Great Ways to Spread Holiday Joy!
In these tough economic times there are ways to spread Holiday Joy without breaking your budget.
1) Share your SMILE. Work your smile in your own Unique way using your God Given gift of healing. So Keep SMILEing and connect with someone... make a personal phone call, hand write a personal note, send an eCard, compliment a stranger, take an extra holiday snack for a co-worker... be creative. It is worth it.
And keep this in mind... Extend your niceness even though you are not feeling quite up to it. Everyone you meet is fighting their own battle to keep it together!
2) If you love decorating for Christmas, consider bringing some decorations to a hospital or elderly folks home and put up decorations in their room. (If they want them.)
3) Spread Joy Through Cookies: Invite some friends over to bake holiday cookies to share. Ginger Bread Men and cookies make great Holiday gifts. What a nice way to say “thanks for being my friend.”
3) Tis the season to be frugal, so making instead of buying holiday gifts offers a way to spread joy. Homemade gifts are an economical and thoughtful way to spread holiday joy. Plus, homemade gifts mean more than store-bought gifts because the person had to put time and effort into it.
4) How about offering to baby sit for a friend, or to clean house, or run errands for a busy mom or dad? I'm sure they would appreciate the time to go shopping for presents for their kids.
5) Better yet, offer to help wrap packages for a busy or aged friend.
6) Write a poem for a special loved one, to let them know how much you care.
7) Buy the cup of coffee for the person behind you in line at the Starbucks. :o)
8) Volunteer to rock a baby at your local hospital during the holiday. Or, just visit sick children in the hospital.
9) Make your own Christmas Cards. With your computer and a color printer you can make personalized photo cards for friends and family. Crafting cards is fun.
10) Pray for those in need, send them love and hold them in your heart. Our prayers and love are very powerful.
11) If you have a few dollars to spare, find a place that focuses on feeding stray animals — like the Casa de Santa Maria, (to the tune of $60 each month), and surprise them with financial help! (Milt threw that one in there!)
Is Your Casa de Santa Maria making a difference?
Last week our Casa de Santa Maria website received 281 visits from folks in thirteen countries throughout the world. The U.S.A., Sweden, Germany, Canada, Russia, Netherlands, France, Australia, Saudi Arabia, Spain, United Kingdom, Latvia, and the Republic of Moldova.
We're reaching out — thanks to you!
From The Beginning!
If you'd like a quick review of the Casa's progress from the start!
You'll really enjoy this presentation.
Click Here to download the Casa Progress Report PDF
Planning to do your Christmas shopping on line?
Shop at your preferred store's websites as usual, pay the normal prices you'd be paying anyway — and at the same time you'll be contributing to Casa de Santa Maria. iGive.com offers over 700 major store websites — so your favorites are likely among them.
From Amazon.com to Zales, every time you make a purchase, the Casa will receive a percentage of that sale, often in the 5% to 8% range. That can add up to a sizable contribution over the course of a year.
Try It — It's Easy!
So, before you go to your chosen website -- think iGive.com! You pay nothing to participate, and the Casa earns cash every time you make a purchase.
They even supply you with a running record throughout the year for your tax purposes. There's absolutely no cost to you apart from your purchase.
Become a philanthropic shopper, go online and sign up.
(It's really simple to set up!!!)
You can also take advantage of this virtual one-stop Mega-Mall’s money-saving specials and exclusive deals. That way, whether you shop for everyday things like books, CDs, office supplies, clothing, or for special items like software or a computer, we’ll all benefit.
Major companies you use like, Best Buy, Toys R Us, Staples, Home Depot, Overstock.com, Drugstore.com, Macy's, Lands End, eBay, Amazon.com, Expedia.com and hundreds more!
Check out the list of stores here: www.igive.com/html/merchantlist2.cfm
http://www.iGive.com/casadesantamaria
Thanks for helping with the Casa operating expenses, and at no cost to you.
Use iGive.com every time you shop online.
Try It — It's Easy! This program could make a big difference to your Casa.
Christmas Toys Needed!
The Casa de Santa Maria is located in Costilla County, one of the poorest counties in the United States, most certainly the poorest in the state of Colorado. Because of the loving support of our clients, friends and associates, we have been privileged to plant those seeds of love during the holidays by spreading cheer in the form of your gifts of toys and coats.
These are tough times for many, but if you are interested and able to help this holiday season we would love to be able to give new toys for our local needy kids again. Last year we focused on toys for the 3 and 4 year old boys and girls in our San Luis Head Start program, and were able to give a new book and toy to all 26 children. So if you feel lead and can help, we would love to receive any new toys for this age group to pass along to help spread some holiday cheer.
Our local K-12 Centennial school also welcomes gifts for those low-income kids who might otherwise fall through those ever widening cracks. Last year we received twelve brand new Lands End coats that brought unimaginable joy — and warmth.
Please mail new unwrapped toys, books or coats by December 1st to:
Milt & Susan Sanderford
P.O. Box 64
San Luis, CO 81152
If you email us the dollar amount you spend, we'll happily send you a receipt from our 501(c) (3) non-profit organization. Your gifts will then be a 2008 tax deduction. Thanks for your caring.
If you will be doing on-line shopping for toys and books, please read the above story and sign-up with iGive.com to help raise money for the Casa at the same time you are buying toys for the kids!
 |
Our special thanks goes to Carol Armitage-Gauge for already anticipating our toy need! Carol — the box of toys arrived safely! We appreciate your loving heart for the kids! Special thanks also… to Rose Tignor for the mega-box of new baby clothes and accessories for Baby Delilah! |
2008 Progress Report
Thanks to you, our financial and prayer supporters of the Casa, we are happy to report Mother Mary's Garden now has several major projects completed. We now have Mother Mary's Totem Statue installed in the center of the garden. This much anticipated statue marks the true beginning of Mother Mary's Garden. We are so excited to have this amazing centerpiece welcoming visitors to Mary's Garden.
In the mean time, the solar power well was installed, finally giving much needed water for the 16 healthy and happy growing memorial trees. We're pleased to share they grew leaps and bound this summer. So, if you were one of the folks who purchased a tree for your loved one, know it is doing well and we'll send out pictures of them in the spring once they get their new leaves.
We will be planting new trees next spring so let us know if you want to purchase one for your loved one. Here's the link for more info: www.casadesantamaria.org/trees
We were able to apply for two grants this fall, to be awarded in February of 2009. Please say a prayer that we will be able to acquire these grant monies. This will give us a much needed $40,000 start on projects within Mother Mary's Garden in spring of 2009. Our plan is to create a work/study program with local high-school students to help us build the labyrinths and landscaping around Mother Mary's Statue. Each student who completes the work/study program will receive a minimum $1,000 Casa scholarship award for college. If you would like to help with this project and donate scholarship money please go to:
Click here to give a Scholarship Grant to our Work/Study Program
Please let us know in the comments section you would like your donation to go to the Student Work/Study Scholarship Program. Thanks in advance for your donations!
If you would like to get a better scope of this project email us and we will be happy to email a copy of the grant proposal sent to the Colorado Garden Show, Inc.:
Our Next Garden Project
Now that our Mother Mary Totem Statue stands in the center of an empty field of dirt, she now needs some landscaping work around her. The Amish-built star-shaped flower box that is to surround the statue is our next order of business. This 22' diameter star will be made of specially treated wood and stained to match the statue. The star flower box will measure 12" deep. The estimate we have received to build and install the box out of 4" x 6" Douglas Fir is $1,900. If you would like to help make this a reality, when you make your donation, mention that you would like your donation to go toward the Star Flower Box. Can beautiful flowers growing in this lovely presentation be far behind?
Click Here Help Us Build the Flower Boxes
Bench x Four
Oh, we love it when UPS comes knocking at our door! Thanks to Cherise Greski-Lesniewicz, the four English Garden Benches, that will give folks a place to rest while visiting Mother Mary's Statue, have arrived safely. Cherise lovingly donated these specially crafted outdoor benches in memory of her beloved husband "Big Al" who graduated from this earth life in February of 2008. We invite "Big Al" to come for a visit anytime and check out his memorial benches! I'm sure he knows how much Cherise (and the world) misses him.
If you would like to give a memorial gift to the Casa de Santa Maria in memory of your loved one, email us and we'll be happy to give you some suggestions!
Become a "Casa Angel" Today!
The 2008 economic decline has understandably affected those that were previously able to give to the creation of the Casa. Our financial gifts are down $10,000 from 2007. If you can, please consider becoming a Casa Angel with a small monthly donation to the Casa of $10 to $20 per month. If you have been a Casa Angel in the past we would be delighted if you could sign-up again for 2009. Yes, even the small donations are important to the creation of the Casa. Of course, one time donations are always greatly appreciated!
www.casadesantamaria.org/angels
Please join the Casa Creation team for our 2009 Season!
All donations are tax deductible.
The Casa de Santa Maria is a not-for-profit organization and currently exempt under
section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. All donations are tax deductible and may be sent to:
Casa de Santa Maria • P.O. Box 64 • San Luis, CO 81152
Email: casadesantamaria@mac.com
Please feel free to share the Casa Newsletter, web site or Mother Mary's Messages with others!