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