In Kind Boxes

Because everyone deserves to thrive after birth

Journal

90’s Trivia Night at 503 Uncorked was a great success!

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On Tuesday, March 21st we were welcomed at 503 Uncorked for an evening of fundraising and fun. We had an excellent host (Dave) who kept us all laughing during 90’s trivia, and the opportunity to bring awareness to our charity work throughout the evening.

Prior to the event we asked local small businesses to help us fundraise by donating items, and gift cards to our raffle baskets. We are SO grateful for the kindness and generosity we received.

Thank you to the following small businesses who contributed to our raffle:

We were able to put together 7 wonderful raffle baskets, including one that was filled with items made by local kiddos wanting to help us make a difference.

Thank you to everyone who attended this event. By participating in our raffle, and enjoying food and drink, you made this night a success!

Together we raised $1,292.38!!!

Thank you Deb (503 Uncorked owner) for hosting such a fun event for us.

Our biggest week of gift box donations ever!

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Women smiling holding gift boxes filled with essentials for new moms and their babies.

We’re so excited to announce that during the week of November 13-19th we were able to help 72 families in need!!!

This was made possible for a couple of reasons.

First, your donations- you heard our call for help, and you answered! We asked for your support in providing 200 families in need with essentials this holiday season, and we beat our goal of 100 boxes for November.

Secondly, we had our first volunteer event where people came and packed gift boxes with us. During those 2 hours, we had 6 volunteers come and pack 62 boxes with essentials!

Those were then able to be donated to several of our local partner organizations:

Other partners who have received donated gift boxes this month are:

Thank you so much for being part of this village of support!

Together we are showing new moms in need that they matter, and that they’re not alone.

-Maria

Be the village with us and donate today!

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The holidays are coming up, and as we all know this tends to be an especially hard time of the year for families. That’s why we chose October to hold this fundraiser.

We are going to spend the holidays showering families in need with the love and support they deserve. You can put smiles on the faces of new moms in need with us by making a donation today.

The What:

Make a donation of $55 and sponsor a gift box filled with postpartum essentials for a family in need.

One of these beautiful cards will go in your donated gift box when you do:

sponsor a gift box filled with natural and organic essentials for a new mom in need.

Your name/business name will be written on the card, and tucked inside the top of the box. (You may also remain anonymous if preferred- just email us and let us know info@inkindboxes.org)

These boxes will be distributed to our many local nonprofit partners, as well as others across the United States over November and December.

Our Goal:

To receive enough donations to sponsor 200 postpartum gift boxes for families in need. At $55 a box, that’s a total of $11,000 in funds to be raised.

With your support, we believe we can make that happen!

Update:

55 families will receive boxes so far!!

Let’s keep this momentum going!! If you’ve already donated, please share about our fundraiser and help bring awareness to our mission.

How it Works:

The funds you donate are used to bulk purchase the essentials we fill our boxes with.

In Kind Boxes is a volunteer run 501c3 nonprofit organization. Feel great knowing that your donation is making a direct impact on the families that need it most.

Make your donation here đź’ť

Be sure to tag us on social (@inkindboxes) once you’ve donated! We want to see, and say thank you.

If you have any questions please feel free to reach out.

Email: info@inkindboxes.org

Thank you SO MUCH for your support!!! We couldn’t do this work without you.

happy. mom with gift box
Happy mom holding her donated gift box

Spring Update

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  • April impact: 66 postpartum boxes donated
  • May impact: 66 postpartum boxes donated
  • Total impact to date: 1,432 boxes donated

We’ve been very busy spreading kindness to families this last couple of months. We donated to the following organizations:

  • Ronald MacDonald House
  • Virginia Garcia Memorial Health Center’s Women’s Clinic
  • Mother and Child Education Center
  • Washington County’s Health and Human Services
  • ITAV Foundation’s community baby shower
  • Maternity Journey
  • New Neighbors Partnership
  • Bottoms Up Diaper Bank

We also have monthly commitments to donate boxes to families through the following organizations:

  • Miry’s List (California) supporting refugee families.
  • Bright Spot Network (California) supporting families going through cancer.
  • Colette Louise Tisdahl Foundation (Nationwide) supporting NICU families in need.
  • Rowan Midwifery (California) via our gift box sponsorship program, supporting Black Mothers in need through the care of Angie Miller.

In our local community, we were so lucky to have the support of two local businesses for fundraising events. The Hungry Hero Dessert Co. held a cupcake fundraiser for us on Earth Day, and raised $256!! Then, on May 1st, Fat Milos Family Kitchen hosted a Community Dinner for us which raised $650!!!

Thank you so much for your kindness and generosity.

We couldn’t do what we do without you!

~Maria

Kindness Rocks Fundraiser

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Are you looking for a beautiful gift that gives back this holiday season? We’re here to help!

We’re so excited to announce this partnership with Elyse Ryan Jewelry! Elyse has designed this beautiful “Kindness Rocks” bracelet, to shine a light on the work we’re doing to support postpartum moms in need. For every bracelet sold, $10 will be donated back to In Kind Boxes.

Featuring a Swarovski crystal, and 14 karat gold beads, this bracelet makes an amazing gift! If you’re looking for an extra special gift to give this holiday season, please consider shopping with this incredible mom owned business, and give the “Kindness Rocks” bracelet. To learn more about Elyse, and her passion for helping others through her jewelry please tune into our “Mamas Making an Impact” series on Instagram Live Friday, November 5.

October Update

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We have officially donated 500 boxes in 2021, and 1000 gift boxes since our first boxes were available in November 2019!!!

We started our month with a delivery of 20 gift boxes to the Virginia Garcia Memorial Health Center Women’s Clinic. We also sent 6 gift boxes to the BeLoved Black Birth Centering program in California. The Mother and Child Education Center in Portland was given a donation of 10 gift boxes. We ended the month with a new partnership! We’re excited to be working with the Washington County District Attorney’s Office in support of their Cribs for Kids program. We donated 20 gift boxes to pair with the cribs and other materials their office is providing.

In honor of the amazing work that Doulas and Midwives do for families, we re-opened the application for our gift box sponsorship program. This program is for birth workers who offer their services to families in need in their community. We are offering three doulas/midwives a gift box a month for 2022. The deadline to apply was November 1. Winners will be notified by email by November 30.

Our Instagram Live series “Mamas Making an Impact” continues with more amazing guests this month. In this series, we love to highlight moms doing good, and giving back in some way. We also have very real and honest conversations about motherhood, and postpartum. Click through to watch conversations with Bethany Braun Silva, Trae Bodge, and Aliza Friedlander. We were also lucky to have local photographer Ashlie Behm join us for our “Let’s Talk” series where she shared her best tips for taking photos of our kids using our phones.

And finally, we got wonderful news from Fred Meyer, that In Kind Boxes has been accepted into their Community Rewards Program. If you’d like to support In Kind Boxes while shopping at Fred Meyer, please log into your rewards account, and find the Community Rewards section. Simply search for In Kind Boxes, or use code: YS234.

As we head into the holiday season, the demand for our donated boxes increases. We are in need of your support in order to keep up with demand. Please consider donating, and help us show postpartum moms in need that they matter, and that they’re not alone.

Thank you for being part of our village of support. We couldn’t do what we do without you!

~Maria Berglund, Founder of In Kind Boxes

Teaching kids kindness and empathy this holiday season.

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Every year when the holidays start to roll around, I make it a point to do kind acts with my kids. It is important for me to impart kindness and empathy in them because to me, that’s what matters most about my job as their mother- that they grow up to be kind humans.

I’ve put together a calendar of some of the favorite kindness activities we do together, and posted it on Etsy. This calendar is a great way to get kids doing kind acts at home, school or in the community.

It’s available for you to purchase now. When you do, it will instantly download. You can then print it, and put it up on your fridge (or at least that’s what we do).

Have fun picking out kind acts to do with your kids each day. When you find your favorite, we’d love it if you’d share it on social media, and tag @inkindboxes so we can see!

The $3 fee for the calendar is donated to In Kind Boxes, and will be used to purchase products we fill our gift boxes with.

I hope you have as much fun with this as we do!

~Maria Berglund, Founder of In Kind Boxes

September Update

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Being kind to ourselves, and spreading kindness and love through out our community is important. It’s something we strive for all year, but love highlighting it with you during this challenge. We loved sharing our Kindness Calendar with you for the #BeKind21 Challenge in partnership with the Born This Way Foundation.

During our Instagram live series Mamas Making an Impact, we got to have some wonderful conversations with amazing moms who are making a positive impact on the world through their work.

In September we chatted with:

This IG Live series has become a favorite part of the content we share on Instagram because of the real and raw conversations we’re having about motherhood. If you haven’t been able to watch one live, don’t worry! We have them all saved to our IGTV. Watch them here.

Our Founder, Maria Berglund, was up to some interesting things this month including:

  • A panelist speaker at Social Media Camp’s Social Media for Non-Profits Summit
  • A guest on MORE Magazine’s Founder to Founder series with MORE’s Founder Arianna Cruz. Find that interview here on their YouTube channel.
  • Ashlie Behm, a local Portland photographer featured Maria in her Womxn Warrior Blog series. Find the full interview here. Ashlie takes amazing photos, and we’re so grateful to be able to share these with you. If you are local please check her out!

We are always so grateful for the opportunity to share about our charity work, and our mission to help moms feel seen and supported on their postpartum journey. If you would like to help shine a light on In Kind Boxes’ work, please feel free to reach out to us! Email: info@inkindboxes.org

This month we donated nearly 50 gift boxes locally!! 30 boxes were donated to Ronald McDonald House in Portland, which will also be distributed to their Bend location, as well as to the Sherwood Family Resource Center in Sherwood, and Raphael House PDX. Donation delivery days are our absolute favorite!!! We also sent gift boxes to Maternity Journey in Houston, Texas to support mamas displaced by hurricane Ida.

Thank you for donating to and supporting In Kind Boxes! We couldn’t do what we do without you.

~Maria