Archives for February 2012

I'm sitting here in my nice warm home, having just finished a simple lunch with my family here in sunny and slightly chilly Las Vegas.  Meanwhile, I have family in Colorado dealing with the hazards of a massive winter blizzard. I've lived through several blizzards and at times they can be magical, but they can also become very scary in an instant. 

When I was seven or eight years old I remember sitting at our large picture window watching the snow fly during one of those Colorado blizzards.  I was fascinated by the ever changing landscape and the magical world that was being formed right before my eyes.  At the time I was home with my Mother and two younger sisters and my Dad must have been at work or helping a neighbor at the time.  My Mom called us into the kitchen for lunch and within minutes of leaving my magical window we heard a huge crash.  The large crabapple tree right out in front of our home had been blown over by the high winds right into our living room through my magical window.  My winter wonderland within seconds had become terrifying though my childish eyes.  It wasn't long before the power was out and the need for basic emergency items were needed.

We were lucky enough that no one was in the room at the time so we didn't need first aid items, but imagine if we did?  We were in a situations where calling 911 wasn't going to really be an option. We could call, but it could be hours before they could reach us in the current conditions. We did however, have the need for flashlights batteries, materials to secure our home and a way to keep our family warm during the storm. My family was blessed enough to have the means to take care of our treacherous situation, but… Can you imagine if we didn't have the basic supplies needed during that trying time?  It could've been a situation where unnecessary injuries and possible deaths because of the elements, could've occurred.

Everyday I am reminded about how blessed I am to have all the comforts in life.  As a adult I can recognize this and I feel sometimes it's a challenge to teach my children that not everyone in the world is as lucky. For whatever reason whether they be social or economic, thousands if not millions of people struggle with the basic necessities of life.  Worse yet the basic necessities have to be whittled down to purely life sustaining items like food, water & basic shelter. The items that we use to keep us healthy and safe become luxury items at times.  You couple this with the harsh conditions that happen during the winter months and you have a recipe for disaster.

Did you know that 9 MILLION children suffer from non-fatal injuries each year and that accidents are the leading cause of death in children. Factor in hazardous weather conditions and you have the perfect recipe for hundreds of weather related injuries and death.

I am thrilled to be partnering with Energizer for the Energizer Light Up a Life simple service project with the I am ONE of Millions Champions for Kids campaign.

This is a great campaign that can take the sometime daunting task of helping those in need and breaking it down into small bite size morsels. If we would all take a few moments to put together a small care kit with some basic first aid and safety items for one family in need we can reach thousands!! Visit the Mobilizing Millions, Champions for Kids site to learn more about the Energizer Light Up a Life project.

This week my family and I are going to visit Shade Tree, an organization that helps battered women and children here in Las Vegas.  We are going to research the needs for our community and then together we are going to put together a Winter Survival Kit for a family in need.

I would like to encourage all of you to do the same.  Together within the WhipperBerry community we can reach a handful of families and combined with all of the others participating in this campaign we can reach thousands if not millions!!  I will be posting about the kit we put together later this month and I would LOVE for you to do the same.  I will be putting together a chat in the new WhipperCafe where we can discuss ideas on what to put in our kits and who to distribute them to. I can't wait to see what fabulous idea you come up with!

This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias all opinions and ideas are my own. #EnergizerCFK, #CBias