ReallyGive delivers 30 book bags to Bailey Gatzert Elementary
Today we dropped off 30 backpacks to Bailey Gatzert Elementary in the central district of Seattle. Each bag was a custom gift full of school supplies for elementary students. Backpacks included crayons, construction paper, binders, child-safe scissors, tape, water colors, erasers, and note books. Some gifters even included hand sanitizer and others, dictionaries, in their packs.
Thank you to all those who participated. In total we gifted over $750 worth of supplies!
SchoolReady 2009 – Pick up a bag today to make a difference
Joel B. picking up school bags from Fred Meyers thanks to a grant of $450
SchoolReady 2009 is back and we’re hoping to make an even bigger difference this year. ReallyGive received a grant from Fred Meyer Stores and were able to purchase 35 bags to distribute for community members to fill. All school bag gifts will benefit children at Bailey Gatzert Elementary School in the Central District of Seattle. Request yours today!
Participating is EASY!
- Get a FREE School Bag
Pick up a free school bag at 10763 Burke Ave N. (or we can drop it off to you) and fill it with school supplies for an elementary student (feel free to be creative!). Want to make a bigger impact? Buy a backpack and fill it–we’ll make sure the 35 bags we have get loaded up with good stuff. If you’re outside of the Seattle area, you can also consider making a tax-deductable donation of $20 to help defer the cost of purchasing the school bags and other supplies provided by ReallyGive. - Return the Bag
Drop off bags at 10763 Burke Ave N. or in the Rubbermaid tote on the porch at 146 NE 53rd St., Seattle, WA. 100% of your donated school supplies go to benefit children from low-income families in Seattle. That’s why we call it “ReallyGive”–these are real gifts that benefit kids in need! - Check Back
We will be posting photos and videos from the project when we deliver backpacks in September.
This is the third year we’ve organized this effort and we’re hoping to make an even bigger impact this year. Need inspiration? Check out the photos and video from 2007 and 2008. Bailet Gatzert Elementary School has one of the of the highest percentages of students in Seattle who qualify for free or reduced lunches (92% !), so your gift of pencils, crayons, paper, rulers and other supplies makes a HUGE difference. Just $10 worth of supplies can help ensure a child arrives at ready to learn.
Questions?
To request a bag or ask questions, email Joel@ReallyGive.org.
Kick it Forward 2009 – Gifts for Romania
A special thanks goes to all those who could contribute. A total of 14 soccer balls and six pumps were donated for this gifting project to Romania. The balls were deflated and packed along with the hand pumps into an extra large suitcase. We also had a greeting message translated into Romanian (see copy below) that will accompany the gifts.
The soccer supplies will be delivered by an outstanding group of youth from University Unitarian Church in Seattle, WA. This group of teens will be learning more about the roots of Unitarianism during their mission trip to Romania and will also be performing service projects during their travels.
Dragi Prieteni,
Aceasta minge de fotbal este un dar ca de la atleti la atleti. Este gratuita ca voi, prietenii vostri, familia si colegii de echipa sa se bucure de ea. Va rugam sa-i invitati pe totisa o foloseasca si sa o imparta.
Un program al ReallyGive (Daruieste cu adevarat), care face o diferenta reala
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Dear Friends,
This soccer ball is a gift from athletes to athletes. It is free and for you, your friends, family, and teammates to enjoy. Please invite all to play and to share.
A program of ReallyGive, Small gifts that make a real difference
Kick it Forward – Romania (and now the Philippines and Palau, too)
Can you give $20 to purchase a soccer ball and pump for a community in Romania, the Philippines, or Palau?
In the summer of 2007, ReallyGive community members donated 24 soccer balls and 15 pumps to benefit rural villages in Guatemala. In 2008, we donated two volleyballs, a soccer ball, and a pump to a remote island community in the Kuna Yala region of Panama in Central America. Watch a video about the Guatemala event or read the full post. Kick it Forward has been such a hit, we’re doing it again this year and need your help.
- Kick it Forward 2007 – Trip to Guatemala
One Summer, Three Countries
Kick it Forward 2009
On August 8, a group of Unitarian high school students from Seattle, WA and adult chaperones will be make a non-proselytizing trip to the Transylvania region of Romania to visit and perform service work. The teens have agreed to deliver sports equipment gifts donated by ReallyGive. Can you donate $20 to help purchase a soccer ball and pump? Donations are 100% tax-deductible and go directly to purchasing gifts. Later in August, ReallyGive co-founder Katrina Hoffman will be traveling to Palau via the Philippines and will have opportunities to donate sports equipment in both countries–so give now to help build goodwill and a sense of community and athleticism among youth around the world!
Make a Donation today!
To Donate
Please enter your donation amount in the box below, click “Donate,” and complete the secure transaction using Google Checkout. Please make your donation by August 6, 2009. A donation of just $20 will support the purchase of both a ball and a pump! All donations are tax deductible.
If you would like to ensure that your donation goes to a specific location, please send a note to joel@ReallyGive.org, otherwise, give generously and we’ll make sure a community in one of those three countries is the beneficiary! If you would like to make the purchase yourself, please drop off all new/unused soccer supplies to 10763 Burke Ave N. Seattle, WA 98133 by August 1, 2009 or contact joel@ReallyGive.org.
Thank you for your support!
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ReallyGive Holiday Party
On December 13th, 2008, the ReallyGive N.Y.C. chapter said “no” to the cliche holiday party and decided, instead, to bring together bands, community members and, most importantly, the gift of warmth to the homeless.
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- Warth Feeds the Heart Event
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- Donation include over 60 assorted tops (sweaters, fleeces, dress shirts, etc), 14 assorted bottoms, 2 dresses, 11 heavy coats, 52 winter accessories (pairs of socks, hats, gloves, scarves,etc). 258 items total!
HavenSafe Fall 2008
HavenSafe is a great program where volunteers come together to sew custom toiletry bags for women who are displaced from their homes due to domestic violence. These gifts are then filled with donated perfume, lotions, tooth brushes and other essentials and distributed by local shelters. This is the second time we ran this project. The first time was in Spring 2008 with funding from the City of Seattle Department of Neighborhoods.
Friends and supporters came together in the Central District of Seattle to assemble the bags. After about four hours of effort and several broken zippers, 30 unique bags were created. The contents included soaps, perfume, lotion, tooth brushes, and tooth paste. Each gift was finished off with a kind note written with a gel pen, and a loop of ribbon.
Audio from an interview with the staff of the Broadview Emergency Shelter.
SchoolReady 2008 – SUCCESS!
Today was the successful completion of SchoolReady program for 2008. Community members came together and gifted 34 school bags to Bailey Gatzert Elementary in Seattle, Washington. The bags were unique gifts full of pencils, pens, markers, stamps, notebooks, and other special items that ensured that each recipient would feel special. We dropped off the gifts to Carrie Bolden, Student Support Administrator for Bailey Gatzert.
These gifts were particularly important because the school has one of the neediest student bodies in Seattle – with over 80% of students receiving free or reduced-cost lunches. A special thanks to all those that contributed–we donated enough bags to support 10% of the student body at Bailey Gatzert! Thank you for helping to ensure a few more children in your community are ready for school.
Impact: 34 schoolbags filled with supplies to one school benefiting 34 students
SchoolReady 2008
Following the success of last year’s SchoolReady project, I’m helping to organize another school supplies gifting effort this year and we would like you help. Can you fill a child’s school bag with pencils, pens, paper, art supplies or any other essentials children need to succeed in school? It’s easy and makes a real difference for children who need support.
WATCH the video from last year’s effort: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3Ma-zMXRpA&e
REPLY to this message if you would like to participate I have 12 bags for you to fill (assorted colors for you to choose from), or you can purchase your own and create your own unique gift.
You contribution is a unique gift for students at Bailey Gatzert Elementary, a school where over 80% of students receive free or reduced-cost school lunches and where your support would make a real difference. Last year we donated 23 school bags to children at Bailey Gatzert Elementary filled with pens, pencils, chalk, markers, binders and other helpful supplies. We’d like to continue this effort. I appreciate your support. DROP OFF your bag at 10763 Burke Ave N Seattle, WA 98133 or send me an email at joel@reallygive.org and I can pick up these gifts wherever you would like. Please have your gifts complete by August 31st. Thanks for your support!
Katrina Hoffman & Joel Ballezza
Kick it Forward 2008 – Panama
I spent a night in Panama City so I could leave at the crack of dawn the following morning to take a puddle jumper flight to an area of remote Caribbean islands that are semi-autonomously governed by the indigenous Kuna Yala people. There, I was able to spend some fantastic days guided by my personal right-hand man, Orlando. I wouldn’t have been able to travel in this region without my guide, unless I was on a private sailboat. I managed to avoid sunburn, amazingly, because it was 90 degrees out by 8:30 in the morning, and I spent a good part of each day snorkeling, although the first day I wisely waited until 3:30pm to leave my shaded hammock.
I had intended to spend my entire visit on the more or less deserted island of Wailidup, but my hosts thought it improper to deliver an American woman traveling alone to such a location. Resigned to staying in a different village on an island not much larger than a football field, I played with the local kids each day, and we developed an immediate appreciation for each other. I was the *only* foreigner on the island of Wichub Huala where I slept, and a very white one at that (all the European yacht owners who show up at least have a pretty good base tan going by the time they get there!).
Not many times in my life will I be the only white person among 350 indigenous people. Once the kids figured out that I enjoyed playing with them, anywhere I went, they’d come running, shouting, “Katrina!” and we’d go from there. I was engaged in more drawn-in-the-sand tic-tac-toe than I have ever played in my life. When I would try to walk away, there was a throng of little ones, shrieking “pick me! pick me!” pressing up against me like I was Eddie Vedder and they were at the front of the mosh pit. I lost count of how many games I played. I am such a sucker!
I had read that they play volleyball there, and indeed, they have a net on Wichub Huala, so I took two volleyballs with me plus a soccer ball and a pump, to give as a gift from ReallyGive. My guide, Orlando, decided that I should leave two balls with the teacher on Wichub Huala and take the other to his island, called Nalunega. They walked me into the classrooms on each island where I made a small presentation. Lower elementary children don’t yet speak Spanish on these islands; rather, they speak their native tongue, so the teacher who read my letter to each classroom translated it into the native Kuna language. Orlando later told me, “Some day, if God permits you to return to this place, we also need a real baseball bat, and a small baseball bat for the young children, and a lightweight baseball for them to practice with.” I silently wished I had known this in advance; it would have been so easy for me to bring a wiffle ball and plastic bat with me. Meanwhile, I watched the kids play baseball with a sawed off 2×4, which didn’t seem to phase them a bit. Panamanians love their baseball.
I was in a hurry when I left for Panama and only had time to stuff three balls and a pump into my bag. That said, it’s amazing how far a simple gift like three balls and a pump can go–Senora Gladys informed me that they had not had a pump on the island for some time, and she was going to keep it in a safe place to facilitate their future physical education needs. Yet another opportunity for ReallyGive to make a real difference.
–Kat
HavenSafe Spring 2008
For the Haven Safe project we sewed toiletry bags and filled them with gifts of perfume and lotion for women displaced from their homes due to domestic violence. For this event we teamed up with New Beginnings, a Seattle-based shelter that cares for women who have escaped abusive relationships. We were fortunate to receive a grant from the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods Matching Fund. This “Small Sparks” grant of $250 allowed us to purchase the fabric and materials necessary to construct the gift bags.
This project required a lot of preparation. Purchasing the materials to make the bags, ensuring there were enough yards of fabric, zippers, lace and ribbon. We also collected travel sized toiletries that were generously donated from several area hotels (Hotel Deca, Watertown Hotel, and the University Inn) and area retailers including Sephora…not to mention all the ReallyGive helpers who gave materials, time, and more. We are grateful to all who contributed!
The day of sewing began with setting up the three sewing machines and setting out all the donated items on one table at the Greenlake Public Library. Some people traced the bag pattern onto pre-cut fabric. Others sewed bags and prepared them for the zipper sewers. After the zippers were attached we had several individuals doing quality control, snipping stray threads. The last touch before they were filled was a personal one: attaching a handwritten message with ribbon to each zipper closure.
Everyone found something they could do with the skills they had. There was a lot of learning and troubleshooting but in the end some 40 bags were made full of such items as shampoo, soap, perfume, deodorant, moisturizer, toothpaste, etc. Knowing these handmade gifts would be going to women who needed support and care made the process totally worthwhile. We were all incredibly proud of what we had made. The event was a huge success.
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- The original sketch for the bag design
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- Retails and neighbors donated lotions, soaps and perfumes
