Sam?s Club and Off the Field professional football players? wives association will host the Fourth Annual Dream Drive for The Salvation Army and its Adopt-a-Family program. Through this program, 10 pre-selected families in 10 cities across the country will receive $1,000 worth of food and holiday gifts, including clothes, personal items, electronics and toys from Sam?s Club.
On December 16, the NFL wives will ring the Salvation Army bells followed by 2 to 3 hours of shopping for the family in need. In addition, the players? wives will wrap presents and send to the donation facility. The wives, their children and some of their husbands will help the Salvation Army deliver gifts to the families.
As part of the Salvation Army Donations program, the Field Player?s wives association (NFL wives)?will be partnering with Sam?s Club to shop for the Salvation Army Adopt-A-Family Program in 10 select cities on including?San Francisco, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Kansas City, Cincinnati and Phoenix.
You can check out the Dream Drive 2010 at these Sam?s Club locations:
- #6444 ? 2450 Main Street, Evanston, IL 60202
- #6544 ? 9570 Fields Ertel Road, Loveland, OH 45140
- #4795 ? 1701 West State Highway 114, Grapevine, TX 76051
- #4729 ? 45425 Dulles Crossing, Sterling, VA 20166
- #4769 ? 5310 South Rice Avenue, Houston (West Park), TX 77081
- #8173 ? 1900 University Drive, Miramar, FL 33025
- #4766 ? 9750 Reistertown Road, Owings Mills, MD 21117
- #6670 ? 2000 Clements Bridge Road, Deptford, NJ 08096
- #4769 ? 1375 S. Arizona Ave., Chandler, AZ 85286
- #6612 ? 1225 Concord Ave, Concord, CA 94520
The Dream Drive is an amazing program in that 100 families will be sponsored. These are families who otherwise would not be able to afford to buy presents and in many cases food for their families. So kudos to Sam?s Club, Off the Field and?The Salvation Army for making so many dreams come true this holiday season.
One of our very own Sam?s Club bloggers, Brandi from?Not So Average Mama will get to attend the on-site festivities including shopping along with the NFL wives. I am excited for her. I was invited to attend the event held in Atlanta last year and I had an amazing time. It was wonderful to truly see the spirit of holiday season in so many philanthropic people.
Although I am not going on site this year, I got the chance to chat (along with several of the other Sam?s Club bloggers) with a few of the NFL wives participating in the Dream Drive? including Romonda Jordan from Houston, Ericka Lassiter from Phoenix and Tammi Trotter from Philadelphia.
Kim from?What?s That Smell asked ?How were the 10 families selected? Did the NFL Wives participate in selecting them??
Kristy Reed from Sam?s Club answered ?The Salvation Army chose 10 families in 10 cities through the Adopt a Family program that they thought would benefit most from $1000. Sam?s Club is donating $100,000 all together. The NFL wives had nothing to do with the selection process and have never actually ?met? the family they helped shop for. They just get basic information like gender and age for each family and what their needs are. They want to help keep the privacy of the donors and families, so it is all kept confidential.?
One of the questions that many of us bloggers had was how can we give back or for those of you interested, how can you give back? While you cannot personally become involved with the Dream Drive, there are so many ways that you can give back this holiday season:
- Donate whenever you see The Salvation Army bell ringers. Those Red Kettles: Feed hungry families. Provide Christmas presents for needy children. Heat the homes of struggling senior citizens.
- Donate any magazines or books around your house to a local hospital. This is something that we do every year, several times a year. There is nothing harder than being in a hospital waiting room at any time but this is especially hard during the holidays. Giving books and magazines can give family members a much needed break while they are worrying about their loved ones.
- Pack boxes at your local food bank. We have done this several times. My entire family gets to learn first hand what? it takes to feed a family as we pack boxes to be picked up at the local food bank. If you cannot pack boxes, you can donate canned food at many local grocery stores.
- Donate a toy to local Toys for Tots bin around your community.
- Give blood. While this is not something we think a lot about during the holidays, this may be one of the reasons that the American Red Cross has trouble keeping up with demands this time of year. To find a local blood drive in your area or to find out more information,?www.redcrossblood.org.
- Donate time to a local soup kitchen. This is another volunteer opportunity that can involve the whole family. Holiday meals often have a huge turnout of hungry people and are always in need of volunteers to help serve food. There are even meal delivery drivers needed for some charities. To find a soup kitchen in your area which you can donate to or volunteer your time at go to?www.servicenation.org
- Donate clothing. Go through your old clothes and see what you no longer need. Goodwill and many other charitable organization are in need of coats and other warm clothes during this time of year although any clothing donations will always be accepted.
The Salvation Army will also provide updates and information about the partnership with Sam?s Club and Off the Field for the Dream Drive through Facebook and Twitter.
About Off the Field
Off the field was established on February 16, 2006, in Washington D.C., as a national non-profit organization. The organization is comprised solely of the spouses of active and retired NFL Players. OTF is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization that strives to be a resource to its members and their communities. The purpose of OTF is to have an alliance of women within a network who are fully committed to collectively affect change within themselves as well as their surrounding communities.
Through its dedication to create awareness and raise funds for local and national charitable organizations that emphasize strengthening the family unit, OTF has contributed more than $400,000 to various charitable organizations since its inception.
I was provided with compensation for my participation in the Dream Drive campaign.
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