The environment needs our help, and World Environment Day is an important day to recognize what we can do to protect the world we live in. Since 1972, World Environment Day has been a popular celebration throughout the whole world. People of all ages are encouraged to get involved to make our world a cleaner and greener place to live. It’s an excellent time to get the whole family involved and to teach children the importance of living green.
Whether you choose to tackle city-wide cleaning on June 5, or you practice more sustainable ways of living for you and your family, World Environment Day is the perfect day for you to kick start your new green routine.
Memorial Day is a special day to honor those who have passed away while serving in the United States Armed Forces. These brave individuals fought to keep our country safe and are honored each year on the last Monday of May.
Because Wheels For Wishes encourages giving back to the community and thanking the many people who serve us, we have plenty of ideas for giving back on Memorial Day! If you have other ideas of your own, we would love to hear them on our Facebook and Twitter pages.
Since before the United States declared its independence from Great Britain, the Merchant Marines – civilians – have defended the freedom of the United States since 1775, and who executed the largest sealift ever during World War II. Observance of National Maritime Day on May 22 also honors the maritime industry and the benefits it brings Americans in terms of transportation, jobs, goods, and recreational opportunities.
According to President Barack Obama’s proclamation for the 2012 National Maritime Day, the Merchant Marines have “Strengthened our economy and our security in times of calm and conflict, connecting our service members to the supplies they need and transporting our exports into the global marketplace. On National Maritime Day, we pay tribute to all those who have served and sacrificed on our waterways and around the world.”
Every day, Americans should be grateful to the members of the Armed Services that help keep our country safe. On May 18, however, it is Armed Forces Day, the national holiday established to thank our military members for their patriotic service in support of our country. The holiday was started on Aug. 31, 1949, when Secretary of Defense Louis Johnson announced the creation of an Armed Forces Day to replace separate Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force and Coast Guard Days.
The single day celebration stemmed from the unification of the Armed Forces under the Department of Defense, although the individual branches still observe their own days within their respective branches of service. National Guard and Reserve members will often commemorate Armed Forces Day anytime during the month of May due to their unique training schedules.
Mother’s Day is one of those days that you better have something planned for, or else you may find dinner is served for everyone but you for a while. However, whether you’re celebrating your mother or the mother of your children, it doesn’t have to be an expensive, over-the-top affair.
While it’s important to recognize the great work teachers do on a daily basis, May 7 isn’t just another day to thank your teacher – it’s THE day. National Teacher Appreciation Day was created to help honor teachers for all of the work they do. With the end of school right around the corner, Teacher Appreciation Day is the perfect time to give your child’s teacher an early end-of-year gift to coincide with this day.
Here are five ways that you can give a teacher a lovely, heartfelt gift. Some of them can even be environmentally-friendly, too:
Nurses are very important to us, but they are especially important to all of the Make-A-Wish Wish Kids who are battling critical illnesses. Nurses brighten the lives of their child patients and do so much for everyone, so it makes total sense that we would set aside a specific day to honor them for all their endless hard work!
Monday, May 6 is National Nurses Day, otherwise known as National RN Recognition Day. The day opens National Nurses Week which runs through May 12. The week-long celebration was started in honor of English nurse Florence Nightingale, who was born on May 12.
For good reason, National Nurses Week is one of the nation’s largest health care events! Celebrations include banquets, recognition dinners, city and state proclamations, education seminars, and community events.
Because nurses are so important to us, we would like to give you some ideas for how you can honor the nurse in your life. We hope you enjoy our ideas for giving back to your community and making your nurse feel appreciated!
Sometimes adults have a hard time understanding young people, and young people have a tough time understanding adults. Sometimes older and younger generations just need an activity for them to share so they can learn to relate to one another.
JOIN HANDS DAY was created by the American Fraternal Alliance and is meant to help create a bonding between young people and adults, and the bonding experience takes place across the nation on Saturday, May 4.
May 4 will be a day for developing relationships between young people and adults through the help of neighborhood volunteering. Everyone works together to plan, organize, and coordinate the day’s activities, which in turn creates a sense of community. Events could include serving food at homeless shelters, tutoring children, or cleaning up local parks. There are so many opportunities for bonding people of all ages and helping to make a difference in the community.
May Day is the start of a bright new spring and a perfect time to honor friends and loved ones with a special May Day basket. People love receiving May Day baskets, but instead of giving away a basket filled with wasteful items, consider creating an eco-friendly May Day basket that will allow friends and family to get the most out of their May Day gift.
April 29 is a time to celebrate the 33rd Annual Make-A-Wish World Wish Day. Since 1980, Make-A-Wish has been working endlessly to grant wishes for kids all over the nation. With the help of so many generous donors and volunteers, Make-A-Wish is able to grant the wishes of nearly 14,000 children each year! With the help of these amazing individuals, Make-A-Wish “wish children” are able to feel hope, strength, and joy once again.
Recycling is a big part of Wheels For Wishes and recycling is also a very big step in creating a greener world. Wheels For Wishes is a proud supporter of the green movement and encourages others to get involved, especially on holidays such as Arbor Day. Wheels For Wishes accepts donated cars, trucks, SUVs, RVs, boats, or motorcycles, and recycles or auctions them off so vehicles can be recycled and reused. Earned proceeds from recycled or auctioned vehicles benefit Make-A-Wish, so there are many ways that an unwanted car can be put to better use.
Since Wheels For Wishes is a proud supporter of the green movement, Arbor Day is another perfect time of the year to be kind to the world we live in, starting with your own backyard. Maybe you have an unwanted vehicle taking up space in your yard or in your garage, and if you do, consider donating it to Wheels For Wishes, benefiting Make-A-Wish.
When you donate a vehicle, you have nothing to lose and you will actually end up with the maximum possible tax deduction at tax time, plus the great feeling of knowing your vehicle is helping to grant a wish for a child in your community.
Earth Day is the time of the year where nearly one billion people come together and work to make the world a little cleaner. April 22 has been known as Earth Day since 1970, and is still a very popular holiday for the environmentally-concerned or those who are interested in learning more about protecting the environment. Year after year, cities put together annual events to teach their communities how to live as green as possible. If you’re looking to get involved this year, look no further. We have everything you need to know about Earth Day 2013!
If this year’s spring cleaning involves getting rid of an unwanted car, then you have come to the right place. Why go through the hassle of selling or trading in a vehicle when you can donate it to Wheels For Wishes, benefiting Make-A-Wish? We take care of all the work for you, and donating a car benefits for both you and a local child, including a great tax deduction for you at tax time.
Spring is finally near, and if you live in a snowy state with cold winters, you probably can’t wait for spring to finally arrive! Along with your spring cleaning that might allow you to donate a vehicle to Wheels For Wishes, we would like to give you 20 fun ideas for things you can do to celebrate the first day of spring on March 20th, even if there is still a bit of snow and slush on the ground! It won’t be long before we’re all outside enjoying the beautiful spring weather. If it's too snowy or cold to celebrate the very first day of spring, start planning all of the fun you will have have when spring finally does arrive in your hometown!
You know the tradition of wearing green on St. Patrick’s Day, drinking green beer (or other green beverages) and showing your Irish pride (even if you’re not really Irish). However, there’s other ways to truly be green on St. Patty’s Day, and it goes much deeper than the color you’re wearing and the beverage you’re drinking!
This year, you could choose to really go green for St. Patty’s Day so you can contribute to the green movement which will make the world a healthier and cleaner place to live. Plus, going green can also get you a great tax deduction during tax time next year.
Spring is near, so that means you could be looking to get rid of the boat you have and perhaps sell it or trade it in for a new boat. Or maybe you will decide to use your boat for one last summer and then sell it in the fall. However, there’s a much easier solution to selling or trading in a boat that you could get little to no money for. After investing time and energy into listing a boat and showing it off to potential buyers, it’s a huge disappointment when you are unable to sell it for the price you were hoping for, especially when you have your sights set on a sparkling new boat that you can’t wait to get into the water. This can all change with boat donation.
Instead of selling or trading in a boat, consider donating it to Wheels For Wishes, benefiting Make-A-Wish. We are an IRS-approved 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and we can help turn your boat, old or new, into a wish for a local child in your area. Your boat will help grant a wish for a local child and also get you a great tax deduction, so your tax deduction could help you buy yourself a new boat next year—just in time for spring!
There is no question that kids love Dr. Seuss’ clever and creative stories that combine rhymes with silly characters. March 2nd is the perfect time to get your favorite Dr. Seuss books out and read them to a child in honor of Dr. Seuss’ birthday.
Another great way to let a child’s imagination run wild is with a car donation to Wheels For Wishes, benefiting Make-A-Wish. If you have a vehicle to donate, you can get rid of it by donating it through our Make-A-Wish Car Donation program, which could give a local child an opportunity to visit Seuss Landing at Islands of Adventure in Orlando, or do anything else a child might wish to do!
In honor of Dr. Seuss’ birthday, our biggest wish is that kids will receive the opportunities to simply be kids, and sitting down to read a Dr. Seuss book is the perfect way to bring out the inner-kid in all of us.
In honor of President’s Day on February 18th, we have put together a list of 18 interesting facts about some of our former Presidents. Your car donation could allow a child to visit the White House!
When a child is told that they will have a wish granted, just imagine all of the possibilities that go through the child’s mind. A trip on their dream vacation in Paris may be at the top of their wish list, or maybe even a trip across the country to the White House.
If you think about how many Wish Kids wish to travel to dream locations, then it makes sense that you would donate a means of transportation to help Make-A-Wish Greater Bay Area and give these children the trip of their dreams.
If you have airline miles to donate, now is the perfect time! Your airline miles will help to send a Wish Kid to their dream destination. Alternately, you can donate an old car, truck, SUV, RV, boat, or motorcycle to Wheels For Wishes and your old vehicle could be transformed into airline tickets to allow a child to experience a trip to their dream location.
February is popularly a month devoted to love, candy, and hearts, but there’s a full week in February that allows you to be extra kind to everyone around you, and not only to your Valentine. The week of February 11th-17th isn’t just a normal week in February with Valentine’s Day mixed in, but it’s actually an entire week dedicated to expressing random acts of kindness for everyone all over the world! It’s an event that everyone can participate in.
To help raise awareness about the importance of being kind, February 11th-17th marks the 13th Annual Random Acts of Kindness Week, started by the Random Acts of Kindness Foundation in 1995. The Foundation is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization and is committed to spreading the message about the importance of kindness.
While it is encouraged that a person should practice random acts of kindness 365 days a year, the week of February 11th-17th is the perfect way to kick off a new routine, perhaps even starting with a car donation to Wheels For Wishes.
