Help Your Local School Win $25,000

Playground (Photo credit: phalinn)

It's time to start getting your community excited about U.S. Cellular's upcoming Calling All Communities (CAC) campaign.  The campaign, which runs from November 4-25, challenges schools to rally community support  for the chance to win a share of $500,000 to fund what their students need the most.  The 20 schools with the most community votes will each win $25,000.  Since the program began in 2008, U.S. Cellular has awarded $4 million to 56 schools across the country.  Past winners have outfitted their classrooms with new computers, improved outdated infrastructure and renovated gymnasiums, kitchens and science labs.  What could your school do with $25,000?

There is only one vote per person, so the key is to get every community member involved.  This is especially important in small communities.  I would love to see Eagle Elementary School, the school my kids attended, win - but we really would have to get the entire community involved, as well as friends and family from elsewhere, because there are not that many people in the community.  We'd need every vote, and then some.

Here are some suggestions from U.S. Cellular to help get you started rallying your community:

• When the campaign launches, there will be a printable flyer on the U.S. Cellular website that can help you spread the word in the community.
• Post information on your school’s website with a link to the U.S. Cellular website for updates.
• Engage sports teams, the school band or student groups to help spread the word by handing out campaign flyers available on uscellular.com.
• Ask local businesses to share campaign flyers with their customers or hang flyers on their premises.
• Even get the Principal involved for some fun incentives like a pie-throwing contests.

I'm sure you can think of some others.  This list is just to get you started.  Since all voting is done online, I think having an internet-connected computer available at all school activities would be a huge help.  Not all community members have internet access, and even those who do may forget to vote when they go home.  Catch them at school and help them vote then and there.  And if you could get the local library to help out by posting a flyer and making a computer available for voting, that would be great, too.

The Calling All Communities campaign is open to all K-12 schools where U.S. Cellular has a retail presence – big or small, public or private.  Be sure to check out the U.S. Cellular website for more information if you have any questions, and get started gathering community support for your local school.  You could help your school win $25,000.!  Winning schools will be announced in December.

Disclosure: I am being compensated for my participation in the U.S. Cellular Better Moments Blogger Brigade as well as receiving a new phone.  My experiences with and opinions of U.S. Cellular are 100% mine.

Walmart's 12 Days of Giving

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Walmart for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.
 

Is there a nonprofit in your community that could use some help?   Be sure to visit Walmart's 12 Days of Giving page on Facebook and nominate them by November 18th, and they could be one of many to receive a portion of the $1.5 million in grants that Walmart is giving away this holiday season.

Simply visit the Walmart Facebook page to get started.  Click the 'Nominate Now" button and fill in the information - nonprofit name, contact info, web page, and an optional photo.  Then, in 200 words or less, tell Walmart how this nonprofit organization benefits your community and makes a difference in people's lives.  On December 10, Walmart will start the “12 Days of Giving,” by announcing funding to the winning nonprofits.

I don't really know of a local  nonprofit that I'd like to nominate, though I'm sure that there are some quietly doing good work that really could use some help.  I have a soft spot in my heart for our local Friends of the Library organization, because they do so much for our local library, and that really does do a lot for our community.  However, when I read through the categories in the drop-down under "What does this nonprofit do your community?" - Fighting Hunger, Communities Impacted by Disaster, Infants/Babies/Children, Warm Weather Clothing, Shelters, Veterans and Military Family Assistance, Senior Care, Women, and Other - I wonder if what they're doing is important enough.  Organizations serving in some of these categories can really make a difference in people's lives.
 
Is there a local nonprofit you're going to nominate?  Be sure to do it by November 18th!  Then come back and tell me about the difference they're making in your community.  I'd love to hear it!

It's a Parade!

Every year our community hosts its annual Kettle Moraine Days.  They've been doing it for a while - this was the 50th year.  It's a small-town festival with food to buy and eat, carnival rides & games, beer & bands, fireworks, and a parade.  The parade is always pretty good, and we go every year - well, at least every year since we've lived here, except the first summer when we didn't know anything about it, and we wondered why it was practically impossible to get out of town.  Main Street is completely shut down until the parade is over. 

There were several years one or more members of our family walked in the parade - first with Cub Scouts, then marching band, and the library.  I think this is the first year I've been able to sit and watch the parade in 3 or 4 years.  Somebody's gotta watch, right?  And Main Street is always lined with people.  The kids are especially excited, because everyone hands out candy, and they get to see fire trucks, clowns, and bands.  Now that our kids are all grown up, we have to enjoy watching other people's kids.  Jason isn't quite old enough.  Yet.  I took this video today of the UW-Madison summer marching band.  They are always so much fun to watch and a big hit.





I love the little guy dancing at the end!

Once the parade's over, we head to the park to see what we can see and get something to eat.  It's also a big fund-raising opportunity for local organizations like the PTO, Cub Scouts, and Methodist Church, among others, so we figure eating there is a good way to support our local community.  Everything actually kicks off Friday evening and runs through the weekend to Sunday at about 6pm, but we didn't get to the park this year until today.  We heard the music, though - since the park is only a couple blocks away.  And we could've watched the fireworks from our driveway if we'd been home last night.  But we weren't.

The entire event is sponsored, not by the US Money Reserve, but by the Fire Department, American Legion Post, and the Lions Club.  We always have fun.  We see and talk to our neighbors and other community members, and we always seem to run into people we don't see so often anymore - now that our kids aren't in Cub Scouts or Marching Band together.  It's nice to catch up.   And then we're ready to head home.  You can only walk around the park so many times....