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Macy's
Macy's Gives

Five year-old fashionista’s wish to be on a billboard comes true thanks to Macy’s and Make-A-Wish

Five year-old fashionista’s wish to be on a billboard comes true thanks to Macy’s and Make-A-Wish
Photo courtesy of Abi's family
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Five year-old Abi has a passion for fashion. Like many creative people her age, the self-described fashionista loves singing, dancing, and dressing up for mother-daughter photoshoots alongside her twin sister.

You wouldn’t know it from her bright smile, but just last year Abi received a life-saving bone marrow transplant to treat a painful blood disorder she’s had since birth. “We were told she needed a bone marrow transplant or the alternative was for her to have a stroke at the age of three,” Abi’s mom says.

That is scary news no parent wants to hear, but Abi’s mom knew her daughter needed the treatment to survive. Despite the pain, Abi bravely received repeat bone marrow transplants over the course of a year. (Her twin sister Vivi was the generous donor!)

After the treatments, the family was connected with Make-A-Wish®, a nonprofit that spreads hope and positivity by granting wishes for young people like Abi who are fighting critical illnesses.

“I like dressing up and taking pictures with my sister,” Abi says. “I have been doing it for a long time and my mom told me that one day I will be on billboards all over the world.”

Photo courtesy of Abi's family

Inspired by her family’s stylish shoots, Abi wished to be on a Macy’s billboard. To fulfill that dream, Abi, Vivi, and their mom traveled to New York City earlier this year to participate in a photoshoot with the Macy’s creative team in partnership with Make-A-Wish. The two siblings posed in a series of outfits that included an animal print number with a white fuzzy vest and a festive red lace dress with black-and-white sneakers.

The event was a huge success for Abi and her family. And the billboard debuts November 29 in Prince George, Maryland this holiday season.

“I loved NYC, I really enjoyed the photoshoot. It made me soooo happy and I can't wait to go back to New York,” Abi says.


“The effort put into our experience was phenomenal,” Abi’s mom adds. “I know the experience in New York was special and etched in the minds of the twins. They often ask when we are going back to New York for another photoshoot. Throughout the experience, we felt loved, thought about, and seen.”

Make-A-Wish couldn’t spread joy to children, families, and communities without the generous support of individuals and partners like Macy’s. Giving can start with something as simple as a letter to Santa: If you write a letter online or drop one off at a big red letterbox in-store, Macy’s will donate $1 to Make-A-Wish, up to $1 million in total.

Besides sending letters to Santa, there are even more ways to support Make-A-Wish at Macy’s during the season of giving. For every purchase of the $4 Believe Bracelet, Macy’s will donate $2 to Make-A-Wish from now through December 31. Customers can also donate onMacys.com through the end of 2021 to help spread hope and happiness to children with life-changing illnesses.

Since 2003, Macy’s has donated over $137 million to Make-A-Wish. These donations have helped Make-A-Wish fulfill the dreams of more than 16,000 young people just like Abi!

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Ocean Wise
Be Ocean Wise
Planet

Easy (and free!) ways to save the ocean

The ocean is the heart of our planet. It needs our help to be healthy.

Ocean Wise

Volunteers at a local shoreline cleanup

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The ocean covers over 71% of the Earth’s surface and serves as our planet’s heart. Ocean currents circulate vital heat, moisture, and nutrients around the globe to influence and regulate our climate, similar to the human circulatory system. Cool, right?

Our ocean systems provide us with everything from fresh oxygen to fresh food. We need it to survive and thrive—and when the ocean struggles to function healthfully, the whole world is affected.

Pollution, overfishing, and climate change are the three biggest challenges preventing the ocean from doing its job, and it needs our help now more than ever. Humans created the problem; now humans are responsible for solving it.

#BeOceanWise is a global rallying cry to do what you can for the ocean, because we need the ocean and the ocean needs us. If you’re wondering how—or if—you can make a difference, the answer is a resounding YES. There are a myriad of ways you can help, even if you don’t live near a body of water. For example, you can focus on reducing the amount of plastic you purchase for yourself or your family.

Another easy way to help clean up our oceans is to be aware of what’s known as the “dirty dozen.” Every year, scientists release an updated list of the most-found litter scattered along shorelines. The biggest culprit? Single-use beverage and food items such as foam cups, straws, bottle caps, and cigarette butts. If you can’t cut single-use plastic out of your life completely, we understand. Just make sure to correctly recycle plastic when you are finished using it. A staggering 3 million tons of plastic ends up in our oceans annually. Imagine the difference we could make if everyone recycled!

The 2022 "Dirty Dozen" ListOcean Wise

If you live near a shoreline, help clean it up! Organize or join an effort to take action and make a positive impact in your community alongside your friends, family, or colleagues. You can also tag @oceanwise on social if you spot a beach that needs some love. The location will be added to Ocean Wise’s system so you can submit data on the litter found during future Shoreline Cleanups. This data helps Ocean Wise work with businesses and governments to stop plastic pollution at its source. In Canada, Ocean Wise data helped inform a federal ban on unnecessary single-use plastics. Small but important actions like these greatly help reduce the litter that ends up in our ocean.

Ocean Wise, a conservation organization on a mission to restore and protect our oceans, is focused on empowering and educating everyone from individuals to governments on how to protect our waters. They are making conservation happen through five big initiatives: monitoring and protecting whales, fighting climate change and restoring biodiversity, innovating for a plastic-free ocean, protecting and restoring fish stocks, and finally, educating and empowering youth. The non-profit believes that in order to rebuild a resilient and vibrant ocean within the next ten years, everyone needs to take action.

Become an Ocean Wise ally and share your knowledge with others. The more people who know how badly the ocean needs our help, the better! Now is a great time to commit to being a part of something bigger and get our oceans healthy again.

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Outside of collars, harnesses and bandanas, immediately identifying the dog that belongs to you has to be a secret skill because at first glance, their personalities are also super similar. That's why it's not surprising when one family dropped off their sweet golden pooch at daycare and to be groomed, they didn't notice the daycare sent out the wrong dog.

See, not even their human parents can tell them apart because when the swapped dog got home, nothing seemed odd to the owners at first. She was freshly groomed so any small differences were quickly brushed off. But this accidental doppelgänger wasn't fooling her feline siblings.

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After persevering through numerous medical conditions and surgeries in her own life, Elman realized a few years ago that body positivity wasn't just about size or weight. Things like scars, birthmarks, and anything else that makes us feel different of self-conscious have to be a part of the conversation, and she tries to make the movement accessible to everyone.

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Let me start by saying that young adults these days absolutely do have economics stacked against them. There's no question that stagnant wages, the unaffordability of housing, outrageous college costs, post-pandemic inflation and good ol' American corporate greed have all combined to create a tough financial reality for us all, but particularly for the millennials and Gen Zers who are starting off their adult lives feeling already underwater.

If you're in that boat, allow a Gen X auntie to give you some sage advice. Absolutely, rail against the man and shake your fist at the skyscrapers and vent on TikTok if it makes you feel better. But also, none of that is going to change super soon, so you've got to own what you actually have control over, and that's managing the money that you do have (however little it may be).

When my kids were little back in the early 2000s, my husband and I were living on one not-at-all-amazing income. I had been raised quite frugally, so I was comfortable penny-pinching as needed, but I was looking for more creative ways to stretch our dollars.

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