Charities Responding to Hurricane Sandy

Citymeals-on-Wheels Holiday Card

Several of the nonprofits on our site are responding effectively to Hurricane Sandy.  Please consider a card purchase from -- or a donation to -- these highly-rated organizations.

As of Wednesday, Citymeals-on-Wheels had delivered 8,370 three-meal emergency boxes -- 25,110 meals -- to frail elderly New Yorkers affected by Sandy. 

Feeding America Tribute Card

Feeding America has sent thousands of pounds of food and other supplies -- as well as truckloads of water -- to New Jersey and other affected areas.

It offers a great "Hope" tribute card that's good for many occasions, including holidays.  ($25 per card.)

Charity Navigator gives Feeding America 4 stars.

City Harvest Holiday Tribute Card

Though City Harvest's 45,000 square foot food rescue center was itself flooded, the 4-star charity is back delivering thousands of pounds of food throughout New York City.

Robin Hood Holiday Card, designed by Marchesa

 
Robin Hood's holiday cards help fund its work to fight poverty in New York City, including its support of food programs throughout the city.  Just one of these programs, Brooklyn's Bread and Life, distributed more than 3,000 meals yesterday.

Robin Hood is also a 4-star charity.

Anne

eCards for Halloween

Tomorrow is Halloween, so it's a good time to highlight some nonprofits that offer Halloween eCards in addition to their winter holiday selections.

Some are free, just to raise awareness.  Others require a small donation.  Here are a few.

The Monterey Bay Aquarium has 12 free eCards to choose from.  This one features a goblin shark, which is a real shark.  I looked it up.

Monterey Bay Aquarium

The Friends of the National Zoo's free offerings include two naked mole rats inside a jack o'lantern.  This is not a Halloween greeting that you see every day.

Friends of the National Zoo

A pediatric patient at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center drew this autumn tree.  (M.D. Anderson Cancer Center Children's Art Project offers some $2 eCards for the winter holidays, but this design is free.)

 

M.D. Anderson Cancer Center Children's Art Project

Each Arizona Humane Society eCard represents a $5 donation.

Arizona Humane Society

  Here are some free bats from The Nature Conservancy.

The Nature Conservancy

 Anne

Oregon Food Bank Tribute Card

2012 Oregon Food Bank Holiday Tribute Card

This week the Oregon Food Bank introduced its 2012 holiday tribute card.  The purchase of each $10 card can provide 30 meals for needy families.

 

The greeting above is optional; blank cards are also available. 

A 4-star Charity Navigator charity, the Oregon Food Bank has been fighting hunger in Oregon and Clark County, Washington for more than 30 years.
 
Anne

Prostate Cancer Foundation Card

2012 Card by Jean Fogelberg - Prostate Cancer Foundation

The Prostate Cancer Foundation has just posted its 2012 holiday card.  Artist Jean Fogelberg has designed PCF's cards for the past several years in honor of her husband, the late singer Dan Fogelberg.

100% of the card price is used to help find a cure.

Sales of these matching stamps also benefit PCF.

Anne

Textured Cards for the Blind

Holly by Hannah Horner - The Hadley School for the Blind

Two nonprofits supporting the blind and visually impaired have new cards up this week.  What's interesting about these is that people with limited sight can trace the designs with their fingers.

The Cleveland Sight Center offers several designs in braille: a snowflake, menorah, Kwanzaa candles, and tree. The cards cost $1 each; you can add a customized braille greeting inside.

(The Sight Center provides "preventative, educational, rehabilitative, and other vision support services to approximately 10,000 clients in the greater Cleveland area each year.")

Braille Snowflake - Cleveland Sight Center

This year, The Hadley School for the Blind held a card design competition among local students.  High school student Hannah Horner's winning designs -- a holly sprig and wreath-adorned doorway -- are embossed, so that people who can't see well can touch the designs. 

The greetings inside appear in braille and print.

(Based in Winnetka, Illinois, Hadley "promotes independent living through lifelong, distance education programs" for people who are blind or visually impaired. Each year it serves more than 10,000 students from all 50 states and 100 countries.)

Both organizations receive high ratings from Charity Navigator.

Anne

New Cards: Yankee Golden Retriever Rescue, Survival International

  

May all of the joys of the season be yours!
Yankee Golden Retriever Rescue

Just posted: Yankee Golden Retriever Rescue's 2012 holiday cards -- featuring canine clients Cooper and Buddy Boy. 

YGRR has provided loving care to thousands of unwanted and abandoned goldens at its beautiful Massachusetts compound since 1985.  Sales of these holiday cards help fund its work.

Family Time © Bryan and Cherry Alexander
Survival International

Speaking of furry, Survival International has added two new cards to its collection of powerful images of tribal people in snowy climates. 

My favorite is this one, a photo by Bryan and Cherry Alexander entitled "Inuit children of the Taqqaugaq family dressed up for the cold, Nunavut, Canada."  Inside is "Season's Greetings" in five languages.

When you buy a $9 package of cards, more than $6 goes to help Survival help tribal peoples around the world who are endangered by violence, theft of land or resources, and other threats.

Anne

Consider Holiday Tribute Cards

Sulzbacher Center, Jacksonville, FL
(This card says, "In celebration of the holidays, the gift of a good night at the Sulzbacher Center has been given to a homeless man, woman, or child in your honor. Happy Holidays! Cost: $7-15, depending on quantity)

Idea for businesses: why not send tribute cards this year?  You can show you care about your community / the world, help a worthy charity, receive a tax deduction, send an appealing and memorable card.  Great for all. 

We're adding more tribute charities this year, but already you can visit our tribute card section to choose from more than fifty food banks, hospitals, animal rescue centers, and other good non-profits.

Love Without Boundaries
(This $10 card says: "A donation has been made in your name to Love Without Boundaries' Medical program. This donation will help provide medical care to orphaned and impoverished children in China.")

 

A holiday tribute card -- in case you're not familiar with them -- represents a donation to a charity in the recipient’s honor.    

Most donations are in the $10 range; some more, some less.  Close in price to a fancy card from a status stationer, and much more in the holiday spirit!

Anne

New Cards from Two Boston Charities

Last Glow by Thomas Dunlay
Rosie's Place

Two Boston non-profits posted their holiday cards last week.  Rosie's Place, which provides shelter, meals, and services to needy women, offers good-sized, high-quality cards.  Often featuring images donated by artist Thomas Dunlay, they include frosty urban scenes that happen to be in Boston but would be fine wintery card images no matter where you are. 

If you're ordering 50 or more cards, imprinting is available: custom message, logo, graphics, envelopes.

Winter Cardinal by Elizabeth Traynor
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute has also introduced its 2012 designs.  As always, they invite artists -- including former and current patients -- to submit holiday images, and offer a variety of styles and subjects.  Last year, holiday card and gift sales raised more than $460,000 for the cancer center.

If you're looking for photo cards, eCards, or holiday tribute cards, Dana-Farber has those, too.

Anne

Handmade Cards

Starlit Night (from the Philippines)
Ten Thousand Villages

 

What's great about handmade cards is that each one is different, and each shows care and skill; in some cases one card can take a full day to create.  When you buy these cards, you are helping support the artists who made them.  Here are some ideas:

CEOLI (handpainted by disabled artists in Bolivia)

Nativity Scene
CEOLI

 

Paperworks Studio (created of paper handmade by Michigan residents with developmental disabilities)

Kipepeo Designs (crafted of handmade paper by women living in Kenya's Kibera slum)

Sahaya International (hand-embroidered by impoverished women in India)




Dove: Peace
Kipepeo Designs

The Douglas Center (collages created by Illinois residents with developmental disabilities)

Ten Thousand Villages and Ten Thousand Villages Canada (hand-crafted by low-income artisans in the Philippines, India, Kenya, Egypt, and other countries).  Ten Thousand Villages Canada's 2012 cards aren't up yet, but should be soon.

Made by Survivors offers cards made by women victims of slavery and other human rights abuses in India and other countries.  Their cards are usually up in October.

Falling Flakes
Paperworks Studios

Please let me know if you find more of these types of card sources.

Thanks -
Anne

 

Help a Charity by Submitting your Art

Dana Farber Cancer Institute, 2009

Are you an artist?  Each year, some of the charities on our site seek holiday art for their cards. 

The Dana Farber Cancer Institute asks for "artwork or photography featuring Boston Red Sox or New England Patriots-inspired images, winter scenes of familiar Boston landmarks, or New England beach scenes and lighthouses" for its successful card program. 

And each spring, artists throughout the world submit their work to Courage Cards, which benefits the Courage Center in Minnesota. 



Duke Children's Hospital and Health Center, 2010

Some non-profits request that the artists live nearby.  Adults and children who live in New Hampshire can submit their art to CASA of New Hampshire.  Duke Children's Hospital and Health Center seeks paintings and drawings from North Carolina children (under age 18). 

The Hunger Task Force of Milwaukee also asks for design submissions from local artists.

I'll start keeping a list of these organizations and put them on the site.  If you hear of other non-profits that accept card art submissions, please let me know.

Thanks -
Anne

2012 Designs Appearing

August is a great month to choose holiday cards.  Non-profits that have recently added new designs include The National Wildlife Federation, the Pine Tree Society (which helps disabled children and adults in Maine), the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, and The National Arbor Day Foundation.

National Arbor Day Foundation

If you're considering sending Sahaya International's hand-embroidered cards, you'll need to order them before the end of this month; it takes between half a day and two days to create each intricate card.  The cards provide essential income for women and girls in southern India.

Anne

A Successful Season

Community Kitchens of Birmingham
2011 Tribute Card

What a great season.  More than 90,000 visitors and many orders -- from corporations, small businesses, individuals -- supporting responsible, effective charities.  Thank you!  Now, as usual, no new cards will appear on the site for a few months while we prepare for holiday 2012.

I'm working on a few ideas for the coming year, including a section featuring organizations that offer birthday, thank-you, and all-occasion greetings.  We'll also include a selection of new non-profits. 

Please check in with us in July.  Have a good spring, and thanks again.

Anne

Oregon Food Bank
2011 Tribute Card