Hi everyone! Thank you so much for visiting my Crowdrise.

So here's the story. My mom founded an incredible charity called Heart Trust Inc. in 2006. You can read her mission statement here, but what it boils down to is that my super cool mom has gathered a team of some of the best surgeons, anethesiologists, cardiologists, nurses, and all-around awesome people. The team travels to developing countries to do surgeries on underprivileged children with congenital heart defects. They don't just do a whole bunch of surgeries, pat themselves on the back, and leave, though -- they train the doctors in the hospitals they visit in more advanced techniques, and they even donate expensive medical equipment and new technology so that when they leave, the hospital is better equipped to care for the patients there. It's sort of a teach-a-man-to-fish philosophy. 

My mom -- who is not a doctor, though I can attest that she is excellent at applying band-aids to skinned knees and kissing boo-boos better, (also monsters under the bed do not scare her) -- devotes basically all of her time to planning these missions. She's never been paid a dime, and neither has anyone who works with or for Heart Trust -- they all work on a volunteer basis. The world-class surgeons donate their very rare vacation time. They save the lives of these little kids who have spent their entire lives in bed, with blue fingers because of insufficient circulation. When my mom and her team leave the children are looking at full, long lives where they can actually play with their peers. They've gone to Guatemala, the Dominican Republic, and they even went to Egypt this year during a period of incredible political unrest despite being warned not to go. Basically... badasses. Really kind generous badasses.

I've spent a lot of time this last year helping to raise awareness and $$ for some great causes that my friends have championed, and I thought it was time to turn those efforts toward Heart Trust because it's obviously incredibly important to me and my family. My mom turns 52 this summer (she won't care that I told you that because she looks way younger and also she's the coolest) and for her birthday, I want to show her that people all around the world support her and all the work she does for free.

I have a pretty cool job, so I tend to get my hands on lots of stuff like signed posters and DVDs and merchandise. I'm hoping that my little Twitter Army of Awesomeness will help me out by spreading the word and donating what you please. In exchange, I'll give away pretty much everything I can get my hands on, starting with some great autographed posters. 

And yes, before you ask -- anything I give away can be sent worldwide, and your donations are 100% tax-deductible because Heart Trust is 501(c)3 certified. Woohoo.