Countdown to Christmas: The 2010 Give Back Challenge and Giveaway!

I am very excited about today’s Countdown to Christmas post. It is one that I was planning on posting later in the month, but it weighs so heavy on my heart that I just couldn’t wait. Not only that, but I think it would be a great thing to get a jump start on.

I’m sure that most of you would not be surprised to learn that has been a dramatic increase during the past three years of the number of households that struggle to put food on the table. In 2008 alone there were 6.7 million households that had to cut back on their food intake simply because they couldn’t afford it. The first thing that comes to my mind when I read that statistic is that is a lot of hungry little tummies! 🙁 The other thing that many do not realize is that these are our friends…our family…our neighbors that I’m talking about here. I guarantee you that you wouldn’t have to search for long to find someone in need…they are all around us but often too proud to ask for help.

Part of why I started Bargain Blessings and also a core focus of my couponing classes is to contribute towards combating statistics like the one above. Not only is it a goal of mine to help families in need to learn that it is possible to feed a family even on the smallest budget, but I believe that it is also important to train up others who are able to use their couponig skills to help change lives!

With that said, I’d like to ask you all to join me on a little challenge…alright, a big challenge. Let’s be more intentional this holiday season about donating our resources! If you have been couponing for any decent length of time, you likely have an abundance of toothpaste, deodorant, household cleaners, Kellogg’s cereal, Wacky Mac and much much more. I for one can say that we have way more than what we could possibly use right now and it is time to give some of it away.

The Challenge

If the Bargain Blessings readers can collectively donate $1,000 worth of food, toiletries, clothes, baby supplies, toys and household items between today and December 20th I will give away a $50 Amazon gift card to one of the participating readers! If we can donate $2,500 worth of items I’ll give away two $50 Amazon gift cards and if we can donate $4,000 worth of items I will give away three $50 Amazon gift cards! Since us couponers are often able to get many of these items for FREE or for very cheap…$1,000 in items would cost us much much less than $1,000. 😉

To enter the giveaway all you need to so is send me an e-mail at bargainblessings (at) gmail (dot) that inlcudes a few things:

1. Your Name and E-mail.

2. A picture of the items you are donating.

3. The total estimated retail value (not the post coupon price) of the items you are donating.

It doesn’t matter if your donation is large or small, every little bit helps and counts! Each person/family can get up to five entries into the giveaway by sending up to five donation reports. All I ask is that each of your pictures is from a separate donation that you are making. (ie. please don’t just divide your donations into five piles and take five pictures). It is up to you on where you donate your items to!

I hope you will all join me on this challenge. Together we can touch and change a lot of lives this holiday season! I also want to encourange you to invite your friends and family to jump in and participate with us! I will be posting updates and pictures during the corse of the challenge so you can all see how we are doing!

Ready…set…give!!! 🙂

Who’s in? 😉