Campaigns that bolstered small business, kept garbage from landfills and ushered the space shuttle home, all while simultaneously supporting business objectives, were among the winners honored at the eleventh annual Cause Marketing Halo Awards. Twenty category-specific awards were presented by the Cause Marketing Forum to 2012 campaigns partnering company and cause. DoSomething.org and Subaru received a special Cause Marketing Golden Halo Award for their overall achievement in the field of doing well by doing good during an award luncheon at the J.W. Marriott in Chicago on May 30. Writeups of all the winners are online at http://www.CauseMarketingForum.com/halo2013 A new category – business model integration – recognized TerraCycle (Gold award) and Warby Parker (Silver award) for embedding cause into the fabric of their successful business model. TerraCycle organizes fundraising “bridgades” to collect massive amounts of trash that would otherwise end up in landfills and then converts the trash into new products ranging from recycled park benches to upcycled backpacks, which are then sold at major retailers. Warby Parker provides high-quality, fashionable and affordable prescription eyewear and ensures that for every pair of glasses sold, a pair is distributed to someone in need. "Cause marketing, the creation of mutually beneficial partnerships between companies and causes, continues to experience exponential growth and complex evolution." commented Cause Marketing Forum President David Hessekiel. Over one hundred programs were entered in this year’s Cause Marketing Halo Award competition. “In this crowded marketplace, Cause Marketing Halo Award-winning campaigns haven risen to the top because of their authenticity, effectiveness in communicating a cause message and ability to generate social and financial dividends,” said Hessekiel. “These campaigns offer creative partnership solutions that leverage assets of company and cause.” The winning campaigns include: Best Business Model Integration Finalists GOLD: TerraCycle SILVER: Warby Parker Now in their eleventh year, the Cause Marketing Halo Awards are North America's highest honor in the field of cause marketing, awarded by the Cause Marketing Forum, a company dedicated to providing business and nonprofit executives with the practical information and connections they need to succeed. All Halo winners can be seen online at http://www.CauseMarketingForum.com/halo2013  

13-5-31 PR News (1)13-5-31 PR News (1)

Lamar Elementary School raises all of its money for the year, through a number of recycling programs. "We haven't had to have an actual fundraiser at the school in three years," said Donna Bradford, the parent volunteer who runs the program. Students are encouraged to throw certain items in recycling bins, rather than the trash. Then, some students help crush bottles, peel labels and sort the items into categories. Through terracycle.com, Lamar gets points for each item they send in, and those points can be redeemed for cash or school supplies. Sending to terracycle is completely free for the school. Lamar also participates in three other recycling programs, including Box Tops, Labels 4 Education and the SunnyD BookSpree. That means some items can be recycled in more than one way. For example, the plastic from a SunnyD bottle goes to terracycle and the label to SunnyD BookSpree In one school year, they raised $1,000. Student Council then decides how to use the funds, which are designated for extra activities like field trips. "We have field trips and field day and extra stuff that we can do, just so we can have fun," said Lance Sanchez, who helps with the program. Each grade level competes to see who can raise the most money, but some students have the bigger picture in mind. "I think it's all good, because it's going toward recycling," said fourth grader Ariel Kirkland. "I just want to keep the earth clean."

As my oldest child boarded the bus on her first day of kindergarten, I was very emotional and full of questions. Would she make friends? Would she like her teacher? How would I fit into this new chapter of her life?   As a stay-at-home mom of three (including a very active 1-year-old), I knew I wouldn’t be able to volunteer during school hours or help with events on weeknights. Luckily, the PTO had effective strategies for reaching out to new parents that helped me get involved and feel connected to the school.   When school started, words like Box Tops for Education, winter fair, and TerraCycle were all new to my vocabulary. A cheat sheet supplied by the PTO explained what these fundraisers were and how they worked. Soon I was clipping box tops, saving drink pouches, and looking forward to the family activities offered at the school.   The PTO offered a wide variety of volunteer opportunities, including several jobs that could be done from home. I volunteered to help with the publishing center, which produces bound copies of student-written books. A few weeks after I signed up, handwritten books were sent home in my daughter’s backpack along with clear directions, samples, and paper for this task. Each book took approximately 10 minutes to type and print out. I could easily type up books during naptime or other lulls in our household.   It was fun to prepare the books, and because I was never given more than five books at a time, I never felt overwhelmed by the task. Throughout the year, I typed up a total of 25 books. I appreciated the fact that the PTO had a meaningful way for me to participate despite my limited availability.   I also liked that the PTO used email as its main form of communication, cutting down on the paperwork that came home from school. It was clear to me as a parent that the PTO used great discretion in sending out these emails, minimizing the number of messages and keeping them brief. Because I knew emails from the PTO contained vital information about things happening at school, I actually read them when they arrived in my inbox!   Email also gave me a comfortable way to interact with people I hadn’t yet met. We had just moved to a new town, and it was daunting to meet so many new people; email gave me anonymity to ponder the choices and decide where to help without having to respond to each request in person.   After any event or fundraiser, our PTO thanked volunteers and reported on the success of the event. As a newbie, I had wondered if anyone even noticed that I worked the spin art booth for two hours at the fall festival. Getting an email the next day helped me feel even better about how I helped the PTO. And when they explained the specific ways a fundraiser benefited the school, such as providing funding for family fun nights and teacher appreciation dinners, I could see how my involvement made a difference.   This year, as my daughter gets on the bus for 1st grade, I’ll be looking forward to volunteering for more programs. In addition to helping with the publishing center, I’m thinking about helping out with the winter fair and teacher appreciation dinners. And I know that the PTO will help me stay connected with the school, whatever role I take in the group. Theresa Rosenberg is a PTO volunteer at Cornwall Elementary in Lebanon, Pa.

TerraCycle Triathlon of Trash Winner Gets Free UGA Semester Dedicated to the Late Jim McGown of Athens who passed away March 7 of this year. A Veteran of the U.S. Navy, and a tireless worker for the betterment of mankind whose labor and efforts were felt as far away as the Middle East! There is No Waste...Only Wasted Resources! Perhaps Earth Day Should be Every Day as we only have one Earth and without it we would be lost! St Gregory the Great Episcopal Church on the East Side has now earned almost $6,000 by keeping over 260,000 pieces of formally difficult to recycle trash out of the landfill. While Broward College near Ft. Lauderdale has now earned $15,000. Let's be honest how much sense does it make to bury unbiodegradable trash under ground from land we stole from Mother Nature? This is Varsity Recycling: TerraCycle.com is now accepting what we would normally think of as difficult or impossible to recycle. Things like Any & All: Chip Bags, Candy Wrappers, Glue Sticks, Sunscreen  and Lipstick Tubes, and now Any and All Cigarette Trash to include Stinky Cigarette Butts. Here is the Deal: From right now until August 15th, 2013 collect everything you can from the list below placing and separating each category in its own container such as a  Box, Bird Seed, or Pet Food Bag.  Feel free to get as large as you want but make sure a single average person can move the container around fairly easy through average doorways with the assistance of a hand truck. Items can be damp but not soaked and should be shaken or squeezed free of most food and liquid.(No Need To Scrub or Rinse Anything Out) Boxes and Packages will be opened for inspection. The winner with the most by weight wins a free Semester(In-State Tuition estimated to be $3,800)! Participants will meet for a Showdown on August 16th, 2013 at a location To Be Determined. For more information meet Captain PLaneT for a personal demonstration, description, and Q&A in the Odum School of Ecology Courtyard on Tuesday June 11th, 2013 at 4:00 pm! Or schedule me for a briefing at your location! If you are far away I can just email you all the UPS Shipping Labels for free shipping and TerraCycle will do the measuring. Just ask me for a label for specific brigades. The List:

1. Any & All Drink Pouches(Such as Capri-Sun, Kool-Aid to include the straws and straw wrappers)
2. Any & All Coffee Pouches(Such as Maxwell House, Equal Exchange Organic, and Starbucks)
3. Any & All Cookie and Cracker Wrappers(Such as Oreo and Keebler)
4. Any & All Energy or Breakfast Bar and Energy Food Wrappers(Such as Granola Bars, Breakfast Bars, Cliff Bars, Oddwalla Bars, Nut Bags, Kashi Bars)
5. Any & All Candy Wrappers(Such as M&Ms, Hershey, and Snickers) and Gum Wrappers(Such as Trident, Bubblicious, and Wrigley)
6. Any & All Chip and Salty Snack Bags(Such as Frito Lay, Pepperidge Farm, potato chip, crackers, pretzel, cheeto, nacho, and any that look and feel similar)
7. Any & All Lunch Kit Trays, Wrappers(such as Lunchables)
8. Any & All Dairy Tub Containers(Such as Stonyfield Farms, Chobani, Dannon) Butter Type Spread Containers (Such as Country Crock, Promise, and yes even the little baby single serve sizes along with baby coffee creamers) Sour Cream and Cottage Cheese, etc.
9. Sprout Brand Baby Food as well as Any & All Crushed Fruit Bags and Containers and Wrappers(GoGo Squeeze, Plum Organics, Gerber,  Chiquita, Ella's Kitchen, etc)
10. Any & All Cereal Bags(Such as Malt-O-Meal, Rice Crispies, and Honey Nut Cheerios)
11. Bear Naked Brand Granola and Cereal Product Wrappers
12. Any & All Corks Real and Fake Plastic from wine and other liquor bottles
13. Any & All Disposable Household Tape Dispensers (Such as Scotch Tape)
14. Any & All Home Storage Bags and Containers (such as Zip Lock Type Bags, sandwich bags, and temporary tupperware plastic containers)
15. Any & All Paper Towel and similar Paper Product Wrappers (Such as Scotts Paper Towels, Tissue Paper, Paper Napkins etc)
16. Any & All Tooth Paste Tubes, Dental Floss Devices, and used Toothbrushes (Such as Colgate, Crest, etc)
17. Any & All Glue Containers and Glue Sticks (Such as Elmer's)
18. Any & All Human Writing Instruments except Chalk and Crayons (Such as Used Up or Broken Pens, Sharpies, Markers, Highlighters, Magic Markers, and Mechanical Pencils, Wooden Pencils)
19. Any & All Beauty and Skin Care Product Tubes and Containers (Such as Aveeno and Aveda Skin Product Tubes, Neosporin Medicine Containers, Lip Stick Tubes, Cosmetic Cases,  Chap Stick Tubes, Shampoo Bottles, Deodorant Sticks and Sun Screen Tubes and Bottles)
20. Any & All Diaper Wrappers (such as Huggies, Pampers, g-Diaper and any sort of Baby Sanitation Wipe as well as Incontinence Pad Wrappers)
21. Any & All Cell Phones, MP3 players, Digital Cameras,  GPS Systems, Calculators, Printer and Toner Cartridges, and Laptop Computers including all cords and chargers
22. Any & All Cheese Wrappers (such as Kraft, Kroger, Sargento)
23. Any & All Tortilla, Tostada & Bread Wrappers (such as Mission Tortillas)
24. Any and All Home Cleaning Containers and Items (such as Method Packs, Windex, Pledge, Ajax, and Toilet Brushes, Tubes, Pistol Squeezers)
25. Any and All #5 & #6 disposable plastic drinking cup (Solo Cups)
26. Any and All Laundry and Dish Wash Detergent Briquette Bags (Dropps, Tide, Cascade)
27. Any and All Wine Pouches
28. Any and All Hummus Products (like Athenos Hummus)
29. Any and All Shoes
30. Any and All Cigarette & Cigar Waste including all the ashes, unburnt tobacco, filter stubs, plastic outer wrap, aluminum paper inner wrap. (Please place in an airtight plastic bag inside the outer package)

I Found this Great Fund Raising Program Get 2 Cents For Your School Or Charity For Every Drink Pouch, Cookie, Frito Lay Product, Candy Bar Wrapper, Empty Colgate Oral Care Product Etc. (See Brigades) You Send To TerraCycle. TerraCycle Inc. 121 New York Ave. Trenton, NJ 08638 General Phone: 609.393.4252 Fax: 609.393.4259For All My Friends And Good People Everywhere

Prepare to celebrate all things nerdy on May 25

When I found out there was a holiday called Geek Pride Day (celebrated each year on May 25 in honor of the release date of the first Star Wars movie in 1977), I was pretty excited. First of all, yes to niche holidays. Second of all, yes to anything celebrating people’s passion for all things geeky. Goodbye, NBA Finals; hello, Evil Dead marathons! Put a photo of your favorite engineer in this TerraCycle Circuit Board Picture Frame ($12.99 at DwellSmart). (Get a deal with DwellSmart sales.)

Prepare to celebrate all things nerdy on May 25

When I found out there was a holiday called Geek Pride Day (celebrated each year on May 25 in honor of the release date of the first Star Wars movie in 1977), I was pretty excited. First of all, yes to niche holidays. Second of all, yes to anything celebrating people’s passion for all things geeky. Goodbye, NBA Finals; hello, Evil Dead marathons! Put a photo of your favorite engineer in this TerraCycle Circuit Board Picture Frame ($12.99 at DwellSmart). (Get a deal withDwellSmart sales.)

♥For All My Friends And Good People Everywhere♥: Get 2 Cents For Your School Or Charity For Every Drink Pouch, Cookie, Frito Lay Product, Candy Bar Wrapper, Empty Colgate Oral Care Product Etc. (See Brigades) You Send To TerraCycle. A good thing for schools and charities everywhere and for the City of Trenton, New Jersey. TerraCycle Inc. TerraCycle Website