Stuff Parents Need

Easing the chaos in the nest, one find at a time.

Make a World of Difference for Girls’ Education by Donating Your Clothes to Schoola

· by · 1 Comment

Thanks to Schoola for partnering with me for today’s post, and especially for partnering with the Malala Fund!

We’ve talked before about the gently used clothing store online called Schoola. It stands apart from similar type sites because 40% of the proceeds from every sale go to schools! In fact, you can earmark your donations to benefit a specific school of your choosing in your own community, which is absolutely AMAZING!!!

malala fund donations

Schoola has recently partnered with The Malala Fund (an organization I blogged about recently!). The Malala Fund works to secure girls’ rights to a minimum of 12 years of quality education. Can you imagine, just for a moment, how our world would change for the better if The Malala Fund achieved it’s purpose? With your help, they can!

Check out my video below for details on how you can help support The Malala fund at no cost to you other than your gently worn clothing that you no longer need.

You can even request a Malala Fund bag, specifically!

malala donation bag

Additionally, you can help The Malala fund, as well as schools all over our nation, by shopping at Schoola.com. To sign up for your own account you can use my referral link and snag $20 in credit to use, no strings attached! 🙂 A donation bag will be included with your purchase, or if you prefer not to shop but only to donate, simply request a bag and one will be sent to you for free.

Not every person can write a big check to a worthy cause, but most of us have at least a few items of clothing that no longer fit or that simply aren’t our style, after all. Please consider donating those items and consider it a step taken to help change the world for the better.

Talking #WithMalala about Secondary Education as a Right for All Girls

· by · 1 Comment

Last week I had one of the most awesome opportunities that has ever come my way as a blogger (and that’s saying something, becasue this job is one big adventure!). I got to spend half an hour on a conference with Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai. She’s a bright and energetic 18-year-old girl who, 3 years ago, saw an injustice in her community and spoke out against it. She did a very hard thing, and she almost lost her life by standing up for what was right because the Taliban shot her in the head in the attempt to silence her forever. But she didn’t back down and she didn’t stop speaking out for the need for education to be a RIGHT, not a privelage, for every single child, no matter their gender, race or economic status.

malala

Friends it was such a moving phone call! Malala is very clear about the fact that she is just one person, and she can only do so much, but that if others will join her, the collective power can topple over centuries-old institutions and traditions that exclude certain children and deny them opportunities to receive an education. She challenged us all to imagine for just a moment what this world would look like if every single child could receive k-12 education, which is something I admit that I take for granted here in the United States. That image of an entire generations and all the generations that follow being educated blew my mind, an in a really good way. It felt SO right. 

In the next week, a new film will be released in theaters all over the nation called  He Named Me Malala. This film is about Malala’s story, and more broadly, it’s about the importance of girls’ education. Take a moment to check out this quick trailer:

I mean…woah. I CANNOT WAIT to go see this. And I am really excited about sharing Malala’s story with my girls. My children already have access to k-12 education, but if they had been born in a different part of the world their options could be SO much more limited. And in those places, right now, there are mothers and fathers with precious little girls who are being denied that opportunity. And in other places in the world, boys and girls alike are being denied education based on their family’s income (or lack of sufficient income). I try to put myself in the position of those parents who aren’t allowed or just aren’t able to give their little ones something that is so critical for success in life.

This is heartbreaking. And it’s wrong. And it doesn’t have to be this way. 

Please be watching out for when He Named Me Malala will be released in your community and gather up a group of your friends to go see it together! And if you want to have some great discussions with your kids about the issues Malala is fighting for, stay tuned because I’ll be posting soon about some ways you can engage your kids in thoughtful discussion.
Follow Malala’s work on social media by searching for #HeNamedMeMalala and #withMalala. You can find her on instagram at @malalafund, and on Facebook, too!