**giveaway closed but keep reading!**
Buckle your seat belts! This post is going to be a bumpy ride! I have like 5 awesome things to tell you about…
When Mary was at my house for the Orange Conference, we stayed up waaay too late watching the weather to see if a tornado was going to blow us to Oz. It didn’t. The kids stayed in their beds all night and we happily drove (2 hours!) to get to the other side of Atlanta the next day. But Alabama was not so lucky.
While we were at Orange we met Mom With A Minivan. And after Orange she emailed me because she teamed up with Immediate Tornado Relief to help the tornado victims in Alabama. Immediate Tornado Relief is actually two guys from a church in Decatur, Alabama who raised $100,000 in the 31 hours after the tornado. They are helping people get their lives back by supplying basic needs now (like toothbrushes and even bins to store the stuff they are salvaging from their homes! ) and then diving “DEEP with families and adopt them and help them with everything.”
You might remember that I lived in Birmingham, Alabama for a few years. And after reading the facebook updates of my Birmingham friends, I got shivers thinking about how much devastation was so near them!
Meanwhile, Pampers emailed me about this new Little Miracle Mission campaign they are doing. It’s to celebrate Pamper’s 50th Anniversary. They are doing specific missions throughout the year to support and help babies and parents. It’s really very cool. Pampers asked if I’d be willing to take a $50 giftcard (from them) to celebrate, support or protect a little one in my community in honor of Little Miracle Mission.
And as soon as they asked, the first thing I thought of the moms in Alabama. I imagined what it would be like to suddenly have NOTHING. No diapers. No sippy cups with milk. No stuffed animals. No favorite pajamas. What would that be like? What would my poor kids be thinking? feeling? How long would it take to get back on our feet?
So, here’s the deal. As the May gift from ohAmanda, I’m giving the $50 giftcard and matching it with $50 to Immediate Tornado Relief to help the tornado victims…my former neighbors! And I’m going to give away another $50 gift card from Pampers on my blog for one of you to help someone else! You can give to Immediate Relief, you can go to Wal-Mart and buy bags of Pampers to send to Alabama. You can give to a church down the street or to any organization that you see fit!
How fun is that?!
And along with all this, I want to say THANK YOU to Pampers (of course!) and to my two new sponsors:
Bargain Briana the blog you need because “bargains don’t find themselves”! Briana is one of my in real life friends because we went to the Dominican Republic together and stayed in Cinderella’s Castle together. (Wow. Talk about extremes!)
Discount Party Supplies. You know my love for all things party! Well, just wait, you’ll get to know these guys better soon. Stay tuned for a fabu giveaway from them!
Because of their support (and yours by clicking my affiliates, visiting my partners and generally coming back every day), I’m able to give and highlight these great organizations and ministries.
Let me stop for a second and clarify. This is just an opportunity for ME to give back some of the benefits I’ve received on this blog. I’m not trying to be the Pharisee who is giving in front of everyone to be awesome. I’m pretty sure you’d see right through that. I’m using this monthly post to highlight these ministries to hopefully inspire YOU to give, too. I just want to show you some of the places I love and give to. And I hope you do the same. Does that make sense? Is that ok? I really do consider these gifts given to be from ohAmanda at large.
Now, let’s get back to that gift card…
Enter to win one $50 gift card to celebrate, support or protect a child in your community (do one or all, leave a separate comment for each):
- Leave a comment. Dream big–what could you do with $50? Who would you give it to?
- Tweet it! How would you spend $50 to help a child? @oohamanda & @pampers are giving away a $50 AMEX to help you do it! http://bit.ly/ohTornado
- Share on Facebook. It’s easy – just click the “Like” button at the bottom of this post! You can even add a status update with it!
Contest ends Thursday, May 19.
Brandi says
100% to supplies for Christian Service Mission. They are the hub for gathering supplies & getting them to where they need to go. They are doing wonderful things. (And it’s REALLY fun to shop for things to take to them.)
oh amanda says
You are awesome, Brandi!
Brandi says
I “liked” on FB!
Brandi says
I also tweeted it!
PS– This is a really good things you’re doing. I <3 your heart!
dave anderson says
I am so humbled by your generosity and this great idea. God Bless you
Dave Anderson
Lead Pastor – Crosspoint Community Church
oh amanda says
God bless YOU and what your church is doing! Hope we get to see updates on how God is using you!
Gretta says
I would use it to help families in my community who were affected by the F2 tornado that hit our small community on April 27th. Thanks for the chance to win!
bamagv at aol dot com
Gretta says
I tweeted about the giveaway also
http://twitter.com/#!/TheJohnsFamily/status/69134587023990784
Nikki says
I have always loved Samaritan’s Purse. And know they’re in Alabama reaching those in need one by one. I’d be honored to give this to them!
Nikki says
I tweeted and hope we get to hear how it is used with whomever wins. To God be the Glory! Thanks for the awesome giveaway!
Becky Horn says
I would probably go shopping with coupons and find the best deals I could and donate them to a friend of mines cousin who lost their home and everything they owned in a house fire a few weeks back.
[email protected]
Becky Horn says
I liked the post
[email protected]
Tara Cherry says
I would give the card to our church’s dreamcenter to buy food to give to the needy families and babies.
Gayle Rogers says
My church fund for the tornado relief. We are teaming up with other churches to help the church families in North Georgia where families have lost their homes too.
Thank you for keeping people aware of so much loss.
Stacia J says
I would use the $50 by either buying diapers for our teens to take with them to Nazarene Youth Conference in Louisville, which will be distributed to homeless mothers with babies OR use it to buy backpacks and school supplies for our local Families Needing Backpacks program. 🙂
Anne @ Modern Mrs Darcy says
Great story, Amanda! We just had an orphan conference at our church, so right now I’d be sending $50 their way.
Ashley S. says
I would stretch it as far as I could by pairing coupons with deals to buy supplies for those who were affected by the tornadoes.
Ashley S. says
I tweeted https://twitter.com/smash906/status/69527764549644288
Ashley S. says
I shared by liking this post on facebook
Sheila Hickmon says
I could use coupons and get a bunch of diapers and wipes and I would give it to our local women’s shelter! Thanks!
Sheila Hickmon says
I liked this post on facebook!
Holly at Tropic of Mom says
Just wanna say I think you are great! I know that’s not the purpose of your post. I am in a group that often volunteers at a school where most of the kids live below poverty, and sometimes we take up collections for them when teachers tell us about specific needs.
Tess says
i would buy diapers for my friends son- he is 5 months old-she is 30 years old and has been diagnosed with liver cancer- she needs all the help and prayers she can get-she has already had one eye removed due to cancer- she is a fighter and my heart breaks for her- please add her to your fb
fb-benefit for tiffany blair
here is her story:
Tiffany was diagnosed in August 2009 with a rare form of cancer called Ocular Melanoma. This is a very rare type of cancer of the eye. Doctors told her at the time that due to the size of the tumor the best course of action was enucleation, or removal of the eye. Tiffany handled all of this with amazing grace and strength. She had a prosthetic eye made and adapted amazingly quickly. Her insurance would not cover the cost of the eye, as it was deemed to be “cosmetic”, and she had to pay out-of-pocket for this. However, scans revealed no signs of cancer anywhere else in her body and she was deemed to be “cancer free”, and was told she just needed follow-up CAT scans every 6 months for the first 3 years.
She had a beautiful baby boy Dylan in January 2011. During her pregnancy she was unable to have the CT scans completed. She had her most recent scan March 2011. It showed the cancer had returned to her liver and spleen. To make matters worse, she lost her health insurance the day after she learned of this diagnosis. Thankfully, Tiffany has been able to secure insurance from the “high risk pool” in Texas, and her coverage will be effective as of May 1st. However, the premiums and deductible are extremely high. In addition, treatment options are very limited. We are in the process of trying to research the best options quickly. It appears very likely that she will have to travel out-of-state to receive at least some of her treatments. There is a doctor in Pennsylvania that has some potentially promising treatments. We are not sure at this time what all treatment is going to consist of, it is constantly evolving.
thanks so much
tcogbill at live dot com
Dana V says
I would give it to a friend of a friend who was diagnosed with a rare form of ocular cancer that has now spread. She is married with 2 step sons and has a 5 month old son of her own.
danav27 at gmail dot com