Cool Mommy Product Reviews

There are so many wonderful charities out there and below are my favorite charities because they inspire me tremendously :

Alex’s Lemonade Stand

A very inspiring story and Alex’s legacy lives on. The charity is very well run & web-savvy. Check out the hero stories, fundraising pages, online and offline donations, event calendars, resources. Recently, I celebrated my 40th birthday with a fundraiser for Alex Lemonade Stand Foundation (ALSF) and asked guests not to bring gifts but to donate to ALSF instead. After I registered my stand/fundraiser on their website, they email me a confirmation with stand number & assigned a coordinator so that I have someone to turn to if I need assistance or have questions. We raised $855 !

I like the slogan of Alex Lemonade Stand : Fighting childhood cancer, one cup at a time.

Special Olympics

Many years ago, I was reading about Eunice Kennedy Shriver and her efforts founding the Special Olympics and I think it is an amazing cause. I often meet mentally challenged workers in the supermarket bagging groceries and they are all very good with their jobs. A couple of our friends also have children with Down Syndrome who are also in the same elementary school with my children. It is great to have so many programs in place to help them to integrate and be independent.

Make-A-Wish Foundation

This is a well known charity that spans the globe. They reached out to all the terminally ill children in the world and make their wish come true. When you see the smiles on their faces when their wish is granted, it just melts your heart. Their mission : Wish children of the past, present and future will have an opportunity to share the power of a wish. Powerful indeed.

Autism Speaks

I learnt so much about autism from the movie "Rainman" and that was a long time ago. When my oldest child - a boy, was about 3 years old, he was exceptionally bright, loves me to read to him and was good with puzzles. He always liked the same books and videos, could not express himself very well and his first preschool Montessori teacher thought that he was autistic and requested that he be checked out by a child psychologist. Turns out that he is very smart, an introvert, aware of what is happening around him (unlike autisitc child who is in their own world) but chooses not to participate. Since then, we have been reading and finding more about autism. My son will be 10 years old on June 19, 2009 and is a regular kid. However, we notice that there are more and more cases of autism every year and found this organization to be doing all that they can to solve this mystery. They have just passed their 4th year anniversary on February 25, 2009 and I am impressed with the awareness that they have created. There is, however, alot of controversy surrounding it. Regardless, it is an issue that we should all be concern with.