Chester is giving up his cookie money - can you?
He's not advocating this over any other method of donations or UNICEF over any other charity. He just wanted to let you know of another option of rapidly getting your spare change into the action.
Coinstar reminds Americans that every penny counts in times of need.
BELLEVUE, Wash., Jan 16, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Coinstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSTR) today announced that more than 15,000 Coinstar Centers have been enabled across the country to support victims of the devastating Haitian earthquake that occurred earlier this week. A special U.S. Fund for UNICEF code, 5556, has been added to Coinstar Centers in participating locations allowing individuals to help the millions of children and families struggling to survive the aftermath of the Haiti earthquake.
Coinstar is requesting help to raise funds for UNICEF's relief efforts through the donation of spare change and has agreed to absorb the costs associated with processing the first $500,000 donated through Coinstar Centers.
Coinstar Centers accept coin donations of any size making it easy to contribute. To make a donation, consumers simply take their coin jar to one of more than 15,000 participating locations, select the "donate" option from the menu and choose The U.S. Fund for UNICEF, special code 5556. Donors receive a tax receipt for the full amount of their donation and funds are transferred to UNICEF within 48 hours.
UNICEF is deploying necessary supplies to Jacmel and Port-au-Prince as quickly as possible to assist with recovery efforts including clean water and sanitation, therapeutic foods, medical supplies and temporary shelter.
"We are grateful to Coinstar for assisting us in our efforts to raise funds to help Haiti," said Caryl Stern, President and CEO, U.S. Fund for UNICEF. "We want to encourage everyone to keep donating so that we can continue to deploy necessary supplies like temporary shelter systems, hygiene kits, essential medicines, water purification tablets, portable toilets and family kits containing blankets and soap."
Use the machine locatorhttp://www.coinstar.com/us/WebDocs/A2-2 to find the Coinstar Center nearest you with this donation option or you can donate directly to UNICEF at www.unicefusa.org/haitiquake.
UPDATE: To the person who comes closest (over or under) to guessing the amount of change pictured in Chester's cookie money jar by Noon tomorrow We will donate $50 to ShelterBox.org in your name.
UPDATE #2: Just got back from town, the Coinstar machine at the Kroger's I was going to use was out of order, so I am going to have to do the 40 miles to the next nearest one that is in working order. Therefore, my prior deadline of 12 Noon, Sunday is going to be a soft deadline, meaning it's going to be whenever I get back from the store sometime tomorrow afternoon.
I will scan and post the receipt as soon as possible and will post the winner in a quicky diary along with confirmation of our donation to ShelterBox in the winner's name. Good luck to all, as this is a no-lose proposition.
Multiple entries are discouraged, as I will only use the last one as your final answer.
IMPORTANT HINT: We don't go to the laundromat, use mass transportation, and have an EZPass.
WE HAVE A WINNER(S) UID: #32551 came closest, with #25456 coming in second. But that's OK, as we'll donate $50.00 to ShelterBox in both of your names. Everyone wins.