As a father of two elementary school children, I’m particularly excited about Care2’s new "America’s Favorite School" contest. We’re partnering with GreatSchools, an independent, nonprofit organization that improves education by inspiring parents to be involved, to promote this fun new way for communities to rally around their school. And when the virtual dust settles after voting ends on November 8th, the top school will win $20,000!

Parents and educators know that test scores only tell one side of the story for a school. Every day in every school across the country, committed teachers, parent volunteers, student leaders and caring communities go that extra mile to make our schools the special places our children need to learn, grow and thrive.

With our country's ongoing economic problems, schools across the nation face deep budget cuts this fall, and parents are understandably concerned. A recent GreatSchools poll found more than three in five parents (61%) believe the quality of education in their school will suffer because of cutbacks.

Now is a perfect time to support America’s schools. At the heart of every great school are passionate individuals giving it their all to help educate and inspire our children.  Our mission at Care2.com is to help people make the world a better place, so we’re excited to be able to reward the teachers, parents, students and communities that are making an extraordinary difference.

Care2 will be awarding $36,000 to schools across the United States through this contest. We are committed to ensuring that all schools, regardless of demographics and average community income, have the opportunity to win; so, we'll be awarding a cash prize every week to a randomly selected school. And, in addition to the grand prize awarded to the school with the most votes, Care2 will award a total of $11,000 to the four schools in second through fifth place.

We're off to a great start, with schools in NYC and CA leading the pack.  That said, the leading schools got most of their votes over a few days of concerted efforts - so the race is still wide open for schools that can get the word out in their communities.  The winning school isn't necessarily going to be the biggest - it's going to be the school that best rallies its supporters and gets creative to spread the word online.

Whether you’re a mom to a first grader, the grandfather of four, or a young person with fond memories of your elementary school, you can vote today and spread the word to help your favorite school win.

“We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals" said Immanuel Kant.

I think he'd also have said there are lots of big hearts on Care2 judging from the fantastic comments being posted on our new animal shelter contest.

Last week, Care2 launched “America’s Favorite Animal Shelter contest” to support the efforts of animal welfare groups across the country.   We’re donating a total of $15,000 to the five groups that receive the most votes, and our partner Adopt-a-Pet.com, a nonprofit homeless pet adoption website, has added $5,000 in weekly prizes.

Care2 members have already cast close to 100,000 votes!    If you haven’t yet voted, simply visit the site, locate your favorite shelter, and then place your vote.  If you like, post a comment so others can learn why your shelter is so wonderful…. which leads me back to the comments – wow!

Here’s a quick sample:

JoAnn Hutton’s favorite shelter is Animal Protective League of Springfield, IL. JoAnn says: "My husband and I have adopted 2 dogs from APL and also volunteer for them. You would not find anywhere a more dedicated group of people that care deeply about animals. "

Linda Robb voted for NorCal Boxer Rescue in Richardson, TX, because "They went out of their way to save a boxer the vets didn't think they could save and he makes everyone who sees him smile and feel good!"

Katie Horta selected Florida’s Friends of Greyhounds, adding, "I’ve been volunteering with Friends of Greyhounds every weekend for the past two years, and I’ve never seen a place so dedicated to the care and well-being of their dogs. Two greyhounds later, and I’m still addicted. "

It’s wonderful to see such compassion for the animals, as well as for the volunteers and workers who have dedicated their lives to help abandoned animals.   If ever “it takes a village,” shelters are a great example…  You can clearly see from the comments the mutual love, appreciation and respect for all aspects of the communities that support these shelters.

Our First Weekly Winner!

I’m happy to announce our friends at the Community Cat Connection in Webster, MA are the recipients of the first weekly prize.    You can still vote for them here to help them win the grand prize of $10,000.

Why Animal Shelters?

We support a lot of important causes around here, so why did we choose to help Animal Shelters for our first such contest? 

Over the past year, national and local animal welfare organizations have reported that pet abandonment is on the rise due to foreclosures, job losses, the closing of puppy mills and natural disasters like Hurricane Ike.

We feared that the current financial system crisis would make it even harder for animal shelters and rescue groups who are already strained for resources to keep providing quality care to the dogs and cats they rescue and protect.

We also hope the contest will increase awareness about the need to adopt pets. Every 3.3 seconds an animal gets euthanized in the United States. When people adopt pets instead of buying them and support animal shelters and rescue groups, they are directly helping save animals’ lives.

Thank you to all who are participating in the contest, and a huge thank you to all of you who support and adopt animals from your local shelters!  You are true heroes.