Food for Fines: Is your Library Participating?

Do you have overdue library books?  Are those fines mounting and your finances dwindling?  Starting Monday, November 8th thru December, 22nd, you can pay them off with food!

That's right, it's time once again for Food for Fines at St. Johns County Public Libraries System (SJCPLS). From November 8th until December 22nd, bring in your non-perishable, non-expired food items and wipe out $1.00 in fines for each item! Get rid of your fines while  benefiting those in need in our community!

As the holidays approach many people are having lean times, some are without jobs and/or losing their homes.  Food banks need to be replenished and our community needs to come together to help each other.

SJCPLS is also collecting Boxtops to benefit our local school.  You may have seen these on cereal boxes, paper towels, soups and other products, but did you know that each Boxtop earns 10 cents for schools! All branches of the St. Johns County Public Library System will now be collecting Boxtops for Education for schools in their communities. Please help support the education for the kids of St. Johns County by saving Boxtops from these products and simply dropping them off at your SJCPLS branch library.

Community service and family go together.  Get your kids and especially your teens involved in giving back this holiday season.  There are many ways they can help others including volunteering and donating to organizations that assist the homeless or others that are in need.

Giving is what the holidays are about.  Be the example for your children, get involved today.

Read more.

Sue Scheff: Hannah's Socks - Holidays Are About Giving

By Susan Heim

In Toledo, Ohio, on Thanksgiving Day in 2004, four-year-old Hannah Turner helped her mom, Doris, serve food at a local homeless shelter. She saw a man with holes in his shoes and no socks, and she asked her mom if she could offer the man her own socks. The next day, Hannah’s mom took her to buy more socks and distribute them to local shelters. That year, they collected and donated more than 100 pairs of socks in the area.

Over the next two years, Hannah distributed nearly 10,000 pairs of socks to shelters with the help of her mother, family and friends. Since then, Hannah’s Socks has collected more than 100,000 pairs of socks for homeless and domestic violence shelters.The annual Hannah’s Socks Holiday Sock Drive has just been launched this year, with The Clorox Company as its sponsor. Their goal is to gather and donate 10,000 pairs of new socks to underprivileged children’s programs, as well as homeless and domestic violence shelters.

Wouldn’t this be a wonderful project for your family to adopt this holiday season? It would be a simple but powerful way to teach your children about giving to those in need. Your efforts can take many forms:

- Donate socks

- Host a drop box/sock drive

- Donate funds

- Volunteer to sort and distribute socks

- Spread the word via Facebook, Twitter and word of mouth!

Visit http://www.hannahssocks.org/ to learn more about how your family can join the Hannah’s Socks Holiday Sock Drive this year!

Twitter: www.twitter.com/hannahssocks (tweet using the hashtag #HannahsSocks)

Facebook: www.facebook.com/hannahssocks

"P.S. Thanks to Mom Central for sharing this terrific cause with me!" -Susan Heim

Thanks to Susan Heim (Twitter @ParentingAuthor) for sharing this information!