You can see the inspiration taken from art within Vuka’s branding. Our bottle design, color schemes and materials are intended to make a bold statement, creating a sophisticated product with a sophisticated message. Vuka bottles are 100% recycled aluminum, 100% recyclable, and can also be repurposed, something we love to do.

Recently we have run into a lot of fans who told us about both art, and repurposing projects utilizing Vuka bottles. Now it’s time to put your money where your mouth is, we want to see these projects and hear from YOU, our art loving friends and loyalists.

Vuka will be running a week long contest to see who can create the coolest, funkiest work of art incorporating a Vuka bottle [or two]. Please utilize at least one genuine Vuka bottle, submit it to Social@vuka.com by 4/2/2012 (at 12PM MST) and you will be entered to win a free mixed case of Vuka and some other Vuka goodies. A winner will be chosen by the staff based on creativity and uniqueness.We reserve the right to reproduce the images submitted (post images on Facebook and other media outlets).

-One entry per person
-Please include your full name, mailing address and phone number with your entry email

Have fun!

Vuka Team

UPDATE 4/10: Justin Wilcox is our winner! Congrats Justin!
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To learn more about becoming an organ and tissue donor, please visit www.DonorAlliance.org

“We believe that everyone should have access to good food and pledge to share our crisps with friends and neighbors in need. We promise to donate 1% of the crackers baked in our ovens.

Beginning with our first contribution in February 2011, we will make a quarterly donation of 300,000+ Whole Grain crackers to the Food Bank of the Rockies’ “Children’s Totes of Hope” program. Tote bags filled with 8-9 pounds of nutritious kid-friendly food are distributed to children on Fridays to take home over the weekend. For many of these children, the totes are their main source of food on Saturday and Sunday. The crackers donated to “Children’s Totes of Hope” will benefit hungry children in Colorado and Wyoming. Fighting hunger is a cause that is important to our team so partnering with Food Bank of the Rockies makes sense. They serve a need right in our own backyard and we like the idea of providing our neighborhood kids with a healthy snack option.”

We can all agree that what they are doing as a company is helping out quite a few hungry kids and their families! As small businesses, we try to be a part of “the big picture” and give back to the community. So here at Vuka, we just wanted to shine a little light on you, 34 Degrees Crispbread for being part of such a great cause. Well done!

If you don’t already know, we support an organization called “Cookies for Kids Cancer”. The foundation began with a little boy named Liam who, in 2007, was diagnosed with stage 4 pediatric cancer at age 2. Liam lost his battle on January 24, 2011 and it broke our hearts and all the people that followed his battle. The organization his parents founded, Cookies For Kids’ Cancer has just granted $700000 in funds to aid pediatric cancer research and it’s their goal to raise millions more.

Cookies for Kids’ Cancer is not about one child or one type of pediatric cancer. It is about changing the facts of pediatric cancer for the better, forever. Important statistics to know:

• Cancer claims the lives of more children annually than any other disease – more than asthma, muscular dystrophy, multiple sclerosis & AIDS combined.
• 46 children per day are diagnosed with cancer totaling nearly 13,000 new cases per year.
• Cure rates have improved dramatically and advances in childhood cancer research has provided seminal insights into the cancer problem in general. Today, 4 out 5 children diagnosed with cancer can be cured.
• While long-term goals for the pediatric cancer community will focus on securing more federal funding for childhood cancer research (more than the 1-2% of the National Cancer Institute budget that is current expended), philanthropy plays a critical and essential role in the ongoing battle against childhood cancer.

Unfortunately, this story does not end with Liam. This blog is about a little girl named Alex, who was determined to fight her own battle by selling lemonade in her own front yard!

“Alexandra “Alex” Scott was born to Liz and Jay Scott in Manchester, Connecticut on January 18, 1996, the second of four children.
Shortly before her first birthday, Alex was diagnosed with neuroblastoma, a type of childhood cancer. The same kind of cancer that took Liam. On her first birthday, the doctors informed Alex’s parents that if she beat her cancer it was doubtful that she would ever walk again. Just two weeks later, Alex slightly moved her leg at her parents’ request to kick. This was the first indication of who she would turn out to be – a determined, courageous, confident and inspiring child with big dreams and big accomplishments.

By her second birthday, Alex was crawling and able to stand up with leg braces. She worked hard to gain strength and to learn how to walk. She appeared to be beating the odds, until the shattering discovery within the next year that her tumors had started growing again. In the year 2000, the day after her fourth birthday, Alex received a stem cell transplant and informed her mother, “when I get out of the hospital I want to have a lemonade stand.” She said she wanted to give the money to doctors to allow them to ”help other kids, like they helped me.” True to her word, she held her first lemonade stand later that year and raised an amazing $2,000 for “her hospital.”

While bravely battling her own cancer, Alex continued to hold yearly lemonade stands in her front yard to benefit childhood cancer research. News spread of the remarkable sick child dedicated to helping other sick children. People from all over the world, moved by her story, held their own lemonade stands and donated the proceeds to Alex and her cause. 

In August of 2004, Alex passed away at the age of 8, knowing that, with the help of others, she had raised over $1 million to help find a cure for the disease that took her life. Alex’s family – including brothers Patrick, Eddie, and Joey – and supporters around the world are committed to continuing her inspiring legacy through Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation.”

On June 11, 2011 you can help support Alex’s Lemonade Stand at Sunflower Market in Thornton, Colorado! They are hosting a lemonade stand from 10:30-2pm. You can help make a difference for children that are still battling this terrible illness. And while you’re there, please know, the when you purchase a Vuka, a portion of the proceeds of each bottle go twards Cookies For Kids’ Cancer.

Sometimes when we think of achieving our greatest human potential, we think of our physical feats and accomplishments – running that marathon, completing that triathlon, etc.  And sometimes we think we will fulfill our greatest potential when we make a difference for others, or find some purpose in our lives.

What if the two could meet?  That’s what Greg Woodburn discovered.  At the very young age of just 15, Greg started a non-profit organization called Give Running.  Greg was an avid runner, but his freshman year he was sidelined by an injury.   Not being able to run, Greg realized how very much he missed it.  Then it occurred to him that there were many children in many parts of the world who also couldn’t run, not because they were injured, but because they simply didn’t have shoes.

Give Running collects and donates used running shoes, in good condition, to underprivileged youth and orphans.  Many times the recipients of the donated running shoes are receiving the first pair of shoes they have ever owned.  The countries Greg’s group send shoes to include Sudan, Kenya, Uganda, Liberia, Mali, Mexico and Haiti.  As of March of this year, over 6,000 pairs of shoes have already been donated.

So, get out there and make it all happen!  Achieve the biggest physical challenges you can set your mind to, and see if along the way you can make someone else’s dream come true too!

We’ll be here, cheering you on through all of it.

Learn more at GiveRunning.org.

That’s the motto of Nick Vujicic, an inspirational and motivational speaker.  Nick was born with no arms and no legs.  Facing many obstacles and much ridicule as a young boy, Nick had times of great depression, even times he contemplated suicide.  He was, at that time, fixated on what he did not have.  “If only I had arms, if only I had legs.” he thought, “Then I’d be happy.”

As he grew into a courageous young man, Nick realized that appreciating what you do have and putting to use your great talents and skills – that’s where true happiness comes from.

He now travels the world, having spoken to more than 2 million adults and students in over 19 countries, sharing his message of never giving up and realizing the unique ways to fulfill your very own human potential.

Nick loves living life, he most enjoys golfing, fishing and swimming.  That’s right, with no arms, no legs and no worries.

Nick is a living example of the celebration of life over limitations.

See more of Nick’s amazing story at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8ZuKF3dxCY

Learn more:  http://www.attitudeisaltitude.com

What are your abilities?  What are your limitations?

You might have a hard time getting Bill Shannon to answer that second question.  Though he was born with a degenerative hip condition, nothing really limits him.   He has lived his life on crutches and instead of considering them a hindrance, he uses them as a tool, a tool for self-expression.  He has created his own style of dance, combining influences of breakdancing and skateboarding along with his unique tools. He glides seemingly effortlessly around his city and his life, no doubt entertaining and inspiring countless by-standers.  He’s even created a video on YouTube to teach others with crutches all of his moves.

Next time you think you can’t.  Remember Bill Shannon.  He’s a great example of the fulfillment of human potential.

If Bill can, you can.

Check out this music video:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxjrBd4WE2U

And learn more at his site:  http://whatiswhat.com

Less than two weeks from now, athletes from around the world will converge in Vancouver, British Columbia for the beginning of the 2010 Winter Olympics.  There are undoubtedly hundreds of stories of human beings reaching their full and amazing potential.  Dozens of stories I’m sure about the personal triumphs of people who risked everything to make their dreams come true.

We’d like to take a moment to highlight just one inspiring story.  If you watch the opening ceremony of the games, you’ll meet Clara Hughes.  She’s a 37-year-old champion cyclist and speed skater from Winnipeg who was chosen to bear Canada’s flag at the ceremony on February 12th.

Moments after Clara won her 5th Olympic medal, but very first gold, in the 5,000-metre speed-skating race in the Turin Games in 2006, she collapsed, unable to stand as her muscles had seized from the stress of her grueling race.

Just hours later, not only had Clara recovered enough to stand and field interviews from the press, she had recoverd enough to find inspiration in her moments of bliss and agony.

Addressing a group of reporters, she said, “I’ve been thinking all week about the meaning of sport and the reason for what motivates me and why I love to compete,” she said. “In some ways, I just started feeling like I don’t really know why.”

She then explained an insight she’d had during these games, while watching a televsion program about an organization called Right To Play in Uganda.  Right To Play’s mission is “To improve the lives of children in some of the most disadvantaged areas of the world by using the power of sport and play for development, health and peace.”

“I saw those kids smiling and I thought, you know what? That’s what it’s all about. Just that happiness . . . that play can give so much to the world. So much hope and so much positive energy.”

She surprised everyone by declaring right then that she would empty the $10,000 she had in a bank account at home and give it all to support the cause of Right To Play.  She challenged others to do the same.

“The chance to help others is a beautiful thing. To compete at the Olympics if it was just for myself, it’s not enough, it’s not very meaningful.”, she explained.

Clara’s commitment and values clearly embody all that the Olympic Games symbolize for Canada, and for the world.   We think she’s the perfect flag-bearer for these Olympic Games.

You can learn more about Right To Play at http://www.RightToPlay.com.

Vuka proudly supports The Kempe Foundation.  http://www.Kempe.org .

Let’s talk about Allison Jones. Allison grew up in Colorado and like many kids she loved the outdoors. From an early age she took up skiing and cycling and began to train competitively. But Allison is a little different. She was born with a misshapen femur in her right leg and at nine months old, her foot was amputated and her femur and tibia were fused together.

But that’s not the only thing that makes Allison different. At 25, she’s a world class athlete who has competed in dozens of international competitions. She is one of only a handful of athletes in the world who participates in both the summer and winter Paralympic Games. Pretty amazing. In the winter, she competes in the Super-G, Downhill, Giant Slalom and Slalom and continues to train and compete in Road and Track Cycling through the summer. Her list of Paralympic accomplishments includes 2 silvers in Salt Lake City, 4th and 6th in Athens, gold in Torino, and silver in Beijing!

Her love of racing has taken her across the world from competitions in Greece to Austria, Korea to Italy, France, Germany, Switzerland, China, and more. Over the next few months she’ll be living and training in Colorado and then on to the World Cup in January, US Nationals in February, and the 2010 Paralympic Games in March.

Not only is Allison a competitive athlete, she earned a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Denver in 2007, and in the future she hopes to design a range of sports prosthetics for both competitive and recreational athletes.

Allison is doing what she loves, excelling at it, and continuing to challenge herself every day.

To find out more about Allison and to view her upcoming races, visit http://sites.google.com/a/jonezyrocks.com/allison/

We wish her the best of luck this season and can’t wait to cheer her on!