Giveaway Winners Reap the Rewards of Service!

On Tuesday, January 27, Mom It Forward launched a giveaway. The requirement? To plan and carry out a service project or random act of kindness and vlog, blog, or submit a photo of it. And who says service doesn't pay off? Not only for the recipients of these kind acts, but for those that thoughtfully planned and carried out the service.

Thanks to all those that participated and in your own way, helped change the world one mom at a time. Drum roll please as we announce the winners! Be sure to click on their links, check out their entries, and be inspired (you'll want to break out the tissue for this first video)!


Giveaway 1
HP Mini 1535NR Laptop Specs
Winner: Jenna Hatfield from Stop, Drop, and Blog

Giveaway 2
HP Photosmart 6380 All-in-One Printer Specs
Winner: Erica Mueller at Fishbowl Sense

Giveaway 3
Muvee Reveal Movie Editing Software Package
Winners: Kia Brandy, Holly, Military Moms, Gwynne, Therese, Amy, and Barb.







Thanks to Sugar Jones from Sugar Jones in the Raw for awarding Mom It Forward winners of the HP Magic Giveaway. These prizes are part of that package and this giveaway is an effort to spread the HP Magic and the spirit of service and giving even further.

For our next giveaway, we are partnering with the Park City Mountain Resort. Check out the amazing prize and rules for entry here or here. This time the tables are turned and you get to do the giving. Simply nominate a person that has made a big difference in your life or who, you feel, is the definition of a Mom It Forward mom, and she could win a family vacation in Park City, UT!

Mom It Forward—Past, Present, and Future Events for Giving

How Is Mom It Forward Changing the World One Mom at a Time?

Past Giving Activities

• Virtual Food Drive. Mom It Forward asked for cash donations and had a live auction (through twitter) to raise money for FeedingAmerica.org. The outcome? With less than 2 weeks of planning, with a community only 6 weeks "young," and in one night, we raised $1400 to help provide families with Thanksgiving dinners.
  
  
• "Happiness Headlines" Challenge. Mom It Forward encouraged #GNO Gals to perform random acts of kindness and write blog posts about them during the month of December to spread holiday cheer. You can read the original post here and the amazing submissions starting with this one (they were all posted Christmas week.)
  
  
• Christmas Caroling. Part of our Mom It Forward plans for 2009 are to start a Mom It Forward organization with local chapters. In December, we beta tested the local chapter idea. We got together with several moms—either those we had met during #GNO or those in the Utah blogging scene—and planned a service activity to give back to our local community. Our goal was to plan an activity we could do before Christmas and involve our families. We ended up going Christmas Caroling to an assisted living facility. Visit our Facebook Group (called Mom It Forward) to see pictures from our first meeting and the service project (in the photo gallery).
  

Scheduled Service-Related Events

• The Magic Wand. In December, Mom It Forward won one of the HP Magic Giveaway contests, including $6,000 worth of HP products. You can see our entry post here and our acceptance post here. The contest we won was run by @sugarjones from http://living-intheory.com and we were announced the winners on her blog post entitled "How Many Times Can I Say "Amazing" in Five Minutes?".
  
  We are taking our turn with the Magic wand to spread the HP Magic, starting Tuesday, January 27 when we launch the new Mom It Forward community site. We are sharing the bounty with four women from the #GNO we have identified as in need. We have fun ways planned to get the gifts to them and will be announcing them in video format once a week for four weeks.
  
  
• Mom It Forward Nashville. In February, Mom It Forward's #GNO will be in the house at the Blissdom Conference. After the conference ends, we will have two events: 1) a Tweet Up Saturday night at 8:30 p.m. (more of a mix and mingle) and 2) a service project in true Mom It Forward style Sunday morning from 9-11 a.m. at the Nashville Rescue Mission.

Plans for 09

• Website Launch. We're launching a social networking site so our group has more of an online community to participate in. We will still have our #GNO Tuesday Twitter parties, but #GNO will be one piece of the Mom It Forward movement. All aspects of that movement will share a common goal to strengthen families and communities by first strenthening moms.
  
  
• Team Mom It Forward: We want the Mom It Forward community to be shaped and grow based on community member involvement and feedback. We have a survey up on our homepage (top left in red) that asks for group member's ideas, direction, feedback, and help in shaping our website. We are basing a lot of our website development decisions on community input and can't wait until we have our Team Mom It Forward in place to get even more input and help.
  
  
• Mom It Forward Organization: In February, we will form the national organzation of Mom It Forward and allow community members to join and start their own local chapters.
  

Mommy Gossip—GNO... Moms Making a Difference

What Is Magic?

When we think of magic, we think of something appearing out of "nothing." A rabbit from a hat. A bunch of flowers from a shirt sleeve. Or a quarter from an empty hand. We also think of women that give their all—even when their all feels like nothing or they have limited resources—to raise their children—our future leaders, teachers, and our children's future spouses.

This December, HP is redefining magic by making a very big something appear not out of nothing, but out of the goodness of its heart. It has bestowed its magic wand on these amazing bloggers—Firemom from Stop, Drop, and Blog (left), Sugar Jones from Living in Theory (below right) Merlot Mom (below left), and SlashGear (bottom)—for help in spreading a little HP fairy dust, if you will. More specifically, these folks are holding contests and will be awarding one lucky lass or lad each with $6000 worth of amazing HP product. Because this holiday season is all about sharing, Mommy Gossip—GNO would love to take a turn with the Magic wand to sprinkle a little HP fairy dust.

At Mommy Gossip—GNO, our goal is to change the world one mom at a time. Our mission is simple: to help moms improve their lives and achieve personal and professional success so they can, in turn, better their families, better the community around them, and ultimately, better the world. This change can start with just one mom. But why help just one mom when we could help four? Four women in our community—moms with generous hearts, giving spirits, but limited resources and/or significant challenges. Just imagine the ripple effect these women could produce if they had a little magic.

We are dazzled by the magical women in our online community. We see SAHMs, WAHMs, WMs, and every other mom-related acronym balance on the personal/professional tight rope. Many of these women have disabilities, are supporting children with disabilities, have little family and/or financial support, and are facing many other types of challenges. We hear of their struggles to gain an education; give their businesses a go; and do it all while battling infertility, raising their children, and keeping their chins up. We are humbled to watch them line up to volunteer for our fundraisers. We are overcome with their contagious positive attitudes. We are amazed to hear the random acts of kindness they are performing this season to spread holiday cheer. And, we are motivated as we watch them network to find solutions to their situations.

If Mommy Gossip—GNO got to take a turn with the Magic wand, we'd sprinkle a little HP fairy dust on four GNO Gals—women like those you see in the video or like those described above—women in our midst that need a little HP Magic to better themselves so they can, in turn, better their families, and ultimately better their communities and the world. We feel that generations of children impacted by a mother's success would be the most magical miracle of all.

Note: We have chosen not to divulge the names and situations of these women here, because if we win the contest, we'd love the gifts to be a surprise!