With the summer months behind us, the brisk cold weather, also known as the “Danger Season” is making it’s approach.  For some of us, we will simply turn on the heat and snuggle underneath a layer of blankets.  But not everyone will have that opportunity.

Carter’s (a store I shop frequently) is launching the “Cuddles from Carter’s” program which will provide clothing to children in extreme need. Carter’s has committed to donate 50,000 pairs of pajamas, valued at $500,000, to the Pajama Program, a national non-profit organization which delivers new pajamas and books to children in foster care, temporary housing or homeless shelters.

In addition to their generous donation, Carter’s is reaching out to customers to help raise awareness about Pajama Program’s mission.  The best part is you have the opportunity to help and be part of this cause.  If you shop in-store, donations of $1, $3 or $5 can be made at the register.  But hurry because you only have until October 17th for in-store donations.  If you shop online however, you can make your $1, $5 or $10 donation during the online checkout process.

I received a gift card for my time and effort in promoting this cause.

With the hot summer weather, I’m sure many of us are enjoying nice cold treats. This weekend, you can help a worthy cause just by purchasing a Frosty! Pretty cool, right?!?  Just like years past, for every Frosty purchased on Father’s Day Weekend (that’s today and tomorrow, the 18th & 19th), 50 cents from the purchase will be donated to the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption.

HOW DO I DONATE?

There are so many easy ways to donate!

• Twitter – Use the Treat it Forward application on www.facebook.com/frosty (Treat it Fwd tab), or use the hashtag: #TreatItFwd.  A donation will be made, by Wendy’s, for each designated tweet or re-tweet made from Treat it Forward.
• Facebook – Send a Facebook friend a “virtual” Frosty, or tell friends about Father’s Day Frosty Weekend through the Facebook application found on www.facebook.com/frosty (Treat it Fwd tab); as a result, Wendy’s will make a donation.
• Also, from Facebook, on Father’s Day Weekend only (June 18 & 19), offer a “Here’s to You, Dad!” Frosty “virtual toast” by snapping a photo of you raising your Frosty cup to Dad, tagging it with the words “Wendy’s Father’s Day Frosty Weekend” and posting it to Wendy’s Facebook wall or tweeting it; this, too, will result in a donation from Wendy’s.
• Foursquare – Every person who ‘checks in’ to a Wendy’s during Father’s Day weekend only (June 18 & 19) will result in a donation from Wendy’s.

With so many ways to help, I hope you’ll do your part to help out the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption this weekend!

Giveaway:

One (1) winner will receive a $10 Wendy’s Gift Card!

How to Enter:

Simply leave me a comment below letting me know you’d like to win!

Extra Entries Available:

After you have completed the first entry, you are eligible for additional entries. Make sure you leave a separate comment for EACH entry. Each counts as one extra entry unless noted otherwise.

• Subscribe to Simply Being Mommy by reader or email.
• Follow Simply Being Mommy on Google Friend Connect.
• “Like” Simply Being Mommy and Frosty on Facebook.
• Follow Simply Being Mommy on Twitter AND Tweet about the giveaway. Leave the URL to the Tweet in your comment. You can tweet once a day, but remember to leave the URL to each tweet. You must have at least 50 followers for this extra entry. You can tweet ” #Win a $10 Wendy’s Gift Card from @SimplyBeingMom and @Wendys http://bit.ly/imuLg5 #giveaway “

This giveaway will end on July 2nd at 10:00 PM Central time. Winner will be chosen via a random number generator. Giveaway is open to US entries. The winner must contact me in 48 hours to claim their prize. Good luck to everyone!

The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely that of the blog owners. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer or provider. I received a gift card in order to facilitate this post.

This past March, I posted about The Company Store and Company Kids Charity Design Contest in support of art education and charitable work among America’s youth.  There were quite a few fantastic entries, all of which were voted on by fans on the Facebook Fan Page.

There are now three winning designs and later this year each will be transformed into a limited-edition comforter that will be available for purchase.

The Company Store has committed to create and donate 1,000 comforters in each winning design adding to the tens of thousands of comforters donated through their Buy One, Give One Comforter Donation Program to homeless children in shelters throughout the country.

“What began as a creative concept to engage our loyal consumers has blossomed into a heartwarming program,” said Dennis Warner, Chief Marketing Officer of The Company Store. “The program has far exceeded our expectations, and we couldn’t be more elated with the inspiring artwork from the talented pool of young artists.”

I will receive a beach bag and towel as a thank you for posting.

With Mother’s Day right around the corner, I encourage you to take part in Macy’s “Thank a Mom Movement” and help raise $400,000 for one of five partnering charities.  The “Thank a Mom Movement” not only celebrates mom but empowers you to select which charity you want Macy’s to donate $5 to in her honor!

Joining the movement is simple!  All you need to do is send a free e-card to any amazing moms in your life and Macy’s will donate to the charity of your choice.  Macy’s five partnering charities are: Futures Without Violence formerly Family Violence Prevention Fund, The Make-A-Wish Foundation, National Park Foundation, Reading Is Fundamental and American Heart Association’s Go Red For Women Movement. There is no cost to you — just a few seconds of your time.

I hope you’ll follow my lead and send a special mom in your life a free e-card while helping a charity in need.

I get really excited when I see companies doing things in support of charities and Company Kids and The Company Store started a fantastic initiative to support art education and charitable work among America’s youth with the Kids’ Design Contest.  The Company Store, who is celebrating their 100th anniversary, is currently accepting original artwork from children 12 years and under.  If you have a budding little artist on your hands, this contest is perfect.

Submissions can be uploaded to the Company Kids Facebook Page.  The winning piece will be transformed into a comforter print for Company Kids ongoing Buy One, Give One Comforter Donation Program, in which The Company Store donates a new comforter to a homeless child for every comforter sold.  In addition, there will also be cash prizes!  Good luck to everyone who enters.

I received free product for this post.

Last week I learned about the amazing “Share Your Breakfast” program and I participated in a live video chat with Trinh Le, senior brand manager at Kellogg, and Dr. Reginald Washington, chair of the board of Action for Healthy Kids, to chat about the program and learn about what they are doing to help share breakfast with children who might otherwise miss out.  The chat was very informational and I’m so glad that I was invited to participate. If you were not able to make the chat or simply did not know about it, you can view it from the video below.

As I mentioned in my previous post about the Share Your Breakfast program, doing your part to help hungry children is really quite simple.  You can upload a picture of your breakfast, like I did, and share your breakfast that way. Or, you can text the word SHARE with a photo or a description of your breakfast to 21534 and share your breakfast that way. Your breakfast does NOT have to be a Kellogg product. It can be anything from a cup of coffee to leftover pizza. Either way is incredibly simple and super fast. The program began on January 20 and will run through July 31, 2011. Each time you share a photo or description of your breakfast, Kellogg will donate the monetary equivalent of school breakfasts to Action for Healthy Kids. A single dollar donated is equivalent to five school breakfasts shared through the grants distributed by Action for Healthy Kids.

Kellogg will be celebrating breakfast on a nationwide scale because the Mayor’s office in New York City has declared March 8th as National Breakfast Day – a day dedicated to sharing breakfast with children in need.  I hope you’ll take part on this special day by sending in pictures of your breakfast.  I know all the children will thank you!

This is a sponsored post for my role as a co-host of the Virtual Breakfast talk by Kellogg’s and the Motherhood.com.

As a mother, I can not bear the thought of not having money to buy my children food.  And yet, one in four children live in households that don’t always have food readily available for them.

But, you can help!

Kellogg’s has partnered with Action for Healthy Kids, a nonprofit organization, and created a program that is designed to reach the goal of helping share one million breakfasts with kids who need them most.  The Kellogg’s Share Your Breakfast program has a goal to help share one million breakfasts by the start of the 2011–2012 school year.

How YOU Can Help

Helping this wonderful cause is super simple. When you share a photo or description of your breakfast, Kellogg’s will help share a breakfast with kids in school who might not be able to have breakfast at home every day. You can share your breakfast as often as you want to help reach the goal of one million breakfasts.

You can upload a picture of your breakfast, like I did, and share your breakfast that way.  Or, you can text the word SHARE with a photo or a description of breakfast to 21534 and share your breakfast that way.  Either way is incredibly simple and super fast.

Plus, tomorrow (March 1st) you can attend the virtual breakfast from 11:30 am – 12:00 pm ET with Join Trinh Le, senior brand manager at Kellogg, and Dr. Reginald Washington, chair of the board of Action for Healthy Kids, to chat about the Share Your Breakfast program and what they are doing to help end childhood hunger in the United States.

So, what are you waiting for?  Go ahead and share your breakfast and help a child in need — just like I did.

This is a sponsored post for my role as a co-host of the Virtual Breakfast talk by Kellogg’s and the Motherhood.com.

I hope you’ll help out and send a special message to our troops during the holiday season.

CardsDirect knows that those serving our country deserve special recognition throughout the year but especially during the holiday season. In an effort to salute our troops we are preparing to send a Texas sized holiday card and need your help! CardsDirect invites you enter a special message that will be printed on an enormous card to be delivered to our troops in December. Being away from friends and family during the holidays is especially tough for our fighting men and women but we know a show of appreciation from those they are defending will do wonders to keep their spirits high. Please join CardsDirect in saluting our holiday heroes by entering your message now!

I just submitted mine and it took less than a minute. Can you spare a minute for the men and women serving this wonderful country?

I was recently given the opportunity to partcipate in a project with Nestle to bring awareness to education and literacy through the Reading Is Fundamental program. Phase one of the project was to throw a party with family and friends which was a huge success and the second phase was to choose a RIF location and make a $350 book donation provided by Nestle.

I was given a list of RIF locations and wished I could make a donation to each one.  But since that was not an option I chose to make my donation to the Teen Parenting Program at a local high school.  I chose this location because being a young parent is not easy and the children are usually the ones that suffer the most.  Education and literacy is critical and I’m thankful I was given the opportunity to support such a great cause.

I was compensated for my participation in this campaign.

My family and I have dinner around the table pretty much every single night. If it’s not around our dinner table at home, it’s around the table at a restaurant. It’s something that I think is very important and it gives us all time to talk to each other without competing with the television and video games. As I mentioned in my Virtual Food Drive post, Libby’s has teamed up with Feeding America, the nation’s largest domestic hunger-relief organization, to bring families back to the table.

From Left to Right: Rachel of Following in My Shoes; Jamie of Loves to Shop Mom;
Hannah Keeley of the PBS show Hannah, Help Me! and Total Mom; Shannon of Potamus Prefers; and Me!

A small group of local Houston bloggers, along with author and creator of Total Mom, Hannah Keeley, and representatives from Libby’s, came together in an effort to get families back to the table in our own community.   Together as a group we assembled 30 bags full of Libby’s canned goods, an apron made by Jamie, grocery shopping lists from Shannon, What’s for Dinner boards made by Rachel and I made little bags with a ramekin and Mini Chicken Alfredo Pot Pie recipe.

These bags were dontated to Houston Charity Agency, which is a nonprofit organization that helps families in the Houston area.  They serve over 3,000 families each year by distributing food, clothing and household essentials directly to families to help them get back on their feet after a crisis or hardship. They also work with women’s shelters and transitional living centers to furnish the apartments and homes of their graduates as they take their next step towards independence and a new life.  It’s a great feeling knowing you helped someone within your very own community.

We all sat around and talked for two hours about our children, families and learned some great tips from Hannah as we enjoyed amazing food from EJ’s Pizzeria.  I’d like to keep the conversation going with tips from you, my lovely readers by offering you a lovely giveaway provided by Libby’s and Hannah Keeley.

Giveaway:

One (1) winner will receive a Reusable Libby’s grocery tote, Libby’s product, a “state of the art” can-opener and a copy of Hannah Keeley’s book, Total Mom Makeover!

How to Enter:

Leave me a comment below letting me know what is one tip you have for helping mom’s get their families back to the table?

Extra Entries Available:

After you have completed the first entry, you are eligible for additional entries. Make sure you leave a separate comment for EACH entry. Each counts as one extra entry unless noted otherwise.

• Create your own Virtual Food Drive and leave the link to your food drive in a comment. {10 extra entries}
• Blog about this giveaway with a link back to Simply Being Mommy (www.simplybeingmommy.com). Leave the URL to your blog post in the comment. {5 extra entries}
• Subscribe to Simply Being Mommy by reader or email.
• “Like” Simply Being Mommy on Facebook.
• Follow Simply Being Mommy on Twitter AND Tweet about the giveaway. Leave the URL to the Tweet in your comment. You can tweet once a day, but remember to leave the URL to each tweet. You must have at least 50 followers for this extra entry. You can tweet ” Join @simplybeingmom and @LibbysTable in helping get families back to the table and WIN! http://bit.ly/8YALnC #LibbysGiving “
• Stumble this post (not the site) and leave me your StumbleUpon Name in your comment.
• Add the Simply Being Mommy button to your sidebar. (Let me know where I can find it in your comment.)

This giveaway will end on October 1st at 10:00 PM Central time. Winner will be chosen via a random number generator. Giveaway is open to US entries. The winner must contact me in 48 hours to claim their prize. Good luck to everyone!

The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely that of the blog owners. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer or provider. I received no compensation for this post.