Helping in a practical way

The whole world has been shocked by the devastation wreaked by the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. A little girl I know has decided she wants to help in a practical way.

 Can you help too?

ShelterBox's HQ is in Cornwall in the UK. There are 18 international affiliates. Each box that they send out supplies an extended family of up to 10 people with a tent and lifesaving equipment to use while they are displaced or homeless.

30% off - 4 days only

(For my US readers only.) This weekend (July 30 - August 2) you can get 30% off at Gap, Old Navy, and Banana Republic stores with this coupon. 5% of your purchase price will then be donated to Donors Choose, an organization that helps teachers in the United States fund classroom projects.

Sadly, the kind of requests teachers make are very often for basic items like paper and crayons! I had a project funded earlier this year so that I could do some multimedia projects with my students. I had already spent several hundred dollars on materials this year, so it was nice to have someone else spend a couple of hundred on my behalf. So, if you were planning on shopping at any of these stores this weekend, please take the coupon with you. It'll save you a few dollars, and help some teachers and their students out too!

Chocolate for blood

Well, yes, I may indeed have chocolate for blood given my love for chocolate, but I'm talking bribes here . . .

The Red Cross is offering chocolate in exchange for blood donations. No, I don't know how much chocolate they're offering, or even what quality. (It's not that I'm not interested because my blood is mostly chocolate in the first place, but because, irritatingly, they won't take blood from Mad Cows like me!) Would it be worth donating blood if I could just for a couple of ounces of milk chocolate of inferior quality? Yes, of course! Not because any chocolate is better than none, but because it is simply A Good Thing To Do! I do hope this works and brings them lots of new volunteers who become regulars once they realize how easy it is to do!

The photo is courtesy of DH who saw the sign on his way to work and thought of me!