Tuesday, January 07, 2014

Give-Away Update

This is a crispina ffrench pixelated heart throw blanket. LOVE. But I don't want to trick you, like with the cat: I am not giving away this blanket.  Just trying to represent the vast and multiple feelings in my own heart.
My darlings, how I do love you. I am just dying to give everybody what they want. I am in love with so many of the comments, and the comments on the comments, and with Elizabeth McKinney's idea that we all give each other stuff. . . Still not sure how I'm going to do this one. Sigh. So many warm and generous and fun and excellent and heartbreaking wishes are there. (A practical note: your local library may be a better resource for movies than you think.)

In the meantime, I have so much to share! The fact that I am trying to do this, for example. (I know. Welcome to the club, because I can't believe it either. Who am I?) Or that I'm reading this. And that I wrote this over at the NYT Motherlode blog. Or that I have some lovely new recipes to post. More soon. Because really, I'm just popping in here today to add this to the contest, from our own beloved Charlotte, whom you may know better as SeeTryFly:

"I'd like to donate a $25 Kiva chartable gift card to one of your readers, and a $25 donation on someone's behalf for Watsi.org. " A beautiful offer, which she followed up with this note:

"I just remember a few years back when my consulting business went kaput and we went from a dual income to just-barely-keeping-the-house and Christmas was a whole lot of handmade held together with love, and we weren't able to donate to charity for a while.  And it sucked to know that we live in the richest country in the history of the world, and there were people a lot worse off than me, but still, I didn't want to lose my house or skip dinner.  So we didn't give.  Now that we're on more solid footing, I thought maybe there were some other folks that not only didn't get what they had hoped for, but also would like to do a little more good in the world as well.  With Kiva, the person can re-lend and help others escape poverty over and over, even without using any of their own money.  And Watsi, well, it just breaks my heart that good people suffer and die because they don't have a couple hundred bucks to pay for medical treatment.  I hope for the day that Watsi isn't needed because healthcare is considered a human right and everyone has access to the care they need.  I figured with your platform and a bit of cash, we could spread the word about two cool organizations and allow someone to give that maybe couldn't do as much as they would have liked this year."

So enter in the comments here, and win the opportunity to make a charitable donation! (Love you Charlotte, whom I don't know in person.) All results will be posted on Friday.

28 comments:

  1. I'd love to donate to someone, somewhere! Already do Kiva and it's super great. I've been donating the same $50 for 4 years :)

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  2. lovely idea. i hope to pay it forward. thanks, ladies.

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  3. I LOVE the idea of Watsi! I just donated the final amount for a four year old to receive medication and treatment for seizures. What an amazing organization!

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  4. I love all the comments almost as much as the blog posts! Thanks for sharing love and hope.

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  5. Dear Charlotte -- This is a beautiful idea... yes, please. And as for the other give-away, my vote goes to Fran's friend (and still also to the woman who wants the nose-frida -- or as we called it in my house, the "Swedish Snot Sucker.")

    Thank you Catherine for your wonderful blog & recipes & thoughts and ideas (and also thanks for not tricking me again by posting clarification beneath the photo of that gorgeous quilt.)

    xo
    mb

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  6. Love Kiva, didn't know about Watsi. Thanks for the info, Charlotte! I am heading to their website right now to have a look around. :)

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  7. First I was so impressed with the whole giveaway idea (but not entering myself because I live overseas and shipping costs are crazy), but now after reading the comments AND this post, I'm even more impressed with the INCREDIBLE GENEROSITY of you and your readers. Happy to be counted among your fans, and will remain your faithful reader, Susan.

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  8. Just wanted to say my vote goes to Fran's friend also... :)
    And to wish you all a Happy New Year - hoping 2014 brings you love, peace and light.

    Jen D

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  9. Kathy Cornett8:59 AM

    How can I get one of these blankets?!! But, more importantly, have you tried Old Bay Seasoning on popcorn? Or on roasted sweet potatoes? (insert emoticon with the hearts for eyes).

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    1. come see my shop at www.crispina.com to get a blanket like this one!

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  10. Oh my! Thank you for introducing me to both Kiva and Watsi! I'm sharing them with everyone. Today is definitely one of those days when I can't scrape together anything to give (Gosh, I've had about 5 years' worth of those days now. I keep saying it's got to get better someday), but I know there are many out there who could put both sites to good use, so I'm going to share them for today and bookmark them for myself for someday. :)

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  11. I'll echo the thanks for the introduction to these two charities. What an amazing and amazingly generous offer, Charlotte! We've recently ramped down to a one-income family so while we figure that out we've not donated much past our daughter's school.

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  12. I had never heard of either of these organizations. They sound amazing. I'm so glad there are good, generous people in the world like you and Charlotte and the people who come up with things like Kiva and Watsi.

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  13. I wanted to tell you I bought Owl Moon for my 5 yr old daughter, Lauren and we just loved it. I promised to take her owling - as soon as it gets above 10 degrees. lol I hope you got credit for it... is there something special we should do so you get credit in the future?

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  14. Anonymous11:44 AM

    What an amazing and gracious offer, would love to pay it forward. :)
    Sandra K

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  15. I love your piece over at NYT and I love learning about Watsi. I was kind of shocked to see you what you are doing...THE cleanse (so, I just hope you aren't doing it because you aren't feeling well), and also to see what you are reading. I always love that you know all that stuff, but you always seem so naturally and totally balanced. I mean that in the best possible way. Like you are all that is right with parenting and reading and being published on the internet.

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  16. Oh she is right - Watsi is heartbreaking - well I guess they are not, but the need is! Glad to know about them. Clean, well, let us know how it goes!

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  17. Very cool. I'd use it to teach my daughter about giving...

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  18. WV Mama11:11 AM

    We live in the third poorest county in West Virginia and though my husband and I (he is a philosophy prof, I am a midwife) are easily in the top 1% of incomes in our area we also have our version of the "Haiti Jar" in our house. We call it the "Charity Bowl" and the kids give pieces of their allowance and we match them at the end of the year and decide where the money should go. This year, because of sitting on the board of an emergency fuel provision group, I was made aware of a little girl in our county who lives with her father in an abandoned railway car. THE SCHOOL BUS STOPS AT THIS CAR TO PICK HER UP AND DROP HER OFF EVERY DAY. My children were appalled. I was appalled. We decided to give all of our charity money to her (but then our own oldest boy, whothough not quite Alex Keaton/Ben could sure give them a run for their money) saw that Heifer International was doubling donations if you gave that day so we split our little pot of cash in order to make it go further: half went to Heifer to be doubled and the other went to the church organization that is working to get that girl out of her railway car. It was a good use of funds, I think, and engendered a useful family discussion.

    We would like to win the gift card(s) so that another such conversation could ensue.

    Thank you, dear Catherine, for all that you do. Reading benandbirdy is a constant bright spot in my life.

    All love and blessings,
    WV Mama

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  19. This Christmas my lovely best friend gave a knitter's gift basket through Heifer in honor of my daughters. I thought this was fantastic. It provided a great opportunity to talk to the kids about charitable giving!

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  20. I just love you all!! What a beautiful thing here. Pick me!! Giving is something we all need to do more, yes?

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  21. What a lovely idea! Please count me in.

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  22. Beautiful! Yes, please.

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    1. P.S. I think that maybe the reason more people haven't yet entered this second giveaway is that they haven't come back to this blog until today (Friday) when the expected results of the first giveaway would be announced-- and not that Catherine's readers wouldn't be as interested in this Giving Giveaway ;)

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  23. maxanyamom11:53 AM

    I am just stumbling upon this blog entry now! I am moved to weeping reading the story of the girl who is surviving in a box car with her dad in WV. Wow. I had heard of Kiva, but I did not realize that I could keep giving the same funds over again. I must have been stuck in my cynical brain mode and thinking the loans are never really repaid. So much gratitude to you, to Charlotte, to the other readers here for helping me shed those blinders. And Watsi? Sounds remarkable. I bemoan the waste of time I spend on the internet and social media, but some really amazing people are thinking of wonderful ways to harness our social impulse to do good things. And that is truly awesome and worthwhile.

    Thank You, Charlotte. Your generosity is truly inspiring, as is Catherine's. Much love to you both and to all your readers.

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  24. A moving and generous offer! I humbly put my name in the hat.

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  25. My husband got laid off right after I quit my job to start my own business. We have been scraping by for what seems like forever. When I filed our taxes, one of the points that came back (I get to use fancy tax software because I'm a bookkeeper) was that I give less than others in my bracket. I've never felt like a bigger asshole. I have been trying to give a little more and am also focusing on giving more of my time. I helped start a parent/teacher organization at my son's school last year, and that has taken way more energy than I thought. I'm ready to seek out some other worthy causes. Yeesh, I feel bad even admitting I'm not giving enough. Sorry! Thank you Catherine, and all of the posters, for keeping me accountable.
    Thank you to Charlotte for the generous offer.

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  26. I am grateful for people like you, Catherine and Charlottle! Your charitable heart and marvelous generosity are what this world needs to make it a better place. May the funds raised by these people’s generosity make a difference to lives of those who are less fortunate. ~Alison

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