Sweet + Savory: A Tasty Giveaway for All Aboard The Arc!

*Updated 6/3/2013* $500.00 fundraising goal reached!
*Updated 5/22/2013* The contest is closed. Congratulations to Edi, Anna and Ten!

Are you hungry to do some good? Well, here's an opportunity for you to feed your stomach and your heart.

As I've written recently, like last year, I'm raising funds for All Aboard The Arc! To sweeten my fundraising efforts, I want to give something to all of you who read this blog and have supported it for 7 years.

Also, I'd like to welcome new readers arriving everyday. With the support of two wonderful organizations, Greyston Bakery and Firehouse Subs, I have some treats in store for you.

I've written before about the good work and delicious brownies from Greyston Bakery. They make the brownies that go in Ben & Jerry's ice cream.

Firehouse Subs is new to me, but I attended a food blogger dinner recently at their Copley Square location and met co-founder Robin Sorensen, a former fire fighter. I love their subs and their philanthropic mission helping first responders.

You are NOT required to make a donation in order to enter the giveaway. But it would certainly be nice. Before we get to the giveaway, let me tell you a bit more about All Aboard The Arc!

All Aboard The Arc is the annual fundraiser to benefit The Arc of Massachusetts, which serves men, women and children with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Here's a video from last year discussing the idea of self-advocacy. All Aboard The Arc! takes place this Saturday, May 18th, with a caravan of buses filled with riders leaving from Arc chapters all over Massachusetts and destined for the Hynes Convention Center in Boston.  

The event has a dual purpose: to raise awareness of The Arc’s all-important advocacy and service-delivery work and to raise $120,000 for the non-profit organization. I'm riding on one of the buses along with my parents and my brother and am asking for pledges of support for The Arc to help continue to fulfill its long-standing and worthy goals, including:

* helping children and adults with disabilities gain access to vital services, such as adequate housing, age-appropriate health care, employment opportunities and day habilitation programs;

* promoting as much independence as possible in the lives of individuals with disabilities and providing respite care for their families;

* preserving the rights of those served by The Arc by vigorously representing them in the halls of power on Beacon Hill and Capitol Hill;

* raising public awareness of the abilities of people with disabilities; and

* removing forever all forms of discrimination that may deprive these valued human beings of their right to lives filled with dignity and respect.

With more than 700 national and local chapters, The Arc is the largest national community-based organization advocating for and serving people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, including autism and acquired brain injury.

I formed my own team to raise money and my goal is small. Just $500.00. If I can raise $1,000.00, then I can cross #8 off my life list too! Of course even more would be better!

All funds that I raise go to the Brockton Area Arc (BAArc), where I am on the Board of Directors. If you decide to support my team and give a donation, it is tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law. Also, please make sure to find out if your employer does company matching, which could double your donation.

BAArc has been a great resource for me, my parents and especially my brother. I'm three and a half years older than him and remember a specific time when we were kids. He was very young, not more than four or five years old when he had his first seizure. I was so scared and ran to tell my parents that something was wrong. He was taken to the hospital in an ambulance. 

Ever since that day, I realized the seriousness of my brother's condition. We are both much older and he has overcome many obstacles. Life can be very difficult for him, but he takes it in stride and with a great sense of humor. 

My "little" brother, who is much taller than me now, also loves sports. All sports. He's a huge NASCAR fan! Baseball fan too. We were both born in Boston, but he's a hardcore Yankees fan. We’ve attended Yankees Red Sox games together and I made sure to wear my Red Sox hat to counter his Yankees hat. I still love him despite the Yankees thing! After all, when it really mattered, the Yankees showed much love for Boston.

Now for the giveaway! Again, no donation is required to enter.

GIVEAWAY 

The three (3) prizes below will be given away to three (3) separate winners.

~ $50.00 in Firehouse Subs gift cards

~ A custom gift box for you filled with Greyston Bakery brownies and whoopie pies

~ The Greyston Bakery Cookbook 

RULES

Three winners will be chosen. If you'd like to win, please let me know in the comments along with your location (city, state, country).

If you have a preference for one prize over the others, please let me know. However, you are not guaranteed to receive the preferred prize.

The contest starts today, Wednesday, May 15, 2013, and ends midnight EST, Monday, May 20, 2013.

This giveaway is open to everyone aged 18 and older in the United States and Canada.

No duplicate comments.

Social media sharing is welcomed and encouraged! If you share this giveaway on Twitter, Facebook, or Pinterest, for each additional share, only one time each, you'll receive an additional chance to win. Just come back here and put the link to the share in the comments to let me know.

Three (3) winners will be selected via random draw and will be notified by email.

Please make sure that I have a working email address for you. After the winners are notified by email, they have 24 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner(s) will be selected.

The winner will be announced on Wednesday, May 22nd. Best of luck everyone! 


*Updated 6/28/2013* In case you'd like to take a look, here is my blog post about the food blogger dinner where I met a co-founder of Firehouse Subs, Robin Sorensen.





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