Your Chance to Impact Four Schools in Need

Earlier in October, I had told you about the "Bing "Our School Needs" Contest, which was kicked off with Josh Groban bringing brand new musical instruments to a middle school in Queens, New York. This contest gave a chance to schools in need to tell the world why they deserve to win the $100,000 cash prize. What would you have told the world that your child's school needs? Which department needs the most funding? I would have told them that we need to bring back all the staff that was cut this year at our grade school, including the school librarians, the office workers, and the cafeteria lunch aids.

The voting phase of the "Our School Needs" Contest has begun. You actually only have until Sunday, November 7th to cast your votes to help decide who will win the $100,000 grand prize and the three $50,000 runner up prizes. Yes, I did say "votes" . . . plural! You can vote for up to five entries everyday, but you cannot vote for the same entry more than once within 24 hours. If you are among the first 30,000 voters, you will receive a $3 giving code for DonorsChoose.org . Check out the 15 contest finalists now and cast your votes! My personal favorite is the entry for a library for the Bear River Charter School. I suppose that my 1st grader is lucky that his class gets to visit the school library once every other week because they now have to share a librarian with another school in our district. This school has no library at all. This is your chance to make a difference in the quality of education for many children.

I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour campaign by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of Bing and received a gift card and DonorsChoose.org giving code to thank me for taking the time to participate.

Thank You BSM Media For Supporting Local Schools

Not too long ago, I had the chance to review Zhu Zhu Pets . . . one of this season's hottest toys. This opportunity was presented by MomSelect, one of the properties of BSM Media.

Soon after, another wonderful opportunity presented itself. Maria Bailey and her team at BSM Media were working on coordinating a limited number of toy donations for fall fundraisers at schools across the country. All I had to do was provide general information about my son's school to be considered. When I found out I had made it onto the list, I was so excited, as was the school's PTO.

After that, we had to be patient. I did not know which toy companies BSM Media had been working with on this worthy project. Then one day a package arrived and I discovered that we had been given a Zhu Zhu Pets Starter Kit, which includes one hamster, a ramp, and a spiral slide. I think the president of the PTO nearly fainted when I told her. Unfortunately the fall fundraiser for green and fair trade products had fallen short of the fundraising goal. We are certain that a raffle for this starter kit will more than make up for the difference.

Thank you to the makers of Zhu Zhu Pets and BSM Media for giving my son's school this wonderful opportunity to raise some much-needed funds. I am happy to report that a flyer promoting this raffle will go home with each of the 475 students. If I am privy to the information, I will gladly post an update after the raffle has ended as to how much funds the PTO was able to raise with this one toy donation.