365 days of being thankful

I wrote before Thanksgiving that I think sometimes we forget that we should be thankful the other 364 days a year.   With this economy, the needs of our local citizens isn’t changing because the holiday season is over.   Our charities are still hurting and all of us are stretching our dollars in our budgets.  As such, I’ve decided to stick to my words and be thankful 365 days this year.  I’m going to share with you all and our local Salem area because I am thankful for everyone that has chosen to be my client or refer someone to me over the years.

So how does it work?  Each month I will give away gift certificates to a locally owned business.  Hopefully all of you have been there, but if you haven’t take the time to try and win the gift certificate.  Each week, on Fridays, I’ll have a “trivia” question to answer about the Salem area or a local citizen.  These will be posted on my Facebook business page, so answer on there.  The first person to answer will get 10 points and second 5 points.  Every time you get a friend to like my business page you will get 5 points (you have to let me know you brought them to my page).  Whoever has the most points at the end of the month will get a $100 gift certificate.   I will also donate $250 to the local charity of your choice that month.   Over the course of the year, we will have $1200 in gift certificate giveaways, and $3,000 donated to local charity.

Let’s talk charity for a minute, shall we?   I do have some restrictions on that….1) It has to serve our local area and 2) It can’t discriminate.  So if you say, hey Melina, I’m loving on the KKK and want my $250 to go to them, it isn’t happening.  I reserve the final say on the charity that receives the money, but really it isn’t that hard.  Just make sure they serve everyone including the gay and lesbian population, various religions, and no political “charities.”   Think Family Building Blocks, Liberty House, humane societies, homeless shelters, domestic violence programs, food banks, etc.  Times are hard and I want to make sure that people who need help aren’t being excluded.  Pretty simple, right?

So here’s how it works…

John Salemite answers the trivia question first three weeks in a row and earns 30 points.  He gets 4 friends to like my Facebook page and earns another 20 points for a total of 50 for the month.

Suzie Salemite answers the trivia question right behind John three weeks in a row for a total of 15 points but she gets 10 friends to like my Facebook page giving her 50 points there.  She has a total of 65 points and wins the gift certificate for the month.  She picks her charity and I give her the gift certificate and drop off a check to the charity.

We start again the next month.

So head over to the Tomson Burnham Facebook Page, like it, and on Friday January 6th, watch for the trivia question.  This month’s gift certificate will be $100 to La Capitale.  With Valentine’s Day coming up, this would be a perfect date night out.    If you haven’t been there, now is your chance to get there.

365 days of being thankful is on.