Message board generosity

How have our community members helped other members? Here are a few examples.On one message board, there was a 3-1/2 year old little boy named Trenton who developed leukemia and died rather quickly. This was a shock to not only the parents, but to the other women on the board who had "known" this little boy for years. One member (from a completely different board) who owns a little business decided she wanted to do something. In her own words:

I just can't shake thinking about that sweet little boy...and I just saw Barbie's siggy picture and I knew I had to do something. You see, Barbie had me do a pair of custom "jammies" for Trenton to brighten his days for his expected hospital stay......I shared the story with my Ezra (who you know has to "name" the tie dye)....who was so sad for this little boy with such an ugly sickness. Today, Ezra just happened to be beside me when I opened the tragic post about Trenton and he too was at a loss.....although he never "knew" him......he remembered me telling him the story about the jammies and felt like he had a connection. So I want to do a little something for Trenton's family...it is not huge, but maybe even enough to send a grieving basket or maybe start a little memorial fund for him. Starting today...I want to do an "auction" here at SheKnows...to raise some money. Very simple...it is just a custom slot for whatever you want, tee/dress/jammies/etc.....and the "winner" can just either paypal Barbie or Barbie can let us know what would work out best for the family. - Michelle

In the end, this custom basket of handmade clothes was auctioned off for $225.00 and the winner received several items from Michelle, as well as from other creative mothers on the site that worked from home and wanted to contribute.

A mama with money troubles

There was another woman on our site who found herself facing some serious financial troubles and her friends on the boards banned together to help her. One member, Izzy, came up with the idea to help this other member by doing auctions, and another user Shari wanted to add raffles to the auctions for the members that wanted to help but couldn't necessarily afford to participate in the auction. They also received cash donations.When it was all accounted for, the women on this board raised more than $2000 for this friend in need.

Creating a cookbook for charity

A work on progress on a June toddler message board was a special cookbook compiled from members' recipes. The plan was to create the cookbook, and then buy copies of in order to give the money to charity. A couple of years in the making, this cookbook was planned, and temporarily forgotten...only to pick up the project again a few years later. Here's what some of those message board mamas had to say.

A lot of us turned in our "favorite" recipes to make a Junatic cookbook. There are a lot of great cooks on this site, so what better way to get all the really "great" recipes together? Then someone had the idea to donate all the extra money made to charity. We came up w/ a reasonable price of $5 per cookbook and decided on a charity by taking a poll. Once the tsunami hit after Christmas, we took another poll and we decided to donate 1/2 the money to St. Jude's and the other 1/2 to Tsunami relief effort. My Junatic cook book is something I'll cherish for many, many years to come! - Sandy

It was definitely a team effort. There were so many Junatics involved in this venture. We share recipes and talk about food all the time So the idea was brought up to start a cookbook. Lisa S. started the project by taking everyone's recipes. She and her husband started formatting them. Due to having a baby she had to turn the project over. Sandra stepped up and took over the project. She delegated jobs to those willing to help. Dana worked very hard to get the cookbook formatted. Suzette designed the cover. Stephanie and her husband very generously volunteered to get the cookbooks printed for free. I took orders and collected the money. The cookbooks were sent to another Lisa who made frequent trips to the post office to get the cookbooks out to their eager recipients. We sold over 80 cookbooks. After shipping and fees, we have $480 to donate. Our board originally agreed to donate the money to St. Jude's. After the tsunami, our hearts were heavy about great loss suffered. So we decided to split the profits. $250 will go to Samaritan's purse based on the fact that for $250, we can give a family a kit that includes tools and materials to build a simple house. The remaining $230 will go to St. Jude's Children's research. I am very proud of the Junatics and very proud to be apart of this project. - Megan, HostI was in a rut with my cooking and was so excited to try new recipes from my friends. I have tried so many delicious recipes and have even tried some variations to the recipes that I had been using myself. It has been wonderful and now I don't have to cook the same things over and over for my family because I have a very large cookbook at my fingertips with lots of really great recipes. - Marlayna

Generosity and kindness can be found in all shapes and forms, and from all different places. We are proud of our community and how the members pull together! We think they are the best.

Visit the SheKnows message boards at talk.sheknows.com.