Books and Smiles

Remember back during college days when buying college text books for class was a huge expense? It seemed that with each passing quarter, prices went higher and higher for the books. I remember selling the books back at the end of the quarter and receiving just a pittance of what I paid. It was just a necessary evil of going to college.

Times are different now and students have more options than just the college bookstore. Campusbookrentals.com contacted me to pass along their book rental program where you can save up to 90 percent on college textbooks! Awesome! I will definitely take advantage of this service when my daughter is in college.

But the main issue they wanted me to share with you is their charity work. They pick a charity each year to donate part of their proceeds to. Actually, this year they're still working on their very ambitious 2011 cause: Operation Smile. Operation Smile raises money to provide surgeries to correct cleft palate, cleft lip, and other facial deformities for children who could otherwise not afford to obtain these life-changing surgeries.

This is an excerpt from Operation Smile's website:

Every three minutes a child is born with a cleft — often unable to eat, speak, socialize or smile. In some places these children are shunned and rejected. And in too many cases, their parents can't afford to give them the surgeries they need to live a normal life.

That's where we come in as an international charity providing much needed surgical services. Since 1982, Operation Smile — through the help of dedicated medical volunteers — has provided more than 2 million patient evaluations and over 200,000 free surgeries for children and young adults born with cleft lips, cleft palates and other facial deformities.

Campusbookrentals.com is going to provide funds from the proceeds of their book rentals to cover at least 1,000 of these life-changing surgeries. How awesome is that?

As a consumer, I love the warm, fuzzy feeling I get when I'm getting a great deal. I also love the warm, fuzzy feeling I get when I help a great cause.

It's not often when both happens at the same time!

So for those of you who have kids in college, check out the rental prices, and see if you can't save money. Shipping is free for both obtaining and returning the books!




I'm being compensated for this post with a token present. The words are my own (except for the excerpt quoted from Operation Smile's website). This is a win-win situation that I'm thrilled to share on my blog.