Giveaway! Path to Peace Prize Pack From Macy’s ($250 Retail Value)
December 6, 2009 by Jyl Johnson Pattee · 121 Comments
Spearheaded 3 years ago by Willa Shalit and her company Fair Winds Trading, Path to Peace developed an American market for Rwandan women’s crafts. It creates trade partnerships with artisans in recovering regions to bring the power of change to Rwanda. Shalit believes that women helping each other can change how Rwanda rebuilds its society, empowers women, and sustains economic development beyond traditional assistance. Macy’s has partnered with Fair Winds Trading to give an online space called Shop for a Better World where the crafts can be sold.
Mom It Forward is partnering with Macy’s to promote Path to Peace. On Tuesday, December 8, we’ll be tweeting live from New Orleans with Willa Shalit. Feel free to join us, stream live with us on UStream, and/or tweet with us during this week’s #gno event. Also, enter to win a gift pack of Path to Peace products, including baskets, textiles, and jewelry. Approximate retail value $250. (Gift pack items may vary in color or style from those featured in this picture.)
Entry Requirements
Please do the following two things to enter for a chance to win this week’s giveaway:
- Become a fan of the page http://bit.ly/facebookp2p and leave a comment there, sharing your favorite item from the Path to Peace collection.
- Post these two messages on Twitter and/or your Facebook profile page:
Giveaway! Enter 4 a chance 2 win a $250 prize pack from Macy’s #path2peace products. http://bit.ly/8B77St here PLS RT
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Join #gno live from NOLA Tues 12/8 (9-11 ET) as we celebrate holiday giving w/ #macy’s & #path2peace http://bit.ly/8knoi5 PLS RT
Extra Entry Requirements
You have the option of getting one extra entry in this week’s giveaway. Make sure to leave a comment on this post for this entry.
- Leave a comment on one of the Path to Peace Whrrl stories.
The Fine Print
No purchase necessary to enter. Winners will be selected randomly through http://random.org. Macy’s, Path to Peace, and Mom It Forward employees are ineligible to participate. All entries received after Wednesday, December 9 at midnight PT will not be considered. Entries that do not follow all of the entry requirements will not be considered. Winners will be notified and will have 24 hours to confirm receipt of the e-mail. If they do not reply within 24 hours, another winner will be selected. Open to participants in the US and Canada 18 years and older. One entry per person.
$250 Disney Giftcard Giveaway Winner Announced Tonight on #GNO
May 12, 2009 by Jyl Johnson Pattee · Leave a Comment
UPDATE: Giveaway entries accepted until 9:30 EDT tonight. Donate at Yehu Microfinance or purchase product at Basa Body to enter.
Giving may be better than receiving, but receiving has its perks too. Yehu Microfinance and Basa Body, in gratitude for your participation in this fundraiser, will randomly select three lucky winners who have made a donation of $20 or more and/or made any product purchase from Basa Body or Coast Coconut Farms. The perks?
- $250 Disney Gift Card
- $150 Amazon.com Gift Card
- $100 Target Gift Card
Note: Participants who have made donations of $20 or more or who have purchased any product from Basa Body or Coast Coconut Farms are eligible to win one of the gift cards. Yehu Microfinance will randomly select the winners for each gift card. Friends and family members of Yehu Microfinance or Mom It Forward are ineligible to win. The giveaway runs from Tuesday, March 31 through Tuesday, May 12 at 9:30 p.m. EDT. Winners will be announced at #gno and on this website Tuesday, May 12 at 10 p.m. EDT. No purchase necessary.
#GNO Goes Daytime This Week! Join us Thursday, April 30 at Noon EDT
April 28, 2009 by Jyl Johnson Pattee · Leave a Comment
How Can You Join the Party?
1. Get on Twitter on Thursday, April 30 from 12-2 p.m. EDT (11 a.m. CDT, 10 a.m. MDT, and 9 a.m. PDT).
2. Follow our international hosts: @yehu_adet, @yehu_rose, @yehu_bernice.
3. Follow our domestic hosts: @yehu_troy, @basabody, @momitforward.
4. Click here to tweet from our custom Tweetgrid.
Tweet With Women From Kenya During Daytime #GNO Thursday, April 30
April 27, 2009 by Jyl Johnson Pattee · 3 Comments
How Is Twitter Connecting People for the Power of Good?
Twitter has become a buzz word, as of recently, but how can Twitter bridge the distance and connect people for the power of good? As part of a larger effort to raise $50,000 for Yehu Microfinance Bank to help empower moms in impoverished areas of Kenya, Mom It Forward will be hosting a Twitter party Thursday, April 30 from 12-2 p.m. (EDT) and two of the moms who will benefit from our efforts will actually be tweeting with us live from Africa on the popular Twitter application: Tweetgrid.
Thanks to new tools in social media like Twitter, groups like Mom it Forward don’t have to travel to Africa to offer humanitarian aid. The Twitter party will feature two women from Kenya, as well as the bank’s CEO, who will be tweeting live from the Kenyan Bank in Mumbasa with approximately 200 Mom it Forward members, talking about what the program and fundraising efforts mean to them and their families. We are excited to personally connect Yehu women entrepreneurs from rural Kenya with other women around the world on Twitter so that they may share together, learn from each other, and strengthen each other. We are grateful that there is technology today that can narrow the divide of distance and culture to allow us to discover the common bonds that connect us all together.
What Is Yehu Microfinance Bank?
Yehu Microfinance Bank is an organization designed to bring impoverished communities in the rural coastal areas of Kenya out of poverty and into a better, fuller life. The organization works to provide communities with a series of loans, which villagers can use to start their own small businesses and build economic strength in their communities.
How Can You Join the Party?
1. Get on Twitter from 12-2 p.m. EDT (11 CDT, 10 MDT, and 9 PDT).
2. Follow our international hosts: @yehu_adet, @yehu_rose, @bernice98.
3. Follow our domestic hosts: @yehu_troy, @basabody, @momitforward.
4. Click here to tweet from our custom Tweetgrid.
Please invite your friends for this awesome opportunity to virtually travel to Africa and meet some amazing Kenyans right from the comforts of your home or computer.
Reminder! 100% of donations go to Africa. And, when you donate $20 or more to Yehu or make any Basa Body or Coast Coconut Farms product purchase, you’re automatically entered to win one of three amazing gift cards, including a $250 Disney Gift Card.
Milwaukee Couples Food & Fundraising for Lots of Fun!
April 21, 2009 by Colleen Venier · Leave a Comment
You may recall I announced a Wisconsin blogger’s get together awhile back. The event was to be part of a campaign put together by the lovely ladies at Mom it Forward and would raise money for a great charity that helps Kenyan woman start their own coconut oil extraction business. Those oils are then sold to a company that make them into lotions, soaps and other products.
Besides, it’d be a lot of fun, yo.
I’ve planned a lot of events, and never have the details fallen into place so easily. It was like putting together a preschooler’s jig saw puzzle.
Easy peasy.
One great blogger offered to have the event at her house. Another owns a great online store and donated a gift card for our raffle. Early on, I had a lot of people excited that something local was being planned and looked forward to meeting other “imaginary friends” in person.
But somehow when it came time to collect registrations for the event, the numbers, well…trickled in. In the end, only three of us lovely ladies met for dinner this past Saturday.
Boy, did the rest of you miss out!
Carrie S., Carrie C. and myself (an honorary Carrie for the evening) met at Trattoria Stefano in lovely Sheboygan, Wisconsin and laughed ourselves silly.
It really was a great time. And who would have thought that in a small Wisconsin city, in a teeny little restaurant one could find such GREAT FOOD?!? Honestly, the prices were comparable to that of one of the chain crap restaurants, only Trattoria Stefano featured salads with “organic farm raised Norwegan salmon” and other entres with so many delicious ingredients that our server stood for five minutes at a time reciting them back to us.
(I translated after he left: “A salad with fish, a dish with some meat, and one with noodles, sauce and more meat.”)
We sampled the silky and yumma-licious lotions from Basa Body. (And found that despite how delicious it smells, the chocolate mint soap still tastes like soap if you take a bite. Thanks for that, Carrie S.)
And we laughed.
And enjoyed the fact that there were no little short people yelling, “MOOOOOM!”
And then we saw this guy and the night just got *thismuch* better.
Yes, that’s a full grown man in a nice restaurant wearing a Snuggie. (Who rocked because he didn’t bat an eye when we took his picture. And then told his wife, “You married THIS!” which was super awesome because we all concurred that was something our husbands would say.)
So, big thanks to the Carries for joining me for a super rad evening. Thanks to Basa Body for the lotion and Mom it Forward for organizing such a great chain of events for a great charity. And huge thanks to Angie of Good for the Kids for the raffle prize.
The rest of you — well, we hope you’ll be able to join us next time!
Just a few finishing thoughts:
1) Buying a product from Basa Body or donating $20 to The Pope Foundation (the charity that trains Kenyan women to start their own oil extraction businesses) between now and May 12 enters you to win one of three great gift cards, including a $250 Disney Gift Card, a $150 Amazon.com Gift Card or a $100 Target Gift Card! Click here for more info, or visit the Basa Body site or click on the widget in my left side bar to make a donation. You can still win!
2) If you don’t have money to donate right now, check out Mom it Forward’s “10 Ways to Donate to Charity Without Spending a Cent” article. Good stuff.
3) If you’re ever in Sheboygan, I highly recommend Trattoria Stefano or its “sister restaurant” across the street (owned by the same folks). Their menu was impressive and their prices budget friendly. Plus they let us sit and be all loud for nearly three hours and never once gave us the evil stink eye.
4) Come back on Friday – I’ll be giving away some of the Basa Body lotion. And, no, it doesn’t smell like coconuts.
Reposted with permission from Mommy Always Wins.
10 Ways to Donate to Charity Without Spending a Cent
April 15, 2009 by Jyl Johnson Pattee · 2 Comments
Do you have a desire to make a meaningful contribution, but aren’t in the financial situation to do so? Donations to charity don’t have to be financial. So many of us are experiencing the fallout from this global economic crisis, and at the same time we feel a push to give back—a desire to reach out to others. Those of us who want to serve, who want to make a difference, can do so using our passion, our drive, our connections, our voices, our hearts, and, if we happen to be in a position to do so, our pocket books.
Make a Meaningful Difference Without Reaching Into Your Pocket Book
Here are 10 ways you can make a difference for Yehu Microfinance between now and May 12:
- Promote the fundraiser in your social media circles: on twitter, on facebook, to your friends through e-mail, on the ning networks you frequent, etc.
- Write a blog post about the fundraiser or the charity to raise awareness.
- Place this Chip In widget code on your blog:<embed allowScriptAccess=”always” src=”http://widget.chipin.com/widget/id/2d59742089239480″ type=”application/x-shockwave-flash” wmode=”transparent” width=”250″ height=”250″></embed>
- Advertise the fundraiser on your site using this button:<a href=”http://momitforward.com” target=”_blank”><img src=”http://i668.photobucket.com/albums/vv43/momitforward/MIF_FightPoverty2_125×125.jpg” alt=”Africa, Poverty, Women, Mom It Forward, Moms Helping Moms” border=”0″ /></a>
- Promote and/or attend our live events. See the calendar of events post for details, including invitation and press release links.
Start using products with coconut oil, especially those sold at Basa Body and Coast Coconut Farms. You can sample the products at all of our live events.- Put on a fundraising “Tweet Up” or event in your area. This doesn’t have to be a huge, formal event or something that raises a lot of money. Meeting up with friends and family at your home, at a coffee shop, or another informal gathering place and spreading the news about this initiative goes a long way in raising awareness.
- Familiarize yourself with the charity’s mission by visiting and reading information on these three sites: http://yehu.org, http://basabody.com, http://coastcoconutfarms.co.ke, and http://coastcoconutfarms.com.
- After visiting the sites, promote them in your social media circles with the goal of raising awareness.
- Determine what you will do today to Mom It Forward to your family, your friends, and/or people in your online networks, etc. Go out and Mom It Forward and help change the world one mom at a time. This applies to moms as well as anyone that has a mom!
When You Make a Purchase, Choose Products With a Proceeds Going to Charity
If you happen to have the means and desire to contribute financially, here’s several ways to make a difference that way:
- Make a cash donation to Yehu Microfinance through our Chip In widget.
- Purchase one of the Basa Body Kiss Me Packs (made using the coconut oil extracted by the women in Kenya) for your Mother’s Day Gift (a portion of the proceeds goes to charity).
- Purchase any of the Basa Body products (a portion of the proceeds goes to charity).
- Purchase a limited edition #gno t-shirt (a portion of the proceeds goes to charity).
- Purchase coconut cooking oil. This is perfect for cooking and food storage and has a longer shelf life than other oils. Proceeds from this purchase also go to charity.
RSVP—Guy Kawasaki Joins #GNO This Week at Our Virtual Pajama Party Sponsored by My Mommy Manual
April 11, 2009 by Jyl Johnson Pattee · 7 Comments
What’s a Pajama Party Without a GUY?
The fabulous Ria and Suzanne from My Mommy Manual and in partnership with Mom It Forward and the 12 for 12K team, are throwing the pajama party of all pajama parties and you’re invited. In support of our 6-week focus on charity, service, and giving, they are raffling off a wide array of prizes with the proceeds going to Yehu Microfinance, Basa Body, and Coast Coconut Farms. Click here to enter to win!
What’s more? Guy Kawasaki is joining in on the fun! After all, what’s a pajama party without a GUY? Join us Tuesday, April 14 from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. eastern (8 CDT, 7 MDT, & 6 PDT) to chit and chat about tips for entrepreneurs—starting and running your own business and using social media to do it.
Guy Kawasaki is a managing director of Garage Technology Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm and a columnist for Entrepreneur Magazine. Previously, he was an Apple Fellow at Apple Computer, Inc. Guy is the author of nine books including Reality Check, The Art of the Start, Rules for Revolutionaries, How to Drive Your Competition Crazy, Selling the Dream, and The Macintosh Way. He has a BA from Stanford University and an MBA from UCLA as well as an honorary doctorate from Babson College.
- When: Tues., Apr.14 from 9 pm to 1 a.m. EDT (8 CDT, 7 CDT, and 6 PDT)
- What: Girl’s Night Out (What’s GNO? Click here to find out!)
- Topic: Tips to Starting & Running Your Own Business—in conjunction with our charity to fight poverty in Kenya (Yehu, BasaBody, Coast Coconut Farms)
- Where: Tweet Grid (use the #gno hashtag)and on UStream
- Who: @guykawasaki, @riasharon, and @zenmommy
- RSVP: Use Mr. Linky below (enter the twitter URL and your twitter ID (e.g., http://twitter.com/jyl_momIF). If you would like to include your blog, please enter it next to your name. Make sure to include your twitter URL in the URL line. Please do not enter your blog URL there.
How Do You Enter to Win the Giveaways?
My Mommy Manual has rounded up nearly $5,000 in prizes. Check out this short video below to see how to enter!
Calendar of Events for the Mom It Forward Fundraiser—Reducing Poverty in Kenya, Enhancing Lives!
March 31, 2009 by Jyl Johnson Pattee · Leave a Comment
More than 20 million rural Kenyans live in extreme poverty. You can get involved and make a difference in a variety of ways, both online and offline:
- 3/31: Attend #gnogives kickoff event on Twitter.
- 4/7: Participate in #gnogives 24-hour Tweet-a-Thon on Twitter.
- 4/12: Join in the 5 Minutes for Mom Blog-a-Thon.
- 4/14: Virtual pajama party with My Mommy Manual.
- 4/17-18: Virtual auction on SITS with all of the proceeds going to charity.
- 4/18: Take part in a live event near you: Chicago, DC Metro, Denver, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, Nashville, New York City, Portland, Raleigh, San Diego, Salt Lake City, Sydney, Toronto, Vancouver.
- 4/29: Listen in on Chicks Who Chat blog talk radio.
- 5/7: Party with other mamas on the new #gnogives group on Todays Mama Connect.
RSVP Here! #GNO Makes a Difference—Social Community & Responsibility
March 29, 2009 by jyl johnson pattee · 8 Comments
One Person Can Make a Difference!
- When: Tues., Mar. 31 from 9 pm to 1 a.m. EDT (8 CDT, 7 CDT, and 6 PDT)
- What: Girl’s Night Out (What’s GNO? Click here to find out!)
- Topic: Social community & responsibility—kicking off our Mom It Forward Moms Helping Moms charity (Yehu, BasaBody, Coast Coconut Farms)
- Where: Tweet Grid (use the #gno hashtag)
- Who: @ChrisBrogan, @dannybrown, @briancarter, Catherine from @herbadmother, Rainee Baldwin from @basabody, Troy Holmberg from @yehu_africa
- RSVP: Use Mr. Linky below (enter the twitter URL and your twitter ID (e.g., http://twitter.com/jyl_momIF). If you would like to include your blog, please enter it next to your name. Make sure to include your twitter URL in the URL line. Please do not enter your blog URL there.
Please Enter Your Twitter URL and not your Blog URL to RSVP.
#GNO Live—Moms Helping Moms Fundraiser
March 22, 2009 by Jyl Johnson Pattee · 11 Comments
Meet Up With #GNO Gals for a Great Cause Sat., Apr. 18 in the US, Canada, & Australia
Mom It Forward, in partnership with 12 for 12K, is kicking off 6-weeks of fundraising for moms and by moms (Tuesday, March 31 through Tuesday May 13) and we need your help!
On Saturday, April 18, Mom It Forward and 12 for 12K events will be taking place all over the US, in Canada, and in Australia (see list of locations below) to raise funds and awareness for Yehu Microfinance, BasaBody, and Coast Coconut Farms. The goal? To combat poverty by empowering poor rural entrepreneurs in Kenya to help lift themselves out of poverty through enhanced accessibility to sustainable financial services, business opportunities, and skills training.
Yehu Microfinance, BasaBody, and Coast Coconut Farms work together to achieve this mission. How? First, women secure micro loans from Yehu Microfinance. Next, they purchase a franchise from Coast Coconut Farms, which gives them the materials, skills/business training, and opportunity to run a coconut oil extraction business right from their village. Then, Coast Coconut Farms makes regular village runs to purchase the coconut oil and processes it in its plant. Finally, Coast Coconut Farms exports the oil to the U.S. where volunteers there use the oil to create and sell bath, body, and cooking products—part of the Basa Body and Coast Coconut Farms product lines—returning the proceeds right back to Africa to help more and more women.
How Can You Help?
Our goal is to raise $35,000 for Yehu Microfinance (click here to learn more about donations) and sell $5,000 worth of Basa Body and Coast Coconut Farms product like mint chocolate truffle and cherry soap with coconut oil (shown left) or hand lotion (shown below). Cash donations or product purchases is certainly one way to help and is much appreciated.
We recognize not everyone can donate cash during these tough financial times. Therefore, we have come up with many ways to contribute:
- Be part of a Moms Helping Moms event planning committee in your area.
- Volunteer at a Moms Helping Moms event.
- Donate product or services for the event (the venue, food, raffle items, etc.).
- Help us publicize it on and offline.
- Attend the event.
- If there is not an event listed for your area, consider putting one together. We have a team and materials in place to help with this initiative.
Where Are Events Taking Place?
Mom It Forward and 12 for 12K are working with volunteers within our communities all over the US, Canada, and Australia to support Yehu Microfinance, BasaBody, and Coast Coconut Farms through fundraising efforts. The live events listed below (details to come) are being planned and carried out by amazingly giving teams of volunteers in local areas. The success of these events relies on terrific volunteer involvement and every team is looking for help. If you have time, services, or products you would be willing to donate, please e-mail us at momitforward AT gmail DOT com so we can put you in touch with the team leader in your area.
Note: Hyperlinked cities mean there is a Facebook group already formed for this team. If you are near one of these cities and would like to contribute, please click on the link, join the Facebook team, and let the team know how you’d like to contribute. Thanks!
The United States
Chicago, IL
Dallas/Ft Worth, TX
DC Metro (DC/MD/VA)
Denver
Los Angeles
Milwaukee, WI
Nashville, TN
New York City, NY
Philadelphia, PA
Portland, OR
Raleigh, NC
Salt Lake City, UT
San Diego, CA
Australia
Sydney
If you are interested in participating or having an event in your area, please contact us at momitforward AT gmail DOT com. Thanks for your interest! Together, we can change the world one mom at a time!
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