We Are One Year Old: Time to Give Back!!

Hooray!!  As promised, we are celebrating our One Year Anniversary this week!  I seriously can’t believe it has been a year since Utah Sweet Savings was launched.  Sometime it seems like yesterday…and sometimes it seems like I have been doing this forever.  🙂

One thing I didn’t expect when I began blogging was how many wonderful friends I would make along the way.  We have the BEST readers out there.  You all are why we continue to do what we do and why we have so much fun doing it!  I just want to say a HUGE THANKS to you all.  You are so great and so sportive as we have gone through so many changes throughout the last year.  Lorraine and I have loved having Jill on board and she has brought a fun new aspect to our site.

So, since it is our anniversary we are going to rolling out some fun new things!  We want to give back to you as readers for being so supportive and will be doing a TON of giveaways throughout the next week {or two}.  We have some Amazing Sponsors who have really gone all out, so make sure to keep checking back.

We also want to announce a new project that we are starting from now until the first week in December.  I am SO excited about it.  We are teaming up with Kristin from The VocalSokol.com to give back to those who aren’t as blessed as we are.  Everyday I am in awe of the amazing people that I come in contact through this website.  Now is the oportunity for all of us to rally together and give back!  But we CAN’T do it without YOU!

Here is Kristin to tell you more about the awesome program that we are starting:

Hello Deal Shoppers! I am Kristin Sokol from TheVocalSokol.com. I usually blog about the importance of having fun as a moms. Happy moms, are better moms!

This time of year I focus on helping needy children. I started a service organization called Operation Undies supporting needy children with basics like socks and undies.

Raise your hand if you love to shop and know how to find a GOOD DEAL! Are we all raising our hands? Now let me tell you how your clearance shopping can help!

I found the Centro de la Familia Migrant Headstart Program four years ago. The school teaches the children of Migrant Farms workers. My friend who teaches there asked me to help to provide some practical Christmas gifts for a struggling family at this school.

She told me so many heart-breaking stories. One was about a mother who wanted to buy her children a box of crayons for Christmas and couldn’t come up with the money to buy them.

Another was about a 28 year-old Guatemalan mother of two who came to Utah to work. She struggled for six months with no job. Finally, she was offered a job milking cows on a dairy farm. After a few weeks on the job, a cow bit one of her fingers off! She had to take four days off to address the injury, but after being unpaid for those days, she had to go back.

You can’t believe the extreme conditions and the heartbreaking circumstances these families endure, all to pursue a better life for their children.

Many of us would never consider working under these difficult conditions. There are women in our own communities who don’t have the luxuries we have. If you’re like me, you don’t consider yourself a wealthy person, but the reality is that we are! We have resources and opportunities that others only dream about.

This is YOUR CHANCE to count your blessings and make a difference by using your talent to scour out the best deals in Utah. Here’s an excuse to shop for good! The items you buy will go a long way to bringing relief to hard working new-to-Utah families who NEED the help.

Thanks Kristin!  I am so excited to get involved with this great organization.  Can you imagine the impact that our pennies can make for these children?  I don’t care what your political views are on immigration {we aren’t here to talk politics} the truth of that matter is that these little children need us!  They need our talents and skills and we can TRULY make a difference in these children’s lives.

I will be posting more about this sweet little group of kiddos and how we can help in the coming months.  Right now, if you can keep your eyes out for clothes, shoes, coats, anything practical that might be able to be donated for these sweet children who don’t  have beds to sleep in, decent clothes to wear, or even crayons to color with.  Grab those clearance items and hold on to them.  We will be collecting them all over northern Utah throughout the next few months.

Also, as you are buying your kiddos their new school clothes, if you are getting rid of clothes they have grown out of, we would love you to hang on the them.  We will be having a used clothes drive next month and we would love all your gently used clothes.  Tell your neighbors and let’s collect a TON!

Let’s change children’s lives with our pennies!  We can make a difference!  Who’s with me?