Blog
December 1st, 2011 | Giving, News, Press
MikeBollinger, Cheerful Givers board member and Founder/CEO of Livefront, was recently featured in
Twin Cities Business Magazine as one of the “200 Minnesotans You Should Know.”
He was also being recognized for his work as co-founder of TECHdotMN, an organization that reports on
technology news in Minnesota.
We are proud to have Mike on our board!
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November 17th, 2011 | Birthdays, Children, Funding, Giving, News
Cheerful Givers greatly appreciates everyone who made a donation during Give To The Max Day on November 16th. As a result of 97 donations, we raised $3,955. This will provide birthday gift bags for hundreds more kids!
Overall Give To The Max Day brought in over $13 million for 3,978 nonprofits in Minnesota. Many thanks to all who gave!
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November 15th, 2011 | Events, Funding, Giving, News
Give to the Max Day, the “Great Minnesota Give Together,” is a day for Minnesotans to come together to raise as much money as possible for nonprofits in 24 hours – starting at midnight on November 16 through midnight on November 17.
Of course we’d love you to donate so we can continue to help children in need celebrate their birthday. But you can also help in other ways.
Share from our website
We’ve created a central page on our website explaining what GTMD is and how to donate. At the bottom of this page are various buttons to share via social networks, email, like the page on Facebook and +1 it on Google+. Using these buttons to share will increase the totals displayed for each type of sharing and encourage others to do the same. Use all of them if you like then keep reading for more ways to use social media to help. Continue reading »
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November 9th, 2011 | Birthdays, Giving, Team Building, Volunteers
Mentors and mentees at Select Comfort spent part of their recent event assembling birthday bags. Wendy Schoppert, CFO at Select Comfort who launched the mentoring initiative this past year commented, “Cheerful Givers was a great team-building event – but most importantly, a wonderful way to give back to our community and help families in need.”
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November 1st, 2011 | Birthdays, Giving, Holidays, Volunteers
By Kathy Stoller-Junghans
Turning 60 has been full of joy and abundant blessings! My birthday
wishes were to collect and put together 60 birthday bags, collect 60 pounds of
food for the food shelves and 60 pair of shoes for the homeless. It was a
wonderful birthday, and many friends enjoyed being involved in my efforts to
provide a little joy to children.
This also reflected what I have tried to make my life about, rather than
receiving a bunch of stuff that I didn’t need and had no meaning. Thank you for
your willingness to represent the children.
I realize birthday bags will not save the world, but they will contribute to
making children feel special, cared for and loved. Someday, in the lives of
these children when they are grown and become adults, I believe they will pay
it forward because someone cared enough to reach out a loving hand.
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October 27th, 2011 | Donations, Funding, News
A new way to support Cheerful Givers this week is to purchase 50% off restaurant certificates for some of the best restaurants in the Twin Cities — and 10% of every sale until the end of the month at Outstanding Dining goes to support our birthday gift bags.
OutstandingDining.com founder, Ben Berry is a manager at an independent
eatery in the Twin Cities. After working with other gift certificate and
discount websites to expand the customer base at the restaurant, he
came to realize two important truths about online gift certificate
venues: first, that these sites were playing an increasingly important
role in how and where consumers spent their money. Secondly, he
realized that many of the small, independent businesses that
participated often did so at a operating loss. He became convinced that
there was a better system to be had and set out creating one.
His concept: a website that ensured each gift certificate sold benefited
the participating restaurants just as much as it benefited the
consumer. At that point, he realized he needed to take the concept one
step further. The need for gift certificates and discount venues
stemmed from tight economic times. Tight economic times also meant that
most local nonprofits were struggling for funding right at the time
their services to the community were needed the most. Berry not only
saw an interesting correlation, he also saw the next evolution of online
gift certificate websites: a system that met the demands of the
consumer while also addressing the needs of the community.
Check out the options at Outstanding Dining!
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October 21st, 2011 | Birthdays, Children, Giving, News, Volunteers
On Saturday, October 22, which was national Make A Difference Day, millions of Americans helped to change the world. 120 Cheerful Givers volunteers along with mentors and mentees with Kids ‘n Kinship got together to assemble 3,000 toy-filled birthday gift bags for less fortunate children.
Special guests Natalie Davis, Miss Minnesota 2011 and Haley Obrien, Miss Minnesota Collegiate, joined the efforts to help reach more of the 174,000 kids in Minnesota who are now living in poverty. The event was hosted by Thomson Reuters in Eagan. Many thanks to sponsors: AAA Minnesota/Iowa, Hands On Twin Cities, Northern Dakota and Southern Dakota/Scott County Chapters of Thrivent Financial for Lutherans.
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October 20th, 2011 | Donations, Events, Giving
In the next few weeks your inbox will probably be filled with requests to “Give To The Max” on Nov. 16. Last year, $10 million dollars was raised for Minnesota nonprofits by 42,624 online donors during this annual day of charitable giving. So how will you decide where to give your hard-earned dollars? Might be a time to prioritize your giving habits. Some families let their kids help decide what charities they would like to support as a way of teaching them about the value of sharing with those who are less fortunate. Cheerful Givers, which provides birthday gifts for kids in Minnesota who don’t get to celebrate their birthday, is just one example of several thousand nonprofits who need your help.
To encourage donations throughout the day, an individual donor will be randomly chosen every hour by GiveMN.org to win a “Golden Ticket.” An additional $1,000 will be given to the charity that received the original donation, and one name will be randomly drawn to win a $10,000 golden ticket.
Local musician, Tim Mahoney, has written a song to be unveiled on this day whose title sums it all up – “Just Give.”
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October 18th, 2011 | Birthdays, Children, Kids, Volunteers
The children and parents at Steppingstones Preschool
at St. John the Baptist in Savage, MN collected items and assembled birthday
bags for their service project.
“The kids really enjoyed this project and it was a great way for them to
help children in their community who are less fortunate” commented Shannon Martin, parent.
