Giving back

If you follow my blog regularly, you may know that I have an Amazon store where I include toys and educational materials that I like and many of which I use in therapy. I also often include affiliate links to Amazon and iTunes when I'm writing about products and apps that I use in therapy. For those not familiar with affiliate links, if you click on an affiliate link and then make a purchase while at that website, I receive a small (very small) percentage of the purchase as an advertising fee. For more information on Affiliate links, please click here.

When I first started including affiliate links, my goal was to be able to use the proceeds to give back. And I am happy to report that I have been able to do so! It took awhile for the advertising fees to start to add up, but over the past year, I have been able to support four different charities! Read on to learn a little bit more about each one.

Dark & Light Books | This is a project that I helped fund last summer when it was still in the Kickstarter phase. Shasta is the mother of a child with cerebral palsy (be sure to check out her blog Outrageous Fortune) who took a leap of faith to publish a children's book to help raise funds for her son's therapy and medical needs. The thing I really love about this book is that the pictures are all black and white. The OT in me thinks everything should be therapeutic and I just love the high contrast pictures in this book!

brAvery Run | This is a 5k run in honor of little girl named Avery who lost her life much too soon due to complications from Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA). When I was working in early intervention, I had a little boy with SMA on my caseload. Prior to working with this child, I had never heard of Spinal Muscular Atrophy. He was such a bright spot in my week, but unfortunately SMA is progressive. The brAvery Run takes place in Texas (now in it's second year and happening this weekend!) and the proceeds support research for Spinal Muscular Atrophy. As I don't live anywhere near Texas, I participated in the virtual run last summer, so I could run wherever I happened to be. That worked out well for me, since I was in the midst of a cross country move and was in Iowa on the day of the virtual run :) By the way, did you know that August is SMA Awareness Month?

A.skate Clinic | The A.skate Foundation provides skateboarding clinics to children with autism at no cost to the families. I think opportunities like this are so important to families of children with autism. It helps to expose children with autism to new activities in a safe environment. I am happy to report that the local fundraiser that I supported has reached their goal and will be receiving their A.skate clinic this fall!

The Ability Center | I heard about The Ability Center through a former OT classmate and after checking out the website, I just knew I wanted to support this cause. I went to OT school in Milwaukee, so anything in Wisconsin has a special place in my heart. I also have a strong belief in the therapeutic value of sports for all people of all ability levels. I really hope to see The Ability Center break ground soon!

Thank you so much for reading and supporting my little blog!