spcaLA

spcaLA has two holiday card designs this year, and offers free shipping if you spend more than $25.  (Enter code 1257873329 at checkout.) 

Card sales help fund the shelter's programs and services, including cruelty investigation, a disaster response team, humane education, and a variety of shelter services.

I love their monthly Paws to Read program, where children practice reading to therapy dogs in a relaxed setting at a local library. The dogs are appreciative and interested, and completely unfazed by occasional mispronounced words. 

Anne





 

Faces of Siberia

Faces of Siberia helps improve the lives of children in orphanages in the Sverdlovsk region of Russia.  Sales of their holiday cards and gift tags fund winter camps, educational workshops and field trips, and birthday celebrations.

Their Orphan Card Shop also includes cards featuring images of of the Ekaterinburg region that were donated by Russian photographer Aleksej Slepukhin.

Check Faces of Siberia's Facebook page for their recent activities. 

Anne

American Red Cross

The American Red Cross is offering two vintage card images this year.  A Junior Red Cross member painted the skier in the 1940s to hang in a military hospital.

The Lighting the Way image by Anna Milo Upjohn is a Junior Red Cross fundraising poster from 1923.   

The American Red Cross's work includes helping in emergencies and disasters here and abroad, providing services to military families, aiding the needy, supplying blood and blood products, and teaching people about health and safety.

Anne

New Tribute Cards: North Texas Food Bank

The North Texas Food Bank's pantries distribute food to more than 50,000 families each month and on-site meal programs serve 435,000 meals and snacks.  Its $6 tribute cards feature a swirl of snowflakes made of plates, spoons, and forks. 

One of the NTFB's programs is Food 4 Kids.  Children identified by school personnel as being at risk of hunger receive approximately four pounds of food in their backpacks each Friday. On Monday, children return the empty backpacks and they are refilled for the next Friday. In the 2009-2010 school year, the NTFB provided 278,252 backpacks.

The card cost goes down to $4.50 each if you buy 50.

Anne

New Charity: Amani Children's Home, Tanzania

The Amani Children's Home provides meals, education, counseling, and medical care for street children and AIDS orphans at the base of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.  For every $12 pack of cards sold, Amani receives $9.36. 

Proceeds from card sales pay for school fees, textbooks, and school lunches.  A four-minute video about Amani is here.



Anne

New Tribute Cards: Feed More

Feed More's $5 tribute cards benefit the Central Virginia Food Bank and Meals on Wheels Serving Central Virginia. 

The Central Virginia Food Bank distributes more than 12 million pounds of donated food and grocery products each year to children, families, and frail adults in need throughout Central Virginia. 

Last year, Meals on Wheels Serving Central Virginia delivered more than 300,000 meals, customized to a variety of health needs, to the homes of eligible people living on their own.

Anne

New Tribute Card: Children's Hospital Boston

We just added the Children's Hospital Boston's tribute cards.  Each card represents a donation of at least $5 and reads, “In the spirit of the holiday season [your name] has made a gift in your honor to Children’s Hospital Boston.” 

The hospital will send the cards for you if you like.

Anne



New Holiday Tribute Card: Lambi Fund of Haiti

Our newest holiday tribute card is from the Lambi Fund of Haiti.  Founded jointly in 1994 by Haitians and U.S. residents, Lambi has earned 4 stars from Charity Navigator for its efficient use of funds.

After making a contribution, such as $10 for seeds or $25 for fishing nets, donors are invited to download and print a donation certificate or one of the holiday cards above.

Anne

New Half the Sky Card

Jumping for Joy by Hu Yong Yi
Half the Sky International

Half the Sky provides love and hope for children living in Chinese orphanages.  Its new card celebrates 2011, the Year of the Rabbit. 

Half the Sky's programs include:

Baby Sisters Infant Nurture Program — Employing, training, and supervising local women to work as full-time nannies, providing orphaned babies the stimulation, bonding, and affection that are essential to a healthy start.

Little Sisters Preschool Program — Training teachers from the local community in HTS's innovative curriculum, designed to give young children the self-confidence, basic skills, and love of learning that will help them succeed in primary school.

Big Sisters Program — Encouraging and inspiring older children by giving them individualized learning opportunities, according to their own interests, talents, and aspirations.

Family Village Program — Providing permanent, loving families for children whose medical and developmental challenges preclude them from entering government adoption programs.

China Care Program — Providing specialized 24-hour medical treatment and nurturing after-care for medically fragile orphaned infants.

The cards cost $25 for 12 and contain a greeting in English and Chinese.

Anne

Emancipation Network's Handmade Cards

The Emancipation Network has just received a new shipment of handmade cards from Nepal; the cards are crafted of soft handmade paper with accents of skeleton leaves and a sequin or two.  

They come in a set of eight for $12, with three designs in the set: a gold star, a red crown, and a green tree.    

The Emancipation Network fights human trafficking and modern day slavery around the world.  Made by Survivors, the  nonprofit's handicrafts program, provides an economic alternative to slavery and exploitation for women and youth at high risk for being trafficked. 

Anne