Supporting BSF Just Got a Facebook Boost!

My husband and I have a rule: we must have room in our garage for both cars.  If somehow it get’s cluttered with boxes, totes, bicycles, dusty Christmas decorations and ski gear – then we must purge.  Usually he tries to get me to scuttle the cute, but mildly creepy, wooden Santa guy who I have dragged from Arizona to Kansas to Arizona to Virginia … the point is:  We don’t need any more stuff. 

So leave it to Facebook to make helping military families even easier!

Kicking off today is the newest feature from the forward thinking geniuses at Facebook:  The new gifting platform will now allow for donations to nonprofit partners.  What does this mean?  When a friend’s birthday or anniversary rolls around, you can click on “give her a gift” and then choose charitable contribution!

Blue Star Families is extraordinarily honored to be involved in this endeavor.  And we are in good company.  Besides BSF - Water.org, St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital, Girls, Inc. and the Boys & Girls Clubs of America are participating.  By giving Facebook users the opportunity to donate to a worthy cause, like supporting military families, they are proving that while it’s easy to give a present, it’s much more powerful to support a movement. 

“We are so excited about Facebook’s new giving platform,” said Stephanie Himel-Nelson, spokesperson for Blue Star Families. “This really gives people an option to make a difference for military families, right from Facebook. What a great way to wish someone a happy birthday or anniversary.”

Entrusting your hard earned money to Blue Star Families is a big deal and it is not taken lightly.  The reason I know this is because I began volunteering with BSF in 2008 – back when it was just a group of spouses who knew they had to do something meaningful to help our military families.  I am still with BSF and each day I am thankful for all they do for my family and countless families like mine. 

Donating $25 through Facebook’s Gift Giving button is tax deductible and yet it does so much more than that – BSF’s programs, including the newest (and my personal favorite) Blue Star Theatres, engage our service members and their families with a grateful nation; Books on Bases transforms an ordinary story time into an interactive experience for military kids; BSF chapters unite military families and their civilian counterparts.  And our annual Military Family Lifestyle Survey (launching today!) reminds our lawmakers that policy does indeed trickle down to the men and women, and their families – the one percent – who are at war. (Facebook Gifts continues to roll out more broadly every day. If you don’t have access to Facebook Gifts yet, look for it coming to you very soon.)

Each donation makes events like the ones mentioned above possible.

As unbelievable as it sounds, the holidays are approaching. Store shelves will soon be filled with holiday gifts, toys, and trinkets. Rather than buying something "just to buy" (as my mother says) -- try something different this year.  Support a charity through Facebook's gift giving platform -- and really, you don't even have to wait for the holidays -- you just have to look at the news to see that more stuff isn't what we need.