Shop on Amazon and Help a Southern Minnesota Charity

A lot of people are probably shopping at Amazon for the holidays. Well, why not shop and help out a charity in our area?

According to a recent report from the U.S. Census Bureau, the majority of all shopping done at retailers in the U.S. is now online and has grown by 13.8 percent in 2015. Because the majority of shopping is is now online, many retailers have adjusted their plans to include the ever-shifting trends. Amazon has set up AmazonSmile to help out charities with just a few clicks using your existing Amazon account, or you can get one if you don't have one.

Amazon explains:

"AmazonSmile is a website operated by Amazon that lets customers enjoy the same wide selection of products, low prices, and convenient shopping features as on Amazon.com. The difference is that when customers shop on AmazonSmile (smile.amazon.com), the AmazonSmile Foundation will donate 0.5% of the price of eligible purchases to the charitable organizations selected by customers."

There are many participating organizations in the Faribault-Owatonna area:

• Faribault Art Center
• South Central Technical College Foundation
• Discovery Public School
• United Way of Faribault
• Rice County Historical Society
• District One Hospital Auxilliary
• Little Theatre of Owatonna
• Steele-Waseca Habitat For Humanity
• Big Brothers Big Sisters of Southern Minnesota

These are just a fraction of the local charities available. So while you are buying those holiday gifts from Amazon, why not help out a local charity, too.