Shop Your Way Blog

Before #SYWshowoff launched, Jeff shared his incredible story of how he uses Shop Your Way to honor his son Xander’s memory. Jeff, we were so moved by your story that we pulled a few strings, bribed a few folks and sent approximately four thousand emails to our boss. In honor of #dosomethingniceday and you being a wonderful example of someone doing something nice, you’ll want to check your point balance for a little gift from all of us at Shop Your Way. We hope it helps you reach your goal of spreading smiles across the faces that need it most.

Excerpt from Facebook:

My SYW Story…

So you know those people you see on the news from time to time visiting kids in the hospital or attending charity events dressed up as Super Heroes? Well, I am one of them and I volunteer with a local group called “Super Heroes to Kids in Ohio”. I have been volunteering with them for almost two and a half years but my reason for joining is a bit of a sad one. My six-year-old son Xander passed away after a severe asthma attack after school back in May 2015. This group reached out to me and offered their help. After they came to his Elementry school for a Memorial balloon release, I knew my new purpose in life was to join in to help out others in my community in his memory.

While I could just buy a store-bought costume I really want to impress the kids that I help out. I have always been a bit crafty and now I have a specific purpose and direction to utilize and hone my craft. As you can see in the attached image I have patiently made several small purchases over several months with my points to start collecting many of the tools of the trade. As I learn new techniques, I seem to always find myself in need of a new tool. Earning points through SYW has definitely helped lessen the blow that the equipment would have cost me otherwise.

Now when you are in Sporting Goods you might see those puzzle piece exercise mats and think about putting them under a treadmill, I look at them as potential body armor or even mock weapons. I still have a long way to go learning this craft but by using points earned from Shop Your Way and the WinIt App has definitely made my hobby and charity work a lot more budget friendly. Right now one of the big prizes that I am playing for is a 3D printer so that I can make bigger, better and more professional looking pieces.

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And Jeff’s response:

Thank you so much for sharing my story and thank you for the points! They will go to good use and I look forward to continuing to put smiles on the super kids faces with some help from my SYW points. Here are a couple pictures of my costumes. The things I am wearing (gauntlets) on the third picture were made possible with nearly everything that was on that list. For that costume, I was a bad guy named Crossbones that the super kids had to help defeat for a special event.

Check out our latest Live Facebook feed covering our #SYWshowoff challenge: view here