Getting a new card always leads to trouble—but this time, it’s different. Make a $50 donation to the Children’s National Medical Center, and receive a card for 20% off your favorite DC shopping destinations!

Nearly 500 of the DC metro area’s best in retail fashion are on board for this year’s Care for Kids Holiday Shopping Card program. For the 10-day period from Oct. 24 to Nov. 2, 2008, consumers will receive a 20 percent discount at participating area retailers and restaurants when they present the card (some restrictions may apply).

Since the Care for Kids program started five years ago, more than 15,000 cards have been sold, translating into more than $850,000 raised for the hospital. This year’s merchants include Store Adore featured stores like Abrielle, Bella Mama Maternity, Clover, Daisy Too and The Phoenix, but some of our personal favorite eateries, including Jaleo, Wagshal’s, Raku and many dozens more.

To learn more about this worthwhile cause, and to purchase the card online, visit www.careforkidscard.com. A complete list of participating merchants, locations for merchant card sellers and sponsors is also available on the website. The cards can also be purchased by check or money order for $50.00 plus $3.00 handling fee from Care for Kids Card, P.O. Box 9895, Washington, DC 20016 or by calling 703-402-2266.

It’s shaping up to be a pretty busy October. When there aren’t enough minutes in the day and not enough days in the week — how do you find time to, say, turnover your summer wardrobe?

Good thing folks at Wink in DC are putting their time and effort to good use, with three charitable events worth dropping everything for.

Bricks + Book Fundraiser
Find Omni Peace t-shirts, Batik artwork, and handmade jewelry by Tanzanian women all for sale on Sunday, October 19, from 12-6pm. A portion of the proceeds goes to Bricks + Books, a non-profit organization that empowers Tanzanian women and provides an education for their children.

Care For Kids
Wink is a participating member in the popular DC charity event Care For Kids. Purchase a card for $50 and get 20% nearly 500 of the city’s best retailers and restaurants from Friday, October 24th until Sunday, November 2nd. All of the proceeds benefit the Children’s National Medical Center.

Andrea Tedesco Trunk Show
Help Wink celebrate breast cancer awareness month with pink chanpagne, cupcakes, and local DC jewelry designer Andrea Tedesco’s fall collection. The event will take place on Thursday, October 23, from 5:30-8pm, and a portion of the proceeds will go to the Susan G. Komen Foundation, dedicated to finding a cure for breast cancer.

Remember that Store Adore Shoppers get 20% off your in-store purchase at Wink DC!

Flip flops in October? Please. Throw us a nice pair of lace-up boots! Mocha Frappuccino? Yuck. We’ll take a hot cocoa, thank you. Bright orange nail polish? We’re digging fall’s elegant purples. You get the picture: we’re so ready for the winter season.

Virtu, Chicago’s resource for fine artisan giftware is clearly in the same boat. Go there for champagne and truffles on Saturday, November 1st, from 10am to 6pm as the store ushers in the holiday season and present the largest collection of Snow & Graham stationery in the Windy City.

There’s no excuse not to stock up on stylish cards like the Snow & Graham “Everyday” greeting card set below, since Virtu will donate 10% of the day’s sales to the Greater Chicago Food Depository.

You’re got more handbags than there are flavors of Ben & Jerry’s: your Hayden-Harnett Olga for a weekend with the in-laws, your Whiting & Davis silver clutch for a night out with the girls, and your trusty Dautore Celeste hobo for running errands around town.

If you’re anything like me, your handbag collection changes with the seasons, but before you gear up for that bi-annual splurge, consider this all-around feel-good proposal from Bess & Loie: donate a gently used bag (and you know you have dozens of them), and get 20% off a new bag for yourself from the Chicago handbag destination!

Bess & Loie is teaming up with The Cara Program to provide struggling individuals in the Chicago area with the resources and training that will help them secure employment.  They know that part of the process is building a polished, professional wardrobe - which always includes a great handbag.

Once you drop off your donation, you’re free to check out shoulder candy like this perfect black satchel, a timeless must-have that complements every outfit, every season.

Pictured above: Iscov Domino Tote (regular price $128, special event price $102 with donation)

Always with an eye for emerging designers, store owner Allyson Holleb will also be debuting the Mayu collection, hand-knit by artisans in Peru.  Come to the boutique on West Lake Street between Carpenter and Morgan for cocktails, snacks, discounts, and most importantly, for a great cause.  And don’t worry if you can’t make it to the event - donations will still be accepted during regular store hours though September 25th in exchange for the exclusive discount!

This Wednesday at Madison Square Garden, the Dave Matthews Band will perform a concert to benefit Stand Up for a Cure, a nonprofit that raises funds for cancer research. The concert will be hosted by Julia Roberts, DJ’d by Samantha Ronson and attended by Brad Pitt. (Anybody have an extra ticket?) Click on the image below to see the invite.

Beautorium, a newly launched site (and Store Adore obsession) for organic makeup and beauty products, is contributing to the gift bags. They’ve chosen to support the cause because many chemicals found in conventional cosmetics (especially parabens) have been linked in some studies to cancer.

What’s more, Beautorium will donate 10 percent of sales during the month of September to Stand Up for a Cure.

And don’t forget that Store Adore shoppers save 20 percent on all Beautorium purchases. Click here for details!

The times are tough, the budget’s tight, and the cozy, familiar feeling of a weekend afternoon at the shops is now accompanied by a slight pang of guilt—but here’s a spree that’s definitely worth the splurge: Washington’s biggest and best high-end bargain shopping event is coming to The Galleria at Lafayette Centre on Tuesday, September 9^th!

The District Sample Sale features twenty of DC’s best boutiques—like We One You Two, Wink, Sugar, and Urban Chic—selling end-of-season styles at liquidation-level prices, with many previewing their fall/winter collections at exclusive event prices too. With cocktails, hors d’oeuvres, a silent auction, and a raffle, there’s simply no excuse not to go shopping.

General admission is $40 to shop between the hours of 7- 9PM, while VIPs get to snag their loot (and receive an exclusive goodie bag!) between the hours of 6-7PM for $125. 100% of the proceeds go to the DC Rape Crisis Center—the only organization in DC providing support services to survivors of sexual assault and education to all age groups about the issue of sexual violence.

Visit www.districtsamplesale.com for more information.

We’re all about women helping women helping women. So meta. . . and such a good thing. That’s why we’re so excited about the Spring into Summer Boutique, an event this Thursday in Manhattan. Here’s how it works: In Good Company Workplaces is community for women entrepreneurs to both work and network—rent a desk, have a meetings, commiserate, etc. It was founded by two enterprising women (look out for our upcoming profile of co-founder Adelaide Fives) in order to help women leverage one another’s talents and experiences.
On Thursday, May 8th, from 6:30 to 9:30, more than 20 vendors of (most of them women) will be at In Good Company Workspaces selling their clothing, handbags, jewelry, and more. A portion of the proceeds will go to Nest, which provides micro-credit loans to women artisans in developing countries. Shop lines like eco-friendly fashion collection Nature vs. Future, Odette New York jewelry (see the adorable acorn necklace, $84, at left), and Rissy Lyn handmade picture frames.

Do we hear a last-minute Mother’s Day gift calling?

In Good Company Workplaces
Spring Into Summer Boutique
Thursday, May 8th
6:30 to 9:30
16 West 23rd Street, 4th floor

Store Adore sat down with Ted Alemayhu, founder of the U.S. Doctors for Africa charity. Born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopa, Alemayhu’s life took a dramatic turn when he was accepted into a prestigious boarding school program in Santa Barbara, California. Years later, he applied his business and accounting background to start a new charity: U.S. Doctors for Africa, an organization that provides much-needed medical care to African countries, helping to alleviate the tragedies and hardships Alemayhu encountered as a child.

SA: What inspired you to start U.S. Doctors for Africa?
TA: Growing up in Africa, I witnessed firsthand the extreme shortage of medical professionals throughout the continent. As a direct result, millions of people have died and continue to die due to lack of basic medical care and treatment. Currently, it is estimated that there is only one doctor per 100,000 people. This is a devastating statistic! I started U.S. Doctors for Africa to mobilize volunteer healthcare professionals from the United States and deploy them to Africa to provide medical care to those who need it most, and to teach and train local healthcare providers to create a self-sustained future within the continent.

SA: What are your goals for the organization?
TA: We’ve been in existence for the past nine years, and we started by sending medical workers to several countries in Africa, such as to Ethiopia, Tanzania, Uganda and South Africa, as well providing medical supplies to Sierra Leone. Our program is growing and spreading to more countries now. We plan to expand to Ghana, Liberia, Botswana, Kenya, Congo and Senegal. We are working in partnership with each country’s health ministers as well as non-governmental organizations and UNICEF. We have also started reaching out to the large population in “rural Africa” where most people have no access to medical care at all. Our new initiative is to introduce Mobile Clinics to Africa, which would allow us to bring medical care and training to millions of people these rural areas. We are very proud of how far we’ve come.

SA: How can we help?
TA: As of today, over 3,000 medical professionals have expressed interest in volunteering to with us, which is quite exciting! More than ever, we need sponsorships and financial donations to help pay for deploying these medical teams to Africa. To send one doctor for a month-long volunteer work costs approximately $6,000 US Dollars. Every little bit helps. Store Adore shoppers can make a big difference with whatever amount they are able to contribute.

To learn more about the program or to make a contribution, visit www.usdfa.org.

Help potential prom queens sparkle in your beloved gown. It’s not like you’ll ever wear it again.

Alison Barnard, proprietor of Twilight and In.jean.ius is doing well for herself — and others! Twilight is collecting gently used prom dresses for girls in need. All dresses will be donated to the North Shore Fairy Godmother Project. In exchange for donating a gown, customers will receive 15% off any item at Twilight. The deadline is May 15th.

Twilight
12 Fleet Street
North End, Boston
617-523-8008