All month long, girls everywhere, have been donating to charities by giving stars online at ShineOnNow.com. I'm happy to be a Parent Partner with American Girl to help spread the progress and goals of this program. On the very first day American Girl announced this initiative, I asked all of you to nominate a deserving girl to win a My American Girl doll of their own. It took weeks for me to read all the entries and decide on a winner. In my opinion, all the girls nominated deserve a special doll to call their own.

Today, I announce that lucky girl, but, most importantly, urge you guys to keep donating. American Girl has a goal of 1 million stars to give to deserving charities. This equates to $1 million in cash, clothes, books, and more. Can you imagine the difference this can make across the globe?


Shine On Now Progress:

This morning I checked to see how far Shine On Now is from the 1 million goal mark and this is what I found:


With only one week to go, Shine On Now needs 249,074 more stars to really make a difference of 1 million donated.

What we can do to help:

It's really quite easy to donate a star. Simply go to www.ShineOnNow.com, enter email address, and start donating. You can donate up to 100 stars a day and be entered to win an American Girl Doll all at the same time.

Now the Moment You've Been Waiting For:


Our winnner is the nomination from Eryn at HomeSchooledYear.com who says this about the deserving girl in her life:

I would nominate my daughter's best friend. Oh she's such a sweet girl. My daughter and another of their friends have American Girl dolls, and M does not have one of her own. Their family of 6 immigrated here from Denmark & are the sweetest people, really hard working, but with 4 kids, you don't have a ton of extra cash. (Heck, I couldn't afford my DD's American Girl doll, Nana got it for her!) When M comes over, she wants to play with my DD's doll non-stop, brushing her hair, changing her clothes, etc. She's read all the books.

M has a big heart and a great work ethic. We started a volunteer group of girls who go & pick up trash along our river bed, and then we fish afterwards. M is always out front, cheering the other girls on. She drives us all to work harder.

M may not have been born here, but she's an American girl through & through. I joke sometimes that we can't send her back to Denmark, because she sounds more like a CA girl than any of the CA girls I know! lol

When I suggested to my DD & M that the neighbor lady might need a little help watering her lawn, M was on it in a flash. She brings library books home for an elderly lady down the street. We take her with us when we volunteer at the animal shelter & she started a food drive for the animals with my daughter.

M makes & sews her own outfits for her dolls, and makes them for my DD's dolls too. Not a week goes by when we don't find a tiny newspaper wrapped present on the porch. On May Day, the girls hung flowers on the door handles of every house on the street, all before 6am!

I love M so much, she's going to be just an amazing person. She never once asks what's in it for her, but asks what more she can do. I would love love love for her to have an American Girl doll to "fit in" with the other girls. If I could afford it, I would get it for her myself. I am thankful every day that my daughter has such a great girl from a great family as her best friend. I always trust that they are going to make good decisions & making them together makes it a little easier to go against the flow of tween life.

M definitely sounds like a Shine On Now girl, who embodies the spirit of giving back and generosity. Eryn, please check your inbox later today on how to claim this prize for your daughter's friend. There is a little paperwork involved, but nothing too time involved.

I'd like to extend my thanks to all who entered this giveaway. My 6-yr-old daughter and I had such a great time reading through each nomination. Don't forget to donate those stars to help American Girl reach the 1 million star goal and increase your chances to win an American Girl Doll.

As an Official Shine On Now Parent Partner, this post is made possible by American Girl and representing PR agency who provided the giveaway item, a separate doll for myself, and a charitable donation on Momma Findings behalf. Opinions stated are, solely, my own and not wavered or compensated in any other way, shape, or form.