississippi Delta to help increase the literacy rates in children and as a result attempt to decrease the crime rate in that area. Just imagine how many people donated books and how many books were donated! It has to be a HUGE number.
    3. When disaster struck Haiti, Many famous authors and musicians came together and donated a massive amount of signed books and CD's and other works to the Harry Potter Alliance who then turned around and had an auction to raise money to buy foods and supplies to send over to Haiti to aid in getting people back up on their feet. I may be wrong on this number count but they sent over I think 4 huge planes full of supplies for the people of Haiti. They really do try and help people out as much as possible.


    One of their main goals is working with partner NGOs in alerting the world to the dangers of global warming, poverty, and genocide.

    They help raise awareness and support of all those people who cannot help themselves. They have donated (the organization themselves) over 14,000 books to children in need all over the world...not just in the Mississippi delta. They have donated books in Rwanda.

    They work for equal rights for everyone....not just those in the united states and do so without regards to gender, race, social class, or sexuality.

    They also prepare tens of thousands of student leaders to face the global challenges of ending genocide, equal rights, environmental protection, media reform, fair trade, and more.

    They are trying to bring light to all of the issues surrounding us today and get people to speak out and step up to help out.

    They cannot do this without the help of "Dumbledore's Army;" the every day people who are speaking up and spreading the word about their organization allowing them to reach a greater amount of people.

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  9. I suppose it would help if I added their website...

    http://www.thehpalliance.org/

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  10. WOW! Thank you so much for these amazing charities! I didn't even know some of them existed. Thank you for sharing your stories about why you've chosen them. We're looking forward to spotlighting each of them.

    We can't wait to see what other charities are brought to our attention.

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  11. My charity is LLS: The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society: http://www.leukemia-lymphoma.org/hm_lls

    They raise money and support research to help find cures for blood cancers. This is a charity near to my heart because a friend of mine who is 18 was recently diagnosed with leukemia. My theater group is the head of the Rockland County LLS division, and we are currently doing a lot to support LLS and aid with research because of our friend.

    +1 twitter: http://twitter.com/danijohns/status/16424190700
    +5 Blog Follower

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  12. The charity I recently supported is The Humane Society of the United States: http://www.humanesociety.org/. They do a lot of work with animals and are also helping with the oil spill in the Gulf.

    +5-forum member and blog follower
    ferretvamp14@live.com

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  13. I think you should spotlight Greenpeace, because sometimes, I feel as though the rights of animals have been ignored. Animals deserve to live in a natural environment that hasn't been soiled with the pollution of humans. http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/about/greenpeace-environmental-trust
    I'm a follower of this blog!
    xicecreamsjx@aol.com

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  14. I want to talk about something that becoming epidemic... I was introduced to my charity of choice the hard way. In 2009 I lost my 19 year old son to suicide. In our town over the past two years we lost 5 people to the same disease. American Foundation for Suicide Prevention- www.afsp.org/
    No one wants to talk about it....Its everyones worst nightmare... AFSP reaches out to so many families. They can use all the help they can get... they educate our schools...they work so hard to eradicate the shame and guilt... They help surviors to cope as they provide us a link to communicate with other survivors. In this day and age it is truly sad that we're still reduced to the shadows... Please check out their website. God Bless.

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  15. Thank you for making us aware of this cfisher. I do think it's something that's not talked about enough. I can't imagine your grief over losing your son! We will definitely be spot lighting AFSP on one of our Thoughtful Thursdays.

    I think it's very important to spread the word on this. I know first hand how devastating suicide is. I lost a friend of mine in high school to suicide. Our thoughts are with you!!

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  16. ASPCA.org
    They help abandoned and homeless dogs and cats.
    and Humanesociety.org helps animals

    WWF -
    Helps wildlife

    I follow your blog

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  17. The Epilepsy Foundation -

    They really helped with answering our questions, and let us know the facts, what to do during a seizure and what not to do. They also have a program for those in need of help to purchase their medications...

    Google Friend Connect Follower

    Thanks
    heidivargas [at] live dot com

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  18. My favorite charity? The Breast Cancer Site.

    http://www.thebreastcancersite.com/clickToGive/home.faces?siteId=2&link=ctg_bcs_home_from_bcs_thankyou_sitenav

    My mom battled breast cancer and won, but I can't begin to think about what might have happened had she not have detected the lump early. That's why this site is so important. One click--it costs you nothing--and you just given someone a free mammogram, someone who might have not been able to afford it otherwise.

    Ladies, thank you for the opportunity to learn more about so many charities and letting me tell you about mine. :)

    I am both a blog and forum member (Lisa M. Basso)
    angel28140 (AT) yahoo (DOT) com

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  19. Alex's Lemonade Stand will always be a favorite charity of mine. I love the fact that Alex was a little girl when she started and now the organization is HUGE, pulling support from all over the world. (c:

    +5 for following.

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  20. Our family supports Heifer International. Love that the organization helps children and families help themselves. It is truly all about the "pay-it-forward." My son has always loved picking out which animals we were going to gift! http://www.heifer.org/

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  21. The charity I most commonly donate to is Alex's Lemonade Stand (https://www.alexslemonade.org/). My youngest daughter suffers from vascular tumors and has undergone 3 surgeries, but we've VERY fortunate and all tumors have been benign. That makes ALS very special to us...childhood cancer needs to be eradicated. We want that wing of our Children's Hospital renovated and made into a play room. :)

    I retweeted your post, and tweeted 2 separate posts...1 for giveaway, 1 for charities (http://twitter.com/monstermax3)

    I am a blog follower and a forum member (eblogger ~ Louise)

    Thank you for this giveaway!! And for the chance to learn about more wonderful charities! :)

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  22. An important charity to me is UNICEF. They provide children in over 150 countries with health care, clean water, nutrition, education, and emergency relief.
    I feel fortunate that I grew up with a nice house, enough food, and an education. I feel terrible for the kids out there who dont have the same luxury as me. I can't even imagine how hard their lives are.
    http://www.unicefusa.org/

    Also, the Humane Society is one of my favorite charities. It's an animal protection organization and we adopted a cat from there. I hate when animals are abused. I donated some food and cat/dog toys a few years ago, and will probably do it again sometime soon.
    http://www.humanesociety.org/

    Rachel
    Res498(AT)aol.com
    I follow this blog :)

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  23. The charity that I would like to highlight is the Street Culture Kidz project. You can read about them here:

    http://www.streetcultureonline.org/

    and here:

    http://www.caledoninst.org/Publications/PDF/1-894598-08-3.pdf

    I love what this group has offered the youth of my community, taking their talents that might have been misdirected in things like vandalism and graffiti and turning them to positive outlets like facepainting and artwork. They also teach organization and leadership skills, support education, and foster some of the culture that was lost as many of these kids of from First Nations communities that have lost their culture.

    I tweeted about this contest:
    http://twitter.com/fiteach/statuses/17954848543

    I just added your blog to my google reader.

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  24. By the way, it was through Alyson Beecher (http://twitter.com/alybee930) that I found your blog. (So that she can get referral points!) ;-)

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  25. ooohh this contest ends on my b'day! :)

    Charities i support,
    RSPCA across all countries, because i love pets and they deserved to be adored.
    Breast Cancer Research also across all countries, because hopefully their will be a cure.

    And a charity that my aunty runs in the uk, is called COPS care of police survivors.
    http://www.ukcops.org/
    and is basically a charity to support those who partners/family members have been killed in the line of duty. Although its not a known charity, it is to me, because one of my family members was a cop who died while working. I think its a great charity, especially because alot of police officers die while trying to protect people, so its great that they should be recognised for their courage.

    I also admire the work of, To Write Love on her Arms, and Love 146, both organisations are promoted by celebs and bands.

    so yeah. :)
    bianca.riot.08(@)hotmail.com

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  26. Thank you so much for all the wonderful links! I'm excited to be adding these amazing organizations to our Thoughtful Thursdays.

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  27. I think if I had to pick a charity, it would be the American Humane Society. People that abuse animals make me sick; they can't fight back themselves, it's like abusing a child.
    "What does it mean to be humane? It’s an innate desire to protect our children, or compassion to care for an animal in need. And it's our hope to live among people who feel the same. We are advocates for both animals and children."

    And thanks for the great giveaway. <3 I am a follower. ^_^

    london.showers@gmail.com

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  28. Well,I'd pick ASPCA http://www.aspca.org/ because I'm an animal lover,and I can't stand seeing them suffer and be abandoned.I've seen many programs on Tv about their work,and it's beautiful,I really think they need all the help they can get because they show reasults and really help animals in need.
    Thank you for this beautiful giveaway!!

    +1 RTing: http://twitter.com/Julianapiovani/status/18552311955
    +5 for following the blog

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  29. Ops,forgot my e-mail!Sorry!!

    julianapiovani@hotmail.com

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  30. +5 Blog Follower
    +1 Tweeted http://twitter.com/soulfulll_k/status/18603080016

    My charity of choice would have to be the Layla Grace Children's Cancer Research Foundation. This organization was founded after Layla Grace a smart and energetic 2yr old passed away from stage 4 Neuroblastoma (An aggressive form of pediatric cancer).

    Did you know that every 3 1/2 minutes a child is diagnosed with cancer? Well, the Layla Grace Foundation seeks to drastically minimize these statistics. Children deserve to at least enjoy their childhood. Children deserve to be able to play outside on fresh green grass not, inside hospital rooms hooked up with tubes to monitors. Children like Layla, deserve to not have to be poisoned in hopes of this disease being eliminated from their fragile bodies.

    Let's all come together to get better cancer research so that many like Layla don't have to get there angel wings before they even have hopes of turning 3.

    Let's help the Layla Grace Cancer Research Foundation in achieving their mission...

    Mission: The Layla Grace Children's Cancer Research Foundation exists to raise funding for Neuroblastoma research. Neuroblastoma is a cancer of the nervous system that affects 700 children every year in the US. Of those, less than 200 will survive. There is no known cure. In addition to research funding, the Layla Grace Foundation assists the families of children going through treatment.

    Let us do it for the Layla's out there.

    Once again I'd like to say thanks to Mundie Moms for the great job you have been doing :)

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  31. Sorry, forgot to list my email address.....
    shanti804[at]hotmail[dot]com

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  32. That's an amazing idea and I hope you don't mind with my choice, because it's an organization from Brazil, which is where I live.
    This organization is called APASFA and they do an wonderful job, rescuing abused and injured animals and taking care of them, they also promote partnerships with petshops to launch adoptions campaigns.
    The APASFA website: http://www.apasfa.org

    My e-mail: nandabpiovani@hotmail.com

    +1 RTing: http://twitter.com/nanda_revenge/status/18638501581
    +5 for following the blog

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  33. Thank you to everyone who entered. I have really enjoyed receiving so many wonderful links to organizations that we'll be spotlighting on our Thoughtful Thursday.

    This is now CLOSED for the giveaway.

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