Who is Your Charity of Choice?

give regularly to the local food bank

Toys for Tots

easier for me to specify the one i am NOT giving to : the local police association !!!

they ask for money about once a month (phone call) and ask for support for shrine circus , booklet for teens on drugs (or not yet on drugs) ... ...

and they'll get their picture into the newspaper with the caption :

the local police association donated $xxxx to XYZ

GRRR !!!

I keep a supply of canned stew in the cupboard to give to the occasional people scouring through the garbage bins below my window. Anyone needing and willing to stand inside the dumpster searching through garbage bags for cans and tidbits of food when it is 30 degrees outside is my first choice for local charity.

On Thanksgiving evening I took out some trash and was startled by a head popping out of the dumpster. I went back inside, got a can of stew, a cup of hot tea, an old blanket and five bucks for the toothless old man who was without a coat and shivering.

I can't afford to donate enough to official charities to make any kind of impact so I just do what I can on an individual basis and hope it gives them a small bit of comfort.

Our "favorites" are:
The Smile Train
Boston Rescue Mission
New England Home for Little Wanderers

One cool thing about the company I work for is that they will make matching
donations to these charities.

Last year a friend and I adopted an Iraqi woman and her son through the International Institute here in St. Louis. We bought stuff for her to set up an apartment....dishes, blankets, towels, silverware, a rug and tons of other stuff. This year we adopted an abused woman and her two year old son from Lutheran Family and Children's services. Toys, clothes and gift certificates at Target and the grocery store. There are so many opportunities for giving right nearby. I would rather do that than something impersonal.

Me too.

Ah let's see now...:

I always give to the "Salvos" (Salvation Army), because they do any incredibly good job of looking after the homeless & out of luck here in Oz.
The Red Cross, when they come door knocking.
Always buy a copy of The Big Issue from my local vendor. (Homeless, too. Have gotten to know him quite well.) I often don't get around to actually reading it though.
Street beggars in my local shopping precinct. Not every single one, mind.
And the Lort Smith Animal Hospital when I'm flush. They do an incredible job with unwanted & dumped animals & receive zilch government subsidy. Open 365 days a year. I've adopted many a pet from there, as well. Often thought of volunterring some time at Lort Smith, too, but I don't think I could hack it. Too heart-breaking by far.

As for volunteer work, I teach English to a newly arrived (Arabic) refugee at her home. (Had to do a proper course to do that!)

For those on Facebook... Chase is donating $5 million to community non-profits. Each person can vote for up to 20 favorite charities. I finally joined Facebook yesterday so I could participate in this event.

My votes so far have gone to "Saving Tiny Hearts"



and Threadhead Record Foundation



I've also voted for a few other pet projects on behalf of friends. I have 12 votes left. I'd be happy to support other projects if you let me know what they are.

http://apps.facebook.com/chasecommunitygiving/

Children in Need:


www.centrepoint.org.uk/countdown31

NPR, PBS, American Cancer Society

I also donate platelets to the New York Blood Center.

Not only Second Harvest Food Bank, but also to Habitat for Humanities; these are my two favorites. When I travel to poor villages in foreign countries, I usually give donations of school supplies and/or some money. Once in a blue moon, I will treat a hobo to a meal at a fast food restaurant.

I give to Australian Red Cross when there is a disaster somewhere.

Other than that, I am focusing on micro-finance.

I have chosen Kiva and The Hunger Project.

epilepsy foundation

I try not to pick favorites in this field. I mean they are all pretty much worth wild. Minus the ones that are scams or the ones that only give a percentage to those who need it. those can be marked off right away.

In the past I have given to:
Aids research
Flood Victims
Breast Cancer Research
Walk for Life
those are just a few. I haven't quite figured out who I will be giving to this holiday season. I think I will be doing Toys for Tots and Make a Wish foundation.

we regularly donate books to this used book store, it's about 2 hours from our house, we make a day of it and tour around the country side





Not for profit bookstore located in the former motel at Fernlea with a board of five directors.

The bookstore is staffed cost free by a retired teacher librarian and a team of volunteers. Profits are used to help education in the Third World and in particular to assist a new teachers' training school in Fort Liberte, Haiti; which opened in October 1992, and the three secondary schools of the town. Approximately 90% of the books are donated by area communities and individuals.


i also cleared out my digital media over the last year, at the beginning of the year i took some of the money i got and bought this 20th anniversary subscription from merge records



All proceeds from SCORE! Merge Records: The First 20 Years will benefit charities selected by our 14 curators. Below is the thoughtful and diverse list of charities they’ve chosen, with links to the organizations’ websites:

826NYC (www.826nyc.org/)
826 Tutoring Centers (www.826national.org)
The Anti-Racism team of the Shalom Project (www.gbgm-umc.org/greenstreet/the_community/)
CITTA (www.citta.org/)
Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn (www.developdontdestroy.org/php/latestnews_ArchiveDate.php)
Doctors Without Borders (www.doctorswithoutborders.org/)
DONORSCHOOSE (www.donorschoose.org/homepage/main.html)
Durham Rescue Mission (www.durhamrescuemission.org/)
EFF - Electronic Frontier Foundation (www.eff.org/)
Growing Voices (www.growingvoices.org)
JDRF - Juvenile Diabetes research Foundation (www.jdrf.org)
The Land Institute (www.landinstitute.org/)
Oxfam America (http://www.oxfamamerica.org)
United Poultry Concerns (www.upc-online.org)

still support the local food bank

This year, the World Food Programme:

"In July 2009, the agency reported that it was forced to cut services due to insufficient funding[9]. These include regions of Uganda, Chad, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast and Guinea. The BBC reports that this shortfall is due to the current economic crisis which has increased the number of people in need and reduced the amount richer nations are willing to donate. The agency says it needs $6.7 billion in the current financial year. However, UN members have promised only $3.7 billion, and have actually provided only $1.8 billion, barely a quarter of the total the WFP asked for."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Food_Programme

I have two charities that I frequently donate to: Care and Save the Children.

Oh, and WHYY of course, my local NPR station. But to me that doesn't feel like donating to a charity -- more like a user fee enforced through an honor system.