Category Archives: Shop PGH

12 Giveaways of Pittsburgh #9-12: Portraits, Improv and Some of the Best Pgh Gear Around

I’m thrilled to post the last four items for the 12 Giveaways of Pittsburgh!  It has been so much fun to write about these businesses and share these items with you.  As I put this list together, I realizes that almost all of the owners of the businesses featured on this list I have met and become friends with because of IheartPGH.  Pittsburgh is filled with some amazing small business owners and I feel incredibly lucky to have the opportunity to get to know these folks and share their businesses with the readers of IheartPGH.

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Giveaways 1-8

We’re keeping all of the giveaways open until the end of the week – so you still have time to enter.

Check out our previous posts for giveaways 1-8 and a bonus giveaway for pens tickets:

We’ve been working with several other bloggers to help Community Human Services raise money to provide small holiday gifts to the folks that they serve.  We still need to raise $1000 to make sure they are able to provide holiday gifts this Christmas.  Anyone who donates gets extra entries for the giveaways and a chance to win the great hockey tickets for the Penguins game on January 15, 2014.

Giveaways 9-12

#9. A Level-1 Improv Class at Steel City Improv ($249 value) – if you’ve ever wanted to learn to make people laugh – this is your chance!

#10. A Portrait Session from Noah Purdy Photography  Noah is an incredible photographer, who also donates his time to help CHS – check out his blog post about Pittsburgh Help Portrait here.

#11. A Pair of Pittsburgh socks from LineUp – because every Pittsburger should show their steel city pride on their feet.

#12. A $50 Gift Certificate from Garbella – Amy makes some of our favorite Pittsburgh t-shirts.  What can we say we’re partial to anything with a pierogi on it.   Amy screenprints all of her items by hand, here in Pittsburgh.

Enter to win one of these via the Rafflecopter widget below!  If you want to just contribute to CHS you can do that here.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

Help Save Christmas & Pens Tickets Raffle

Here is the deal – for the past four years – we have joined with a group of bloggers to help the Pittsburgh non-profit Community Human Services – raise money for to provide holiday gifts for the people they serve.  Community Human Services, CHS – works with lots of Pittsburghers who often fall outside of the toy drives that provide gifts for kids and the elderly.

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2 Days to Raise $2200

In 2012 – we had a great response and raised $5000 – enough money so CHS could provide a small gift for an additional 200 people.  Earlier this week – it was brought to my attention that we have only raised HALF of what was raised last year.

I am determined to help CHS raise the remaining funds – we still need to raise $2200 so that they can provide some holiday cheer for everyone who was supported last year.

It would be great if we could get all of the funds collected by Sunday – that way there is still time to get the last gifts together for the Christmas holiday.

If you could give $10, $20 or even more to support CHS – we can reach this goal!  Click here to donate to Community Human Services online.

What about those Pens Tickets?

Thanks to a generous donor once we reach the $2500 mark – they will donate a pair of Pens tickets to be raffled off!  Every dollar donated to CHS gets you an entry to win.  The more you give the more chances you have to win!  But we have to raise at least $2500 – so make sure to spread the word.

2 Tickets & Parking Pass

Penguins vs. Washington Capitals 

Loge Box 21, Captain Morgan Club

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Donate to CHS and Enter to Win!

Every dollar donate to CHS on the Crowdrise page gets you an entry to win.  Use the widget below or click here to donate.

Fundraising Websites – Crowdrise

If you have already contributed to CHS – Thank You! You will be entered to win. Please tell your friends and help us spread the word.

Learn More about CHS

CHS was started in 1970 and is located in Oakland.  The organization serves all areas of the city and offers programs to prevent and reduce homelessness, runs mental health residential programs and runs a community food pantry. CHS has been named one of the best places to work in 2013 by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Visit the CHS website – http://www.chscorp.org/

12 Giveaways of Pgh – #5-8 – Beer, Books, Bags and Kayaks

Welcome to day 2 of the 12 Giveaways of Pittsburgh!  We’re giving away 12 Pittsburgh gifts for you to give to your favorite Pittsburgher or to keep for yourself.

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To enter – we ask that you help save Christmas for some folks served by a local nonprofit.  Please help support the Community Human Services Holiday Gift Project.  (We’ve helped raise funds for this each holiday season and we are currently only at HALF what we raised last year.

Before I share today’s giveaways – I just wanted to share a quick fact about the CHS Food Pantry, this is one of the many reasons that I am supporting this organization this holiday season.

In Sep 2012 – the CHS food pantry served 366 people, in Nov. 2013 – they served 1001 people. That is over a 200% increase in need right here in Pittsburgh.

Here are the next 4 items we’re giving away (you can still enter to win items 1-4 here.)

#5. 2 tickets for a Grains to Glass Tour of East End Brewing ($50 value) – this is one of the best ways to spend an afternoon in Pittsburgh.

#6. 2 1-hour passes to Kayak Pittsburgh ($30 value) – one of the best ways to spend a summer afternoon in Pittsburgh is on the river

#7. A $25 Gift Certificate to East End Book Exchange – yes! There are still independent book stores in Pittsburgh.  East End Book Exchange is located in Bloomfield and carries new and used books.

#8. Tiny Clutch no. 5 from Moop – beautifully bags that are loved all over the world, but made by hand right here in Pittsburgh.

Enter to win one of these via the Rafflecopter widget below!  If you want to just contribute to CHS you can do that here.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

12 Giveaways of Pittsburgh: #1-4

chs-squareFirst of all, I want to thank everyone who donated to the CHS (Community Human Services) Christmas Fundraiser this year and who attended the event at Hough’s earlier this month.  Your generosity this holiday season is greatly appreciated.  I’ve just heard back from the folks at CHS and we have only raised HALF of what is needed to make sure that each of the people they serve have a gift for the holiday.

For the past several years, I have joined with other Pittsburgh bloggers to support CHS holiday gift drive.  While all of the efforts to support worthy causes are important, CHS stands out for me because they serve many fellow Pittsburghers who don’t receive any holiday cheer from programs that cater to kids and seniors.

I was just about to share a blog post with my favorite Pittsburgh gifts – but I’m turning this into an opportunity for you to help CHS and to win some awesome Pittsburgh holiday gifts.  As of today CHS still needs to raise $2500 to save Christmas.  Currently we are only about 25% to the total goal!

Rather than just tell you about great Pittsburgh gifts, I’m going to give them all away! For the next 3 days – I’m going to launch a new raffle where you can enter to win great Pittsburgh gifts that you can keep for yourself or give as a gift.  (I’m going to try my hardest to get all of these delivered by 12/24).

There are lots of ways to enter to win – the best way to help is donate to CHS, but you can also earn entries by tweeting, pinning and blogging about the 12 Giveaways of Pittsburgh!

  • 5 entries = donate $10 to CHS
  • 10 entries = donate $20 to CHS
  • 1 entry = tweet about the 12 Giveaways of Pgh and include the #pghsavesxmas
  • 5 entries = write a blog post that links back to this post
  • 3 entries = leave a comment
  • 1 entry = pin this image to pinterest and tag it with #pghsavesxmas
  • 1 entry = like CHS on Facebook

You can donate to CHS online here and use the Rafflecopter box below to enter to win! We’ll draw four winners for this giveaway.

Here are the first four giveaways:

  1. $25 Gift Certificate to Pavement Shoes – locally owned boutique in Lawrenceville that sells shoes, clothes and accessories
  2. A Digital Subscription to Rustbelt Almanac – a beautiful quarterly magazine about the best section of the country
  3. Pierogi Pillow – a huggable version of Pittsburgh’s favorite food made with love by Commonwealth Press
  4. Copy of the Alternate Histories of the World Book by Matthew Buchholz – Entertainment Weekly’s book gift guide describes this book as “blazingly creative.” – and it was authored by a Pittsburgh resident.

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a Rafflecopter giveaway

Some additional ways to help!

  • Donate directly to CHS 
  • Donate a prize for the raffle – if we have more than 12 giveaways – that is ok.  We’ll keep running these until we reach the fundraising goal. (email lindsay@iheartpgh.com)
  • Be an elf – volunteer to help deliver prizes next week (email lindsay@iheartpgh.com)

Pitt-starter – Meet Pittsburgh Artist Robert Qualters

Pitt-starter is our occasional series of posts about Kickstarer and other crowdfunding projects that are of interest to the Pittsburgh community. You can check out previous Pitt-starter posts here.

I am very excited to share this Kickstarter project with you.  First, because I think this is a great chance to learn about a Pittsburgh artist who has been painting this city for decades.  And second, because I had the opportunity to meet Robert Qualters earlier this year and I think he is one of the many Pittsburghers that should be on your radar.

Robert Qualters - Penn Station Rotunda, 2006, acrylic and collage on canvas, 42x48"

Robert Qualters – Penn Station Rotunda, 2006, acrylic and collage on canvas, 42×48″

Robert Qualters is one of those artists where you have probably seen his work around town but you might not have known much about the artist. His paintings are hanging in some of the offices and restaurants and he has painted several murals for Mercy Hospital and Pittsburgh public schools.

M_Perrott-Qualters_1994_no13-sRGB_for_web.largeI hope you will take a moment to visit the Kickstarter page for “Robert Qualters: A Life in Film” to check out the video and some of the paintings of Pittsburgh.  The Kickstarter trailer gives you a glimpse into his studio which is located in Homestead.  I’ve had the chance to visit another artist in this building and you would have never guessed this old school was home to a wealth of Pittsburgh talent.

Another fun fact about this project is that one of the filmmakers, Elizabeth Seamans, was Mrs. McFeely on Mr. Rogers Neighborhood.

This Kickstarter project is to fund a film about his work which will debut in 2014.  A retrospective of his paintings will be on display at Pittsburgh center for the arts starting February 7, 2014.

The Qualter’s Kickstarter project also offers some unique rewards and the chance to pick up a signed and numbered print from the artist or an original painting from Qualters.

Follow Robert Qualters on Facebook – facebook.com/qualtersart and Twitter @qualtersart

Some other posts about Pittsburgh art and film: