More to Give! Another Campaign Wraps up

We did it and thank you! The most recent campaign closed that we ran from 1 December 2021 to 31 May 2022. 15% of our profits went to the Doolittle Institute which runs FIRST® LEGO® League programs throughout northwest Florida. That final number came out to be…

$848

Thank you so much for helping to support STEM education in Florida. Our donation should help them support at least three full teams to include equipping them with robots, covering registration fees, and other costs involved.

Happy building!

Next Giving Drive - 1 December 2021 to 31 May 2022 - FIRST® Programs

Hopefully you’ve heard of the FIRST® LEGO® League. If you haven’t, the website says:

FIRST® LEGO® League introduces science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) to children ages 4-16* through fun, exciting hands-on learning. Participants gain real-world problem solving experience through a guided, global robotics program, helping today's students and teachers build a better future together.

Our three divisions inspire youth to experiment and grow their critical thinking, coding, and design skills through hands-on STEM learning and robotics.

To bring it a bit more local this time, the current drive will collect funds for my local FIRST® LEGO® League program in northwest Florida. It is run through the Doolittle Institute here locally. What do they need? Here’s what they say:

$25 = One Robot Motor

$50 = Robot Accessories

$100 = Support for their STEM Camp

$250 = Support for a FIRST Team

I’m a bit late getting this up so I’ll reach back to the sales starting 1 December 2021 and we’ll go through the end of May 2022. So let’s see how many full teams we can support!

Thanks for helping to encourage kids!

Happy building!

Return to Giving -- Creations for Charity

After a few years living in Germany, we are back in the US and I finally had a chance to re-open the BrickLink store. There are some items that I “pulled from the vault” so they are now a little older and harder to find elsewhere. I will continue to add inventory over the next few weeks as I sort through it all. As sales come in (Thank You!), it’s time to announce our next giving campaign.

This one is a repeat, but the timing works out great. Creations for Charity was started in 2009 by Nannan Zhang. The goal was to have LEGO builders sell their creations and then use the funds from sales to donate LEGO sets to kids all around the world. In 2009 they raised around $3,000. In 2020 they raised $18,240 and donated sets in 6 different countries.

This year, I’d like to help them reach a new record. 15% of the profits from the Bricks for Bricks store on BrickLink.com will go to Creations for Charity. The annual Creations for Charity event runs from 15 October to 30 November so we will use sales from now through 29 November and then hit the donation button on 30 November.

Thank you for supporting our efforts to give! Happy Building!

Campaign Announcement - 1 January to 31 May 2018 = Brick Dreams

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.

Campaign to Support Brick Dreams - 1 June to 31 December 2017

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!

Campaign Results - iCouldBe.org

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!

Bricks for Bricks Campaign and Store Update - April 2017

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.

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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!  

Bricks for Bricks Campaign - 1 January - 1 May 2017 - iCouldBe.org

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!

The LEGO Batman Movie

I received some of the new Collectible Minifigure Series packages for the LEGO Batman Movie.  I will have a set review up soon and some of them posted in my BrickLink store so stay tuned.  It looks like the movie will be released on 10 February 2017 so get ready!

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I will have another campaign up soon as well.  Any orders that I have received in-between campaigns will be added to the next one.  If you have any suggestions on who the next campaign should be for, please send me a note.

BRICKS FOR BRICKS CAMPAIGN - ENDED 16 DECEMBER 2016

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!