I’ve gotten this same email about five times now, so I wanted to give everyone a heads up that if you tend to give gift cards around the holidays, you need to be careful that the cards will be honored after the holidays. Stores that are planning to close after Christmas are still selling the cards through the holidays even though the cards will be worthless January 1. There is no law preventing them from doing this. Below is a partial list of stores that you need to be cautious about:

Circuit City (filed Chapter 11)
Ann Taylor- 117 stores nationwide closing
Lane Bryant, Fashion Bug ,and Catherine’s to close 150 stores nationwide
Eddie Bauer to close stores 27 stores and more after January
Cache will close all stores
Talbots closing down specialty stores
J. Jill closing all stores (owned by Talbots)
Pacific Sunwear (also owne d by Talbots)
GAP closing 85 stores
Footlocker closing 140 stores mo re to close after January
Wickes Furniture closing down
Levitz closing down remaining stores
Bombay closing remaining stores
Zales closing down 82 stores and 105 after January
Whitehall closing all stores
Piercing Pagoda closing all stores
Disney closing 98 stores and will close more after January.
Home Depot closing 15 stores 1 in NJ ( New Brunswick )
Macys to close 9 stores after January
Linens and Things closing all stores
Movie Galley Closing all stores
Pep Boys Closing 33 stores
Sprint/Nextel closing 133 stores
JC Penney closing a number of stores after January
Ethan Allen closing down 12 stores.
Wilson Leather closing down all stores
Sharper Image closing down all stor~s
K B Toys closing 356 stores
Loews to close down some stores
Dillard’s to close some stores

(If any of these stores are wrong, let me know so I can correct it.  Snopes has confirmed some of these)

Copyright © 2011 My Thoughts, Ideas, and Ramblings. This Feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this material in your news aggregator, the site you are looking at is guilty of copyright infringement. Please contact mythoughtsideasandramblings.com @ gmail.com so we can take legal action immediately.

Do you ever find yourself frustrated that the charities that you give to keep a huge portion of your donation to themselves to cover “overhead” costs?  I know I feel that way a lot, so when I come across a charity that gives 100% of your donation to the kids, I want to scream about it from the rooftops.

This is where the Child Foundation Charity comes in.  They are foundation that helps children with physical birth defects get the surgeries they need to look normal again.  They help children from all over the world.  Each one of these surgeries costs around $30,000, and some children need multiple surgeries to fix their birth defects.  As a mother of two little ones, my heart certainly goes out to these children. I remember how cruel children can be to one another and even how society can be towards you if you look different.

Now, I said that 100% of your donation goes to the kids.  It does.  They have a donor, who wishes to remain anonymous, who covers the operating costs of this charity.  Every cent you donate goes towards these kids surgeries’.  For me, that is huge.  You can directly help a child.  Granted, most of us do not have the $30,000 to help with the surgery, but a little here and there can definitely add up.  You can even see some of the kids they have helped and those still waiting for surgeries.  When you read their stories and look at their pictures, I can’t help but tear up.  This could very easily be one of my children needing this.  I am just happy that there are charities out there willing to help these children.  If their stories touch your heart, you can even send these kids an e-card to help brighten their spirits. Now, if you know some one who is in need of this, please send them their way.  Their motto is “giving children worldwide the quality of life every child deserves”.

The Child Foundation Charity was founded in January of 2007.  Up until now, they have been able to help 6 children live a normal life.  Their goal?  They would love to be able to help 10 – 15 kids a year!  However, they need help from you to be able to do this.  If you would like to donate, they have a page set up to walk you through the process (you can even use Paypal!).  Another way you can help is to post about this charity and get the word out.  The more people who know about this, the better!  A third way you can help is if you are in the Miami area.  They are having an inaugural fundraising event on September 27, 2008 at The Rusty Pelican in Key Biscayne, Florida. It starts at 7 pm and includes complimentary cocktails provided by Bacardi. Afterwards, you will enjoy the house specialty of filet mignon and lobster, followed by a night of dancing to a live band, and a silent and live auction.  The ticket prices are $125 per person or $1,000 for a table of 10. Lastly, you help by donating to the above event by donating items to be used for the live and silent auctions, by purchasing an ad in the Event Program for the night, and donating promotional or sample items from your company to be included in the gift bags for our guests. As you can see, there are so many things you can do to help!

I know this ended up being a really long post, but there were so many important things to tell you.  Let me sum it all up for you.  If you want to help kids with physical birth defects live a normal life and have 100% of your donation go towards their surgeries, then the Child Foundation Charity is for you!

Copyright © 2011 My Thoughts, Ideas, and Ramblings. This Feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this material in your news aggregator, the site you are looking at is guilty of copyright infringement. Please contact mythoughtsideasandramblings.com @ gmail.com so we can take legal action immediately.