#28 FEED America + Target

If you have been into a Target lately, chances are you have seen the FEED America sections in clothing or housewares. Founded by Lauren Bush, FEED sells items that the proceeds go to supplying food to children and families in need.  Here is their mission statement from the website:

"FEED Projects' mission is to create good products that help FEED the world. We do this through the sale of FEED bags, bears, t-shirts, and other accessories by building a set donation into the cost of each product. Thus the impact of each product, signified by a stenciled number, is understandable, tangible, and meaningful. 

We take great pride in using environmentally-friendly and artisan-made materials, along with fair-labor production, in creating all FEED products. 

We stand behind our brand and the organizations and humanitarian programs each FEED product supports. Ultimately, we believe that everyone has the right to basic human necessities, such as healthy and nutritious food. FEED is proud to help FEED the world, one bag at a time."

What did I do to help this project? Simple! I bought a shirt! When we moved across the country, our moving truck with all of our stuff came about three weeks late. My husband had not packed with that possibility in mind so he sent me to the store to buy him some shirts to wear. That is when I discovered FEED + Target. I bought him a t-shirt and that bought 10 meals for someone in need. Pretty cool! And it wasn't even that much more expensive than the regular Target t-shirts. This is something that I have a feeling I will be helping out with more in the future. There is a hoodie calling my name...

For more information, check out feedprojects.com

#27 Salvation Army

#27 is one that literally ANYONE can do to help someone in need and a great charity to boot! All you need is time to go through your closet, home, garage, whatever, and time and a vehicle to make a run to a thrift store.

There are many thrift stores in any area of your city, I'm sure, and most of them contribute to a greater cause. I chose Salvation Army because it was founded on Christian beliefs and does a lot to contribute to impoverished families in the community. They often hold food banks and even have a place to stay and eat for those who need it.

Ways to help The Salvation Army:

1. Donate money. Not everybody has money to give but we all have seen the bell ringers outside of the mall or grocery stores around Christmas time and any change in your pocket can help.

2. Donate time. You can volunteer to be a Christmas-time bell ringer or find out how you can be involved in their shelters or soup kitchens.

3. Donate your stuff. This is what I did for #27. When moving, you generally go through all of your stuff while packing and unpacking. There was a LOT of stuff that Brian and I had that we didn't want and need so we donated it so someone else could buy it and that money would feed into the awesomeness that is the Salvation Army.

BONUS: If you ask for a receipt when donating your items, you can use that for a tax deduction. Boom!

#26 Buhl Fun Run

Every 4th of July that I'm in southern Idaho I try to run in the Buhl Fun Run. The registration money goes to support the Buhl High School Key Club, and although I have no idea what a key club is, it is through a school which translates to helping kids in my mind. Being a teacher on motherhood hiatus, I still like to touch young people's lives any way that I can.

I ran the 10k and not only did I get second place in my gender and 1st place in my age group, but I got a new 10k PR!!!  Woot woot!

#25 Finish Line and Special Olympics

I just recently took up CrossFit and wanted to get some new shoes more fitted to that style of training. My old running shoes have no traction and would not last long in this intense sport.

I went to Finish Line at the mall by my house to pick the shoes that will help me rise to greatness...or spend more time on the dirty floor than I ever thought possible. Ha! When I purchased my shoes, the girl working asked if I wanted to donate to Special Olympics. I said "yes" and, voila!  Another awesome charity helped by the amount of money it would have cost me to buy some of my favorite Hagen Daaz Chocolate Peanut Butter ice cream. Score!

Of course I'm going to show off the shoes. They are definitely already broken in after my two week On Ramp class!

#24 Helping Hearts & Hands 10k

I grew up in a small town in Idaho called Gooding. Since I graduated from high school and moved away over ten years ago, some new things have popped up in this seemingly-crazy-boring town. One being Helping Hands & Hearts. This is a nice organization that collects food, money, clothing and what not to help families in need in Gooding County. I love hearing about organizations like this that help out locally, especially for my hometown. For the last five years they have been holding a Fun Run/Walk that the registration fee goes to this group.

I did the 10k and it was a ridiculously hot experience, but I managed to pull it off and get third place. Woo hoo!

It was also neat to run into old friends, colleagues, coaches, and teachers. One of the pictures is of me talking to my elementary school gym teacher and varsity volleyball coach, and a teacher that I worked with when I student taught in Gooding several years ago. Good times! 

I enjoy running so this is a good way for me to get some exercise and help out a good cause. :)

#23 Petsmart

I feel like more and more stores are offering to add money to your purchase to donate to a good cause. Earlier this year I wrote about donating to Autism Speaks at TJMaxx. This is a really easy way to give to a charity you like without breaking the bank. Most donations are a dollar or more if you want and I've even seen where they just round up your tab to the next dollar amount. Pretty easy, eh?

A couple of weeks ago we had an incident where my dog, Ruger, got out of our back yard. Because he has allergies and is constantly scratching his ears and shaking his head, he doesn't always wear his collar when we're at home because of the annoying jingling of his name and rabies tag. Luckily, Ruger was found and returned to us after a few scary and devastating hours. I knew we needed to get a new name tag that attached right onto his collar and doesn't jingle in case that ever happened again. He is epileptic among other health problems so every hour he is gone is quite scary. This took me to Petsmart.

While checking out with my new dog tag, the gal asked if I wanted to donate a dollar to help feed animals in the animal shelter. I immediately had "Angel" by Sara McClaughlin playing in my head while visualizing some homeless, eyeless Shih Tzu, so of course I said "sure".

Again, a super easy way to make a small difference that took less than ten seconds. :)

#22 Lemonade Stand

Since this summer has been crazy-busy, I haven't been able to do too much volunteering of my time. I also know that a lot of you don't have time to give to other people as well, so it is good to have some of my Thirty involve other things.

Today's Thirty (that actually happened back in June. Whoops!!!) involves money, and not a lot of it. In the subdivision we moved to there is prime real estate for kids who have entrepreneur-ish ambitions in the way of lemonade stands and bake sales. On a day in late June, I bought my mom and I some lemonade to help a couple of girls have some spending money on an upcoming trip to Disneyland. They charged 25 cents for a large cup and I knew that my fifty cents wouldn't do much in the way of advancing their spending money (I'm pretty sure 50 cents would purchase them a piece of ice at Disneyland), so I tipped big.

Anytime you see kids selling stuff on the side of the road, you should stop and buy something. Even if you don't eat or drink what they're selling. I'm pretty sure that's in "Life's Little Instructions Book".