After dozens of entries and customer voting, we have a winner!
The votes are rolling in, and we’re excited that you’re speaking up and letting us know what you love, through our recently launched community voting app.
Your comments help us make better choices when it comes to what we feature on our website and in our catalogs, and we love the feedback that’s been coming in. A few comments and questions have been popping up time and time again, and we’re ready to get in on the conversation!
One of the big questions since we launched our voting tool is “Why is this silver item so expensive?”
Product Developer Sarah Stenseng tests out the mechanical music box set with a tune of her own. Is this the perfect gift for music-lovers? Read on to find out.
Here at our offices in Brooklyn, we have a really fun sample meeting every Thursday. Our buyers all crowd into a meeting room, filled with carts and bags of goodies. Each buyer presents their finds in front of the whole team, and together they decide which amazing gifts and home items will end up on our website and in our catalog.
We want you to have a seat at the table. This week, we’re launching our community voting app, and offering you a way to give your thumbs up or thumbs down on all our finds. Now you can see the newest gifts on the market before they’re even available.
In the past, you’ve helped us pick the color of sari scarf and you’ve shared your fantastic ideas for new products like Multiblocks and the reclaimed seatbelt chair. We love your feedback and ideas!
We designed this voting app with you in mind. We’re reading every comment and tallying every vote. Our community voting app is here to make it really easy (and fun!) for you to share your ideas and get a sneak peek at all our unique finds.
How often do you get to meet your favorite authors? Not that often, am I right! Luckily Conor Grennan, bestselling author of Little Princes, took some time off from his book tour to join us today on Facebook, for a quick chat.
If you haven’t picked up a copy of Little Princes yet, you’re going to want to after hearing all about Conor’s adventures. Read on for more about coming face to face with a child trafficker, dealing with dysentery, and the joys of eating an apple.
We’re so excited to meet author Conor Grennan tomorrow at 3 pm on our Facebook page, and I can tell by all your questions that it’s going to be a great event!
Conor has devoted his life to helping reunite children in Nepal with their families, after a decade-long civil war, and his book Little Princes is a real call to action for all of us.
I think Conor’s going to have some great suggestions for ways we can all help. But I want to start out by telling you about our Better To Give Partner, Next Generation Nepal. Founded by Conor Grennan, this amazing nonprofit offers temporary care and education for children trafficked into Nepal’s capital city of Kathmandu, and slowly but surely are reconnecting these children with their families in rural and remote mountain villages.
Right now, you can choose for Next Generation Nepal to receive $1 from us, each time you make a purchase. And on Friday, February 25, in honor of our Q&A with Conor Grennan, we’ll be doubling our donation amount.
So if you haven’t picked up a copy of Little Princes yet, you can make a difference for children at the Little Princes orphanage, by buying your copy on Friday. Just remember to select Next Generation Nepal at checkout!
If you haven’t read Little Princes yet, here’s your chance! On February 25th, author Conor Grennan is joining us on Facebook for a real-time Q&A. You can ask Conor your questions today, by leaving a comment below, and automatically be entered to win one of five signed hardcover copies of his brand new book.
From his book:
“IT WAS WELL AFTER nightfall when I realized we had gone the wrong way. The village I had been looking for was somewhere up the mountain. In my condition, it would be several hours’ walk up a rocky trail, if we could even find the trail in the pitch-dark. My two porters and I had been walking for thirteen hours straight. Winter at night in the mountains of northwestern Nepal is bitterly cold, and we had no shelter. Two of our three flashlights had burned out. Worse, we were deep in a Maoist rebel stronghold, not far from where a colleague had been kidnapped almost exactly one year before. I would have shared this fact with my porters, but we were unable to communicate; I spoke only a few words of the local dialect.” Read more.
Little Princes is the true story of Conor Grennan’s journey to Nepal and how he found his life’s focus, helping reunite orphaned children with their families. In the vein of Three Cups of Tea or Mountains Beyond Mountains, it’s one of those feel-good memoirs that reminds us all how much of a difference we can make in the world.
What I loved so much about Grennan’s story was that he didn’t start out with a save-the-world mission. He was traveling around the globe on his own adventure, and only stopped off to volunteer for a month in Nepal to impress his friends and family. But his transformation was truly inspiring.
So join us on February 25th at 3 pm for a chance to talk to Conor, learn more about his work with our Better to Give partner Next Generation Nepal, and win a free signed copy hardcover edition of Little Princes.
RSVP today, by leaving a comment or question for Conor below.
To Uncommongoods, your customers and employees,
On behalf of AmeriCares, I would like to thank you for your continued support of our organization and your dedication to our mission. Your commitment to us has helped save hundreds if not thousands of lives. Let me tell you what your support recently accomplished…
El Salvador, photo credit Miguel Samper
Your recent support helped deliver a shipment of crucial medical aid to Darfur, Sudan, to ease the suffering of families in this war-torn region. The air shipment included medicines and medical supplies to treat serious infections, malaria, and other deadly diseases, as well as infection control items, hypodermic needles and rehydration supplies to protect refugee communities. We also delivered nutritional supplements for pregnant mothers and young children to help prevent malnutrition.
Right here in the United States, AmeriCares helped provide lifesaving prescription medicines to families in every state. Since we started our U.S.-based Patient Assistance Program, more than 3 million prescriptions have been filled at an estimated value of over $2 billion!
And our efforts in post-earthquake Haiti – supported by you– have been combating an outbreak of cholera that has infected over 130,000 people. Since late October, AmeriCares has delivered over 40 shipments to 28 hospitals and clinics treating cholera patients, with more shipments planned to re-stock clinics and hospitals to help stem the outbreak.
Haiti, photo credit Kelly Cohoon
Every one of these efforts – and hundreds more in over 90 countries last year – helped save the lives of children, mothers, fathers and other family members in crisis because of poverty, natural disasters, civil conflict, or disease outbreaks. That’s the power of your support.
We are grateful for the chance to make a difference every day in the lives of the most vulnerable, thanks to your consistent generosity. You have our deepest thanks and appreciation.
With gratitude and warm regards,
Amee Tolia,
Senior Associate, Development
AmeriCares
To learn more please visit us at: www.AmeriCares.org