Dear Roozt fans,

All of us here at Roozt have so much to be thankful for this year and on the very top of our list of thanks is for all of you!  Thank you so much for being there with us from the beginning and helping us prove that even small deeds can lead to great things.  We are so excited to share our new marketplace with you in the next couple weeks and hope you consider Roozt when doing your holiday shopping this year!  We hope your Thanksgiving is filled with family, friends, food and fun.

  Faithfully yours,

The Roozt Family

Every veteran hostess knows that throwing a great dinner party is not only about the gourmet food and endless supply of cocktails – you’ve also got to have an awe-worthy tablescape!  Let Wabisabi Green help you mesmerize your guests this year with their new Art to Table collection.  The exquisite eco friendly table linens are made of recycled polyester organic cotton fabric that’s hand printed with environmentally-friendly water based inks.  Choose from an array of colorful coastal and botanical designs to match your own unique style.

For an even more memorable party, wrap some of these pieces up as parting gifts.  There’s bound to be something perfect for every one of your friends and family and it’s a great way to say thank you while sharing your passion for a greener, healthier planet.

Wanna check out these American made, premium quality linens yourself before buying them as gifts for all your friends and family?  Then enter for your chance to win a set of napkins and placemats here on Roozt!  Follow the instructions below to be entered into the giveaway:

“Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.”

                                                                       - William James, American Philosopher.

There is something very unique and dear about knowing the person who carefully handcrafted the bag or earrings you’re wearing.  It builds a connection to a piece that no mass-produced accessory can achieve.  Well Five Accessories, a Fair Trade, eco-friendly social enterprise is taking that concept to do good – five individuals at a time.

Five Accessories’ mission is to ‘empower and deliver sustainable livelihoods for workers and their communities through the sale of eco friendly and fair trade locally made products.’  Their artisans create handbags, sustainable jewelry and recycled purses that are sold in over 100 stores nationwide.  Their most recent products feature their Cambodia, Bali and Chicago lines.

Five Accessories and Roozt want to share the power of people-to-people businesses by giving away a free Calypso bag and wallet and keychain to three lucky winners!  All the items were created from recycled mosquito nets and the wallets were specially handcrafted by Sophea, chief tailor for Smateria in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.  Sophea started working with Five Accessories’ Cambodia partners, Smateria, back in 2005.  She was unemployed at the time and her husband was a moto taxi driver.  She has risen from being a cleaner of recycled mosquito netting used for bags and has now made enough to purchase a house for her family in the countryside where she is from.  Like all of the company’s partners, Smateria uses Fair Trade labor practices to ensure that the workers are treated with respect and paid fairly.

Enter for your chance to win one of these handmade accessories by following the contest rules below!

Chile will play host to the upcoming Entrepreneur Week on November 15th – 17th, 2011.  Created to address the ‘mounting global shift toward placing entrepreneurship as the core focus of economic policy and programs in countries around the world,’ EW works to connect the entrepreneurial community and inspire those who wish to start and grow a successful business.

This Entrepreneur Week is especially dear to us here at Roozt because our founder, Brent Freeman, will be a guest speaker at the three-day event!  Among the various events, Brent and others will be having breakfast with Chilean President Sebastian Piñera and learning from the Chilean business community.

Nothing is more inspirational than great minds willing to share their insight with each other and aid aspiring business owners on their journey to success.  We’re certain that this week’s event in Chile will be an eye-opening experience for all who attend.

To learn more about who and what Entrepreneur Week is, watch this video:

what_is_entrepreneur_week.mp4

More often than not recycled bags look like tired, wish-this-were-new bags.  Well Rebagz is starting the revolution to change that very stereotype. Rebagz Handbags are redefining fashion by pairing smart style with sustainability. All their bags are made using recycled materials, and they’re as human-friendly as they are eco-friendly because Rebagz are all made under fair labor conditions.

Rebagz come in so many different styles and colors that everyone is guaranteed to find something they like – from bold and daring, to classy and sophisticated.  Part of the proceeds from many of their new “Statement Makers” help organizations such as Greenpeace, the KIND Campaign and the Breast Cancer Emergency Fund. One dollar from every order is also donated to Global Exchange, an organization the company’s president, Marty Stevens-Heebner, worked with when she did human rights work in Chiapas, Mexico.

See why In Style Magazine and The Today Show are all raving about Rebagz by entering for a chance to win a FREE rockin’ Leopardess Shoulder Bag!  To enter, follow the below instructions:

We at Roozt hope you continue to support companies like Rebagz and mother nature by sporting recycled bags at work and at play!

“Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.”

- Harriet Tubman

When you walk by a homeless person begging for money, it’s easy to make up a story of why you shouldn’t drop your change: he’s going to use it for drugs, she’s just going to buy alcohol, they should just get a job like the rest of us.

Photo courtesy of SPENT

But one stereotype doesn’t fit all.  Challenge your preconceived notions about poverty and homelessness with SPENT, an online game created through a collaboration between the Urban Ministries of Durham, a North Carolina nonprofit providing food, clothing, shelter and supportive services to the homeless, and McKinney Advertising Agency.

Photo courtesy of SPENT

SPENT allows you to see through the eyes of an average American adult who suddenly loses his job and needs to find a way to support his family and avoid homelessness.  It demonstrates the sense of fear as each new bill reaches due date and sudden unexpected expenses lead to difficult decisions.

You begin as a newly unemployed single parent who needs to find a job immediately to support your family.  Even a temp job requires qualifications that you don’t have, so you choose to work in manual labor.  Everyday brings a new monetary obstacle, including car troubles, health issues and missed opportunities.  In the end, whether you are successful at staying afloat for one more month or have no option but to resort to homelessness, the game allows you to make a difference in the real world by donating money or time to the ministry.

Play SPENT for yourself and face the many challenges that over 14 million unemployed Americans have to tackle everyday.  You might just learn that homelessness isn’t so far from home after all.

Bedol’s innovative water clock takes the concept of clean energy to a whole new level! The clock are run by metal plates that take their current from ions in the water, which powers the energy for the clock to run.  It’s crazy how simple the concept is!

Being powered by nothing but tap water, these clocks save valuable energy and reduce pollution. A built in memory chip also ensures you never need to reset the time while changing the water. With no electricity or batteries needed, Bedol is reducing your carbon footprint and keeping waste from filling the landfill.

See how the Bedol Clock Works:

Aren’t the water powered clocks awesome? We thought so. This is why we are hosting the Bedol Water Powered Clock Giveaway!   It’s easyto enter, just follow the instructions below and good luck!