Style & Substance: Sharing My Skills to Help Nonprofits in My Community

during the summer we have extra time to spend doing things as a family. one thing i like to focus on is showing my kids how to give back to the community. we do that several ways in our family. we serve in our church, we look for ways to serve in the community, we donate time as well as money and we are hefty clothing contributors to local charities. i'm excited to share with you that Jewelers Mutual Insurance Company has put together a campaign called the 'Band Together' campaign to donate a total of $2 million to support three causes - health, home and hunger through this corporate giving campaign.

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Sharing My Skills To Help Nonprofits

there are several ways my family and i like to work together to help nonprofits. below is a list of things i have done in my with my family and personally in my community to help:

1. volunteer at a local soup kitchen. this is one of the most fulfilling things we have done as a family. through a local website we were able to find a local soup kitchen that is always looking for volunteers to help serve meals. together as a family we helped feed locals in need and it was a great way to give our time and connect with other members of the community. my children were encouraged to engage with the people we were serving and hear the stories they had to offer. in the end we all left uplifted and felt so good about the time we had spent together.
2. volunteer speaking engagements. i don't consider myself a styling professional but i have worked in this field for over a decade and learned a thing or two. i volunteer in speaking engagements to talk about building self esteem through self care. i want to empower other women and help spread the idea that it taking the time to take care of yourself is important and helps to build your self esteem and self worth. it is not only a focus on what to wear and what not to wear but rather how to find your best self.
3. donate gently used items. how many of us have a closet full of items that are not seeing regular wear? for me in particular (because of the nature of my job) i have a high closet turnover. i look to donate these items to local shelters and nonprofits rather than resale. i would rather others benefit from these items than earn money on them.
4. donate money. we commit to donating a certain amount of money every month that goes to hep feed those in need. this is something my husband and i have made a decision to do and we do it without fail or thought. when you commit to donating on a regular basis it makes it so easy.

those are just some of the ways we contribute to our local community. Jewelers Mutual is set to donate a total of $2 million to support important causes like health, home and hunger. the nonprofits of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Habitat for Humanity and Feeding America are going to be benefiting from this campaign that Jewelers Mutual is running. Jewelers Mutual wants to encourage you to Band Together to help decide how to disperse the record-breaking donation by voting for your choice of causes from July 11th to July 31st. the cause with the most votes by the end of July will receive $1 million donation from Jewelers Mutual. the runner up will receive $700,000 and $300,00 will go to the third place winner. throughout this voting period voters will be entered for a chance to win weekly jewelry prizes from STACKED New York. each week, one lucky winner will receive a set of three stacking bands ($450 retail value). you can vote DAILY to increase your chances of winner.

i hope this sparks a volunteer bug inside each of you to help continue your efforts to building and improving your community.

xo,

kristie

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.