What charitable activity do you do?

[slpeters]

I grew up Mormon and my parents tithed. They always taught us how important that was. As I got older, and particularly when I came out, I remember having a concersation with my Mother where I told her that I wasn't really comfortable giving money to the Church. I'll always remember how she sat me down and told me that that was alright, but that I then needed to sit down and decide who I thought was making the world a better place and "tithe" there. As we got older it seems like we have less time for volunteering but we also have more money for donating. We still do at least a full 10% to organizations like Lambda Legal, Equality Illinois, the Human Rights Campaign and the Howard Brown Health Center.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

I grew up Mormon and my parents tithed. They always taught us how important that was. As I got older, and particularly when I came out, I remember having a concersation with my Mother where I told her that I wasn't really comfortable giving money to the Church. I'll always remember how she sat me down and told me that that was alright, but that I then needed to sit down and decide who I thought was making the world a better place and "tithe" there. As we got older it seems like we have less time for volunteering but we also have more money for donating. We still do at least a full 10% to organizations like Lambda Legal, Equality Illinois, the Human Rights Campaign and the Howard Brown Health Center.

I love the way your mom put that

 

[cabanafrau]

Very true but but I don't wanna "share".
I let others chose what touches their heart w/o input from me since I'm confident they know how they feel.

I don't think it's unusual for someone to have the desire to be generous and be looking for places of need they are unaware of. Afraid I don't at all understand being unwilling to offer up ideas.

 

[KPeterso]

I donate through work to several charities including Make A Wish, a local ALS organization (Grandfather had ALS), a local epilepsy organization (thinking of my niece), and Ballet for All Kids (also for my niece, this is a group for children with special needs). I like that my employer matches all of those donations to give the groups double the funds! I also always donate to food drives, school drives, toy drives and other like things through work. I also like to visit the food pantry to donate time or goods.

 

[jaybirdsmommy]

Things we do / have done:

A local foundation that provides services and other things for foster children - they do school supply drives and every spring they do a bathing suit/ towel drive. We usually donate to one or both of those. A good friend of mine who passed away several years ago was a foster parent, I do it in her memory.

Toys for Tots - my Dad always made sure to donate to this one, I continue to do so.

Children of the Harvest does a shoebox drive similar to the Operation Christmas Child one, but for kids living on Native American reservations in the US. I love that it includes kids up to 18 years old. I always do an older boy since those are the ones that get donated the least. I used to do OCC, but have had concerns about it in recent years. I love the idea of getting school supplies into the hands of kids that might not otherwise be able to afford them, but have read a few articles about the effect of inundating local economies with boxes full of cheap stuff. I'm taking a break from them this year.

I like Heifer International, too. It's not just giving someone a handout, it's giving them a potential source of income as well. I bought a flock of chickens one year in my Dad's name. He was absolutely furious, I couldn't get him to understand that I hadn't bought the chickens for him and they wouldn't be showing up on his doorstep for him to take care of. Once he finally understood that they were going to someone else he was much happier with the idea.

 

[aprilchem]

I work with an organization called Circles International, which works with families who are living at the poverty level to develop skills and techniques to become financially self-sufficient. Our motto is "A hand up, not a hand out". Volunteers are paired with a person or family who is living in poverty, and over the course of two years we meet with them weekly (or more than once a week) to mentor them, assist them, and educate them, with the support of a team of individuals involved with the organization.

My two year commitment with my first family is just ending, and that person has gone from 10 people living in a 2-bedroom apartment to a single-family home, a stable job, food security, and money in the bank. It's been a really, really hard pathway, but it's been worth it.

I also run a program that trains science teachers to teach in low-income school districts, and I head another program designed to encourage a particular underrepresented minority to pursue careers in science, while finding money for them to attend college.

 

[starry_solo]

I do a few, mainly associated with the local legal community.

Riverside County Bar Foundation, Inc. has a few programs that I'm involved in.

The Elves Program - providing holiday gifts to needy families in Riverside County
https://www.allforgood.org/projects/GkXzAo8d

Project Graduate - helping foster youth graduate from high school. The foster youth is paired with an attorney who acts as their educational representative/advocate (I help them fundraiser)

Reading Day - donating books to an elementary school and reading one's favorite child's book to a group of students

Then, I also collect toys and stuffed animals (new or gently used) for foster children to be handed out when the kids have to go to court.

 

[Imzadi]

I don't have a lot of money to donate but I try to donate to St. Jude's Children's Hospital once per year.

For anyone in NYC right now, St Jude's has opened a 2 day pop-up store in lower Manhattan. One can buy ornaments & gifts, and have hot cocoa while make DIY ornaments & holiday cards which will be given to the kids in the hospitals. And of course, one can just donate.

Marlo Thomas was there earlier today. She may pop in tomorrow again.

The pop-up store is at:

168 Bowery |
Friday, December 7th, 2018 at 10:00AM to
Saturday, December 8th, 2018 at 7:00PM

https://www.broadwayworld.com/artic...ch-Hospitals-NYC-Holiday-Pop-Up-Shop-20181112

Pics of the pop-up store:
https://www.facebook.com/StJudeNYNJ...XGGCwVzsmHQOstHsfNeUxSUQjVafh0xRvjA&__tn__=-R

 

[dish rag]

I do a few, mainly associated with the local legal community.

Riverside County Bar Foundation, Inc. has a few programs that I'm involved in.

The Elves Program - providing holiday gifts to needy families in Riverside County
https://www.allforgood.org/projects/GkXzAo8d

Project Graduate - helping foster youth graduate from high school. The foster youth is paired with an attorney who acts as their educational representative/advocate (I help them fundraiser)

Reading Day - donating books to an elementary school and reading one's favorite child's book to a group of students

Then, I also collect toys and stuffed animals (new or gently used) for foster children to be handed out when the kids have to go to court.

I'm aware of the stuffed animal charity and that is a good one. Some police departments give them out to children in certain instances, it's very important.

 

[jiminyC_fan]

We donate and volunteer for the Chelsea Hutchison Foundation. It was founded after a couple lost their teen daughter to SUDEP. (sudden unexplained death in Epilepsy) They lost their mom earlier in what they now believe to have been SUDEP as well. They help provide service dogs, monitors, Emfit watches and other needed things to help keep people safe from seizures. They also like to educate others about SUDEP. Most doctors will not discuss that Epilepsy is a threat to life. Our daughter had Epilepsy and I asked that very question and was told that it was most definitely not a threat. Now we have 4 more family members with Epilepsy (twin grandkids, my brother and also my niece). It is a local charity but they do help people all over the US.

I find it odd that someone would think I should keep my charity to myself. How else would people learn of a charity that they might find important to them?

 

[aprilgail]

I volunteer at local charity that helps children with cancer and underprivileged children. One night a week I volunteer at a local cat rescue to feed and water all the cats there and I also volunteer with a local organization that helps families in my town- for each school break we send home 100 boxes of food to needy families because the kids don't get their free lunch and breakfast during the breaks and many go hungry during the breaks.

 

[Colleen27]

I don't have a lot of extra to give right now, so I tend to keep it close to home and with causes that have a personal significance - a scholarship fund a friend established in memory of her little brother, local school and 4H and scout projects, the single-family shelter that a local woman runs, things like that. This time of year, I try to support the Old Newsboys fundraisers for Christmas gifts/dinners for needy families in the community because they do a lot of good in our own small community, and I'm quite fond of the "blessings in a backpack" program that distributes weekend food packages to kids from poor families to ensure they aren't going hungry on the days when they don't get their free breakfast/lunch at school.

 

[Grumpy's Gal]

If anyone ever thinks they’d like to do something to help a teacher or a classroom, please visit donorschoose. Org

You can choose at random or you can search by your state or town.

It just takes a minute. A teacher might say that they need new books and the cost is $45. If person A donates $15 and person B donates $20, you can see that they need $10 more to meet their goal. You can help in any amount you like.

 

[#1hoosierfan]

Our big thing is we foster dogs for a local rescue. We also financially support and hold fundraisers for them. Absolutely 100% goes directly to the dogs and cats.

On a much smaller scale we donate to the local homeless outreach. I did actually collect extra Halloween candy and this is where it went.

We also donate to help fill food baskets for kids over school breaks.