kids baking for a cause: Shot@Life #blog4cause, week 2

Week three has come and gone of our #blog4cause campaign, and we couldn’t be more thrilled at our participation!

We know that as we move further into the holiday season, that our friends, neighbors, and colleagues will only continue to spread the message of giving.

This week, our family did a bit of giving in the form of baking: our kids were baking for a cause–Shot@Life.  And my kids were pretty proud.

And so was I.

It reminded me that giving can come in a variety of forms and be as simple or as complex as you choose, depending on what works best for you. And your kids.

Here’s the skinny. . .

• Kids Baking for a Cause– Shot@Life #blog4cause, week 2: This week, my pal Jessica McFadden, of A Parent in America & A Parent in Silver Spring, hosted a Shot@Life Event.

Jessica and I are both Shot@Life ‘Champions’ which means that we are simply using our ‘voice, time, and support to stand up for childhood in developing countries.’ We’re doing what we can to take small–but meaningful–steps to reduce infant mortality rate of children under 5 by 2015.

So this week, we reached out to all of our fabulous DC Metro area bloggy friends to ask them to attend a little Shot@Life get-together, a girls’ night of sorts so we could chat, hang out, and learn a little–about the little things that we all could do that would have a big impact on helping to see that all kids got a shot at the childhood they each deserve.

 

The girls unwrapped Rollos. . .

. . . did a lot of measuring and mixing. . .

. . . and ended up with a lot of baked goods to share!

And though it was just for the moms, Maddy and Cora wanted to do something to help. They knew that I was planning a fundraiser, and they wanted to go.

So I suggested they use some of their incredible baking skills for the event: I let them know that though they couldn’t attend this particular event, they could bake for the cause.  So that’s what they did, and it was a really, really great start.

 

Cora made the pumpkin chocolate chip bread, and it was awesome.

The brownies were great. . .

. . . and Maddy’s Chocolate Decadence Cake was aaaah-mazing.

The girls baked brownies and breads and cakes over the weekend so the moms had some sweets while they learned about Shot@Life.  Everyone’s always a little more likely to donate a few more dollars to a great cause when there’s chocolate cake on her fork, right?

We’re hoping that the kids’ involvement this way will lead to some other ways they will want to get involved in raising funds for other causes in the upcoming days and weeks.

The Shot@Life folks provided information for our guests and small swag bags.

Here’s a quick video from our Shot@Life event:

Here’s our slideshow from the event:

Shot@Life is just one of many different starting points we provided for our friends and readers for our #blog4cause campaign. We’d love for you to find one cause–any cause–that you feel is a good ‘fit’ for you and jump on board.

It’s easy.

You can find a way that works for your family to get involved this holiday season, whether it’s hosting a fundraiser, raising money with baked goods, or just sending your ‘gently worn’ toys–or winter coats and boots–to your neighbor down the street. It doesn’t matter.

We just want our kids to be involved so they see their parents thinking about others so they know it’s cool to do so. So they, too, think about others and develop that totally difficult to develop sense of empathy as they grow.

Jess and I simply sent out an evite to our buddies, asked Shot@Life for some event-pointers, made a few appetizers (and baked goods), and enjoyed ourselves with our friends.  We encouraged everyone to bring $12 on November 12th which was World Pneumonia Day.  It took a bit of time, yes, but it was well worth it.

So please join #blog4cause and be sure to let us know how your family gives this holiday season–you will inspire others!

fyi: Huge and happy thanks to all of our local buddies who joined us this week for our Shot@Life event: Laura of Better in Bulk, Safire of Water falling Up, Stacey of Justice Fergie: Life IS the Party, Ellen of Thrift Store Mama, Cara of Land of Bean, Fadra of All Things Fadra, Elena of Ciao Mom & Just. Be. Enough., Stephanie of a belle reve, Heather, Sandy, Jamie from Shot@Life, Anastasia from UN Foundation (& of course, Dolci Gelati), and our amazing hostess, Jessica of A Parent in America & A Parent in Silver Spring.  Many thanks to Olney Beer & Fine Wine for donating drinks for the occasion! (All we did was ask–and they helped us out. Everyone wants to give–we just need to let them know how!)