The good folks at Gift Card Granny have compiled a list of 133 (and counting) places that offer a discount to military personnel on Memorial Day (Monday, May 29).
If you have someone in the military in your life, first of all, don’t forget to thank them for all they do to keep our country free and secure. And then, share this list with them!
Here are the top 10 discounts:
1. Papa Murphy’s – Save 50% on one pizza with your Military ID.
2. Red Robin – Save 25% to 50% on your meal purchase with a valid Military ID.
3. Johnny Rockets – Save 50% when you wear your uniform.
4. Timberland Outlets – Get a 20% discount with an active duty Military ID.
5. Sears Portrait Studio – Save 20% if you show your Military ID at checkout.
6. Southwest Airlines – Receive one-way tickets as low as $51 for military personnel and their family members. You must call Southwest Airline’s customer service hotline to receive the discount.
7. Clarion Hotel Universal – Military discounts are available for $59 or $69 per night with a free breakfast buffet. This offer is subject to availability.
8. Dollywood Theme Park – Receive a 30% discount during times of war for all active, disabled, retired, or reserve military personnel. The discount applies to all immediate family members.
9. Hidden Valley Ski Area – Enjoy a $5 lift ticket and $5 rental with a valid Military ID. Your dependants also can receive up to 50% off on their visit.
Congratulations to John Rich for winning the 2011 Celebrity Apprentice this past Sunday. I’ve been watching the Celebrity version of this show since the beginning. Both Marlee Matlin and John Rich did a phenomenal job in the final task of marketing 7-Up Retro. As impressive as Matlin has been all season, Rich just showed strength of leadership throughout the series that was unmatched.
On a side note, I think every country music fan would have shut off the show in disgust had he lost, with the memory of Trace Adkins losing to the awful Piers Morgan in 2008. So it was a good decision by Trump for that reason as well. Almost as good as his decision not to announce he was running for president (between that and the world not ending, it’s been a pretty good week for the world :P).
I was actually excited to hear about the product the two contestants were asked to promote. 7-Up Retro (while probably not going to be nearly as popular as Brett Michael’s Troparocka last year), is a product I’m really looking forward to trying. Growing up in the 70’s, I remember drinking 7-Up and how crisp and refreshing it was. I also remember in my high school and college years when 7-Up turned nasty. I realized later that this is when they changed their formula from using cane sugar to corn syrup. I’m really looking forward to trying it again. Hopefully it’ll be as clean and crisp as I remember it as a kid.
More importantly, of course, is that the specially designed cans that’s in stores around the country will bring awareness to the two charities: Marlee Matlin’s charity The Starkey Hearing Foundation and John Rich’s charity St. Jude Children’s Research Hospitals. Both of these charities change the lives of thousands of children around the country and around the world.
While the figure of over $1 million dollars that Matlin and Rich raised for their respective charities sounds impressive, one important thing to note (as with most causes on this site) is that these represent only a tiny, tiny piece of the money they need to run every day. I think one mistake a lot of people make is thinking, “oh, since they raised a million dollars, they don’t need any more”. Nothing could be further from the truth. More important than the money this show raises is the awareness it brings to some very important causes, which rely on your donations to keep them going.
Here’s one more way you can help. During the finale, John Rich, Marlee Matlin, and the incredible New York School for the Deaf performed For the Kids (available for download on iTunes).
In addition, it seems that the men’s team forged some pretty deep friendships on the show. Celebrities Meat Loaf, John Rich, Lil John, and Mark McGrath have released a new single under their Celebrity Apprentice name “Backbone”. It’s called Stand In the Storm (Radio Edit) and also available for download at iTunes.
Last but not least, here are the final commercials from the show. Here’s John Rich’s Commercial, featuring Dee Snyder’s return as Twisted Sister.
And Marlee Matlin’s commercial, featuring the return of Meat Loaf and a boy-is-his-voice-still-amazing Geoffrey Holder.
Overall, it was an entertaining season of The Celebrity Apprentice, although ratings are definitely going down. It’ll be interesting to see what the producers of the show do the next go-around to keep the franchise going (my guess is, more outrageous characters and more outrageousness by Donald Trump, both of which could either help them or backfire horrifically). In any case, the show has been great to bring back some long lost celebrities, to help other celebrities cross over into the mainstream, and most importantly, to bring awareness to dozens of charities that otherwise few would have noticed.
Every now and then Groupon, instead of offering half price offers to things like restaurants or spas, will offer “deals” to support a worthy charity. Today is one of those days.
Starting Monday, May 23 2011, Groupon will be offering $35 worth of merchandise from the Stand Up to Cancer online store for only $15. You’ve probably seen the Stand Up To Cancer logo on a celebrity, at a ballgame, or on TV. It’s an organization whose mission is to accelerate groundbreaking research and work with the leading minds in medicine and science to fight all forms of cancer, provide new therapies to patients, and save lives.
The merchandise you can buy at the online store ranges from T-Shirts to orange wristbands to beautiful jewelry to ties for men and tanktops for women. Not only will your cost be 42% less than usual thanks to Groupon covering the difference, you’ll know that all of your money will be going to a very important cause, plus you’ll have outfits or merchandise that are both very stylish, and will also spread the word about this charity and its important cause.
Leave it to the folks at 1-800-Flowers to come up with something like this. First they came up with a flower arrangement shaped like a birthday cake. Then came the one shaped like a margarita. Their latest invention is a flower arrangement shaped like a dog. That’s right, a dog!
This is actually one of the cuter arrangements you’ll see. The dog looks like it’s made up of white carnations, with plastic eyes and a nose and even a collar. It’s surrounded by beautiful flowers in a reusable basket.
And if you use promotion code 4PETS from now until May 31, 2011, $5 of your purchase price will go to PetSmart Charities to help homeless pets.
In developing countries, babies who are born premature don’t have nearly the same access to facilities as those who are born in the United States. While premature babies in the US can be put in $20,000 incubators in hospitals to help protect them and keep them safe, in developing countries they don’t have nearly the same access to these facilities.
The nonprofit Embrace Global has developed an infant warmer at a fraction of a price of a traditional incubator. The warmer does not require constant electricity, is portable & intuitive to use, and costs a fraction of a traditional incubator.
On Embrace’s online gift shop, they have wonderful baby gifts for sale, including premium baby blankets, charms, and holiday cards.
Aside from being high quality baby gifts, a portion of your purchase will help Embrace deliver life-saving infant warmers around the world.
Disclosure: We participate in the eBay Partner Network (EPN) meaning we may earn a commission when users click on links to eBay and make purchases.
On the right of CharitableGiftGiving.com, you’ll see eBay auctions for mostly used stuff where a portion of proceeds will go to charity through eBay’s “Giving Works” program.
But did you know that eBay runs another site called World of Good? This is an incredible site that features brand new items crafted by artisans around the world. Your purchase on this site does two things: you get brand new, high quality goods, including handcrafted artwork, for an incredibly low price. But more importantly, every single item for sale on World of Good helps a worthy cause, whether it’s helping Artisans in developing areas, helping environmental causes, helping animal causes, or supporting non-profits.
You’ll find items on World of Good that are truly unique, not like the cookie-cutter mass-produced stuff you find in discount store and department stores. And if you’ve suddenly discovered that every single item in your house is made in China, you’ll be happy to know that items for sale here comes from diverse places like Bali, Thailand, and Kenya.
Of all the great ideas for items where a portion of proceeds goes to charity, Zuma Office Supply has one of the best: order office supplies and 50% of your purchase goes to a worthy cause.
Office supplies are one of those things we all buy. And we know that companies make a killing (how much money, after all, does it take to make a paper clip?) What’s cool about Zuma is that they don’t just mark up their prices 50%–their prices are comparable to other office supply shops, and in fact they have a pricing guarantee to match or beat other office superstores!
You can designate which charity the donation goes to, from cancer research to children’s causes to hunger relief to the environment. Whether you need a box of staples or you’re the office manager for a big company, you can’t go wrong with doing right.
It’s almost as hard to get into the NYC Marathon as it is to run it. In order to get a guaranteed admission, you need to fall under one of the following categories:
Members of NYRR since 1/31/10 who have completed 9 NYRR races and either volunteered for one event or made a $1000 donation in 2010.
Entrants in the New York City Marathon 2010 who canceled prior to the race.
Those who have completed 15 or more New York City Marathons.
Those who have applied but been denied entry for the last three years in a row (2008, 2009, and 2010), and who did not secure an entry through alternative methods in those years.
Those who met qualifying time standards posted on the NYC Marathon site.
Everyone who didn’t fall under these categories had to go through a lottery, which happened on 4/27.
At this point, the only other way to get into the Marathon is to go through a charity. Mary Ann at YouCast wrote to me yesterday to say that there are still VERY limited spots open for Team Continuum’s team.
Founded as a not-for-profit charitable organization in 2003, Team Continuum provides immediate, vital, non-medical assistance to cancer patients and their families. As a survivor of cancer myself, and someone who’s lost loved ones to cancer, I really appreciate what this charity does.
Team Continuum is an official Charity Partner of NYRR. Athletes who did not get in via the lottery or did not register at all can secure their entry by joining the team and registering online at www.teamcontinuum.net.
There is a cost involved (it’ll range from $2500 to $3750 depending on what hasn’t filled up yet), and given that there are tens of thousands of people running, they will fill up quickly. But it’s nice to know that your fee will be gong to help alleviate the suffering of cancer patients and their families.
Benefits include coaching, race day gear, and a private pre-race pasta party. For more information visit their website or call 917-595-4168.
If you’re getting tired of wearing wristbands, here’s a new concept: wear a hair extension!
From May 1 to June 7, salons in selected areas around the country will be giving a free red hair extension to anyone who donates $10 to Project Ladybug. This is a fantastic charity founded by Dina Manzo, formerly of The Real Housewives of New Jersey, which helps improve the quality of life for seriously ill pediatric patients at St. Joseph’s Children’s Hospital in Paterson, NJ; Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital; and Comer Children’s Hospital at the University of Chicago.
Wearing a red hair extension will be a great way for you to not only show you care, but also help you spread the word about the help that these children going through unthinkable pain and suffering need.
If you’re in Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Nevada, New York, Ohio, or Rhode Island, check out their Web site to see if there’s a participating salon near you.
Here’s a nice little thing that Cosi is doing for teacher’s today on Teacher’s Appreciation Day. They’re giving away free Apple Crunch Salads. If there’s a teacher in your life, tell them to mosey on down to their local Cosi. But hurry–the salads are only being given away May 3, 2011 after 5:00 PM!
It’s almost as hard to get into the NYC Marathon as it is to run it. In order to get a guaranteed admission, you need to fall under one of the following categories:
