The joy of giving: Supporting brands that support others The joy of giving: Supporting brands that support others
BY GENNA NORDLING The last three months of the year do not just represent the holiday season, as October marks Breast Cancer Awareness Month,... The joy of giving: Supporting brands that support others

BY GENNA NORDLING

The last three months of the year do not just represent the holiday season, as October marks Breast Cancer Awareness Month, November is a month to celebrate family and thankfulness and December is a month for giving and gifting things to others. One simple way to give back to the community is to support a company that promotes a certain cause. Each of these companies gives back in some way or another.

Lokai

Created in 2011, Lokai is all about finding “balance between the highs and the lows.” Upon its creation, Lokai released its original clear bracelet with one white bead, which contained water from the top of Mount Everest to represent the highs of life and one black bead containing mud from the Dead Sea to represent the lows.

Since then, Lokai has worked with a multitude of charities, creating limited edition bracelets for each cause. Ten percent of the profits from each bracelet is to be donated to the charity. For specific charities, such as Charity: Water, The Nature Conservancy and Make-A-Wish Foundation, a special project is completed. Respective to each of the aforementioned charities, Lokai built 98 wells, planted 200,000 trees and granted 69 wishes. Currently, Lokai is advertising their third bracelet in partnership with the Breast Cancer Relief Fund, and their fourth overall campaign for Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Sand Cloud

Based out of California, Sand Cloud originally began as an online towel store for marine conservation but has now expanded from towels to items such as T-shirts, backpacks and water bottles. For every purchase, 10 percent of the profits are donated to organizations that support their mission. The organizations they currently donate to are the Marine Conservation Institute, Surfrider Foundation, Pacific Marine Mammal Center, San Diego Coastkeeper, Hawaii Wildlife Fund and Ocean Connectors. Sand Cloud also has an ambassador program for those who want to promote the cause. Ambassadors receive special points for completing tasks such as posting on Facebook. The points can be used during checkout for a discount.

4Ocean

4Ocean is a South Florida-based company that comes out with a new bracelet every month in order to spread awareness for a new cause. Although the brand does not donate money to each individual cause, every bracelet is made of 100 percent recycled materials and represents one pound of trash that has been pulled from the ocean. So far, the company has pulled over 1 million pounds of garbage from the ocean and its coastlines. 4Ocean also hosts clean-ups all over the world. Since the U.S. Headquarters are located in Boca Raton, many of the clean-ups are not far from Cooper City. Those who are interested in participating in a clean-up can find more information here.

Ivory Ella

Ivory Ella is a very popular, trendy brand that is dedicated to saving elephants. Ivory Ella sells apparel centered around elephants and donates 10 percent of all profits to the charity Save the Elephants. But this isn’t all that Ivory Ella has done. In addition to donating money, the brand has donated over 30,000 pieces of clothing to people in need, delivered 500 backpacks to students in need, served 200 meals to people in need, monitored and protected over 300 elephants in Africa and its employees have contributed over 4,680 volunteer hours. Similar to Sand Cloud, Ivory Ella has “Club Ella” where consumers can earn points that can be used during checkout by performing certain tasks.

TOMS

TOMS is a shoe brand that matches every pair of shoes purchased with a pair of new shoes for a child in need. In addition to shoes, TOMS also helps those in need by restoring sight, giving access to safe water, training to become a skilled birth attendant (to provide safe birth) and training school staff to accommodate victims of bullying. TOMS has worked with over 100 Giving Partners to provide shoes, sight, water, safe birth and kindness to those who need it. Since 2006, TOMS has given over 35 million pairs of shoes to over 60 countries and these numbers will continue to grow. Just one pair of shoes can help a lot.

The most important part of the holiday season is getting involved and giving back to those in need. To get into the holiday spirit, people can volunteer or simply purchase items from brands, such as these, that give back. Helping and giving makes everyone involved feel good.

Photo by Genna Nordling