Christmas, with it’s message of Christ’s birth and the hope he brought for all the world is a time that just naturally brings helping our fellow man to mind. While not everyone has a lot to give, it seems like most who can spare even a little do at this time of year–sometimes only the change in their pocket into a collection jug or just (although there is no just about it!) some time to a worthy cause.
This year I have been again blessed by the Walmart Mom program with the opportunity to tell you about a wonderful charity AND to purchase $100 dollars worth of items to be donated to the charity of my choice.
I’m sure most of you know that Walmart has worked with the Salvation Army for years at the holiday–I can’t imagine that there are many Walmarts out there that don’t host the Salvation army bell ringers with their classic red buckets for at least a few days each Christmas season. Lately Walmart has been teaming up with The Salvation Army to do even more. This year is the second annual Walmart Fill the Truck event. There are collection bins 3500 Walmart stores across the nation where shoppers can donate new, unwrapped gifts to make sure that kids in their local community have toys this year. The boxes will be in stores through Dec 15th–so look for yours! If your store doesn’t have a “Fill the Truck” bin, then they probably have another longstanding charity partner–The Marine Corps “Toys for Tots”.
A special thank to Lori at A Cowboys Wife, Monica at Mommy Brain Reports and Lori at A Well Connected Mom for sharing their photos with me!
I love the fact that the Fill the Truck toys go to the local community, but as my “local” Walmart is actually 30 minutes away from my town (yes–I live in the country, we measure in time not mileage) I chose to have my charitable giving go even closer to home. . .my town’s Rotary baskets. Each year families in need submit their names to the local Rotary chapter. Other residents contact the Rotary and offer to “adopt” a family and provide a basket that contains food, clothing and toys for the family. Now THAT is uber local.
I knew that it was too late to adopt a family, so I called the coordinator to see if there were any specific needs that I could assist with. She said that the teens were the hardest for folks to shop for and that frequently they could use more items for that age group to add in to baskets. I told her that I would see what I could find!
This year at Walmart there are some cool “boy” crafts that I though might be suitable for a young teen of either gender. I picked up a kit to make a marshmallow shooter and a rubber band gun, as well as a couple of paracord bracelet kits. Rubber band bracelets made with a loom are all the rage right now for kids middleschool through highschool of both genders, so I picked up several of those. Finally, I found a really cool nail art “stamping” kit that I thought most teen girls would appreciate.
I hope that these items help make someone’s holiday a little brighter, and I am so thankful to Walmart for giving me the opportunity to provide them!
****This is a sponsored post****
Disclosure: As a participant in the Walmart Moms Program, I’ve received product samples and compensation for my time and efforts in creating this post. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Thanks for keeping it even local-er! Toys for tots was collecting at our Christmas parade this weekend, too, and I loved seeing he many folks had brought along their gift or donated cash. You did a great job finding teen/tween gifts as well!
Thanks Susie! It is nice to see how many folks really want to help, isn’t it? And that tween age group really IS hard, especially when you don’t know the kids to know their interests. I also considered purchasing some general art kits–not the little kid ones but the real drawing and watercolor type. . . but the rubber band looms won out this year!