giving

My daughters earn a small allowance each week. They are asked to divide their monies into three jars: one for spending, one for savings, and one for charity. Over the holidays we visited two non-profits, the Seattle Animal Shelter and FamilyWorks food bank and family center to drop off some donations from the girls' charity jars as well as funds raised during an early holiday sale in my Etsy shop plus two brick-and-mortar boutiques.

We selected these two groups because no one should go hungry or be without basic necessities and we wanted to give back to the shelter where our beloved six-year-old cat named Paul was adopted last April. It's never easy to see the number of animals in the shelter. The girls were especially affected by the number of cats and dogs, but in the end were comforted to know their contributions were going to make the situation better. I'm a very proud mama.