Your Favorite Charity

Jongfan said:

Local Heroes is more of a private organization run by families and volunteers with relatives active in the military. We gather donations of items the soldiers wish for and ship packages filled with things such as cd's, lip balm, shampoos, sports clothing, soap, local news papers, etc. Many of the volunteers spend a tremendous amount of time gathering donated items, getting businesses to contribute for postage and such.

Click to expand...

We have an adopt-a-family program locally that supports Idaho National Guard spouses and children. We split up the needs of each family and you can choose one, some or all to step in and help with. One of my favorite things is a sponsored care package day. The kids come and get to pick from all the donated items and send a care package to Mom or Dad overseas.
A lot of love goes into each one of those boxes.

I donate lots and lots of my time to the local VFW (Vetarans of Foreign Wars), by helping them keep the kitchen clean, cook for them (I buy all the food), tend the bar (as a volunteer), edit their monthly newsletter, lend a hand where it is needed and such.

Hubby and I are also paying for a little girl in India through the Christian Childrens Fund. We chose that one because they don't spend most of the donated money towards their own administration costs.

I also donate of my time and effort to help cleaning homes of members at the local VFW if they don't have any other means of getting help. Not regularly, but in cases of illness or a move...

We also participate in about every biker-run they have here in town.

That's it.

I'd love to support the ASPCA, but right now I can't afford it with all the other undertakings we have.

St. Judes (Children's) Research Hospital
A smattering of local and college student-oriented funds.

Umm, click the "help someone read" link in my signature block.

Kiva.org (link in sig).

Where else can you do so much, one-on-one, to help so many - and keep the money?

Kiva arranges 'micro-loans' to people all over the world. I got hooked on them when I saw a news story where one woman had asked for a loan of $25 dollars to buy seed for her family garden. That's all she needed... $25. For seed. I literally wept.

I looked around my beautiful home with its full pantry... and I thought of this little old woman who only wanted $25 for seeds to grow food to feed her family. She didn't want a hand-out. She wanted a loan.

So I went to Kiva and I checked them out... and I fell in love. You don't earn interest. You don't get to deduct the money as a charible donation. But you CAN make a difference in the lives of people all over the world - not faceless people, either. You see their pictures, read their stories, get followup reports... and as they pay their loans off (at a successful rate of over 99% pay backs!), you get to loan the same money out again. And again. And again.

And if you decide you can't afford it, or need the money, as soon as the loan is paid back, you can have Kiva send you a check.

It just about killed me, it did... $25 for seeds. Not a new Lexus or a piece of jewelry or a new flat-panel HDTV... seeds.

Yeah. Kiva.

And Paralyzed Vets of America.

And Pets and People, a local no-kill shelter.

One that I haven't seen listed that I've been big on in the past is Operation Smile. Why? Because it's kids who have deformities, which can plague someone their entire life with esteem issues to not even being able to properly eat.

Lately, I've been doing political stuff.

Oh! And Locks of Love, too - you donate at least 10 inches of hair and they'll turn it into a child-size wig for kids suffering from hair loss due to disease or cancer treatment.