Amy runs one of the most popular communities for moms on the web, MomAdvice, where she shares product reviews, frugal tips, crafts and her daily experiences as a mother. She was recently named one of the top 50 most influential women in social media, and the weight of that responsibility led to the birth of the Mom Advice Big Give.

Thank you so much for taking time to hear about the MomAdvice.com Big Give for Elkhart’s Faith Mission Homeless Shelter.

Faith Mission is based in Elkhart, Indiana and is my own personal hometown. My town is a town filled with factories of laid off workers. My town is filled with families who can’t pay their bills. My town is filled with hungry children. Don’t believe it? My hometown was featured in the New York Times recently and they stated this, “Elkhart, near the Michigan border in an area known as Michiana, is the white-hot center of the meltdown of the American economy. Its main industries, the manufacturing of recreational vehicles and motor homes, have fallen apart over the last year because of high gasoline prices. That has taken down ancillary businesses like R.V. parts suppliers and storage warehouses. The jobless rate in Elkhart has increased more than in any metropolitan area in the country; it rose over 4.8 percentage points from August 2007 to August 2008. According to labor statistics released this summer, nearly 10,000 people were out of work, a rate of 9.3 percent.”

My own family is made up of blue collar workers who work hard for a living and they all live in uncertainty if their jobs will last. My family members have been laid off, they have been worried about health care, and they are swallowed by medical bills. Likewise, surviving a year of my husband being laid off was one of the hardest times in our marriage, the hardest time in our finances, and the hardest time as a parent. We have made it through, but many families can’t.

I want to do something big for our local homeless shelter. I want to give what I can to help the families who are not able to have a bright Christmas. I want them to have something to look forward to. What better way to do it than to do an Oprah-style Big Give for the Elkhart community?

Our goal for this Big Give is to assist Faith Mission by purchasing Welcome Kits which are given to their residents upon entering the shelter. These kits provide the basic toiletry items that they will need for their own personal care. Each kit includes a tote, towel, washcloths, shampoo, deodorant, lotion, shaving cream, razors, toothbrush, toothpaste and soap. These are such basic items that we often take for granted, but it can make an enormous difference in how their residents feel about themselves and their own self-worth and confidence.

We thank you for this opportunity to give back to Faith Mission and can’t wait to deliver your donations to the shelter in support of their mission.

Note from Mandi: We’ve talked about changing a life with $1, and here’s another chance to see the numbers in action. If each person who subscribes to The One Dollar Give donates just $1 today, we’ll be able to provide seven kits, directly impacting seven people in our own country. I think that it’s always easy to look at the issues rather than the individual people affected, but imagine your mother, your son, your sister or your best friend walking into a shelter without even basic care items and how that would feel. Elkart may not be my hometown or your hometown, but it is affecting individual lives, and we can make a difference with just $1.

To donate $1 to the MomAdvice Big Give to help provide welcome kits to new residents at Faith Mission, click here and scroll to the bottom to find the PayPal button. Please click on the field that says “Tell us a little bit more about yourself” and add “One Dollar Give” to the form. After you’ve donated, come back and vote in the poll so that we can count donations!

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(Yes, the poll offers you the choice between “Yes.” and “Yes.” because I didn’t think we really needed to count the “No” answers, and the poll required two choices! Hey, it’s not a perfect system, but it’ll work!)