Share a Photo of Something Good for Charity to Support Proper Eye Care for Children! (#EyeSawGood #MC)

I participated in a campaign for Mom Central Consulting on behalf of Alcon. I received a promotional item as a thank you for participating. All opinions expressed are my own.

I got my first pair of glasses when I was 9 years old and my husband got his when he was 6.  Now two of our three children wear glasses at the ages of 6 and 9.  We are lucky that our children's school administers eye exams because, unless a child is squinting often during class, any vision problems can easily be overlooked.  Our 6 year old son already struggles with learning, so it was imperative that we not add unclear vision to his list of obstacles.  I know first hand how costly it is to buy glasses for children, especially when you need to keep one pair at home and one pair at school.  I shudder to think how many families are unable to provide proper eye care for their children even after a vision problem has been identified.

Through Alcon's #EyeSawGood campaign, you can help to raise up to $50,000 to go towards providing eye exams and glasses to children of families in need across the United States.  All you need to do is share a photo of something you deem as good on Twitter using the hashtag #EyeSawGood to prompt a $1 donation from Alcon to this worthy cause.

To learn more about this cause, visit www.theeyesolution.com.  My #EyeSawGood photo is at the top of this post.  What would be the subject of your #EyeSawGood photo?

Candlewick Press Donates Books to the "Happy Birthday Baby" Program

In an effort to teach children to help those who are less fortunate at an early age, a local preschool has chosen to partner with the Happy Birthday Baby program, which benefits needy families, single mothers, and underage mothers in the MetroWest area who are expecting to add a new bundle of joy to their households.  This program, which stemmed from the Welcome Baby program that benefits Boston-area families, is headed by the First Baptist Church in Framingham.  What the Happy Birthday Baby program does is make up baskets filled with items for newborns and gifts them to local families who cannot afford to purchase things many take for granted, like bibs, diaper rash cream, and other basic infant items.  To date, this wonderful program has gifted over 180 baskets to MetroWest families from Natick to Sudbury to Worcester and many towns in between.

Local retailers who have contributed to the Happy Birthday Baby program are TJX Companies (the parent company of TJMaxx, Marshalls, and HomeGoods) and The Christmas Tree Shoppes.  Our local preschool has made it their goal to put together five complete baskets to help with this worthy cause, asking families of the students to contribute one or two items if they can to just one of the baskets.  Since I feel very strongly that children should have books available to them from the very beginning and that books are a luxury many families cannot afford, I reached out to Candlewick Press for a small donation of board books for one or more of the gift baskets.  When the box of books arrived to my home, I was surprised to find that Candlewick Press had generously provided two board books for each of the five baskets.  This was far more than I could afford to contribute on my own, so I must thank Candlewick Press again on behalf of myself and the director of the preschool.


These are the two board books each baby will be receiving . . .

Bears on Chairs by Shirley Parenteau is available in a hardcover or a board book format.  This rhyming children's book would be fun for even the youngest child to listen to.  The soft-colored illustrations by David Walker are extremely charming and would be at-home in any nursery.

Flip, Flap, Fly!:  A Book For Babies Everywhere by Phyllis Root is a cheerful rhyming board book.  Also illustrated by David Walker, this book is sweet and full of baby animals that will charm young readers.  This book is also available in hardcover.

Thank you to Candlewick Press for donating books to this worthy cause.  No compensation was received for sharing this information with my readers.

Giving Through Oxfam America Unwrapped

This is the time of year when many people from all walks of life begin to think about which charities they would like to gift to this holiday season. If you are fortunate to have enough to give to more than one charity, I think it is a great idea to choose at least one cause that is local and one cause that is international.

Personally, having an idea of where my money is going makes it easier for me to give. For example, if I had $15 to give, but I see that it would cost $18 to give honeybees to a small farmer in a poverty-stricken country, then I would certainly be able to find the extra few dollars to make that happen.

The gifts available on the Oxfam America Unwrapped website is organized into simple categories . . . Animal Gifts, Green Gifts, Women & Children, Education, Making a Living, and Emergency Essentials. These gifts come in all price ranges. A donation of $18 could provide children with either books or some basic toys. A donation of $30 plants 50 trees. A donation of $100 could provide a farmer with either a donkey or a donkey cart.

There are so many options, so I encourage you to take a look through Oxfam America Unwrapped. Instead of buying someone that bottle of wine this year, why not give a charitable gift on their behalf instead? You will receive a card with an explanation and an image of the gift, which you can present to your friend or family member. What a perfect gift for someone who already has everything!

I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Oxfam America Unwrapped and received a credit for a gift on the Oxfam site.