Hello everyone! I hope you are well on this fiiine Saturday afternoon. This week's blog homework is to tell about our favorite charities, and honestly I couldn't choose just one.
After California's recent wild fires, the RCU Fire Relief is the top charity right now, in my opinion. The entirety of this relief fund goes to housing the fire victims, to the clean up our cities, and to aiding those who were (and still very much are) affected by this horrible tragedy.
Also, I am a huge believer in purchasing with purpose. I myself only buy vegan and cruelty free personal care products, handmade and fair trade accessories, and will only buy recycled or fair trade clothing. Starting this way of life was difficult. I didn't know any companies that were ethical to both man and animal kind. So I did some research. Here is what I found! @bloghomework
https://www.redwoodcu.org/northbayfirerelief
First things first, if you are to pay attention to only one please make it this one! I'm sure you have all heard of the horrific wildfires that ravaged Wine Country and tore through my home city. These fires luckily missed my house -- by only two blocks. But most of those in my neighborhood and surrounding neighborhoods weren't so lucky. We were evacuated for over two weeks, and dozens of people I'm close with lost everything. Fireproof safes melted, entire home businesses, heirlooms, photos, cars, pets, family members.. it was and still is awful. The sky was red, the winds were hurricane force and reached 75mph. This is not the norm for Northern California, we don't have Santa Ana winds or diablo winds here. The fire was so powerful, it created its own weather. Embers and ashes were raining down on us as we evacuated. People's animals were running down our street. As we fled we saw a daunting wall of fire behind us while we watched the blaze roll over the hills to the east. The photo above is just a fraction of the devastation to one neighborhood. The city is destroyed in many areas. My daughters pediatric office is gone, and my mother's place of work is carnage as well. But we are the lucky ones, and if anything this has really brought our community together in compassion and grace. We have learned a lot about gratitude lately, but our community still needs help as the clean up hasnt even begun yet and the national guard still resides in our area.
Now, here are my favorite ethical companies that donate a portion of their proceeds to some amazing charities 😊
https://eminenceorganics.com/us
Eminence Organics Skin Care is a spa exclusive skincare line, similar to Aveda for hair care. However, this line is different. Eminence Organics has two charities: Eminence Kids, and Trees for the Future. Eminence Kids serves organic sustainable meals to children world wide in childrens hospitals. They have served over 50,000 meals to ill children and their families! The owner of the line had leukemia as a child, he survived and remembers clearly dreading the hospital food. So he made it his mission to change this for the children living in hospitals now. Trees for the Future is a sweet little charity where where Eminence plants a tree for every product they sell. My spa alone has planted over 6,000 trees, can you imagine how many they've planted over the years?!
https://simbihaiti.com/
Simbi with Aqua Haiti is INCREDIBLE. After the earthquake of 2010, Simbi Inc. committed themselves to positively reconstructing Haiti, by bringing clean water sources to help eradicate disease such as cholera, and to create sustainable jobs for the people of Haiti. After water filtration systems are installed in some villages cases of cholera dropped from 80 per day to 5 per day!!!! That alone is so beautiful. Over 10,000,000 gallons of water to date have been filtered for these hard working people in one of our world's poorest countries.
https://thedidijewelryproject.com/
The Didi Jewelry Project is another beautiful cause. Laurel Gunnarson founded this project after visiting India and meeting so many women affected by HIV/AIDS unable to join the workforce. She taught these women to create jewelry. She created jobs for them, and sells their handmade jewelry FAIR TRADE! So these women are able to provide sustainable lives for themselves and their families. "Didi" translates to "Sisters" in Hindi.
I know this is a lot to read, so if you made it this far; thanks for sticking with me! My city is healing, my loved ones are showing strength, and our community gleams with compassion. It is also one of my greatest passions to remain conscious, and make conscious purchases with some sort of purpose. So this particular blog homework is probably a lot lengthier than most will be!
Xo