The Giftmas Blog Tour and fundraiser to benefit the Edmonton Food Bank is back, and with a fun new addition this year — a snowman drawing contest!
Every year some friends and I get together to participate in a blog tour and fundraiser for the food bank. It’s that second part that is the most important, so let’s focus on that for just a second.
The Edmonton Food Bank’s mission is to feed the people in our community and also to help find solutions to the causes of that hunger. That means not only do they work to fill the cupboards and bellies of the most vulnerable among us, they also work with them to offer “free employment assistance, English & math upgrading, budget advice, personal counselling and information on affordable housing.” [Source] as well.
But their resources are always strained, especially around the holidays, and while no one should ever go hungry, so many holiday traditions rotate around food and the dinner table, that food scarcity can be felt even more strongly at this time of year than others.
If you can manage it
Please donate to help support our fundraiser for the Edmonton Food Bank
Because of the Food Bank’s bulk buying power, every dollar you donate equals 3 meals for hungry people this year. So you know how people say ‘Every dollar counts?’. Every dollar really does count. So much.
And that is for every Canadian dollar, which means my American and British friends can get even more bang for their buck!
Can you spare 3 meals? How about 6?
Our goal this year is $1000. That’s our most ambitious goal ever and I’m more than a little bit nervous about it.
But wait! There’s more!
Here’s this week’s blog tour schedule. I will also be blogging every day, and including a link to each blog so if you check back here you won’t miss a thing.
I’ll also keep a running update on how we’re progressing toward our goal.
I’ll also be sharing some of the entries from the snowman drawing contest. Because, did I mention? There’s a snow man drawing contest!
To enter:
- Draw a snowman. Use whatever medium you like — pencils, crayons, computer programs, it’s up to you. Make it as simple or complicated as you’d like.
- Write the words ‘Giftmas 2019’ or #Giftmas2019 on your snowman picture somewhere
- Email a copy of your snowman drawing to rhonda.l.parrish@gmail.com
- Use the subject line ‘Snowman Drawing’
In that email tell me if you’d like to be identified as the snowman’s artist when (not if) I share your entry on my blog and social media or if you’d prefer to remain anonymous. If you do want to be identified, also tell me if you have a website or social media link you would link me to include with your picture.
Parents are welcome to enter their children’s snowman art. Any entries from people under the age of 18 need to be sent via an adult because winners will need to provide a snail mail address to receive their prizes and, for obvious reasons, I don’t want to collect personal information from minors.
Entries must be in my inbox by midnight MST on December 15th.
Winners will be announced on December 17th.
The winners:
Two prizes will be awarded. The first will be chosen by the Giftmas blog tour bloggers by secret ballot. The second will be a random draw.
The prizes:
Winners will each receive a snow man plushie, a $10 Amazon gift card and a book.
If the winner is an adult the book will be a signed copy of Mrs. Claus. If the winner is not an adult the book will be a copy of The Snowman by Raymond Briggs.
I almost hesitate to say this, because this blog post has already been quite long but, uh…
Wait! There’s more! LOL
If drawing a snowman isn’t your thing (but c’mon, everyone can draw a snowman!) but winning prizes is, check this out:
You can win a whole whack of prizes including:
- signed copy of Chicken Soup for the Soul: It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas from Beth Cato
- a free manuscript evaluation, up to 100k words from Stephanie Lorée
- a physical copy of Painting Kuwait Violet by Pamela Fernandes
a steeped in prayer mug - 4×4″ encaustic block painting by Cindy James
- 100 plastic glow-in-the-dark alien toys from Jennifer Lee Rossman
- a signed ARC of ICE by Candas Jane Dorsey
- 5,000-word copy edit/proofread from JB Riley
- e-book copies of the Storms in Amethir series and the two Circle City Magic books by Stephanie A. Cain
- owl Mitts (hand crocheted wristlets with owl designs on the back) from Lizz Donnelly
- tuckerization or query critique by Premee Mohamed
- minimum 4 stanza poem about subject of your choice by Stephanie Weippert
- 75% of Tammalee’s Patreon income for December
- paperback of Haunting the Haunted by E.C. Bell
Possibly best of all, by entering the draw and using the social media options to earn extra entries you are helping signal boost the fundraiser and supporting it that way. So even if you can’t donate directly, perhaps your signal boost will put this on the radar of someone who can.
And you’ve got a shot at an awesome prize pack for doing it 🙂
That’s an awful lot of stuff for one blog post, so here is the tl;dr version —
Please donate to help support our fundraiser for the Edmonton Food Bank
And if you do donate to support the fundraiser, consider nicking one of these graphics to brag about it on your social media, blogs and mailing lists. Perhaps you’ll inspire someone else to donate as well?
Thank you!