In Kind Boxes

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Mamas Making an Impact with Vicky Gkarmini

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This past week we had Vicky Gkarmini on our new Instagram Live series titled, “Mamas Making an Impact“. Vicky is an amazing mama to three boys, and also has her own small business called Next Door Goddess. I asked her to join me on the IG Live last week because she is so fun to talk to, and I knew she had a lot of love and encouragement to offer new moms.

I also had Vicky on the IG Live because she is using her beautiful jewelry to support our mission to help moms. She has designed some lovely bracelets that would make the perfect gift for Mother’s Day, that are available in her shop. Thirty percent of those bracelet sales will be donated back to In Kind Boxes!!! If you have your eye on something else in her shop, Vicky will be donating 10% of those sales to In Kind as well. We are so grateful to Vicky for her kindness and generosity. It means so much to us when people get behind our mission, and support it in their own special way.

On top of all of that, you will find a Next Door Goddess bracelet featuring a lovely freshwater pearl, and the words “Mom Goddess” in gift boxes while supplies last! Go to our shop page to check it out.

We hope you’ll go over and take a look at Vicky’s Nextdoor Goddess shop here.

Thank you for supporting small businesses!

~Maria

March Update

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In March we donated our 100th gift box! One gift box donation delivery day that contributed to that was to the Ronald McDonald House. We delivered 20 gift boxes that day. Those gift boxes are to have on hand for mamas who happen to arrive without their postpartum essentials. We’re happy to be able to provide those to mamas, and be part of the support they receive while at RMHC.

This month we were very grateful to collaborate with the mom owned business Boy Meets Girl USA. Boy Meets Girl USA is a purposeful, edgy, and young streetwear brand that loves giving back. They generously donated Muscle Tanks for us to include in gift boxes. Stacy Igel, their founder, has supported many worthy causes and organizations making a difference in the world, and we’re so thankful she chose us to support. 

Boy Meets Girl Muscle Tanks have been added as an optional add-on item for gift boxes. Quantities are limited, so get yours while you can! These muscle tanks are not only stylish, but also very comfortable, and great for summer. We posted a reel with some easy ways to breastfeed baby, while wearing your tank. 

On March 17th we had something very exciting happen. We were featured on NBC New York Live’s “Female Founded Brands to Check Out”, by Joelle Garguilo!!! Joelle is an awesome woman who is always highlighting small businesses and lifting others through her work. We’re so thankful to her for including us in this amazing lineup!

Other fun things that happened for us this month were hosting two special giveaways. One was a collaboration for mamas, with another mom owned business, Baby Leaf Covers. If you haven’t heard of them, please go and check out their page. Baby Leaf Covers are super versatile and can be used 6 ways, and they’re also very cute, and soft. The other giveaway we did was in honor of World Doula Week. Doulas are such an amazing resource for families. We wanted to thank them for all of their hard work, and offer 3 doulas gift boxes for them to pass along to the families they support.

I’ve also enjoyed spending some time on Clubhouse. I recently created a club called Moms Supporting Moms there, where I am hoping to have rooms that moms use as a safe space to share and connect. If you’re on Clubhouse come and find me! There are so many interesting rooms to be part of. One morning I was even invited to come and share In Kind’s story in a room about kindness. It’s so fun to be able to connect with people from all over through that platform. If you have a chance, it’s worth checking out!

Two final highlights in March were in regards to funding. OnPoint Community Credit Union donated $1000 to In Kind Boxes!!! This will go a long way towards our next big donation delivery day to Virginia Garcia. Second, we received confirmation that our Community Enhancement Program application through the City of Sherwood was approved for a $1000!!! We will be receiving those funds in July, and they will be used towards the gift boxes we donate to the Sherwood Family Resource Center. We’re grateful to the city for approving this for us again this year.

Next month we have lots to look forward to with Earth Day Oregon coming up. We look forward to sharing about our business partners for the event: A to Z Wineworks, Urban Homes NW, and Elephant’s Deli, and amplifying the message of Earth Day together.

~Maria

February Update

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This was a very fun and busy month for us!

Some things that happened locally were that we were able to surprise our local Sherwood School District Staff and Teachers who are expecting (or have newborns) with a donation of gift boxes! We’re so grateful for all of the hard work our schools do to make learning fun for our kids. This has been a tough year for all of us, and we’re happy to provide them gift boxes to support them in postpartum.  Gift box donation deliveries were also made to the Mother and Child Education Center, and to the Virginia Garcia Memorial Health Center’s Women’s Clinic.

Another way we gave back this month was through our Nationwide Gifting Program. We saw that families in Texas needed our help, and reached out to some organizations in Austin and Dallas. We ended up shipping gift boxes to the Austin Diaper Bank, and the Genesis Women’s Shelter in Dallas. Along with those, we also selected three recipients who had been nominated through our website to receive gift boxes. 

On February 17th, it was Random Acts of Kindness Day. On that day, The Hungry Hero Dessert Co. hosted a cupcake fundraiser for us! Alex baked up some extra delicious cupcakes, and helped us raise $337!!! We are so grateful to Alex, and the Sherwood community for showing up to support us that day. All funds raised go towards purchasing the supplies we use to fill our boxes.

Another exciting thing that happened that day, was that Maria was invited to share about In Kind Boxes in the One Kind Thing Room on Clubhouse. We are grateful to Phoebe Hunt for reaching out and asking us to participate that day. We love the chance to share about our mission to help moms.

We had a few technical difficulties with the website this month, so we took that as an opportunity to make a few updates. You will now find these additional payment options: credit cards (outside of PayPal), and Apple Pay. We also lowered the cost of shipping for US orders, by making it a flat rate of ten dollars. 

One final highlight for us, was receiving our hard copy edition of MORE Magazine. We are so thankful to the amazing Arianna Cruz for asking us to be part of such an incredible project. If you have a chance, you should go and check it out. We can’t wait to see their second issue coming out this Spring!

We are on track to send out our 100th donated gift box in 2021 in the first week of March!!!!

Thank you for your support. We couldn’t do what we do without you. 

~Maria

January Update

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In January we launched our Nationwide Gifting Program. We selected seven mamas to give gift boxes to based on their need, and also on the way they are giving back in their own community. Another donation made was to the Virginia Garcia Memorial Health Center Women’s Clinic. They received 25 gift boxes, and we plan to be back again in February, as we’ve been told there is a baby boom happening!

We were very lucky to have connected with Sara Kalish last month. She is an amazing photographer, who specializes in newborn photography. Sara hosted a giveaway on her Instagram page for us, and took some beautiful gift box photos for us that we’ll be sharing soon. Thank you Sara for helping us build awareness for what we’re doing. If you are looking for a newborn photographer go and check out her website– Sara now offers virtual sessions!

In other exciting news, our gift box sponsorship program is now up and running in both Chicago, and Seattle. In Chicago gift boxes are being sent monthly to Chicago Birthworks Collective, and in Seattle, Babies of Homelessness. 

We look forward to expanding our reach across the United States, and helping more moms feel loved through the gift of our boxes. Thank you for your continued support. We can’t wait to see what this year brings!

New Programs Announced!

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We are so excited to expand our network of giving across the United States this year!! We want to support more parents on their postpartum journey in 2021. In order to do that, we have increased our reach and opened our Nationwide Gift Box Donation Program. We now have an application process where people can nominate a mama or birthing parent to receive a gift box on us! Applications will be reviewed monthly, and gift boxes will be donated based on need. We are starting the program with donating five gift boxes a month, but we hope to give more as funding and demand increases. To apply for a box, or nominate someone who could use our help click here.

The second program we have opened nationwide is our Gift Box Sponsorship Program. If you’ve ever wanted to support families in your area with In Kind gift boxes, now you can! For a set donation, you can sponsor an organization near you to receive a gift box a month for a year. For more details, please click here.

We would love it if you would continue to share about these programs for us, and help us get the word out. Thank you for your continued support!

~Maria

December Update

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In December we donated more gift boxes than we ever have before! We were able to donate 50 gift boxes to families in need!!! That was made possible because of you. Thank you to everyone who donated to our gift box donation drive. Your generosity on Giving Tuesday was amazing. And we’re thankful to those who held Fundraisers on Facebook for that event. Not only did you help us raise money, but you also helped build awareness for the work we’re doing to help moms. Every action that you take whether it’s giving a moment of your time to give us a review, like or share our posts, send us kind messages, or tag us in your photos. All of it means so much! We’re so grateful for the support you’ve given us this year. We couldn’t have helped the number of families we did without you. In 2020 we helped 465 families by providing them with gift boxes! That’s more than a gift box a day!!!

In December we made gift box donation deliveries to several of our local partners. Domestic Violence Resource Center received 5 gift boxes, as well as a large box filled with Earth Mama Organics deodorant. Megan from DVRC says they’ll be using the deodorant to fill the hygiene kits they give to families. Raphael House PDX received 10 gift boxes. We always enjoy meeting with Quinn and hearing about the amazing work they’re doing.

Virginia Garcia Memorial Health Center Women’s Clinic received their fifth gift box donation delivery in 2020 of 25 gift boxes, bringing their total for the year to 125 gift boxes!!!! We have been told that they are currently experiencing a baby boom, so we plan on making another gift box donation delivery very soon! Mother and Child Education Center also received their fifth delivery in 2020, totaling 25 gift boxes for the year. Ronald McDonald House has their annual holiday market where families can “shop” for gifts for free. We are excited to include our gift boxes in that market, and bring some joy to new and expecting mamas staying at RMHC Oregon over the holidays.

We worked hard to finalize some new programs that we will be revealing in the New Year. Maria shared a Reel on Instagram on New Year’s Eve with the exciting news that we have launched a gift box donation program that is open to families in need across the United States! We’re so excited to spread more love and kindness to mamas, and birthing parents in a bigger way in 2021.

Thank you for being here, and supporting our mission to help moms. Wishing you a happy and healthy new year!

~Maria

November Update

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We kicked off November with the announcement of our gift box donation drive. The holiday season brings a large demand for our gift boxes. As always, we want to help as many families as we can, so we asked for extra help from you. Your donations are important because we use those funds to purchase the products that go inside our boxes. Donated gift boxes contain the same items as the ones we donate. We believe very mama and baby deserves the same high standard of care. To make donated gift boxes extra special, we are including a special card that wishes mamas hope and joy for the holidays~ and it’s signed with the name of the mama it was donated on behalf of, or the name of the generous business who made a donation to In Kind. We are so grateful for our kind and supportive community.

The day we posted about our donation drive, something wonderful happened. Cat & Nat shared about In Kind’s mission in their Instagram stories!!! We had an outpouring of support over the coming days and weeks. Our second and third biggest days on record for website traffic came because of that act of kindness from them. We are so grateful to Cat & Nat for giving us love. We love following Cat & Nat on social media. They are such a source of laughter and fun, and they set an amazing example of being kind, and lifting others up along with them.

Here is a random fact for you about our Instagram audience- Toronto, Canada is ranked #2 in our top locations of followers. Portland, Oregon is #1, and Sherwood, Oregon (where we’re based) is #3. We’re very thankful to these special Ontarians Cat & Nat, and Sarah Nicole Landry of @thebirdspapaya for sharing about In Kind this year. That may have something to do with it 😉

In November we made gift box donation deliveries to several organizations. Baby Blues Connection does amazing work with moms and families experiencing depression, anxiety or stress and provides them with support. At baby Blue Connection our gift boxes are given to mamas needing an emotional boost. Our gift boxes help mamas feel loved, cared for, and not alone. Next we made a delivery to PDX Diaper Bank. The diaper bank has a cloth diapering program they offer to families, which is a great resource for reducing waste, and diapering on a budget. Families receive our gift boxes as participants in the program to supplement the cloth diapers they receive. What a great gift to new parents!

Our next delivery was to the SHARE- Sherwood Family Resource Center. I was lucky enough to get a tour of their new space while I was visiting. The ladies there have been working really hard to make a great “shopping” experience at their clothing closet. The SHARE center is a resource through the local school district, and we’re so happy to provide young families with gift boxes, to help get them off to a great start. Our final gift box donation was to the Domestic Violence Resource Center. The DVRC provides education, support and empowerment to survivors and their children, who are affected by partner violence. They offer counseling, advocacy, shelter services and community outreach. New or expecting mamas seeking support from DVRC are given a gift box as part of the support they receive.

Other items we were able to pass along to the DVRC were dozens of full size sticks of Earth Mama Organics deodorant. Megan from DVRC mentioned how thankful they are for these because they have a current need for deodorant to add to the hygiene kits they give to families. We’re very thankful to Earth Mama for donating several boxes of deodorant, baby oil, and other miscellaneous products. We’ve been working hard to pass these items along to local families, and other organizations in our community.

We gave multiple boxes of deodorant to Rahab’s Sisters in Portland, boxes of deodorant to families displaced from the forest fires in Otis, who are currently living in hotels. South Portland Young Lives received three boxes including deodorant, and several items for new mamas and babies. Possible with God donation closet also received a box of deodorant. This time of year is when many organizations are in need of hygiene items. We were so happy to pass these products along to those in need. If you are a local organization in need of deodorant please let us know! We would love to get some to you. Reach out to us via email at info@inkindboxes.org.

In November we gave thanks to the wonderful businesses who donated their products to include in our gift boxes this year. We featured a new business each week for the first three weeks of November, highlighting their item as a bonus. Thank you to Bumkins Baby for donating your waterproof bibs, Hvnly Boutique for donating your handmade gemstone earrings, and Lamaze Organics for donating your organic cotton onesies. Your generosity means so much, especially during the craziness that was 2020.

In November we also celebrated our one year anniversary of our first gift box donation delivery. On November 15, 2019 we made our first delivery to the Virginia Garcia Memorial Health Center Women’s Clinic in Hillsboro. We can’t wait to see them in December! We also celebrated picking up our largest order of boxes from production at Packaging Resources Company in Tualatin. The look on their faces when we pulled up to the warehouse with our minivan and SUV was pretty priceless. Next time we’ll have to bring something larger… fingers crossed!

At our board meeting this month, we had the difficult task of selecting two winners for the doula/midwife gift box sponsorship program we’re starting in 2021. Applicants were asked to tell us about their work, and how their programs currently give back, and support families in their communities. We chose one local (Oregon) applicant, and one from another US location. We are excited to announce that Annie from PNW Doulas is our local winner, and Doula Kaytee from Minnesota. Congratulations to you both! We can’t wait to get your first gift boxes on their way!!

I am always so blown away by the kindness, love and generosity In Kind receives. We are so grateful for your support, in all the ways you choose to give back. Thank you for taking the time to read this!

~Maria

Gift Box Donation Drive

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As we head into the holiday season, our nonprofit partners have reached out to us to provide the mamas they serve with gift boxes. In November alone, we have gift box donations scheduled with Baby Blues Connection, PDX Diaper Bank, and Raphael House PDX, totaling over 30 gift boxes donated. We have almost double that scheduled for December. To be able to meet this high demand, we are hosting a donation drive. We would love to donate as many gift boxes as needed, to bring joy to mamas during this especially tough time for families.

Since we are a volunteer run organization, all funds you donate go directly back to furthering our mission to help moms. When you make a donation of $50 or more we are able to donate a box to a mom in need. To make your donation extra special, we will be including a lovely card from you to the gift box.

If you are a business, and would like to donate $50 or more, as an extra incentive we will select a post from your business’ Instagram page to share in our Instagram stories, and thank you for your generosity. We love sharing and supporting our favorite small businesses.

Thank you for helping us help moms in need with your donation!

We are so grateful for your support.