Thursday's Inspiration is a Shill

I was in the midst of writing a long, convoluted post of some things that have inspired me lately.  However, I decided to separate the items out into individual posts for this week and next week.  As the title suggests, today's post is a shameless Shill for Snapgifts.com, but I promise that the rest of the posts will not be about me simply hawking my wares.  Pinky swear.

What has been inspiring you lately?  Would you like to join me in this positive posting for next week?  We have had so much back-biting and negativity in our blogging community lately, I think it would be nice to ramp things back and get a gander at the Big Picture. 

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If you follow me on Twitter , you have heard me talk about how inspired I am by the lovely messages and gift cards being sent via our site, Snapgifts.com.  Lately, we have seen birthdays, anniversaries and Easter in full force.  And with Mother's Day around the corner, I cannot wait to see all those sweet messages coming through.  When I am having a grumpy day, I get perked up seeing the little in-jokes and sweetness that folks send each other.

But the thing that really, truly inspires me is our Giving Registry on Snapgifts.  Over the weekend, I launched a new blog for Snapgifts, called The Blurt (a place where I will blather about retail and Snapgifts so that I can keep the #Shill to a minimum over here!)

I thought it only appropriate that the inaugural post be about The Giving Registry: 

In February, Snapgifts.com launched a special program that helps families in need – a special registry system called The Giving Registry.   Using this feature, families in need are able to create an account with Snapgifts.com and establish a registry by selecting gift cards for places that would help them the most (i.e. specific restaurants, gas stations and pharmacies that were close to their home).  The first of its kind, the Giving Registry allows a patient to communicate his/her needs and importantly, the patient can easily add his/her Giving Registry to online patient journals and personal websites.

We found that folks are frustrated because they WANT to help their friends and family as they face challenges, but just did not know to help.  The Giving Registry gives them an easy way to help.

Why did I want to write about The Giving Registry as the first post?  Because it is one of the parts of Snapgifts of which I am the proudest. 

In my past professional incarnations I have worked fast food, collections, telemarketing, data security and auditor.  Oh, and the business analyst position for a company that provides tax preparation software (*cough*Block*cough*)  Income taxes.  Everybody say "Squee!"

I always seemed to find the sorts of job where I felt I was not making a difference.   The sorts of jobs that often left me questioning the Whole Point of Working, which made the desire to stay home with my children non-negotiable with Manoj when we began discussing marriage plans..  The sorts of jobs where I had to wear the Bad Guy Hat every single day.  (No joking, I once had to call the parents of a victim of a notorious serial killer, Richard Grissom.  It was part of the due process within skip tracing for my J-O-B.  The parents were properly pissed and I felt pretty low that day.  Because 18 years later?  I still remember that call. )

However!

For once, I get to do something positive.  Something that is actually helping people and making their lives a little better. Sending Quik Trip gift cards and BP Gas gift cards to someone to ease the burden of constantly filling their gas tanks because they are constantly on the road going to the hospital or doctor appointments.  Sending an AMC Movie Theatre gift card and Houlihan's gift card with an offer for babysitting services so the parents of a sick child can spend an evening together recharging, reconnecting.

This Giving Registry is open to anyone.  And if folks can register for weddings and baby showers, I think it is perfectly reasonable that a cancer patient can register for a gift card to a pharmacy.    Folks want to help their loved ones when they are facing illness.  Our Giving Registry makes that ridiculously easy to do and I am so proud that we have something like this to offer.

Something that actually makes a difference.

Creating a Giving Registry is easy:
1.  Go to Snapgifts.com and create new account.
2. On the left sidebar, under “Search Gift Registries” select the option  “Create New Registry”
3. After creating the registry, you can add items by browsing the Snapgifts.com gift card catalog and from the product page, selecting the button “Add to Registry“
4. Please note!  The shipping address remains invisible and private. No one sending gifts can see the address, which makes this registry a perfect option for the blogging community.
5. If you have questions regarding the Giving Registry, please feel free to contact me via email: kelli@snapgifts.com
 


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Snapgifts.com! Currently offering gifts cards in the following major metropolitan areas:
Kansas City gift cards
Boston gift cards
Chicago gift cards
San Francisco gift cards
LA gift cards
New York gift cards


More gift card locations for national chains???
All gift card locations can be found here!