“Rings and other jewels are not gifts, but apologies for gifts.
The only gift is a portion of thyself. Thou must bleed for me.”
– Emerson
The American poet and essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson set a high standard for gift givers during his time. Those of us who pride ourselves on being do-gooders should do the same, both as a giver and a receiver.
According to Emerson, “The poet brings his poem; the shepherd, his lamb; the farmer, corn; the miner, a gem; the sailor, coral and shells; the painter, his picture.” And the do-gooder should bring—however small–his or her hope for a better world.
Here are five easy and fun ways to say “I love you” and to “give a portion of yourself” this Valentine’s Day.
Share Your Love by the Scoopful When You Visit Friendly’s
Now through Wednesday at Friendly’s Ice Cream locations, make a $1 donation to Easter Seals, and you’ll receive 5 Valentine’s Day cards, redeemable for free Friendly’s Kids Cones. All money raised will support Easter Seals Camp Friendly’s programs, which provides an opportunity for kids with disabilities to be included in regular camp activities like boating and canoeing, swimming, archery, ropes courses, horseback riding, hiking, basketball and fishing. Celebrating its thanks to you, we’ve raised over $27 million over our 32-year partnership with Easter Seals!
Say Pucker Up with Puffs Facial Tissues
Puffs Facial Tissues, has launched its Puffs Kisses campaign on Facebook to target facial-tissue-using women, and benefit Dress for Success, a not-for-profit organization that promotes the economic independence of disadvantaged women.
From February 1 to 24, fans that log on to Puffs’ Facebook page can send virtual kisses–which look like lip blots on tissues–to friends. For each kiss shared, Puffs will donate $1 to Dress for Success. Puffs says it will donate $100,000.
You have 50 kisses to choose from in categories like Flirty, Love and Friends, and Family. Each category has different colors. Each kiss also comes with a message such as, “I’d quit watching reality TV for you,” or, “I like you way more than I like your Facebook posts.”
Macy’s Asks Consumers to Go Red for Heart Health
Macy’s is asking consumers to tag posts on various social networks with #MacysGoesRed through Valentine’s Day to support the American Heart Association’s Go Red for Women campaign, which helps fight heart disease in women.
Macy’s is donating $2 per post up to $250,000.
Making a Better World With Better World Books
Books are always a popular gifts for Valentine’s Day. Why not buy your book from a bookseller that shows your love for a better world? Online bookseller Better World Books has a powerful love story to share:
We believe that education and access to books are basic human rights. That’s why books sold on BetterWorldBooks.com help fund high-impact literacy projects in the United States and around the world. That’s why we commit to matching every purchase on our website with a book donation to someone in need–Book for Book.
In case you’re concerned about your eco-footprint, every order shipped is carbon balanced with Green-e Climate certified offsets from 3Degrees, a leading green power and carbon balancing services firm.
In addition to selling new titles, Better World Books supports book drives and collects used books and textbooks through a network of over 2,300 college campuses and partnerships with over 3,000 libraries nationwide. So far, the company has converted more than 58 million books into over $10.4 million in funding for literacy and education. In the process, we’ve also diverted more than 40,000 tons of books from landfills.
You can double your impact on Valentine’s Day by buying Beth Kanter’s new book Measuring the Networked Nonprofit: Using Data to Change the World at BWB. If you’ve ever read Beth’s blog you know that she has a true love for Cambodia and its people. Through the Sharing Foundation, Beth is donating all the proceeds from her book to Keo Savon, a second-year engineering student, in hopes of giving her a better life.
Give a portion of yourself this Thursday. Nothing less will do.