and the winner is... Sacrifice Saturday!

(I'm leaving at the crack of dawn tomorrow to watch Candy's daughter Caitlyn perform at a cheer competition and not sure what time we'll be returning, so I'm loading Saturday's post today..fyi.)

As you know, I have been wanting to work more on my philanthropy, reading the article about Rachel on Wednesday, and having one of my fav vamps (Ian Somerhalder) testifying in front of Congress today on behalf of some endangered animals, finally sent me over the edge into "do mode".  Before I get into this weeks Sacrifice Saturday deeds, I want to give you a little insight into where I stand on the whole saving the world thing, just so there’s no confusion with these posts. :) 

We all know there are several different categories people fall into when it comes to do-gooding. Tree Huggers, Heartless Bastards, and then there's me, somewhere in between. Obviously, we all have insane visions of the "hipster tree hugger" - some of which are most definitely true! And then there’s the heartless bastard who seems to actually be trying to ruin the world on a daily basis. Most of us average gals and guys fall somewhere in the middle.

Here’s what I do/don’t do on a regular basis, Sacrifice Saturdays will be in addition to these little guys:

I recycle most things I use that are in fact recyclable; bottles, newspaper, regular paper, and if I buy magazines or anything like that those bad boys get recycled as well. I use my awesome Fossil Ecological canvas bag for shopping trips; not just to the grocery store, but Christmas shopping and whatnot as well. I LOVE shower loofah’s that are made with recycled material! They are a tiny bit rougher and leave your skin feeling soft and smooth. I do not have a compost bucket (although I think they are totally amazing!) living in the country affords me the opportunity to simply through my “trash” pieces of fruit, veggies, breads, meats, basically anything except garlic, out for the deer and other cute animals to chow down on. I try to buy organic when possible (although again, small town living makes that hard at times). I’m not able to save in the form of walking to/from places or even biking to the store, country living does have some drawbacks. Annnnnd biking 10 miles to work in 100+ degree Texas weather is not an option, and public transportation here is severely lacking. However, I do have a Honda Civic, which gets great gas mileage! I always turn off lights, TV’s etc. when I leave a room. I turn down the AC before I leave the house so it doesn’t run as often. I do not liter, and can’t stand people that do.

I figure you can get a pretty good grasp on how I feel about things from this list. If you want to know something else please feel free to ask. Now, on to Sacrifice Saturday!

I only came up with the idea of Sacrifice Saturday on Wednesday so hopefully future weeks will include a few more good deeds. A big shout out to Candy for the name suggestion! Here are the deeds of the week:

1.  Took all plastic bottles and newspapers from the stockpile, aka recycle bins, to the recycle facility.
2.    Cleaned out some work clothes and made a sizable donation at Elite Repeat. I love making donations here because the items are not only sold to people who really need them, but the proceeds benefit the SAAFE HOUSE – an organization to help battered women and children in the surrounding area.
3.    I helped mom take some of dad’s old clothes to the COME Center. Which is another organization that resells clothing to underprivileged people in our community.

I believe a little research is needed to delve much further into helping out in this community. You would think that living in a small country getting involved would be super easy, like just walk down the street and see a sign or a person that will point you in the direction of someone or something needing your immediate assistance. This. Is. Not. The. Case. So, these first few weeks will definitely be a bit of an experiment on figuring out how to accomplish my philanthropy goals. Again, feel free to leave any suggestions or awesome deeds you’ve done (especially you small town folk) in the comments! I will totally give you credit, I’m no thief ;)

Hope you all decide to try a little philanthropy in your community as well!

xoxo,

kris