community Archives - Dad of Divas

Giving Back to Others Is Important @Elmers #BagItForward #cfk #shop

August 20, 2013 by dadofdivas 2 Comments

As a father I try and teach my children whatever I can to make sure that they understand the importance of not only receiving, but also giving to others. Since they have were young I have tried to help Diva J and Diva PJ learn what it feels like to give to others and also think for themselves about what they can do to make the community a better place. I was so excited to be working with the Champions for Kids campaign and the Elmer’s Bag it Forward program to give school supplies to my community.

I was asked to go and shop at my local Walmart to give supplies to our local schools and to others in the community. This is so important in our community because funding has continually had to be cut for the local schools and I know that many of the teachers have been having to supplement the budgets that they have been given to make sure that supplies are adequate for their classrooms, and in my perspective this is not right. For what teachers make and the amount of work that they put into the education of our kids, I wish that all were willing to spend a little extra for the benefit of all of our kids.

This is where I have to commend Elmer’s for their Bag it Forward program, as this is a great program and something that just lifts my spirits, whenever I read the stories of others that are participating. On top of this, working with Champions for Kids is a perfect fit, as they have been giving back to communities in so many ways for such a long time as well.

For my shop, when I went to the store I was thinking of the fact that all of our kids need supplies to be creative. With that in mind all of the supplies that I was searching for related to this. Thus, I ended up finding a ton of crayons, colored pencils, scissors, erasers and glue that could be used by kids throughout the year to create new and innovative things within the school and at home.

I was doing what I could to be a savvy shopper. One reason I love shopping at Walmart this time of year is that they usually have some of the best back to sale prices that I have found around me and with this experience it was the same. I even ran into a couple that were purchasing school supplies to donate for another cause, but they had three carts full of supplies and in talking to them they stated the same for their reasons to why they were shopping where they were.

I was able to find some more generic crayons and colored pencils to save even more money and thus I was able to purchase even more supplies than I had first thought that I could.

After shopping for all of the supplies I wanted to drop off my supplies right away (at least some of them to our local food bank, but alas they were closed at the time (as they have only selective hours), and the rest of the supplies I was going to donate to teachers at our elementary schools.

I am so excited to be able to share supplies like these and hope to be able to continue working with Champions for Kids and Elmer’s in the future to support our schools and families that really need the help!

You can see more pictures for this #bagitforward shopping experience here – https://plus.google.com/photos/100572181234104788072/albums/5907477045974499473

I encourage all of you to follow my lead giving back to your own community – you will not regret it in the least!

Find out more about the campaign and the sponsors here:

Champions for Kids: championsforkids.org/elmers

BagItForward.org: http://bagitforward.org/
Elmer’s on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Elmers
Elmer’s on Twitter: http://twitter.com/elmers
Bag It Forward on Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/cbsocially/bag-it-forward/

All Photos taken with the Samsung #NX300 Camera #imagelogger

Giveaway Blogs A Great Way to connect to Giveaways!

June 22, 2011 by dadofdivas 1 Comment

I was recently introduced to a new website called Giveaway Blogs. The premise of this site is to allow you to do the following:

? Enjoy the wonderful community of bloggers and host giveaways.
? Become a partner and take advantage of the marketing opportunity by sponsoring giveaways to the members of the network.
? Connect bloggers and marketers for business opportunities.
? Join the forum community for fun and helpful discussions.
? Create or join a group of your choice.
? Establish your business.
? Establish your blogs.

So if you enjoy blogging, doing product reviews and giveaways you should come over and check out Giveaway Blogs today!
Giveaway Blogs is looking to expand its membership so sign up today for free blog giveaways on GiveawayBlogs Network!
If you are so inclined, feel free to tell others about this as well, invite them to join as the more people we have as a part of this community the better. Better yet, like Giveaway Blogs on Facebook.

When you do sign up or leave a message on facebook, please tell people that Dad of Divas (http://dadofdivas.com) sent you (See the below example for the sign up process)

Be A Shriner Now

May 19, 2010 by dadofdivas Leave a Comment

Have you ever wondered who makes up the Shriners? Shriners come from all walks of life – they are plumbers and professionals, salesmen and CEOs, fathers, uncles, and sons. And they are also brothers. I am contacting you today on behalf of Shriners International to encourage you, your friends and readers to learn more about becoming a Shriner.

The Shriners are a brotherhood of men committed to family, engaged in ongoing personal growth and providing care for children and families in need. While their backgrounds and interests may be diverse, Shriners are bound together through shared values and a desire to have fun, do good and build bonds that last a lifetime. The Shriners fraternity believes in:

Providing attractive, quality programs and services for its members and their families and their friends in a spirit of fun, fellowship and social camaraderie
Fostering self-improvement through leadership, education, the perpetuation of moral values and community involvement
Serving mankind through the resources of its philanthropy, Shriners Hospitals for Children®

Powerful networks of mentors help you grow as a man, a father and a husband. And you will develop relationships that will benefit your life, with the chance to pass the lessons of leadership along to the next generation. Today there are approximately 350,000 Shriners belonging to 191 chapters around the world. Not surprisingly, there are wellecognized names from entertainment, sports and politics who proudly call themselves Shriners.

I encourage you, to visit www.beashrinernow.com and find out all of the great opportunities and ways in which you can benefit from membership in Shriners International. To learn more about becoming a Shriner, also please check out this video: http://www.westglen.com/online/18081.html .

Connect Kids To Care Program & Win #CHFClorex

April 19, 2010 by dadofdivas Leave a Comment

About Connect Kids to Care:
Many parents can make a quick phone call to the doctor if they have a sick child. However, 1 in 5 children in the U.S. live in poverty and millions of children don’t have access to regular check-ups and timely doctor’s visits when sick. Without access to essential health care, many children go without treatment for common ailments, like asthma or cavities, which can lead to bigger problems if left untreated.

Children’s Health Fund (CHF), a non-profit organization committed to providing health care to the nation’s most medically underserved children and their families, teamed up with Clorox to launch Connect Kids to Care.

As part of Clorox’s commitment to preventive health for families, the company is donating half a million dollars to CHF to help support CHF’s goal of providing half a million health care visits to disadvantaged children across the country, over the next two years.

In addition, Clorox is donating $1.00 for each new ‘fan’ on the Clorox Facebook page, up to $100,000.

To help Clorox spread the word and help CHF provide health care visits to children in need you can:

Connect: Visit the Clorox page on Facebook® (www.Facebook.com/Clorox) to learn more about the program and become a fan. Clorox will donate $1.00 to CHF for each new fan that joins the Clorox Facebook page from April 2010 and April 2012, up to $100,000.
Tweet – join the Twitter storm on Monday, April 19 to help kickoff the program and get as many people as possible Tweeting and re-Tweeting with the hashtag #CHFClorox.
Share: Help spread the word to friends and family by changing your Facebook status (additional details on Facebook.com/Clorox).
Act: Visit the Clorox Facebook page to find out more and learn how a $10 donation can help CHF provide health care to children in need.

By starting conversations online, the Connect Kids to Care program will show people ways to maintain a healthier environment for their families through expert advice, wellness tips and consumer-generated ideas.

After helping make an impact on the lives of others, families will be encouraged to make sure they are doing all they can to maintain a healthier environment in their own homes. Ensuring that everyone is getting regular check-ups and practicing other healthy habits can impact an entire family and everyone in the surrounding communities. These habits include:

Encourage your family to wash their hands well with warm water and soap. This helps prevent the spread of infection.
Talk to your kids often about how they’re feeling. Simply asking this question can help you be better informed about any health problems your child may be experiencing.
Keep your kids on a regular teeth-brushing schedule. Watch them brush every now and then to make sure they’re using the proper technique.
Make sure you are all getting plenty of sleep, eating right, exercising and wearing warm clothes when it’s cold.
Disinfect frequently touched surfaces like light switches and counters to help reduce the spread of germs.
Keep the whole family up-to-date on important immunizations.

About the Children’s Health Fund

Children’s Health Fund, co-founded in 1987 by singer/songwriter Paul Simon and pediatrician/child advocate Irwin Redlener, MD, is committed to providing health care to the nation’s most medically underserved children through the development and support of innovative primary care medical programs; response to public health crises; and the promotion of guaranteed access to appropriate health care for all children.

The Fund works specifically to:

Support a national network of pediatric programs in some of the nation’s most disadvantaged rural and urban communities;
Ensure support of its flagship pediatric programs for homeless and other medically underserved children in New York City;
Advocate for policies and programs which will ensure access to medical homes that provide comprehensive and continuous health care for all children; and
Educate the general public about the needs and barriers to health care experienced by disadvantaged children.

About Clorox

Five investors, some salt ponds, and a very bright idea.

On May 3, 1913, five California entrepreneurs invested $100 apiece to do something that had never been done before: convert the brine available in the nearby salt ponds of San Francisco Bay into bleach using a sophisticated process of electrolysis. They located their offices in Oakland, California—where their headquarters remain today. In 1914, they named their brand Clorox.

An unlikely group of scientists
The investors were not a likely bunch to embark on such an enterprise: only one had any practical knowledge of chemistry. They were educated, though, in their guess that bleach would be a product soon in demand. By the end of the 19th century, after Louis Pasteur had discovered sodium hypochlorite’s potent effectiveness against disease-causing bacteria, bleach became a widely used disinfectant. Still, it wasn’t until Clorox introduced innovative technology that could produce both commercial-grade and household bleach products that bleach would became a proven and popular product.

A worthy experiment
Surviving the early years was a struggle. Directors repeatedly extended personal loans to pay mounting corporate debts. In 1916, an early investor in the business, William C.R. Murray, was named general manager. Mr. Murray’s wife, Annie, took on the responsibility of running their Oakland grocery store.

Mr. Murray ordered plant chemists to develop a less concentrated “household” version of the industrial-strength Clorox bleach formula, and Mrs. Murray decided to give free samples to her customers. Her idea would prove to be a key to the company’s survival.

A household essential
Mrs. Murray’s 5.25-percent sodium hypochlorite household bleach solution, bottled in 15-ounce amber glass “pints,” soon gained huge popularity. Households everywhere quickly recognized the formula as an effective and reliable domestic laundry aid, stain remover, deodorizer, and disinfectant.

Today, an estimated eight out of ten American households use Clorox® brand bleach, and Clorox® brand laundry and home cleaning products are sold in more than 100 countries in North America, South America, Europe, Africa and Asia. This cleaning agent, derived almost one hundred years ago from a salt pond, is now a cleaning essential used in homes throughout the world.

My Take on This
I always love seeing companies giving back and this is definitely a great example of it. It will not take much effort from all of you, so I hope that you will join me on Monday and make a different for disadvantaged children!

WIN THIS!

Clorox is going to give one lucky Dad of Divas reader a Clorox Children’s Health Fund gift pack.

To Enter:

Follow me on Twitter and tweet:

Help @Clorox help @chfund provide half a million health care visits to kids in need and win at http://bit.ly/drohwh #CHFClorox

I will choose 1 person who tweets and helps spread the word! Just reply here after you tweet.

Other Bloggers participating:

Inside the Chatter Box

Organize With Sandy

Coupon Princess

Couponing to Disney

Superdumb Supervillain

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The Hershey Company Honors Not Only Fathers, But Great Men Who Make a Difference

March 20, 2010 by dadofdivas Leave a Comment

Being a father to a child means so much more than DNA. It transcends the technicalities of genetics and reaches the point of doing whatever it takes to give that child the best chance at success. Unfortunately, not all children come from homes where success is achievable or have fathers with the means to give them what they need. Too many children feel the burden of poverty and the helplessness of watching their parents struggle to get by every single day. Luckily, because of a man named Milton Hershey, you can help give these children a brighter future, and it’s as easy as eating chocolate!

100 years ago, Milton Hershey, founder of The Hershey Company, and his wife Kitty, were unable to have children of their own. Instead of giving up on his dream of becoming a father, Mr. Hershey donated his entire fortune to help give opportunity to children from disadvantaged backgrounds. He set up a trust to ensure that every time you enjoy one of his confections, you are helping transform the lives of children in need through the work of Milton Hershey School. MHS is the nation’s largest, cost-free, private, co-educational home and school for children from families of low income, limited resources and social need. Any father who brings his child to MHS must cope with the pain of leaving his child at the School, for the reward of knowing that he is giving his child an even greater gift.

This Father’s Day, not only should we honor our fathers, but we should celebrate great men like Milton S. Hershey. Although he wasn’t able to give a child his genetics, he did give generations of children opportunities that they never thought possible. Each and every student of MHS for the past 100 years carries with them Milton Hershey’s legacy. In turn, Mr. Hershey is like a father to them all.

Share a Hershey’s treat with your child so that they too can be a part of Mr. Hershey’s legacy to help give opportunity to children in need.

To learn more, visit http://www.thehersheylegacy.com/.

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Making Easter Baskets for a Good Cause!

March 19, 2010 by dadofdivas 1 Comment

Hershey’s is asking people to “pay it forward” this Easter. They approached 20 bloggers through Collective Bias to use their products to create Easter baskets to donate to a charity. We all were very excited to do this and the whole family got involved in the planning, trip and execution of building the baskets. We ended up making two baskets that were donated to our local food bank. Check out this Whrrl story to see what I bought and how the baskets turned out:

More check-ins at Walmart Supercenter

Diva-J Makes a Difference in the Community and You Can Help (Please!)

March 17, 2010 by dadofdivas 2 Comments

My eldest daughter (Diva-J) came to me the other day with a handful of stickers saying that kids who go to our food bank should get to pick stickers out when they go there with their families to get food. Let me step back and say that her Daisy Girl Scout troop had just visited our local Food bank and that morning I had told the girls that Thanks to Collective Bias I had been given the opportunity to shop and make 2 decked out Easter Baskets for needy families and I had chosen the Food Bank as the recipients of the baskets.

Well… being the father that I am, I said to her, “That is a wonderful idea!” we should try and get more people involved. At this point I think her eyes started glazing over due to the fact that I think she was only thinking of giving away a few of her stickers, but I pushed her to think larger. I told her that I would call the food bank and see if they were interested (which they were) and that I would contact her school to see if we could get the school involved in any way.

So needless to say the train has left the station and we are starting this project.

I am asking all of my readers out there to contact me if you might be interested in donating to this cause – dadofdivas@gmail.com

Those that are interested I will provide my address to stickers to be sent.

Thank you in advance for any assistance you can provide in making this project successful!

Maniverse #15 – We’re Not Just Playing Poker – We’re Building Community

August 29, 2008 by dadofdivas 1 Comment

Every weekend our community has a farmers market. I enjoy going to it, and even if I don’t purchase anything, I enjoy the feeling of community that washes over me as I am there. Each week I find myself talking to more and more people as we well as catching up with those people I had met in the past and it feels so good!

When our farmers market closes in the fall I find myself missing the interaction as people start to go into hibernation mode for the winter months (winters in Wisconsin can be bit brisk)., so again, come early spring I look forward to the first days of the market (even though there isn’t much – or many people – there).

I truly enjoy taking my daughters to the market and having them experience this community and the people I talk to always seem to enjoy interacting with them as well. I can only hope that as they get older they will come to enjoy this as much as I do (but you never know). I also feel that it is important to reach out to others and help in our own way (which talking to people may not do this – but assisting with other community initiatives and having my children involved will).

Thinking about this I decided to explore to see if there were any resources out there about building community for children and assisting or teaching children how to help others in our own communities. Some of the sites of interest included:

The building of community makes me think of the whole blogging community and how we all work to outreach in our own way and help others or help the world in our own way. In my most recent initiative, The great Minivan Trade Up, I have been amazed at the generosity of others reaching out to me to assist me in reaching my goal. There have been many other instances in starting out as a blogger and not knowing what I was doing where people stepped in to lend a helping hand. This type of outreach helps to build our overall blogging world, and assists to provide a more solid infrastructure for all of us to stand on.

So I thank all of you who have helped me along the way, especially Jeremy, Summer, Joey, Tyler and Tom. There have been others as well that have helped in their own ways, so thank you to all of you as well.

So my question for the day?

How do you build community in your life or our town?
How do you teach your children to value community building?

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I look forward to seeing you back here again!

Melancholy Monday

May 5, 2008 by dadofdivas Leave a Comment

I saw the following quote on the daily buzz from The Ripples Project:

The greatest use of life is to spend it for something that will outlast it.
-William James

This made me think to myself, what trees have I planted thus far in my life that will outlast me, or what am I doing to leave a legacy for when I am gone…I came up with a few ideas:

1) My daughters – I try to teach and instill in them everyday the things that I feel are important in life. I can only hope that what I am teaching is resonating within them now and will remain in the future.

2) My Professional Life – I am continually trying to make a difference to the student affairs profession. Everday I try to locally make a difference in the lives of the students I come in contact with as well as globally make a difference in the collective field that I am a part.

3) My Community – I try and espouse and show the things that I feel are important and show them to others. I try and give back to any community in which I am a part…whether that means being a Rotarian or simply getting involved in a service project, I try to make a difference.

So those are some of my thoughts…what about you? What trees are you planing today?

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