Helping Veterans one Woof at a Time

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It’s always inspiring to see businesses that give back to their communities. Boss Nation Brands, Inc. is one such company. Started in 2018, Boss Nation Brands, Inc. has both the Boss Dog® and Boss Cat® brands and they focus on nutrition foods for dogs and cats.

In addition to building their business, they are building up their charitable giving at Boss Nation Cares. They use this platform to give back to veterans serving America. They have, as employees, one veteran who has served four deployments overseas and many others with close family members who have served, or are serving.

They use Boss Nation Brands to donate to a different charity every month. So far, in recent months, they have donated to: Pets 4 Vets, Victory Service Dog, Wounded Warrior Project, Folds of Honor, Trails of Purpose and Heroes for Healthcare. These charities all allow Boss Nation Cares to focus on the bond between veterans and animals and to help those who serve our country.

New Book: A Pandemic Keepsake

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Some of us will certainly want to put this chapter of our lives behind us, and forget about the terrible days we dealt with Covid-19. But others would like to have a keepsake to remember these days and how they got through them. Allendale resident Lorraine Ash volunteered to edit the new book “Corona City: Voices From an Epicenter” which is a compilation of first-person stories and photography that people captured during the first months of the pandemic.

Writers who contributed include the best-selling authors Helene Stapinski and Ilene Beckerman and many everyday people who wanted to contribute. The book was published in November by Magic Dog Press and all royalties from it will go to the organization called Feeding America. It’s a network of over 200 food banks helping people get through this difficult time.

Animals: Making the Difference During Covid-19

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So many people have been positively influenced by pets this year. While we’ve all be forced to socially distance and stay inside, the pets by our side have made all the difference. That’s why it was so nice to see this week, on Giving Tuesday, that Petco Foundation and the BOBS from Skechers gave $860,000 in grant awards to animal welfare organizations throughout the country.

The grants were given out based on stories that people submitted about their pet adoptions. 50 of the best stories were selected, and the money (ranging from $5,000 to $100,000) was given to the organizations that facilitated the adoption of those pets. The stories are all quite heartwarming and many can be seen here: petcofoundation.org/vote.

While reading the stories, people can also vote in the People’s Choice competition where the best five stories with the highest number of votes will get even more grants. Voting is until December 16th.

Top 10 American Cities & Their Giving

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SmartAsset has a fascinating study looking at who gives the most in America, and how they give. It offers great insights into the patterns. They looked at 170 metro areas and used metrics which includes charitable contributions as a percentage of income, percentage of tax return and other factors. Here is a summary of some of their findings.

*Utah is the state to beat. They have three metro areas that led the study and that are the highest givers based on the criteria they evaluated.

*Most people who make charitable donations aren’t claiming it on their tax forms.

*The top locations, by order of giving, include

  1. Provo-Orem, Utah
  2. Ogden-Clearfield, Utah
  3. Salt Lake City, Utah
  4. Charlottesville, Virginia
  5. Charlotte-Concord-Gasonia NC-SC
  6. Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD
  7. Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA
  8. Richmond, VA
  9. Tulsa, OK
  10. Durham-Chapel Hill, NC

See the whole study and learn more about what makes these places stand out.

Helping Veterans Every Step of the Way

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Here is a heart-warming story. Semper Fi and America’s Fund are helping American war veterans with financial assistance and emotional support. One example is that of Retired Army Sgt. Stefan Leroy who said that representatives from the organization were in his hospital room at Walter Reed Military Medical Center before his family was when he stepped on an IED in Afghanistan in 2012.

Stefan’s case manager helped him to find outlets for his motivation, including getting into cycling and racing. She encouraged him along the way and told him that he was capable. Septer Fi and America’s Fund even provided Leroy with an adaptive hand cycle and a rower that he could use to work on his strength.

He has since completely a few marathons including the Marine Corp marathon, the Boston Marathon and a triathlon in Santa Cruz, California.

There are organizations, like this one, making a huge difference in the individual lives of our veterans. And they certainly deserve the support.

Uplifting Stories around the Country

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We could all use some great news right now and some stories of people helping each other. Reader’s Digest recently asked for stories of people helping each other around America and they voted on the best place to live based on those stories. They received thousands of entries, and each story is sweeter and more touching than the next. There was a  “Nicest Places” Advisory Council” which included famous journalist and author Mitch Album.

A few of the stories can be found about Alabama, Alaska, and Arizona. There are many stories here that will really inspire readers and perhaps help others to come up with thoughtful ways to help each other in their communities.

Keeping Up With Charity News

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During these difficult times, you would expect charity to be down. Many people are seeing, however, that charity is actually up for some people and in some situations. It can be inspirational to read some of the stories about people who are still giving to others and are helping each other through these difficult times.

NBC has done a great job of consolidating their charity news into one location. A daily or weekly glance here can help people to keep up with the latest in American charity news and to see what others are doing in these critical times.

This article, for instance, is a fascinating look at how helping others can actually help you. Whether it’s financial assistance or helping others in various ways, there are real benefits to getting out of your own situation and looking for ways to help others.

Spreading Joy in Unique Ways

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During the international pandemic, people have found interesting and lovely ways to spread joy to those in need. Certainly, giving charity to a charitable organization can enable your money to be spread among many. But it sometimes feels impersonal and detached. If you look at YouTube, you’ll see many creative ways that people have been giving extra money to delivery and service providers. Here is one lovely example. Enjoy!

Surprising News: Giving Actually Up This Year

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We could all use some good news during these most difficult times. And here is some to offer. While many charities have been hit during these difficult financial times – a report from Lending Tree actually shows that about two-thirds of previous respondents say that they actually haven’t changed their giving strategy from last year. People also reported giving to locations that aren’t typically recorded since they can’t be written off on income taxes. These included giving to local relief funds and giving money to family and friends who have been laid off.

In addition, large scale corporate giving us up – and it’s up quite a lot. Fidelity Charitable saw a 28% increase in giving from the first six months of this year as compared to last year. Good News Network showed that Schwab Charitable had a 46% increase in DAF grants, which was actually the “most generous period of giving recorded in the history of one of America’s largest philanthropic funds.”

These are certainly uplifting statistics and ones worth reading more about.

Skechers Donating 1 Million Masks

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By JohnPosted In: ChildFund International

It’s important to highlight companies that are trying to do great things in the face of the Corona virus. Skechers is one such company. They have recently donated one million triple-layer, non-medical masks to non-profit organizations. These are organizations that typically don’t get PPE from government organizations.

The masks being distributed by Skechers and United Way of Greater Los Angeles to homeless shelters and food banks in L.A., to public education centers in the area and to some organizations in Chicago, New York City, Detroit, Florida and New Jersey.

The program was tagged as the #MillionMaskChallenge campaign and started with announcements from some influential TikTok users such as Addison Rae, Loren Gray, Avani and the Croes Brothers. The idea was to create a video dancing to the track “Skechers” by DripReport. For every “Skechers” dance that was shared, the Skechers company agreed to donate up to a million Skechers face masks.

As DripReport explained,

“Part of my goal with the track was to show you can make whatever you wear cool and share a message about self-confidence over material things. When I originally released ‘Skechers’ in January, the world was in a different place. After the track blew up, I love that Skechers and I succeeded in making it stand for so much more.”