This week we were happy to donate a few boxes of reusable lunch items and eco-friendly cleaning products to Pick Up America, a a non-profit and eco-adventure of young people walking across the country, picking up trash, and educating communities about zero waste.
They're always looking for donations to sustain their efforts, volunteers and people to spread the word about what they do so check out their site to see how you can help!
Dear Customers,
As a retailer, we get swept up in promoting the purchase of products, especially during the holidays. We thought it was a good time to stop and consider what each of us can do to give back as part of the holiday season.
Please take a few minutes and donate to one of these worthy causes today. Below are 5 outstanding "change agents" - organizations making significant, positive impacts through their efforts. All of them:
1. leverage minimal resources
2. assist in smart ways that make an enormous impact, and
3. are efficient, well-run, "no b.s." grassroots organizations.
Learn more about their work and consider helping them meet their end-of-year contribution goals with a donation. Forward this e-mail on. Together we can make a difference!
5 Organizations to Support
 Who: Green America What: Tackling climate change, promoting fair trade, stopping corporate abuse and growing the Green Economy. Green America is the preeminent organization harnessing the strength of consumers, investors, businesses and the marketplace to create a socially-just and environmentally-sustainable society. How your donation will help: Through a matching gift challenge, all donations will be doubled through the end of the year. |
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 Who: Grist.orgWhat: Grist has been dishing out environmental news and commentary with a wry twist since 1999, well before the issues really hit mainstream. How your donation will help: Your donation will go straight to support Grist's award-winning, non-profit environmental news and commentary. |
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 Who: The Story of Stuff Project What: The Story of Stuff Project has touched over 12 million people with a compelling message about the impact our production and consumption patterns are having on the planet and on each other. How your donation will help: Contributions help The Story of Stuff Project create new movies, educational curricula, study guides and other resources and offer them for free to anyone who wants to download them. |
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 Who: Environmental Working Group What: EWG uses the power of public information to protect public health and the environment through useful resources and pushing for national policy change. How your donation will help: Help EWG meet their 2010 donations goal of $50,000. Contributions will help the EWG continue to provide publications that arm consumers with solid facts and recourses and keep government in check on issues like BPA, water quality and pervasive toxins. |
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Who: Waterkeeper Alliance
What: Waterkeeper Alliance is a global movement of on-the-water advocates who patrol and protect over 100,000 miles of rivers, streams and coastlines in North and South America, Europe, Australia, Asia and Africa. Waterkeepers defend their communities against anyone who threatens their right to clean water-from law-breaking polluters to unresponsive government agencies.
How your donation will help: Donations support the Waterkeeper Alliance's efforts to keep Waterkeepers connected, provides them with legal, scientific and communications support, and unite their voices as they take on major global water issues together.
Vincent Cobb - Founder, reuseit.com
As always, thanks for your support - to date you've enabled us to donate over $200,000 toward worthy causes.
Last week we were inspired by our own kids' back-to-school lists to make a donation of $500 worth of waste-free lunch gear to a school in need. We asked our blog readers and Facebook fans to nominate schools over the week end, and we were touched by all of the heartfelt messages we received.
One message in particular, from teacher Crystal Strock of Loughman Oaks Elementary in Polk County, Florida, really stood out. She wrote:
"Our school is roughly 800 students today (this number has ranged between 700 and over 1,100 in my time here). More than 70% of our students are enrolled in the free and reduced lunch program. We have a paraprofessional affectionately known as 'Momma Gail' who helps supply families in our community with food, clothes and books when they are in need. She even has board games that families can check out, so they can spend quality time together. Gail spends all of her weekends and summers hitting up thrift stores and businesses looking for donations to help our families."
With that, we decided to send $500 worth of waste-free lunch gear to the kids at Loughman Oaks. To help spread the word, we've asked our Facebook fans to share a message we posted yesterday about back-to-school. You can help by visiting us on Facebook and clicking the "share" button under the message that begins "Share this post & help a school in need!" We hope to receive 100 comments from people letting us know they shared the post by the end of the week.
Given the number of nominations we received, there are still countless schools that could use help getting lunch supplies to their kids. We encourage our customers to consider adding an extra lunch bag, spork, or set of napkins to their back-to-school purchases this year. Our Summer Sale makes it easy to give. And even one lunch bag can make a difference. Crystal explains:
"These children are from low income families, some may not get shiny new things very often. This would mean so much to them and be a wonderful way to get them excited about reusing and reducing daily trash."
Giving back is part of what we do - to date, we've donated more than $200,000 to like-minded non-profits. Click here to check out just a handful of other organizations and schools we've donated to over the years.
Help support our efforts - Please visit our store and help spread the word.
Summer is nearly over and many of us in the office are signing our kids up for their first year of school. Not surprisingly, but sad nonetheless, many of our school supply lists included optional donations of items like back packs, lunch bags and water bottles for children in need.
It really got us talking - with so many affordable waste-free lunch items in our Summer Sale, why not pick up an extra lunch bag or set of utensils for our kids' classmates? We have recycled cotton lunch bags as low as $2.25 and sets of reusable sporks for $4.95. These are durable, sustainable waste-free lunch items made to last all school year while taking it easy on the wallet.
We encourage our customers to consider adding an extra lunch bag, spork, or set of napkins to their back-to-school purchases this year, making waste-free lunch options available to all kids. In addition, we're looking for suggestions of classes and schools in need of waste-free lunch gear. Visit our leave a comment on this blog or visit our Facebook page & tell us about a class or school that could benefit from a $500 lunch gear donation.
We'll consider your suggestions over the week end and pick a winning school or class early next week. We'll post about the recipient of our donation on our Facebook page.
Giving back is part of what we do - to date, we've donated more than $200,000 to like-minded non-profits. Click here to check out just a handful of other organizations and schools we've donated to over the years.
Help support our efforts - Please visit our store and help spread the word.
A few months ago we posted about the Ladies for Liberty, a group of volunteers that sends care packages to US soldiers stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan.
We recently received this sweet thank you from of of the members and thought we'd share with our readers to encourage more donations:
Thank you so much for your contribution to our soldiers packages. The men and women we adopt are so grateful for all that they receive and especially for being remembered by those of us at home. Your assortment of drink bottles and utensils will be well received, I’m sure. Your company is amazing to help our efforts to bring the comforts of home to our brave men in harm’s way. Also, the awesome bags you sent have been a Godsend in getting our packages to the post office.
We wish you much success, and again, our heartfelt thanks.
Ladies of Liberty
Slidell, Louisiana
If you're interested in contributing to the Ladies for Liberty's efforts, please contact Annette at Ladies4Liberty@gmail.com
After the earthquake in Haiti we threw our support behind some outstanding organizations working directly with the people most in need. Thanks to all of our customers who also donated to great causes like Water Missions International.
To date, we've donated over $140,000 to like-minded organizations through our commitment to 1% for the Planet.
Here's a thoughtful thank you note we recently received from Water Missions International:
A few weeks ago we heard from Annette in Slidell, LA. She and a small group of local woman have formed a grassroots organization called Ladies for Liberty. The Ladies have made it their mission to "adopt" US soldiers stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Adopted soldiers receive care packages from the group consisting mostly of items made by or collected by the Ladies themselves.
Apparently they've found some of our bags to be ideal for carrying their packages to the post office - Cart Helpers and EarthTotes to be specific. We were glad to send them a number of bags to help out with their awesome mission.
Recently, a local paper covered the story of two soldiers adopted by the Ladies for Liberty. When the men safely returned home they had lunch with the group, thanking them for remembering them while they served overseas. While the Ladies expected an outpouring of donation offers, what they actually received was several new names to add to their list of adopted soldiers.
The Ladies for Liberty spend between $300-400 a month on shipping costs alone - out of their own pockets, and Annette says product donations from generous companies like Zapps potato chips have helped to offset their costs. If you'd like to support the Ladies for Liberty with donations of items for the soldiers or money to cover shipping costs contact Annette at Ladies4Liberty@gmail.com
Reuseit.com (previously Reusablebags.com) is not your typical small business. A catalyst for change, we've been instrumental in spawning the reusables movement.
For more information or to apply, please visit www.reuseit.com/ambassadors.
Not your thing? No problem, you can still help us find great Ambassadors! Here's how:
1. Email a link to this blog post or to our Ambassadors application to your like-minded friends.
2. Share a link to the application on your Facebook page
3. Send out a tweet! We've made it easy, just copy and paste the tweet below:
Are you part of the reusables movement? Become a Reuseit.com
Ambassador & help spread the word!http://tinyurl.com/yz48scn
In
light of the dire situation in Haiti, we all want to contribute, but we
don't want our money to go to waste. Plus, sorting through the myriad
of options is overwhelming.
To
help figure out who to donate to, we've researched & selected 5 organizations (cross-referencing sources like Charity
Navigator and BBB). You may not have heard of these organizations,
regardless, all are worthy of your consideration.
They align with our
following beliefs:
1. leverage minimal resources
2. assist in smart ways that make an enormous impact
3. be an efficient, well-run, "no b.s." grassroots organization
Pick one and donate what you can today (keep in mind, any amount will help - it's the cumulative effect that makes a difference!) If you like our list, forward it on to family and friends, and if you work for a small company, use it to encourage a corporate donation.
See our 5 picks here!
Earlier today we sent a newsletter to our 115,000+ subscribers with our best last-minute gift idea yet: the gift of support.
With your help, we've donated over $140,000 to several non-profits working to make the world a better place through their actions and efforts. Donate as a gift to the organization itself, or give in a friend of loved one's name - either way, contributing to any of these outstanding non-profits makes a significant impact on their efforts.
5 organizations we recommend:
