The Change for Change happened....

Do you remember last year when I started the Change for Change project?
I pledged to collect money for The Shine Project Scholarship Fund - dedicated to helping inner city high school students go to college and achieve their dreams.

With help from some of YOU we were able to meet our goal and fill the jar.

I sent our collections to my friend, Ashley, from The Shine Project and then waited patiently to see the faces of the lucky kids awarded.

Well, I was so EXCITED to see the pictures this week!
I wanted to make sure you saw them too.
Click on over to visit Ashley and see the faces of the amazing kids whose lives YOU helped change.Seeing the pictures made me want to reach through the screen and congratulate them myself.

Thank you for helping me help them.
And thank you, Ashley, for letting us be a part of the great work The Shine Project is doing.

We did it!

Your goals are the road maps that guide you and show you what is possible for your life. 

-Les Brown

Together as team squeezing it all in.....WE DID IT!!!

We met our goal to donate $100 to the Shine Project Scholarship Fund.

I couldn't have done it without you lovelies!

THANK YOU!

I can't wait to show you the student who is chosen to receive the scholarship YOU helped fund!

Today YOU helped change the future for a smart, young person with promise AND you showed that young person that anything is possible and ANY goal is achievable.

man....i'm in love with you guys.

change for CHANGE update

Do you remember the change for CHANGE project I've been working on the past few months?
If you are new here or you forgot....We are saving to give the opportunity for a college education to an inner city high school senior.

I wanted to give you the new status...

With the help of a few of you we've saved $62.05!  
I've pledged to save $100 by the 1st of October.
Guess WHAT?!?!
That means we only have 2 more days to come up with $37.95.

 

If we team up and all give just a little we can make up that $37.95 in a flash!

I can't thank those of you enough, who have already made the choice to sacrifice just a dollar or two (or some of you more) to make a BIG difference in one young teenager's future!  

Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!
MUAH!
(yes, I just kissed the screen ... it was meant for YOU!)

I know times are hard and budgets are tight ... really, I do know.

Since that's the case, here are a few ideas on how to contribute to changing someone's future for the better without hurting your wallet.

• empty out the change in your car, your couch or the bottom of your purse. Not only will it make your load lighter, that change has probably been sitting there untouched for quite sometime ... give it a purpose

• instead of making popcorn and going to redbox for your Friday night in, find something on Hulu, curl up with your computer and feel good knowing that redbox $1 went to better someone's life

• assemble a mean sandwich at home instead of hitting Wendy's $1 menu for lunch

• search here to find a super delicious meal to present to the fam instead of ordering take-out

not only will making these little choices save you some cash, some of them will save you some precious calories!
Who doesn't want some of that?!?!

Let's join together to show these inner city kids that they are of enormous worth,
they can dream BIG and shoot for the stars!

click on the change for CHANGE button on my sidebar to read more about the project.

for those of you inspired to make a difference ... that paypal button is calling YOUR name!

100% of the donations will go straight to the kids.
I can't wait to see which one of the kids get awarded the scholarship so I can share their beauty and grateful spirit with you!

Special Care Service Project

Today I'm SOOO excited to FINALLY tell you about my newest project! 

I've talked a little about my motivation for the project HERE and spoke a little cryptically HERE and HERE about my service project in the works...

but I couldn't give you the full rundown because I hadn't received approval yet.

But I have NOW!!!

And I can't tell you how EXCITED I am!!

I've been dreaming about this for a long time and I feel like I'm finally getting the right people on board and making it all come together. 

I hope you can all jump on board with me too because I know I can't do this alone!

"Teamwork divides the task and multiplies the success."  ~Author Unknown

"No one can whistle a symphony.  It takes a whole orchestra to play it."  ~H.E. Luccock
 

Here are the details:

The Special Care and Obstetrics Unit at Good Samaritan Hospital specializes in caring for women with high-risk pregnancies who require additional care and may need to spend extra time or even live in the hospital. 

Depending on the circumstances, expecting mothers can be admitted into Special Care Obstetrics anywhere between six weeks and full term, making a typical stay range from hours to weeks. 

There is a long list of complications that could bring you into this unit - you can find them HERE.

This unit is a place I once called home. The doctors and nurses here saved my baby's life and I will forever be grateful! 

This is the one and only picture that was taken while I lived there. 

Since I have been one of their patients, I have experienced some of the same struggles their current patients are experiencing.

I know they are often forgotten in their struggles and grief…I felt the same and I want to change that. 

I want the patients to feel heard, understood and loved by someone who has been confined to the same bed and knows first hand the war that must be fought to save a life. 

I want to provide hope, motivation and encouragement to them in any way I can. 

I will be holding donation drives for books, puzzles, cards and envelopes, games, craft kits, etc. Anything and everything that these confined women can do to keep them busy, keep them learning and involved with their hobbies, families and other children. I will be organizing it all in a room that is easily accessible to the nurses to help serve the women.

·         I will put together a gift bag for each of the women who are required to stay for longer periods of time.

I would like them to receive a gift bag containing items that I treasured while I was battling for my baby’s life. 

They would include inexpensive items, but items that I know would be treasured....A shower loofa, body wash, manicure set, nail polish, ear plugs, eye mask, lip gloss, notebook and pen.

Each of the long-term patients as well as the short-term patients will also receive a card introducing them to a new way of seeing their world at this difficult time…a practice that was introduced to me when I was in the same situation. 

The same "little things" way of seeing the world that I have introduced to you HERE and a lot of you have shared with us HERE.

I'm SO excited to hit the ground running with this project ... I'm now on to planning book drives, fund-raising opportunities and possibly selling handmade items to benefit the cause.

I will be keeping you all updated ... I would LOVE to have you help out in any way you can! 

You will be blessing the lives of some REALLY special women!

you can contact me here:

squeezingitallin@gmail.com 
(please excuse all the weird font issues....not sure what's going on today!)

The Faces Behind the Scholarships

I am still working on raising money for my Change for CHANGE jar and today I am SOOO excited to show you the faces of some of the Cesar Chavez High School seniors who will possibly be selected to receive one of these Shine Project Foundation scholarships.

click right HERE to see their beautiful faces and hear what they have to say about their college dreams!

Every dollar will make a difference.

Make a difference TODAY!

Click my Change for CHANGE paypal button on my sidebar to join in making their dreams come true!

change for CHANGE update #1

Good Morning my pretties! 
Ooh, that makes me sound like the wicked witch of the west! Haha!

I want to give you the status on our change for CHANGE project.

We've saved $50.00 even! 
WHAT?!?!
Yeah, that's right .... we're half way already with 2 more months to go!

I can't even tell you how EXCITED that makes me!

I can't thank those of you enough, who have made the choice to sacrifice just a dollar or two (or some of you more) to make a BIG difference in one young teenager's future!  

Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!
MUAH!
(yes, I just kissed the screen ... it was meant for YOU!)

I know times are hard and budgets are tight ... really, I do know.

Since that's the case, here are a few ideas on how to contribute to changing someone's future for the better without hurting your wallet.

• empty out the change in your car, your couch or the bottom of your purse. Not only will it make your load lighter, that change has probably been sitting there untouched for quite sometime ... give it a purpose

• instead of making popcorn and going to redbox for your Friday night in, find something on Hulu, curl up with your computer and feel good knowing that redbox $1 went to better someone's life

• assemble a mean sandwich at home instead of hitting Wendy's $1 menu for lunch

• search here to find a super delicious meal to present to the fam instead of ordering take-out

not only will making these little choices save you some cash, some of them will save you some precious calories!
Who doesn't want some of that?!?!

Let's join together to show these inner city kids that they are of enormous worth,
they can dream BIG and shoot for the stars!

click on the change for CHANGE button on my sidebar to read more about the project.

for those of you inspired to make a difference ... that paypal button is calling YOUR name!

Thank You!

Here's an update on raising money for the Change for CHANGE project ...

With help from some of my beautiful readers we've saved $23.50 in the last 13 days!
What a really great start!!!

and I wanted to say ...

I can't tell you how much I appreciate you!!!
Let's keep going and make our $100 goal by the beginning of October!

If you want to read more about the project,
click on the change for CHANGE button on my sidebar.

If you are inspired to donate ...
that little paypal button will welcome you!

Every little bit helps 

Have a marvelous weekend ...
I'll see you on Monday for another tutorial!

Monday...

Happy Monday!
How was YOUR weekend?

Mine was really great ... whats better than a nice weekend with my three men?

Nothing.

Have you thought about the change for CHANGE project over the weekend? 

I have.
I made it ridiculously easy for you to team up with me and take part in the project!!!

There is a paypal button right over here ---------------->

you can click that little button and use your paypal account or any type of credit card to add just $1 ... or any amount you like ... to my little 'jar'.

One inner city high school student is going to make a change for the better with that $1!
We can make a BIG difference by doing little things!

See you later for another tutorial!

Change for CHANGE project

I have a new project to share with you today and I'm sooo excited,
but I'm going to need YOUR help to make it happen!

My friend, Ashley from The Shine Project, is raising money for a scholarship fund to award to 4 lucky inner city high school students who have great potential to succeed in this world, but need someone to see their potential and give them a little boost.

These amazing students are attending Cesar Chavez High School in Phoenix, Arizona and even though I'm miles and miles away I am absolutely THRILLED to have a chance to show them that there are people in this world who will band together to love and support a stranger in need.

Ashley has plans to raise $20,000 to split among these 4 students.

What is MY part in this project?
Ashley is looking for 100 people to pledge to raise $100 by October and I am one of those "pledgers".

this is how it works:
I have made a change jar and will fill it with my spare change for the next 85 days.
I know you can do the math, but that's $1.17 a day.
Here she is ...

How can YOU help?
You can visit Ashley at the Shine Project and pledge to start your own $100 change jar OR you can help me fill mine! 

If you (my beautiful readers) and I team up and give just $1 a person,
we could fill that change jar immediately! 
All you have to do is click on that little "DONATE" button under the change for change button on my sidebar.

 

Can you imagine what this will do for these high school students?

Receiving this gift will open a door for them that has been slammed shut, 
it will give them an extra boost to succeed ... 
it will be something they will NEVER forget ...
and I'm sure it will land on the top of their "little things" list for the rest of their lives!

If you feel inspired to motivate and pay it forward to one of these wonderful kids please email me at squeezingitallin@gmail.com and 

LET'S MAKE THIS HAPPEN!!!

I KNOW we can do it!

I can't wait to hear from you!

31 Fundraiser…

My Brother-in-Law suffers from a disease called Colitis and will struggle with it for the rest of his life.
He recently had to go through another painful surgery because of it.
There are more people than you think who suffer from this disease and others like it everyday…

I have a friend, Jessica, who is holding a fundraiser for the first two weeks of this month and I wanted to let you all know about it.
She is a director for Thirty-One Gifts.
(our friend, Katie, who shared her “little things” list with us is a consultant for Thirty-One Gifts too)
Jessica is holding this fundraiser on behalf of a good friend of hers who just found out that he has Crohn’s disease.

Here is what Jessica had to say about it…

”I am having a Thirty-One Fundraiser and 100% of the proceeds wilI go to the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America (CCFA).
This is a non-profit and volunteer based organization that is trying to find a cure for Crohn's and other digestive diseases.

To place an order please go to www.mythirtyone.com/jessica31 Here you can view the catalog and place an order under 'Crohn's Disease Fundraiser' Any order big or small will be GREATLY APPRECIATED!!
100% of the proceeds will go to CCFA.
Fundraiser will stay open till April 15th!! “

I’ve already placed my order…I hope you do the same!
We can step up and help so many people who are suffering with silent and terrible digestive diseases.
Take a minute and order even just one thing – it WILL make a difference in someone else’s life.

By doing so YOU will be someone else’s “little thing” for the day!