From 1 January 2018 to 31 May 2018 we gave 15% of our profits to Brick Dreams. That worked out to be $130. We bought 2 large LEGO Classic large creative brick boxes (#10698) and 1 LEGO Classic medium creative brick box (#10696) for them. We hope they can use those bricks for a lot of great kids who like to build. You can find out more about them at: http://www.brickdreams.org.
Thanks for supporting and happy building!
They mentioned us on their site here.
We were able to donate $170 worth of LEGO bricks to Brick Dreams for our campaign held during the second half of 2017. Brick Dreams posted a thank you post on their site that you can view here. They have a large demand for bricks and have asked us to run another campaign for them. So we are happy to announce that 15% of the profits we earn from the start of 2018 through the end of May 2018 will go to Brick Dreams.
So thanks to everyone who supported our store in 2017 and we are looking forward to another great campaign in 2018.
If you've never heard of Bricks for Bricks before (we're small... it's okay if you haven't), we are a for-profit business focused on giving back a portion of our profits to those in need. We focus our efforts on education and/or children whenever possible. You can see some of our past campaigns here. Now that we just finished our move from Florida to Alabama, it's time to kick off another campaign to help those in need.
From 1 June 2017 to 31 December 2017, 15% of our profits will go to Brick Dreams. Brick Dreams was started in 2012 by a high school student in California. The goal is to give Lego bricks to kids who are victims of domestic violence. The group gives these kids tennis ball cans full of bricks. Knowing that these kids often have to move around a lot, the container holds a lot of bricks and has a top so it is easy to move around with it. The founder is off in college now, but he's handed it off to 2 boys who are both 12. You can check out their site to see some of the things they've done and what they are up to now.
Bricks for Bricks will use 15% of our profits to send some bricks to Brick Dreams. Thanks for your support!
From 1 January 2017 to 1 May 2017, 15% of the profits from Bricks for Bricks was going to iCouldBe.org. This is a non-profit focused on connecting teenagers with mentors. I found this group in 2017 and took on the challenge of mentoring 2 high school students who were multiple time zones away. It has been enjoyable to interact with them to and try and share some of the wisdom that I have. I'm proud to say that we raised $61 for he program to help them help teens. One of the expenses the program has is background checks for mentors so this will help to pay for a few of those.
Thanks to all who bought great LEGO items from the store over the past few months and supported a great cause!
In case you haven't seen, we've been running a campaign to raise funds for iCouldBe.org. This is a website that runs a mentoring program for teenagers. Adults apply to become mentors, build profiles, and then students select them to become mentors while they go through a program geared towards motivating them to be better students and to have successful futures. As of the writing of this post, I mentor two students and I enjoy the program and sharing what I know with the two teens I mentor. The program costs money as they have to maintain a staff, run the website, and conduct background checks on potential mentors. To help fund that program, Bricks for Bricks is giving 15% of profits to iCouldBe.org. The campaign started on 1 January 2017 and will end on 30 April 2017.
So where are we at? We've had 26 sales and a profit of just over $147. 15% of that is just over $22. Not that exciting and kind of disappointing on my part. There's a reason for it though and it's something I need to look into changing as I continue to give back while selling LEGO products. On BrickLink, many of the items that I have sold have been parted out. Most often, minifigures are broken apart from sets and sold individually. When either the parts or the minifigures are sold, but the whole set isn't sold, I typically don't show a profit until they are all sold. So my revenue is higher, but doesn't show a profit that I can take 15% from to give to great organizations like iCouldBe.org.
Any thoughts on how to change this up? Please email me: store@bricksforbricks.com if you have suggestions.
On a separate note, the store will be closing again... If you've followed me, you'll know that I had to pack everything up and move from New Mexico to Florida last summer. This is due to what I refer to as my "real" job relocating me to Florida. Well guess what? My job is moving me again after less than a year! The store will be shut down on 30 April 2017 and then re-opened in Alabama. I'd like to be open again in June 2017, but I don't know how long the paperwork process is going to take to open up yet another business in a different state. So I apologize for the inconvenience and will work to get up and running again as fast as possible. Thanks again for all the support!
The AFOLs who run Brick Picker provide some great things for the AFOL community. For one, the Brick Picker web site provides a wealth of information on finding deals, the price of sets on the market, and the sets available now on various secondary sales websites. They are also the inventors and team that runs Brick Classifieds. Having used their site to sell sets without paying a fee to use it, I owe it to them to put in a plug.
Last year Brick Picker ran a raffle to support St. Paul's school in Burlington, NJ. They had a number of sets available in a raffle and ended up raising $62,000 for the school. This year they are running the raffle again. The prizes they are offering are awesome! Some examples... a 42056 - Porsche 911 GT3 RS and a 10220 - VW Camper T1 Van, a 10221 - UCS Super Star Destroyer, or 10255 - Assembly Square and 10251 - Brick Bank.
If you're interested in supporting, go to the St. Paul 2017 Campaign site on RallyUp. The school is a 501(c)(3) entity so donations are also tax deductible in the US. And since I'm all for supporting kids and learning, it's a great reason to support. As of today, 28 January 2017, there are 17 days left. So donate now!
I'm a little late getting this posted, but I will included the profits from orders received starting 1 January 2017 and put them towards this campaign. So what is iCouldBe? I hadn't heard of it until this past fall, but I think it's a perfect fit for one of my campaigns. We have focused the campaigns on helping kids and/or education and this is right in line. iCouldBe is an online mentoring platform. Adult "professionals" register with the program, go through the training, and then their name goes on a list. The list is reviewed by teens in high school and they can select an adult as a mentor. The high school students then go through an online course that has them look at how they can improve, building goals, talking about where they need help, and many other lessons. How do I know about it? I am currently mentoring two high school juniors through the program right now. It's been a good experience for me and I can say that we had a few "aha" moments where the teens received and appreciated some feedback from me.
iCouldbe has been around since the year 2000 and they claim to have over 21,000 mentor/mentee connections since then. If you're an adult looking to give back or to help mold minds, definitely check the program out. They typically start up in the fall so you can register, do the training, and then wait for the fall. Another way you can give back... 15% of the profits during this time period will be donated to iCouldBe.
Thanks ahead of time and happy building!
We ended our campaign and it resulted in $62.81 being collected. For a 4 month period, I can't complain, but I would have liked it to be higher. Thank you to all who supported your hobby and gave back to the Children's Hospital in Pensacola, FL. We shipped the items pictured here on 20 December and they should make it in time for Christmas. They were worth a bit more than what was collected, but we don't mind throwing in some extra stuff. We hope it makes someone's day! Happy building!
We have over a month to go and with the addition of inventory of BrickLink, we are on our way to another great campaign. As of 8 November 2016, we are at $54.41 that we'll use to purchase sets to give to kids at the hospital. Thank you all for your orders and for supporting this campaign!
I've been busy with the BrickLink store with orders and adding inventory, but I still have a set review to do. I've also been busy with the sales going on at Amazon, Walmart, and Target. I've gotten some awesome deals that I hope to add to the storefronts soon. So stay tuned and happy building!
Bricks for Bricks is finally set up in Florida! Thanks for being patient during the move and transition. Besides having to move everything, it takes a lot of paperwork to start up a business so I'm glad to finally be in action.
Now that we're setup, it's time to put the focus back on giving back. Our last campaign generated $125 for Pencils of Promise. I've tried to focus the campaigns and sales events on supporting kids and learning since LEGO® products are geared towards kids (okay and some towards us "kids at heart" too). For the next campaign I've decided to focus on kids again and to find something in Florida as it's the new home of the business. In searching around, I found the Studer Family Children's Hospital at Sacred Heart in Pensacola, Florida. Listed as #1 on their Christmas Wish list are "LEGO® Sets/LEGO® Friends."
Starting 1 September 2016, 15% of the profits from the Bricks for Bricks store and our Brick Classifieds store will benefit the Children's Hospital. We will put those funds towards buying some new sets to donate to the hospital. This campaign will end on 16 December 2016 so we can get the sets to them in time.
Thanks for reading and for your interest in helping out!
Oh and if you've read this far, the Bricks for Bricks store will offer free shipping on minifig orders over $30. Just input the code "BforB" at checkout.