Share The Joy Plans

I've wanted to write this post for weeks now (it's gonna be a long one)! I've been working and planning my tush off (and not sleeping much) and am so excited to be sharing my most important blogging project to date. Thanks to World Market's Share the Joy campaign, I have organized a small group of Central Florida bloggers to makeover a space at a local children's foster home, sponsored by World Market. I'm just thrilled blogging has provided me with an opportunity to do such a great thing in my community. Squeal!

So what is Share the Joy? From November 8th - December 6th, Cost Plus World Market is giving away a $5,000 American Express Gift Card + $5,000 for a charity of your choice each week for 4 weeks. Can you imagine?! You win $5,000 and get to give $5,000 to charity. So cool and they are doing it 4 times! For a chance to win, become a fan of World Market on Facebook and click here. Who would you help?

When I got the email from World Market challenging me to come up with a way to help my community, I immediately thought of local foster homes. I tutored at a foster home in high school and I still clearly remember it. While that home is no longer open, a google search and a few phone calls lead me to a similar home close by... Central Florida Children's Home. They've been around for 40 years, are currently home to 15 children, and run 100% on volunteers and donations.

Because this is such a big project in a short amount of time, I knew just me and a glue gun weren't going to cut it. I went to my fantastically-willing-to-help-at-a-moment's-notice Central Florida blogging buddies for help. And because they are amazingly awesome, Katie and Jon from Sew Woodsy, Christine from First Home Love Life, and Lauren from The Thinking Closet all enthusiastically agreed to join in and get sweaty.

Now, side note, while everyone was really willing to help this was tough to pull off! Trying the get each blogger's, the children's home's, and World Market's schedules to jive was really hard. There were a couple mornings I just thought there was no way we'd be able to make this happen. But, (you're going to laugh) there is this billboard I pass everyday on my way to work. It says "If not now, when?". Honestly, I think it has something to do with getting your GED but whatevs. That billboard kept giving me a kick in the pants. It's time NOW for me to give back! (Are you imagining me flying down the highway singing Katy Perry's Roar right now?) Totally.

So after tons of phone calls and emails, it was decided that the offices at the children's home needed the most TLC. This is the place potential foster parents come to meet the staff and  be interviewed, where the have meetings with local businesses for fundraisers and to ask for donations, and where the day-to-day office tasks get done. Their major needs were a conference table and two separate desk areas since both staffers are sharing the same desk right now. There's also very little lighting (it's so dark!) and a lack of storage.

After my visit, Christine and I hit up our local World Market and shopped like mad. We purchased mostly furniture to fit the children's home's needs. We loved everything, choosing was hard! The employees were super helpful and made our crazy checkout process easy. Good thing we have large vehicles! #Juststrapittotheroof

So,want a sneak peek of what we got? Here are some of the goods we snagged at our local World Market. Swoon!

1- SOURAV DINING TABLE / 2- COCOA PAIGE ROUND BACK DINING CHAIRS / 3- PAKSHI BIRD OF PARADISE CURTAIN / 4- VERONA BUFFET / 5- MAHOGANY KONRAD DESK / 6- VERONA TWO-SHELF BOOKSHELF / 7- ZANE PEDESTAL TABLES

Are you excited!? I am! Our 2 days of work begins early next week. When I realized how amazing this project was going to be, and how many kids it was going to potentially help, I decided to see if other DIY brands I work with and love wanted to support our project too. And you know what, they all said YES (because they are amazing)! A huge thanks to RYOBI for supplying us with tools to assemble our bounty of furniture and get our DIY on. Another huge thanks to 3M for donating ScotchBlue Painter's Tape, Command Hooks and strips, and a bounty of office supplies. And, thanks to Homes.com and ForRent.com for donating moola to purchase the new lighting, fans, and decor! You guys rock!

So I'm challenging you now. What can you do to "Share the Joy"? Provide stocking stuffers to a local children's home in your area? Make up a gift basket for the local fire station? You never know what tiny act could turn into something more. Follow me on twitter, facebook, and instagram this week to see all the progress in real time #ShareTheJoy. Then come back next week for the big reveal! Tag your photos too so we can see what projects you came up with. Now I need to go shop again!