a giveaway for good!

{image via london calling blog}

last week, my sisters and i visited st. paul’s cathedral together. as we quietly wandered aisles saturated with beauty and holiness, we were stopped dead in our tracks by a piece of graffiti art nestled into a sunlight streamed corner, standing boldly in striking contrast to its surroundings. we soon realized the painting was a madonna and child representation, like many others in the church. but instead of being depicted as clean and pristine and glowing in marble or mosaic, mary and jesus were depicted in this painting as modern-day refugees – dirty and cold and despairing.

i was struck by this image. it bubbled up feelings that have been piercing my heart lately, especially as i’ve considered the millions of refugees around the world - tugging feelings of gratitude and guilt, of disturbance and desire. as i’ve been earnestly endeavoring to live my own unique (and outrageously privileged) life the best i know how, i’ve been compelled to find time and space and methods to give some of my tremendous abundance of security and sustenance to alleviate some of others’ tremendous lack of security and sustenance.

but i’ve found that finding and acting on ways to help can be so tricky and can get so overwhelming. what and to whom do i give?? how do i give in a way that is worthwhile, when my efforts feel like such tiny drops in such a huge sea of need?? how can i make an impact without quitting my everyday life and devoting myself completely to a cause of relief (which is sometimes what i really want to do, but i know living my own life in my circumstances is where i really need to be)?!

i’ve decided over and over that the maxim of “you can’t do everything, but you can do something” is true and good. and i realize over and over that i should drop my tiny drops in that wide sea whenever and however i can. they will be measly and seem silly and feel minuscule, but they will be real nonetheless, and somehow worthwhile.

we can incorporate giving of our abundance, to other humans in dire need, into our everyday lives. we can transform what we already do regularly into something that helps the world.

that is what go jane give, a rad new website (that i’ve been linking to repeatedly in recent blog posts!) can allow all of us to do so easily. go jane give provides a platform for anyone to turn their everyday skills and/or activities into fundraisers for worthy organizations/causes. my friend meg makes a little bigger batches of baby food (that she’s already making for her little boy anyway), sells the goods to others, and allows all the proceeds to go directly to a fabulous organization working with the world’s most vulnerable refugees. my sister saydi, a portrait photographer, is adding extra shoots to her calendar and providing her services for free in exchange for donations to the same organization. my eleven-year-old niece hazel is pledging to be silent for one hour for every $25 that others donate to her go jane give fundraiser – to help silence the refugee crisis, of course! there’s endless possibilities for using go jane give for good.

i was recently offered to partner with pinkblush maternity and host a blog giveaway - so that someone out there reading this can have $75 worth of darling maternity clothes for free! and i realized that i could turn even this into an opportunity to do a tiny bit of good. and so, with the help of go jane give, i’ve created a giveaway for good!



all the information about this giveaway, and steps you can take to win!, can be found on my go jane give page. check it out, make a very small ($3! -- or larger, if you want!) donation to refugeepoint, come back here and leave a comment, and then cross your fingers for luck to win! i’ve been wearing a couple of pinkblush maternity pieces throughout my second and third trimester, and i absolutely love them – so comfortable, stylish, and perfectly suited for a growing belly :) there are so many cute options for dresses and tops and jeans for the bump at pinkblushmaternity.com. $75 credit there would be so wonderful for any mom-to-be.

in london and at lake bled in slovenia wearing pinkblush!:
  

i'm really excited to see what happens with this experimental giveaway for good. i hope everyone who is reading this, regardless of if you have any interest in maternity clothes, is inspired even just a liiiiittle bit to donate, or even better, to think of a way you can transform talents and interests and everyday activities into a simple fundraiser for a cause you care about. {there are tons of ideas on how to do this on go jane give}

because our tiny drops are drops of good indeed.