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This post is sponsored by Amazon, however all thoughts and opinions are my own.
It’s the most wonderful time of the year! And, also sometimes the most stressful. The holidays can be overwhelming with big to-do lists, family gatherings, and all of the hustle and bustle. Sometimes it is easy to lose sight of just how fortunate we are, and it is important for us to not forgot that there are many families out there that have much bigger stresses than us during the holidays.

It is important to us that our boys start to learn similar values and see how we can give back and help our community. During the summer with BTR off from teaching we love delivering Meals on Wheels with the boys and physically helping, but this time of year with our retail businesses, physical time is much more difficult. That’s where Amazon comes in to make giving back so easy.

I love AmazonSmile Charity Lists for a way to give back to a charity you care about and choose what you are contributing to. While donating money directly is a great way to give, this is a tangible way for us to show our boys giving back by picking out products an organization actually needs. We chose an organization that is close to our hearts, St. Francis Xavier College Church. They provide toiletries and other items to low-income guests who come for assistance to obtain birth certificates or state IDs.

We have a direct connection with St. Francis Xavier Church from attending Saint Louis University and attending mass at the church with the boys. It’s also the church Brandon and I were married in!
I picked out some toothbrushes, toothpaste, and books to send. We talked about how some families might not have the money to buy things to help take care of their health or how kids might not have books like us. It’s so easy to lose sight of just how fortunate we are this time of year.

The boys loved being able to help me pick what to purchase and then everything I ordered was sent directly to the church.
You can easily donate to any organization that is on AmazonSmile Charity Lists, but there are also more options to give back that are just as easy!
With AmazonSmile you can pick your favorite charitable organization at smile.amazon.com and then a portion of the purchase price of your eligible Amazon orders goes directly back to that charity- at no cost to you
The other option is if you just want to give a direct monetary donation (which is so helpful to organizations this time of year) you can just say “Alexa, I want to make a donation” to any Alexa-enabled device!

I hope we are starting to plant little seeds in our boys that flourish in them become active members in their community and supporting those that need help.

