I like to shop local. I have a huge preference for shopping local. Super duper ultra local when I can. Like… If I can walk to the shop and it’s locally owned that’s where I want to spend my hard earned money. But we don’t always get what we want. At least I don’t. If you do I’d appreciate a few pointers.

Back in the olden days of this blog I had a series I was quite fond of: The Consumer Whore Cami series in which I discuss and disclose all manner of information about the things I absolutely had to have and needed to buy. I’m not sure why I stopped actually. It was so much fun to write and buying things is nearly everyday culture. Better to buy them from local makers and retailers yes but for today we’re going to talk about the opposite of that.

Yes I still try to do my shopping locally but when I don’t I… well I shop on Amazon. Yes I know they’re going to take over the world someday. No I don’t particularly like giving them my money. Yes I do particularly like being able to find the things I think I need or want and having them delivered in short order to my door without having to go inside a store and worry about someone coughing, sneezing, breathing, or even standing too near me.

So today I want to remind those of you who also shop the evil A site to take advantage of one thing that they do that I think is decent. They allow you to push a small amount of that money you’re spending to a listed non-profit of your choice. Strangely named, Amazon Smile.

I’m sure you’ve heard of it but in case you haven’t you basically just put “smile” at the front of your amazon link, add items to your cart, check out, and through the magic of technology a little chunk of change goes to the non-profit of your choice. As long as you’ve set that up. It doesn’t cost you anything extra to do this. Just the time to selected a non-profit and I guess the time it takes to retrain yourself to make sure you’re shopping from https://smile.amazon.com/

Let me walk you through it…

• go to smile.amazon.com/
• sign in with your amazon account
• select Foxbox
• shop as you normally would.

It’s really that simple. And look at you, just like me you are helping an amazing non-profit organization with an amazing mission to fund the good work that they’re doing.

You’re making kind of a quizzical face there. Can I clarify something for you? Oh… Foxbox yeah. I guess that’s a variable in the setup equation you could change, but I wouldn’t. I’ve supported a number of non-profits through Smile over the past several years, but Foxbox is my forever non-profit. Don’t have a non-profit you feel deeply passionate about maybe you will choose them too?

Foxbox is a 501(c)3 organization founded by a mama that I love. Their mission is to support infants and their families through long hospital stays. Why do they do it? For the love of Cypress. I can’t speak eloquently about their mission, so I’ll just let Kat, founder of Foxbox and mother of Cypress tell you…

Foxbox was started to help others after we lost our 14-month-old baby, Cypress. I lived with Cypress for 10 months in our children’s hospital and cared for him through three intensive rounds of chemotherapy, a bone marrow transplant, a month in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, two weeks of total skin radiation, and, finally, end-of-life care.

I learned first hand that there is a great need for infant-specific support in hospitals. I met other families during our time in the hospital who also had infants and our stories all started in the same way. We went from living in our homes, trying to navigate life with a tiny, new member of the family to suddenly living in a hospital for months.

So if you’re shopping from that particular big box online retailer, do so with a bit of extra goodness. Give a little of your grace back to someone who will do something good with it.

And then you may feel less guilty shopping from those 25 must have things on Amazon lists that are constantly in your feed. Or is that just my feed?

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What’s that? I’m crying? Yes obviously. But you’re crying too? That’s to be expected. If you want to do something more direct to support the amazing work that Foxbox does you can also contribute directly here. <3