United States – Little Known Help Zone

Costa Rica Fundraiser

October 19, 2014May 26, 2018 Makenna Lenover

The Costa Rica fundraising portion has been completed!

If you don’t remember, Little Known Help Zone is raising money to send a child to the Jumpstart English Language learning camp in Costa Rica through Amigos of Costa Rica. (amigosofcostarica.com)

50 bracelets sold at $4 a piece will raise the necessary money to send this child. As the fundraiser continues, a tally will be kept of how many were sold.

The bracelet selection includes various items from the easy shop, as well as 37 new bracelets made by Little Known Help Zone. These are soda tab bracelets, but they are smaller to fit child sized wrists. Many also fit adult wrists. What makes these special is 20 of them were made by my Gifted Seminar class, one class working to send a student to class abroad.

Here’s a peak of the bracelets.

Remember, if you can’t make it to the Fall Festival at Western Salisbury Elementary, you can still support the cause by ordering online at etsy.com/shop/littleknownhelpzone

After the fundraiser, Little Known Help Zone will work to have these bracelets sold at local shops as well as online to support the cause!

Fundraising, My Community

Fundraiser Cause #3- Honduras

September 25, 2014May 26, 2018 Makenna Lenover

The third and final country Little Known Help Zone will be helping this fundraiser is Honduras, a repetitive country in Little Known Help Zone’s history.

This time, we will be donating to Mama Tara’s orphanage, specifically towards their playground. Mama Tara supports the Miskito Indians, who live on the Mosquito coast and are caught in the fire of Honduran drug wars. The goal is to raise $200, hopefully enough to put in a seesaw, or another fun playground piece! It is a firm belief of Little Known Help Zone that while it is important to help with the necessities, it is also important to bring smiles and support the sheer delights of childhood.

To raise this money, we will be selling baked goods to bring smiles to children’s faces there. A smile for a smile.

Additionally, we will be sharing information about a great opportunity where coupon clipping can help Mama Tara. If you visit Common Kindess http://www.commonkindness.com/printable-grocery-coupons and create an account then chose Mama Tara, the orphanage receives a portion of the advertisement fee based off how many coupons are clipped for them.

Read more about Mama Tara at mamatara.org

Fundraising, My Community

New Fundraiser For Fall

September 19, 2014May 26, 2018 Makenna Lenover

Little Known Help Zone is pleased to announce an event on October 24th to raise awareness and money for the charity!

My old elementary school is allowing me to bring Little Known Help Zone to their Fall Fest and sell items to raise funds and share information.

There will be informational signs and literature, t shirts for sale, a donation jar, and most excitingly, a sale of 3 various crafts. with the money from the crafts going to 3 different charities in Central America! The monetary donations from these sales will be part of a Christmas Project, and the crafts will be released soon with their charitable causes!

Stay tuned for specific pieces from the Fall Fundraising Collection and the cause goals!

Fundraising, My Community

Yoga Fundraiser

March 21, 2014May 26, 2018 Makenna Lenover

Little Known Help Zone is at it again!

On May 18th, we will be hosting a fundraiser at Emmaus Yoga. For $10, participants can sign up for an hour long yoga class. There’s only 28 slots available, but if you’d like to sign up, email me at littleknownhelpzone@gmail.com. Participants will receive a goody bag filled with healthy snacks. So far, Sahale snacks is donating items for the goody bags. sahalesnacks.com

T-shirts will also be for sale on crowd booster. Shirts will be sold for $15 dollars, and once the campaign is active, I will post the link for purchase. If you would like to buy one but you don’t live in the Little Known Help Zone area, I will gladly ship one to you.

One last thing, there will be a raffle for fun yoga prizes. If you would like to buy tickets, email or comment and you will be added to the raffle. The pricing for the tickets is $1 per ticket. As of now, here are two fantastic prizes and more coming.

YOGA POSTER 1

The first prize is a Balance Ball Chair by donated by Gaiam. An $80 dollar value, this chair is spectacular. Here is a photo, and I linked the chair so you can read more.

http://www.gaiam.com/balance-ball-chair/95-1004.html?start=75&cgid=1010400

Also, a yoga mat and mat cleaner was donated by the fantastic etsy seller Optimistic Elephant. This is an $85 dollar value and would be a fantastic prize. Her mats are perfect and such high quality!

Check her out here https://www.etsy.com/shop/OptimisticElephant

There’s other ways to help as well. If you would like to learn more about how you can help LKHZ, leave a comment below. There are many volunteer opportunities and help is always appreciated.

Fundraising, My Community

Bixbee Backpacks

December 25, 2013May 26, 2018 Makenna Lenover

Have you ever heard of Tom’s, a buy one give one company? Well, the next up and coming company is Bixbee Backpacks. For every backpack purchased, they donate one to a child in need.

“Our desire to play a positive role in educating kids around the world began in 2011 with the launch of Schoolbags for Kids. Now for every designer backpack we sell, we donate a schoolbag and supplies to a kid in need through our One Here. One There.® program. We are proud to have donated thousands of supply-filled bags over the years…

Their enthusiasm about something so simple, something we take for granted, made a deep impression on him. Luis realized the children he met throughout his journey were like millions of others around the world, eager for an education but lacking basic supplies.”

As you can see, Bixbee and Little Known Help Zone share the same beliefs, that this passion towards education must be guided and helped.

I recently conversed with Luis, the founder of Bixbee Backpacks and set up a fantastic connection. Nearly every child at the Hogar del Amor orphanage wished for a backpack, and Bixbee was kind enough to donate the backpacks for 22 orphans. I was beyond excited for this generous donation and extremely grateful.

Every child received a backpack filled with presents and wrapped in festive bags!

Stay tuned for a large post about the packing process and check out Bixbee at bixbee.com

Merry Christmas!

Environment, My Community

Animals in Distress

August 9, 2013May 26, 2018 Makenna Lenover

After a delightful trip to Costa Rica, I sent a thank you to Petmeds for the donations and was pleasantly surprised. They offered to send more donation boxes for me to give out. This time, I wanted to focus on my own community, so after researching, I chose the delightful Animals in Distress.

Animals in Distress is a local pet sanctuary that keeps every animal received, provides medical care and love, and also works on finding these pets homes. This is a no-kill shelter, which is one of the main reasons I chose them. I respect their mission quite much, and this place is an area of love and happiness. The sanctuary is spacious and bright, the animals are in a great place with loving volunteers and spacious rooms. Certain animals, such as Spook, who is paralyzed, have special accommodations (The Spook Mobile is adorable!)

After receiving the donations, I sorted through to organize and examine the contents. Over $500 dollars worth of supplies were sent, from medicines to treats to toys! My dad took me to AID and we were pleasantly greeted by the workers. The facility is beautiful and all of the volunteers are friendly and welcoming. They were very appreciative and we also got a tour of the cat kennel! Every single cat was beautiful and you could tell each had its own personality. One feature that truly made me happy was the spaciousness of the rooms. There were rooms for the cats that each went off into a sunnier room with bird feeders outside. Rather than be caged, they were free to roam around their room and do cat-like things. I am so happy to have been able to contribute to this wonderful organization and I can’t wait to volunteer and work with them in the future. animals-in-distress[1]

Visit their website here http://www.animalsindistress-pa.org/index.php

They have many different ways to help including Take-a-Pet to Dinner and Redners Tapes

Environment, My Community

Final Preparation

June 14, 2013May 26, 2018 Makenna Lenover

As the days trickle down, my house has become more and more hectic. Scrambling around, packing, and tying up loose knots are all occurring in these final hours. Just today, I’ve created forms to use for a school project and I am running around trying to find a perfect camera to use and document my trip. Hopefully, I’ll be able to create a video with some Costa Rican scenes.

I’ve been in contact with the refuge, but the exact date I will be visiting hasn’t been determined. I will most likely give them a call on the hotel’s one phone and organize the date then.

While this trip certainly has humanitarian purposes, there will also be some vacation time as well. We will go hiking, surfing, shopping, eating, and to a chocolate factory! Oh boy!

With all of the final donations together, it is time for me to pack them into two concise bags (check and carry on). I have much left to do, but I wanted to check in just to share the final details before I leave.

I won’t be able to post anything before I leave or while I am gone, but once I am home I will post pictures and stories galore! Stay helpful!

(And if perhaps you’d like something to do while I am gone, check out my etsy store etsy.com/shop/littleknownhelpzone )

**While on the topic of etsy, I will be picking up some handmade goods from locals down in Costa Rica that will be listed on my etsy page!

Environment, My Community

Donation from Northeast Fleece

April 21, 2013May 26, 2018 Makenna Lenover

Little Known Help Zone’s most recent project involves the Costa Rican Jaguar Rescue Center, an animal refuge centered in Puerto Viejo that takes care of injured and orphaned animals and makes effort to rehabilitate them back into the wild . For my 16th birthday, I will be visiting Costa Rica and volunteering at the refuge for a portion of my trip. The reserve is in need of some supplies, so Little Known Help Zone has made it their goal to collect this supplies to deliver on the trip. Needs include fleece blankets, electric blankets, powdered goats milk, and medications.

After minimal success with attempts to collect donations, a wonderful surprise came in the mail. Northeast Fleece, a fleece company based in Massachusetts, sent a package of 6 fleece blankets after I sent an email to their headquarters. These blankets are needed for the young animals of the refuge who have the potential of getting hypothermia since they no longer have the warmth of their mothers. The fleece blankets provide warmth and comfort. This donation will make all the difference for the refuge.

Little Known Help Zone would like to send a big thanks to Northeast Fleece for their generosity.

Stay tuned for continued information about the preliminary supplies collection and the trip itself.

Visit Northeast Fleece here northeastfleece.com/

See the refuge here jaguarrescue.com/

Children's Education Abroad, My Community

Roatan Children’s Fund Supplies Drive

March 28, 2013May 26, 2018 Makenna Lenover

Here is a photo of my surrounded by all the supplies I collected in 2012!

Today, I am going to tell you about what first got me interested in forming this organization.

After visiting Honduras, I fell in love and came home wanting to help out. A school project came up where I had to note a challenge and try to fix it. This was the perfect opportunity for me to help out. After months of planning, I started a supplies drive. I collected mainly school supplies and nonperishable foods. After I gained a huge amount of supplies from my school drive, I went to my local target and picked up a few fun things for the kids that weren’t donated by others.

There were the flyers hung around my school during the drive.

After a series of emails with the organization head, Lynn, I was ready to ship. The shipping process was intensive, which included various forms and packing techniques.

The final collected supplies that was being sent to Honduras totaled over 500 dollars. I was amazed, and hopeful about my community.

I was honored to participate in this project, and it inspired me to start Little Known Help Zone, which focuses on many Central American charities and projects.

Visit Roatan Children’s Fund at www.roatanchildrensfund.com