Comments for a Cause - Room to Read

It is a new month and time for a new cause to support.  But before I get into the details for February, I'd first like to talk about last month.  During the month of January I had 44 comments, creating a donation of $22 for the Battle of the Badges, that supports Make-A-Wish Iowa.  If you'd like to see how the event went check out my friend Donna's (from DonnaHup.com) review of it.

In the month of February I am teaming up with my friend Beth Ann from It's Just Life to support Room to Read.  Beth Ann and I both have a love of reading and February is Library Lover's Month, so we had to celebrate through a cause that supported childhood literacy.  So for every comment made during the month I'll be donating $0.50 to Room to Read.

Room to Read is a great organization that promotes childhood literacy worldwide.  They also work hard on gender equality in education.  There is an estimated 773.5 million people worldwide that lack the ability to read and write, and out of all those illiterate people, two-thirds are female, and over 90% live in developing countries.  This is where Room to Read comes in to help.

Room to Read is located in 10 countries in Asia and Africa.  They have programs that focus of girls' education, building schools, starting and filling school libraries, reading & writing instruction, etc.  A neat fact is that there have been over 9.7 million books checked out from Room to Read libraries.

Another thing that makes this organization an A+ in my book is that over the last 8 years they have had a Charity Navigator rating of 4 stars.  This means the organization is spending the majority of their dollars on their cause and not on overhead and management costs.

So get involved and comment all month long to help this great organization making a difference in the lives of over 8.8 million children so far, with goals of surpassing 10 million children this year!  How are you going to celebrate Library Lovers Month?  One way Beth Ann and I are celebrating is by helping Room to Read's Library Initiative through Comments for a Cause!

10 Ways to Beat the Winter Blues as a Family

Lately I have been hearing from a lot of family and friends saying that they are tired of winter and that they wish spring would come soon.  With short days and our fair share of polar vortexes, it is not surprising that so many have a little case of the "winter blues".  Well, according to Puxatony Phil we have six more weeks of winter, so here are 10 ideas on how to beat the winter blues with your family:

1. Embrace the weather and go sledding, make snow angels or simply teach your kids to catch snowflakes on their tongues.
2. Celebrate "Library Lover's Month" in February and check out books for the entire family.
3. Have an inside picnic.  (LP loves doing this currently.)
4. Bake cookies and share them with neighbors, friends, or family.
5. Make a fort out of blankets, pillows, chairs, etc. in the house.
6. Go to a local sporting event such as a basketball game, wrestling meet or hockey game.  (Our family personally loves going to at least one hockey game each winter.)
7. Go bowling.  (And the best part of bowling with kids is that everyone gets to use the bumpers!)
8. Go to the movies or have a movie and homemade pizza night at home.
9. Send a hand-written "just because" letter or postcard to an extended family member or good friend.
10. Take a step out of your normal routine and do something new, different and special as part of Random Acts of Kindness Week, February 10-16.

I hope these ideas can help you combat the "winter blues"!  What is your favorite thing to do during the winter?

Be sure to Comment for a Cause!