Incentives!

Here's a little incentive for you to collect yellow pepsi caps and box codes for BigHouse Power Voting... you can get $25 OFF any service (now or future) at Integrity Auto Service in Opelika!

We are very excited to partner with Integrity to collect LOTS AND LOTS of bonus votes! Here's the details...

• Collect Yellow Pepsi Power Vote Caps or Box Codes
• Bring 10 or more caps/codes to Integrity Auto Service- 1007 Geneva St. in Opelika
• Turn in the caps/codes and receive a $25 OFF Certificate.
• ALL Caps due on or before Friday, July 29th at 5:00pm- sorry, no exceptions.
• One per person, certificates can not be combined with any other offer/coupon.

Please take advantage of this great value AND support BigHouse at the same time! All codes are worth 5, 10, 15, 25, 50 or 100 votes each! That means 10 caps is worth a minimum of 50 votes! That is HUGE!

So collect your caps and bring em' in!

Integrity Auto Service

1007 Geneva St.

Opelika, AL 36801

(334) 749-3344

Owner- Michael Brown

www.integrityautomotive.org

-m

Rock the Vote!

We need your help!!!

BigHouse is competing for a $10,000 Pepsi Refresh Everything Grant to provide care packages to children when the enter foster care. Many times, children come into care with little to no belongings. They need everything from a toothbrush to pajamas! We want to equip local DHR's with readymade kits they can give the child as soon as they enter care. These will contain toiletries, socks, underwear, and maybe even a toy or lovey. Here's the thing... WE NEED YOUR HELP to make this happen!

There are 2 ways to vote and 2 ways to help!
VOTE:
1. log on to www.refresheverything.com/bighousefoundation and sign up to vote! You can log-in with a facebook account or email (or try both)! Once per day!
2. Text 107285 to 73774 to vote via text message! Once per day!
HELP:
1. Tell everyone you know to vote! Family, Friends, Church members, Civic Groups, Co-workers, Running buddies, Day Care workers, Your kid's friend's parents, etc. We have got to GET THE WORD OUT and you can help! Send them the info to vote or a link to this blog.
2. Collect the yellow bonus vote caps on Pepsi Products! Each code on these caps is worth 5-100 bonus votes! You can even bring them to BigHouse and we'll enter them for you! This is a great and easy way to make a huge impact!

Remember- every vote helps us get one step closer to winning the grant- Please be a part of us making life a little easier for kids in foster care!!

Feeling grown up...

Some days/weeks at BigHouse, I feel a little more "grown up" than others. This week has been one of those weeks! We started the week with a board meeting, and then had a meeting yesterday with the group hosting a golf tournament for us. This morning, I met with an AU Social Work Professor because we are blessed to have a practicum student with us this summer. For those of you who may not know what a practicum student is/does, it's a student preparing to start their social work classes who gets field experience by spending 90 hrs working with a community organization. This is our first time to have a practicum student, so we are learning about the program as we go!

This morning, I felt very "growny" while reporting on this student's performance (which has been great!) and what things she has been able to do so far while at BigHouse. This was our mid-term report and I will also evaluate her experience at the end of the summer semester. It has really helped me think about what kind of opportunities and experiences we can expose our volunteers to while they help at BigHouse. They are learning and growing right along side us and thankfully, they don't expect us to have all the answers yet. We will also have a practicum student to help this fall! I am excited!

Here is a little introduction to our summer practicum student!

Elana Greenwood

Rising Junior in Social Work at Auburn.

"I lean not on my own understanding,
my life is in the hands of the maker of heaven."

Sometimes I feel a little bit like the blind leading the blind at BigHouse. I am 2 years out of college trying to tell college juniors and seniors all I "know" about running a non-profit and helping kids in foster care. Needless to say, I don't know "a lot"... but I do know who has the answers, the plan, and the means to make our dreams for BigHouse a reality. Please join me in praying that God will continue to guide our steps and help us feel more equipped to do the job at hand!

Golf Tournament!

BigHouse is excited and honored to be the recipient of the Auburn Links Men's Golf Association Charity Classic on August 6th! This is our first time to be a part of a golf tournament and we truly appreciate the time and effort these men are putting in to raise money for us. And from what we hear, it's gonna be a GOOD time!

There are several ways YOU can support the ALMGA's Charity Classic and BigHouse!

Become a Sponsor!

-Event Co-Sponsor- $500- includes 2 player's entries, 2 rounds of golf at Auburn Links, flag stick and signage

-Flag Stick Sponsor- $175- includes 2 rounds of golf at Auburn Links, flag stick and signage

-Tee Sponsor- $100- includes 2 rounds of golf at Auburn Links, signage

Play in the Tournament!

-8:30 shotgun start, two person scramble, lunch and prizes provided

-One Player Entry- $75

-Team(2 players) Entry- $150

To register as a Player or Sponsor- go to the Auburn Links Website OR call (334)887-5151 or email John at jkarabpga@msn.com

Please come out and play with us on August 6th!! We look forward to seeing you there!

-m

What's new at BigHouse!

Here is the latest news at BigHouse...

We have completed the BigHouse 2011 Swimsuit and Towel Drive! We raised over $10,000 in monetary donations + thousands of swimsuits and towels and were able to give every child an embroidered towel and swimsuit, and every teen an embroidered towel! We estimated it would cost about $25 per child for a new swimsuit, towel, and embroidery so an estimated value of our entire collection is about $85,000!!! WOW! Thank you to EVERYONE who donated, embroidered, or volunteered to help pack up the suits and towels! We have received wonderful feedback from foster parents and social workers across the state...

"Thank you all for the beautiful towels and swimtrunks!!!!! All four boys loved them,they feel very special to know that a complete stranger thought so much of them to get them something special. May you be blessed in every way possible!!!! Not many people relize how something so small means so much to these little guys!!!!! We are beach bound in the a.m. So you can only imagine what was first to be packed.LOL."

-Foster mom in Chilton County

"We, too, got our towels and suits today! All 4 of 'my babies' were THRILLED! They put them on right away and even took their naps STILL wearing them and used the towel as their covers. Took the towels to bed with them tonight too!! They kept saying, "Is that 'my' name on there? Show me where it says my name." I assured them that it WAS their name! :) So Thank-You, Thank You to EVERYone involved. They were definitely a 'hit' at "Our Big House". :) Now we gotta go swimming!! :)"

- Foster mom in Shelby County

‎"What a beautiful gift you sent for our little girl! She is autistic and carries her new suit and towel every where with her to show people. "Look, look!" is a phrase I hear from her all day. She repeatedly traces her name on the towel with her fingers and says her name. I wish you could see her twirling, trying to get the ruffles on her suit to sway.You couldn't have blessed her more and in doing so, you have blessed me. Thank you so much! "

- Foster mom in Calhoun County

"The children were so excited to have a towel with their name monogrammed. For many of them, these towels are the only thing that they have ever had which was personalized just for them. Even the older teenagers wanted me to let you know how much your gift meant to them."

- Dallas County Service Supervisor

And here are a few pics from the drive.

We also just finished an awesome week of kid's camp at BigHouse! We were blessed to have Danna Coffey, a preschool teacher from Atlanta who loves science, prepare an awesome week of experiments for our kids! We also had some fun afternoon adventures to Storybook Farms, mini-golf, and swimming! Here are some pics from our fantastic week!

We have also been incredibly BLESSED with some terrific interns this summer! It is so clear to me God knew exactly what we needed when He directed these wonderful girls paths to BigHouse. They are such awesome young women with big plans to make life better for those in their community! We are loving having their energy, ideas, and brains helping at BigHouse this summer. Here's a little bit about them... (i totally jacked their fb info without asking...)

Gina Henderson

I'm 23.
I go to Auburn University; I'm a Social Work major.
I pretty much love my life; it rocks.

"Let patience have her perfect work that ye may be perfect and entire wanting nothing" - James 1:4

Erin Hutchins

Grad. Student at Auburn in Business Administration, non-profit management

I am rare, precious, trustworthy, kind, disciplined, energetic, diligent, compassionate, generous, industrious, influential, poised, wise, distinguished..I am a Proverbs 31 woman

Shealy White

Senior at Furman University in Human Services and Faith- Poverty Studies

"shed a little sunshine in the heart of one, that one is cheered to pass it on,

and so My vitalizing joy-giving message goes..."

We have many things on the horizon at BigHouse... I am going to make a conscious effort to keep the blog up to date! Please also check out our website for more info about BigHouse!

www.ourbighouse.org

-m

Belk Charity Event Tickets!!!

BigHouse is selling $5.00 Belk Charity Sale tickets for the April 16th sale at Colonial Mall. BigHouse will keep 100% of the tickets we sell, so it's a great way to support BigHouse and your wallet!!! Discounts from 20%-70% across the store and on many items not usually discounted! Plus, you get $5.00 OFF your purchase, so you basically get your money back!

Details:

Belk Charity Sale

Saturday, April 16th from 6:00am- 10:00am

Colonial Mall in Auburn

Tickets: $5.00

Purchase tickets through BigHouse!

Email bighousefoundation@hotmail.com or call 334-363-2634 for more info!

Here we gooooooooo!!!

We are ordering our posters and getting ready to hit the ground running with our swimsuit and towel drive! If YOU want to request some posters to hang up at your church, school or workplace, or if you want more info about hosting a collection or being a drop off location- email us at bighousefoundation@hotmail.com!

Calling all hoarders...

Are you a hoarder?

Do you have too much stuff?

Do you want help getting rid of it?

Would you like it to go to a good cause?

If so, consider making a donation to our BigHouse Yard Sale on March 5th!

We will be collecting donations at BigHouse from Feb. 28th-March 4th. If you need to get rid of these things prior to Feb. 28th, please let us know and we will work something out!

Also, if you love pricing, organizing, or working yard sales, WE NEED YOU!

Email us at bighousefoundation@hotmail.com for more info!!

We are raising money to continue helping foster families in Lee County! If you can't donate, COME SHOP!!! :)

We're back!

BigHouse is back to the land of the wired... we took a hiatus from our online activities this fall, but now...

our twitter account is up...

our blog is being updated...

our website has been and will continue to update and change...

and our facebook fanpage is growing!

Thanks to all the friends we already have in the "online world", and we look forward to making new ones!

Here's a brief schedule of upcoming events... watch for detailed blogs about each coming soon!

March 1st- Summer Intern Application deadline... go here for more details!

March 5th- BH yard sale (Donate items during the week of Feb 28th- March 4th if possible)

April 1st-30th STATEWIDE Swimsuit and Towel Drive... More info coming VERY soon!!!

May 14th- Packaging Party for Swimsuit Drive

June 4th- Kids for Kids Lemonade Stands

This Summer:

2 Weeks of BigHouse Day Camps

Family Beach Trip

Thanks for your support of BigHouse! It feels good to be back! ;)