but I am using funds for these worthwhile causes.
1) I am trying to raise $1,000 to help provide clean water to children who lack this basic necessity. To learn more or to donate — even $1 would help! — please click here.
2) I have already lent money to four people in developing countries through Kiva. You lend money in $25 increments, you get paid back, then you can lend money again, or get it back. For more information, please click here.
Saturday, April 14 from 9 a.m. until noon at the Akron Canton Regional Foodbank, Main Street Gourmet will be selling all slightly off spec products at $1.25 per pound (a portion of the proceeds and any unsold product will go directly to the Akron Canton Regional Foodbank). They’ll have granola, brownies, dessert bars, cookie dough, baked muffins and muffin batters. It is first-come, first-served and cash and checks only. We’ve gone in the past and, wow.
This is “Dayton”, my first “upcycled” art piece on either a drywall or ceiling sample (I’m not sure which — it’s from the Zero Landfill recycling project). It’s about a 5″ square and it’s just $18.
and many schools have levies on the ballot. I know these are not easy economic times for most of us, but please support the schools. Strong schools really do make a strong community.
ZeroLandfill is in Akron this Saturday from 9-12 at 30 N. High St. It was scheduled for the four Saturdays in February, but I didn’t find out about it until last Friday night. ZeroLandfill is where area companies donate stuff they don’t use anymore and then people (usually artists and teachers) go nuts rummaging through the stuff (samples of brick, fabric, wallpaper and carpet and three-ring binders, to name a few) to take home. I loaded up Saturday morning with boxes of three-ring binders and LOTS of stuff to use for my “upcycled” art. I like to help keep things out of landfills but I REALLY like free!!!! I cannot wait to use these items in my art!!! Here’s their Facebook site: http://www.facebook.com/ZeroLandfillAkron?sk=wall#!/ZeroLandfillAkron?sk=info Other cities have the same program, too; visit the organization’s site at: http://zerolandfill.net/
I love the “RAK” concept, but find that sometimes in practice, you can end up feeling taken advantage of. Case in point: last week I was in the checkout line at Marc’s. I had a whole bunch of stuff, and the 20-ish guy behind me only had four items. I kind of felt badly for not letting him go first (which I usually do in these cases), but the girl had already started ringing my stuff up by the time I noticed that he only had a couple items. Anyhoo, the cashier was really out of it and she kept ringing up my items twice and having to call the manager over to do a “void”. Each time it seemed like it took forever for the manager to get there and I kept feeling worse and worse for this guy stuck behind me. Then at the end, when I finally think I’m done, the cashier put two of his items on my tab. The guy and I are like, uh, those are his. So she has to call the manager AGAIN. While we’re waiting, I said, you know what, I’ll just pay for those two things of his (they were small). But then the manager came up and voided them so it was a moot point. However, after the manager left the cashier then proceeded to ring up all FOUR of the guy’s items. She’s like “I can’t believe I did that”. By then I just want to get the heck out of the store and I’m like, I’ll pay for his stuff, don’t worry. The guy’s like, gee thanks. Okay, I really didn’t do this to be nice, I just did it to get out of the store (I was so annoyed by then). But I did do it, so it kind of counts as a RAK, right? But what gets me is that the guy had been standing there with cash in his hand to pay for his stuff. After I left the store I thought, the guy was holding cash, why didn’t he just give me the couple bucks the stuff cost? Then I was mad at myself.
From time to time I e-mail my children’s teachers to thank them for various little things. Three times now a teacher has written me back to thank me and to tell me that in all the years they’ve done whatever it was I thanked them for, not one parent has ever thanked them. They also said how much my e-mail made their day (or week). I think that teachers, on the whole, do an incredible job, so if you feel so moved and you’re a parent of school-aged children, please think about sending a note and making a teacher’s day.
I know I’m a bit late on this, but here is the link to an article on ohio.com which lists the different ways/places you can recycle some of your holiday items — poinsettias, trees, wrapping paper, packing peanuts, etc. http://www.ohio.com/news/local/how-to-reuse-recycle-holiday-items-1.251219
… and I know I certainly love to receive them! … consider ordering one from Buckeye Baskets, a division of United Disability Services. People with disabilities assemble the baskets of products (many of which are all-Ohio made), and then label the baskets with their signatures. There’s an entire collection of customized and all-occasion gift baskets available year-round with goodies like gourmet sauces, popcorns and Harry London candies. Baskets range in price from $9.95 to $75.95 (plus tax and shipping anywhere in the U.S). For more info, visit www.buckeyebaskets.com. I just love win-win-win ideas like this!