charlene

Support Us! Shop Smile.Amazon.Com

Support Us! Shop Smile.Amazon.Com

Did you know you can support us by shopping smile.amazon.com?  Isn’t that wonderful??!!!  Instead of shopping at regular Amazon.com, all you have to do is enter “smile.amazon.com” and you will be asked to choose a charity. It doesn’t cost you anything! Amazon.com will donate .5% of your purchase to Cosmetics for a Cause!  We will be receiving FIVE pallets of makeup from E.L.F. Cosmetics this week, so we could really use all of the donations that we can get…every penny helps and will go to fund a storage unit.  Thank you, Amazon!!

donate cosmetics smile.amazon.com

  1.  Visit smile.amazon.com
  2.  You will be asked to select a charity
  3.  Enter “Cosmetics for a Cause”
  4.  Have fun shopping at the regular amazon.com price!
  5.  Amazon.com will donate .5% of your total purchase price to Cosmetics for a Cause
  6.  It didn’t cost you anything but it helped us a lot!

Handmade Cosmetic Bags

Handmade Cosmetic Bags

We were thrilled to receive a box FULL of handmade cosmetic bags and other bags for personal care items from our follower Jini who lives in New Mexico.  We love when we receive donations from individuals and we are always so humbled when we see so many people who are eager to serve by shipping items to us at their own expense.  If you visit our Facebook page (link is at the top left of the page) you will  be able to watch a video of our opening the box from Jini.

Just take a look at how adorable and creative some of the handmade cosmetic bags are that Jini made:

handmade cosmetic bags donate cosmetics to women in need

handmade cosmetic bags donate cosmetics to women in need

Each bag is unique and so colorful.  I love them all, but I wanted to highlight a couple of my favorites.  I love the first bag because it can be used to store makeup brushes.  I am always hunting around to find the right brush, and with a bag like this, which is open and free-standing, it’s easy to always see what brush is the right one.

handmade cosmetic bags donate cosmetics to women in need

Isn’t this one adorable, too?!?!?  It’s perfect for nail polish!

handmade cosmetic bags donate cosmetics to women in need

handmade cosmetic bags donate cosmetics to women in need

The best news is that we were able to use most of these fabulous handmade cosmetic bags as soon as we received them!  We had heard about a family of Iranian refugess who spent TEN YEARS on their journey to America.  Look at the smiles on their faces (bottom picture) when they received their bags full of makeup!

handmade cosmetic bags donate cosmetics to women in need

 

handmade cosmetic bags donate cosmetics to women in need

Our Board Member Shauna Hostetler (left) with Erica Harreveld

handmade cosmetic bags donate cosmetics to women in need

Two very happy recipients of purses, cosmetic bags, and makeup

Thanks again, Jini!  We are so thankful for your work and generosity!

Thank You Notes

Thank You Notes

We love to send thank you notes to the fabulous friends who donate cosmetics to us.  We want to thank our corporate sponsor, eWillow.com Greeting Cards, for creating these fun thank you notes for us.  We love them!

donate makeup to women in need

We are over the moon with the matching envelopes, too!

Thank you for the thank yous, eWillow Greeting Cards!!  Have you seen their cool cards?  You need to visit their site!  They are kind enough to donate a portion of every sale to Cosmetics for a Cause to help cover our operating costs.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!

Domestic Violence Awareness: The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence

Domestic Violence Awareness:  National Coalition Against Domestic Violence

national coalition against domestic violence, domestic violence websites

In addition to keeping you updated on our donation efforts, we would also like to pass along important information about organizations that exist to help women in need. The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NCADV) works tirelessly to “effect public policy, increase the understanding of the impact of domestic violence, and provide programs and education that drive that change.”  Take a look at their website by visiting ncadv.org.

The site is full of resources for those in need of services and for those who would like to volunteer and donate. Be sure to notice the red box in the lower right corner of their site’s landing page.  The box is a “safety exit” that allows the viewer to quickly exit the site if she (or he) is in danger.  We can all guess what that means.  Personally, when I see that little red emergency exit it reminds me of the domestic violence awareness commercials that aired during the Super Bowl.  A woman in danger calls 911 in front of her abuser and pretends to place an order for pizza. The 911 dispatcher is smart enough to understand that the woman is not able to speak openly because she is in danger.  It is a powerful ad.  I invite you to visit ncadv.org and take notice of how you feel when you see the red “safety box.”  It’s chilling.

We Donated Several Thousand Units of Make-Up

We Donated Several Thousand Units of Make-Up

Thanks to the extremely generous donation from E.L.F. Cosmetics that we received in October, we were able to donate several thousand units of makeup and perfume to different charities in Palm Beach County during November and December 2015.  You can see a sampling of the different charities we were able to serve by taking a look at their logos on our site’s hompage.

Because of the nature of our business, it isn’t possible to show pictures of the actual recipients of our donations.  We need to to guard their privacy.  However, here are some pictures of the donation process that we feel comfortable sharing.

We received over 700 of these kits that contained great products for lips, eyes, and nails.  Kits like these are very helpful because they are self-contained and easier to distribute to women in shelters.

donate makeup to womens charities, donate makeup

_______________________________________________

We received so many items to donate that we were able to form two new temporary board member positions:  Junior Community Outreach Directors.  The two girls we appointed to this position rallied their high school friends to undertake “Operation Christmas Stocking.”

donate makeup to womens charities, donate makeup

They collected, filled and distributed over 300 stockings to teenage girls.  Amazing, right?!

donate makeup to womens charities, donate makeup
donate makeup to womens charities, donate makeup

The best news is that we have more pallets of makeup waiting for us.  The bad news is that we don’t have any room to store the products.  We are in the process of trying to secure funding so that we can get a storage unit. 

Our goal is to have enough room to receive the generous donations, sort the products, and make sure that we can match the products with the correct organizations.  We’ll get there!

So Very Blessed by a Special E.L.F.

We were recently contacted by E.L.F. cosmetics to see if we were interested in accepting a shipment of 50 pallets of make up.  FIFTY pallets!  Unfortunately, we currently aren’t capable of handling that much product.  However, we did agree to accept ten pallets, and look at the results!  We are forever thankful for this extremely generous donation.  The number of lives that will be positively affected by this donation is immeasurable.

Many thanks to my parents and to the young men at my church who were able to step up to the challenge of transporting the more than 100,000 units of makeup from the freight company to our garage. (Please see my previous post.  We are in desperate need of a warehouse.)I am away at college so I can’t be as hands-on as I would like to be.  Rest assured, though, that I make sure that every single item goes to a woman in need.

We have big plans for the distribution of these items.  We have already donated to the Children’s Cancer Foundation and to Dress for Success of the Palm Beaches.

Colleen from Dress for Success of The Palm Beaches

My elementary school principle now works as the Assistant Town Manager for the Town of Jupiter. We will be working closely with her to broaden Cosmetics for a Cause’s reach in our local community. Because of her position with the town, she knows the location of safe houses and is privy to other organizations that assist women.  We are so thankful to partner with the Town of Jupiter in its effort to help its residents meet their needs.  Makeup is certainly a luxury to a woman whose main focus is to feed her family.  We hope to put smiles on many worthy faces because of this donation from E.L.F.

We need a Warehouse!

donate wearhouse space

We need a warehouse!  We have been so humbled by the outpouring of donations that we have been receiving.  As a result of your generosity, we have outgrown the space (my parent’s garage!) where we currently accept our donations.

If you or anyone you know might be interested in donating warehouse space in the city, no matter how small, your generosity will help our efforts tremendously.  By receiving donations in the city, Cosmetics for a Cause will be able to help many more women in need by reaching out to more organizations.

Your donation will be tax-deductible.  In the meantime, while we are still searching for space, you can continue to mail your donations to us in Florida.  Please email us at donate@cosmeticsforacause.org for our mailing address.

To donate warehouse space, email us at donate@cosmeticsforacause.org

What a Wonderful World

We are so very thankful to a wonderful cosmetic distribution company in NYC that donated nearly $14,000 worth of products to Cosmetics for a Cause over the past two months. 

We will soon need a warehouse!

As soon as our founder, Erica,  arrived home from college for winter break, we sorted through the boxes and were delighted to find so many bottles of fun nail polish colors!  The boxes also included body scrub, body lotion, body mist, and perfume.

Erica, Sophia, & Angelina sort the donations

We were able to make a delivery of about four dozen packages to Place of Hope on Christmas Eve.  (See their link on our sidebar for more info.)

donate_cosmetics
Erica at Place of Hope on Christmas Eve 2014

We are also planning on making deliveries to Dress for Success and The Butterfly House.  Luckily, Erica will be home for a few more weeks while we make these important deliveries.  

Moving to the Big Apple

I am happy to report that I am now attending college in Manhattan.  Cosmetics for a Cause will continue, and I am anxious to discover organizations in the city that help women in need.  Once I get settled with all of my classes, I will be posting more info about donation drives.  In the meantime, if you have new, unused cosmetics to donate, send an email to donate@cosmeticsforacause.org.  Thank you so much!  So many women were helped in south Florida because of donations of products from YOU!