Chowing Down for a Good Cause

Nothing warms my heart more than helping out someone 

in need. 

Check out today's post from 

NBC Miami!

Community Chows Down to Help Sick Teen

Melanie Garcia's leukemia treatment will cost thousands of dollars, 

so friends and family picked up a fork

Thursday, Apr 14, 2011 | Updated 12:11 PM EDT

People showed up in droves at St. Brendan Elementary Wednesday night 
as food trucks served up support for 14-year-old Melanie Garcia.

People showed up in droves at St. Brendan Elementary Wednesday 

night as food trucks served up support for 14-year-old Melanie Garcia.

She's fighting leukemia, and her doctor says her prognosis is good. 
But her treatment is expensive: two to three years of drugs and 
chemotherapy costing thousands of dollars.

While friends, family, and even strangers chowed down on 
burgers and fries, food truck operators donated ten percent 
of their profits to Melanie.

"I realize that a lot of people love me," said Melanie.

Her mother, Marela Valladares, says constant hospital visits 
keep her daughter out of school, and that she jumps at the 
chance to hang out with her classmates.

"I feel really good," she said, surrounded by girlfriends.

The event drew support from local police officers, too.

"This is a young lady who's sick and needs some help," said 
Miami-Dade Police Director Jim Loftus, joining the crowd with fellow officers.

"It's just one small way we can give back."

Melanie wanted her supporters to know one thing:

 "I love them, and I'm grateful," she said.

Posted on Thursday, Apr 14, 2011 at 7:05 AM EDT

SOS Dress Drive Day 9- The Shopping Bug Has Hit. Lord HELP ME

Ok, so remember when I decided to give up shopping for Lent in honor of the girls at SOS...well the shopping bug has hit me harder than I thought it would. It's been 9 days since I made that commitment, and I'm paying for it literally. I never realized how hard it would be to hide the debit card and not shop for things that I feel are a necessity that truly aren’t. Earlier this week I took a trip to Sephora and told myself that I was doing “homework”. Only checking out the new trends for spring and for my BF’s wedding next weekend…that new coral polish at Sephora I’ve been dying to put on my dinky little nails since my manicure chipped 3 days ago, the Benefit eye shadow that my best friend is asking “nicely” I wear to her wedding next weekend. It’s almost like a knee jerk reflex, I whip out my credit card head to the register and then it hits me….LENT. The Catholic in me was guilting myself for even THINKING of buying makeup. The shopaholic in me wanted to tell the Catholic to say a few Hail Mary’s and get over it. I stood in the middle of the store warring with myself,  looking like one of those cartoon characters turning my head from side to side. “Yes buy it, no what the heck are you thinking?” I quickly thanked the sales girl who was looking at me like I lost my mind and dropped the products like a bad habit. Grumbling to myself on the way back to the car I noticed the chick next to me with the armful of shopping bags. What the heck is she giving up for Lent? Definitely not shopping. Why the heck did I decide to give this up? I could have given up coffee, a vital, but unnecessary vice. It would have been less painful than giving up shopping. UGH.  Now what the heck am I going to do? This wedding is in one week and we need the eye shadow in that EXACT color and the polish to go with it. If I show up to her wedding bare faced, I think she may have an aneurysm.

Now in my defense, please understand, I’m not this millionaire housewife who can shop till she drops..I’m like the total opposite! I have two full time jobs trying to pay down debt (see I thought I was some millionare housewife when I was 18…lesson learned)  and put away what little money’s left over. We make a decent living and can afford ourselves a few nice things once in a while (Cheesecake Factory anyone?). But come on. I’m a girl a very girly girl at that and every once in a while a girl’s gotta spoil herself a bit. Now living and working in Miami certain people can take that to the extreme (weekends at the Mandarin Oriental, breakfast at Nikki Beach I’m not mentioning names, but I have no clue how she does it But I want to be her when I grow up.) I’m just talking about a little nail polish and the occasional blow out.

In hindsight, I’m happy that I chose to give up shopping for Lent. Kinda hitting it where it hurts. It’s really reminding me about why I gave up shopping. There are plenty of girls…250 of them in fact who can’t spend money for frivolous things whenever the heck they want.  Fine, fine I put away my credit card (stamped my feet and pouted like a three year old ) dug through my plethora of makeup and started calling all of my make up addicted friends over to experiment with colors. This afternoon I  called Vickie Walter at SOS to talk about how many girls needed dresses. I was excited when she told me they were getting ready for a gala night on May 7^th and some of the residents would be attending. Can you imagine their little Rachel Zoe-ish dreams would come true(She’s my hero. Sigh)? Feeling like a diva complete with gown and accessories for one night? Ok, that made me feel better about not giving in to my shopping impulses. Let’s see how I do the next 37 days…..OH 37 MORE DAYS! 

We’re gonna have to shred that credit card. 

SOS Dress Drive Part 1

What a difference a week makes! We've gotten such a great response from people donating their dresses to SOS Children's Village. People are retweeting and passing on my link on Facebook and DONATING!!! DONATING DRESSES! Whoo hoo! This morning I even shared our mission with my BNI Chapter (the BEST chapter I do have to say) Elite BNI.
People are reaching into their closets and their friends closets (hope they asked first) and dusting off those dresses that are patiently hanging in the closet just waiting to be worn again. 


I've been so moved by the responses I'm getting that with Lent beginning today I decided to give up shopping. Wait, did I just decide to give up shopping. Yep. I think I just went off the deep end. You have to understand, I don't think of myself as a hoarder of clothes, rather I like to consider myself as a connoisseur of retail therapy. 

During Lent, its all too easy to say, sure I'll give up Starbucks or chocolate  or some other indulgence that I really shouldn't be eating anyway and not really grasp the meaning of Lent. So today, I had an employee of mine ask me what I was giving up and I thought of the kids living at SOS. Its such an amazing group home that keeps siblings together and enriches their lives by helping them find forever homes. The average stay at SOS is two years and in those two years, most girls don't always have access to the nicer things we take for granted. So you can imagine how selfish I felt when I cringed at the thought of giving up shopping for Lent. It would be such a great experience to not shop for myself  and instead collect dresses to donate to those girls who are going to prom this year. 


SO, I know how motivated you must be now to grab that dress out of your closet and donate it to SOS. 
Send an email to 1kindact@gmail.com and we'll contact you to donate your dress. The drive continues through May 1, 2011.

Everyone Deserves to Feel Pretty Once in a While.

It's already March! Where the heck is the time going? It's crazy to think I just had my 10 year high school a few months ago. (Shout out to Flanagan High School WHOO!!!)  I was so fortunate to have parents who could afford to buy me a prom dress and accessories and all the details required to make me feel like the princess I  was that night. (And I still am hehe.) Prom night is an amazing night for so many high school seniors. With today's economy and the high cost of prom tickets (I heard $190 for tickets at one school...seriously?) its difficult if not impossible to afford to have a nice dress too. Especially if  that teen is living in a group home setting. I've been really fortunate to have a strange, eccentric but loving family to raise me, but there are so many teens who don't have that. Due to one situation or another, they end up in state services and if they're very lucky they end up living at SOS Children's Village. 




 Its very common for kids who become a ward of the state to be seperated from their siblings and are raised in different foster homes, sometimes never seeing their sibling again.  In 1993,Broward Family Court Judge Estella Moriarty opened SOS Children's Village in Broward County with the promise of providing healing, hope and a home. To date, they've helped raise over 250 boys and girls. These kids are given love and a home, but don't always have the means for those special occasions like prom or homecoming. So here's my plan...Let's collect gently used evening dresses..( I have oodles that I can't shimmy my booty into any longer.) and donate them to high school seniors living at SOS who may not have the opportunity to wear a really nice dress on prom night. 




Experiment in Kindness





















From now until May 1, 2011, I will be collecting your gently used dresses to donate to SOS Children's Village for some really lucky girls to use on prom night. Simply respond to this post and I'll schedule to pick up your donation! 



Now that all of those dresses will be out of your closet imagine how much room you'll have for all of your new purchases! 

Sweet Give Away Winner!!

So super excited  about all of the feedback we've been receiving about the site and the contest. So many people shared their stories about acts of kindness they've done or others who have done really kind things for others in the community! We've heard stories about charity events in honor of loved ones, loaning gas money to a stranger in need or just lending someone a helping hand!  It was really difficult to pick just 1 winner, so we decided to pick 3! So happy to announce our WINNERS!!! YEA!!!!! We had so many people enter and the folks at The Body Details were so excited to pick our winner!!!  Drum roll please!!!!!!! ..... AnielkaG. , Michelle M. and Vanessa A.!!!

You are all going to recieve a $250 gift certificate to Body Details Laser Hair and Tattoo Removal

Be sure to call the store manager (305)442-7525 to redeem your gift certificate!

Happy Friday!!! Keep up the kind acts! You're changing the world 1 act at a time!   

Living in Miami we are always concerned about trying to look our best. Be it our culture or environment we are constantly trying to look and feel our best. Working out, eating healthy, being hair free?? Yes! You know as soon as the temperature hits 80 we shimmy out of our pants as fast as we can and into that itsy bitsy bikini and hit the beach! Ah living near water! What a gift! So how sweet is it that our first giveaway will guarantee baby butt smooth skin just in time for beach weather?! Sweet!!!

www.bodydetails.com

1 (866) 332- BODY

The folks at Body Details Laser Hair and Tattoo Removalheard about little ole us and want to help encourage the locals to spread acts of kindness around the city, they contacted us and are giving away a $250 gift certificate towards hair and tattoo removal! How awesome is that?! I'm sure you're jumping at the chance to be fuzz free, here are the deets on how to get this awesome prize. 
In order to win, you must perform an act of kindness and then run here and post it in the comments section of this blog post. I will then pick 5 random winners and VIOLA! Hair free for life! 

Full Backpacks = Full Tummys

Happy Saturday! For most of us (me included) the weekend is our "break" from dieting, working out, or anything unpleasant until Monday. Its the day we look forward to eating out with friends and family. Today that meant sitting in my kitchen with my fuzzy socks, Starbucks coffee and NBC Miami on my laptop. That's not the case for a lot of children in Miami Dade and Broward County. I came across this article and couldn't help but think what a blessing it is to be able to sit in my chair drinking coffee and having breakfast. Check out what Elaine Heyler has done to help fill the soul and tummies of these kids:

Needy Students Find Relief in Food-Filled Backpacks

In the fight to end hunger one South Florida teacher is meeting the challenge head on

By BRENT SOLOMON

Updated 8:15 AM EST, Thu, Feb 3, 2011

BUZZ UP!

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It's a fight to end hunger and one South Florida teacher is meeting the challenge head on.

When Elaine Heyler realized many of her students do not get nutritious meals at home, she wanted to fight back.

So Heyler started a  program -- "Blessings in a Backpack" -- and it's meeting a critical need.

Students bring backpacks to school every day, but they're usually filled with papers, pens, and pencils.

At Coral Springs Middle, you'll find bags filled with other items, too.

"Some drinks, some energy bars," Heyler pointed out.

She brought the national program to her school after realizing a lot of her students go hungry.

"Parents are working and they're not at home because they need to keep two jobs, [some are] single parents. Some kids have no food," Heyler said.

Student leaders assemble the bags every week.

"We first start with the breakfast. We take a Pop Tart," said 8th graderAlexandra Kales while preparing to organize the food.

"We get gift cards. We get it at Publix and Wal-Mart. We bring it in. We pack it in the backpacks and every Friday, the kids come and pick them up," explained 8th grader Matthew Mulinari.

Participants say what really makes this worth it is that it's students helping students.

"I think they feel grateful. There's a friend in need, someone's there to help you through the tough times or not," Kales said.

"The kids were off for three days a couple of weeks ago and the kids came to me and said 'are we still going to get our backpacks and remember it's a three-day weekend. Does that mean we get more food?'" Heyler explained.

That shows her the program is meeting a need. It's why they're counting the blessings and hoping they multiply.

"I feel like I'm a better person when I help people," Kales added.

The program is always in need of food donations and gift cards to buy non-perishable items. To donate, email Elaine.heyler@browardschools.com.

First Published: Feb 2, 2011 9:26 AM EST

Social Experiment in Kindness #3

Okay, this one is easy. I'm challenging you when you go grocery shopping this weekend, buy a few extra cans of food or juice boxes . It won't cost you more than a few bucks, but it will help a needy child get through what would be a weekend without anything to eat. You can email Elaine for more information and drop off directions to elaine.heyler@browardschools.com

Sweet Give Away!

Happy Friday!!! 


Living in Miami we are always concerned about trying to look our best. Be it our culture or environment we are constantly trying to look and feel our best. Working out, eating healthy, being hair free?? Yes! You know as soon as the temperature hits 80 we shimmy out of our pants as fast as we can and into that itsy bitsy bikini and hit the beach! Ah living near water! What a gift! So how sweet is it that our first giveaway will guarantee baby butt smooth skin just in time for beach weather?! Sweet!!!

www.bodydetails.com

1 (866) 332- BODY

The folks at Body Details Laser Hair and Tattoo Removal heard about little ole us and want to help encourage the locals to spread acts of kindness around the city, they contacted us and are giving away a $250 gift certificate towards hair and tattoo removal! How awesome is that?! I'm sure you're jumping at the chance to be fuzz free, here are the deets on how to get this awesome prize. 
In order to win, you must perform an act of kindness and then run here and post it in the comments section of this blog post. I will then pick 5 random winners and VIOLA! Hair free for life! 


The contest will run through Valentine's Day (February 14, 2011). Hurry! Enter now!!! Be fuzz free for life! I wish I could enter, but I can't. No special treatment for me . :0( 

Good luck!