Give Gifts of LOVE!

One week today is Valentine's Day - a day that we take aside to celebrate LOVE! This year, we have a gift of LOVE we think your loved ones will cherish - while making an impact in a life in Africa!

You may remember last year when we went to Kenya, we offered a chance for you to "GIVE5" to a child in Africa. We collected bags containing items from 5 areas (see more about that below) that we distributed to the children of our jewelry makers in Kenya, and to a small school we are connected with in the slums. 

Good news! We are going again and we will be offering the chance to do this again! If you would like to see a video of the bags being distributed last year and the children receiving them you can see it HERE. 

If you are wondering what in the world a GIVE5 bag is it's simply this... .

Each bag contains 5 things: 

1) Something to wear - a t-shirt, a baseball hat, socks, flip flops, etc.

2) Something to play with - a teddy bear, balls, cars, etc. (please avoid "war" toys)

3) Something educational - pencils, crayons, paper, flash cards, etc. (please remember a sharpener if gifting pencils!)

4) Something for personal hygiene - a bar of soap, toothbrush, wash cloth, etc. (please nothing that will leak or break)

5) Something to eat - a special little treat to enjoy! (please nothing that will melt)

Place these in a large ziplock bag to contain them, and then put it inside a reusable shopping bag (the cloth ones with handles are great! Something that the child can use!). Feel free to include a photo of yourself or letter to personalize it! 

Okay! So you're on board and excited - now how do you start!?!? 

The first step is to email hello@iamjustone.ca to register. SImply put "GIVE5" in your subject heading. In your email include two things:

1) Let us know how many bags you plan to do - we suggest doing them as a family, class, book club, co-workers, etc! It is a fun way for a group to give back together! And since we love personal connections... instead of simply giving you age ranges and genders to send a gift to - we will send you the specific name and age of a child. It is so powerful for them to know that someone is thinking of them by name! Within 24 hours of receiving your email we will send you your list of names. 

2) Let us know what city you are in and we can let you know the nearest drop-off location. We currently have people collecting bags in Waterloo, Caledonia, Stoney Creek and Milton. 

Deadline for the bags is Feb. 25.