It's that time of year again and my family is trying to make holiday party plans. Well every year, we either choose names or play the "White Elephant" game. This year, we have decided to do something different. We were considering donating to a charity instead. My ideas for a few charities are:
Operation Shoebox -- helping send care packages to military
Alzheimer's Association
St. Jude's Research Hospital
Anyone else have any other ideas I can offer to my family?
Thanks in advance!
Thanks to all for your wonderful suggestions.
The charities I listed do involve loved ones in my life. My grandmother is currently suffering from Alzheimer's Disease, my brother is serving in the military and will soon serve his 2nd tour over seas, and as far as St. Jude's...I just really believe in this organization and helping children.
I will certainly take all your suggestions into heart. Thank you again and God Bless!
Catholic Charities (all kinds of good work locally and nationally), Doctors Without Borders (a/k/a MSF - medecins sans frontieres) which is on the front lines of helping the poorest of the poor around the world, and Schools on Wheels, which provides tutoring and school supplies to homeless children and has organizations all over the country.
Wonderful idea, by the way!
My vote goes to the Ronald McDonald house as well. I was very sick as a child and had to stay at a hospital away from my hometown. My mother stayed at a Ronald McDonald house. It is such a wonderful charity.
Another great charity is the Make a Wish Foundation.
Please consider the Ronald McDonald House Charities. They are a wonderful organization that provides a home away from home for families of sick children!
I like St. Jude's. I also like Salvation Army and Catholic Charities.
* Catholic Charities (domestic aid) and Catholic Relief Services (international aid) -- both are currently assisting Hurricane Sandy victims in the US and Caribbean
* Operation Smile - performs cleft palate repair surgeries throughout the developing world. My aunt and cousin just returned last week from a trip to Kenya where they helped with the administrative side of the mission. Cleft palates are not just cosmetic issues--they can severely impact a child's ability to thrive for the simple fact that eating is very difficult, as well as some cultures have a view that children with birth defects are a sign of evil, so it can stigmatize them for life, and even threaten their lives.
Truckers Against Trafficking
http://truckersagainsttrafficking.org
It's a grassroots organization that provides a call center, informative speakers, posters, info and data correlation regarding kids who are kidnapped (and often enslaved in the sex trade). Highways/truck stops are one of the prime ways these abducted children are transported and then put to work...and this organization actively encourages truckers not to turn a blind eye to what they witness. I was in tears reading a couple of their success stories.
Great idea for your gift exchange!
With all of the storms there are lots of opportunities with Red Cross, UMCOR, Disaster Relief.
Here are some more:
Samaritans Purse
Relay for Life
Living Water International
Imagine No Malaria
The possibilities are endless
Remote Area Medical (They travel to cities across the country and provide free medical care. They also go to remote areas worldwide -- the original intended target before the U.S. need became so apparent.)
DonorsChoose.org (Allows people to choose school projects to support ... teachers post their requests. You can choose based on greatest need, subject, location, etc.)
Local food bank
I have found that a person's lifestyle often decides what charities they find appropriate for themselves.
My personal choices are:
Habitat for Humanity. They are a world wide organization that helps people to own their own home and during the process the family actually are required to participate in any way they can. It is often after they have worked over 250 hours that they even get to know what home/homes are in their possible future. They work in any way they can on any number of homes, our local chapter can have anywhere from 3-10 houses being rehabbed at any given time because people are always leaving us their homes when they pass on. They have also left us parts of their fortunes along with other charities. So when a family is working the organization may be working on several different homes in different parts of the City and there may be several families ahead of them. BUT the next available home may not be where the next family in line wants to live or have their kids go to school....so that home may be up for the next person to choose from.
Habitat can be asked to keep all the money in your local area or it can be ear tagged to go overseas, or even spread out equally to both.
Another charity that I support is Big Brothers/Big Sisters. There isn't one in my local town so I do support the one in my old college town. They really try to make sure the kids are safe and that they put kids with Bigs that have similar interests so that they actually get to do stuff during their time together that is fun.
I think that if you call around you can find local charities such as food banks, churches that provide Christmas gifts to kids, other organizations that will have some sort of local community impact. I would rather give to those than to some huge organization that spends over 50% of it's income on salaries, although those agencies to need staff they also are much larger that your local agencies/community organizations.
Salvation Army and Community Action are both community organizations that could really use some cash to help with their Christmas programs.
You can always go to child welfare or some other state agency too and ask them if they have a worth family that could use a holiday sponsor. My daughter was selected as one local department stores family and they took donations in November and December. They paid off all her traffic fines, got her license reinstated, someone donated a small family style car and they tagged it and insured it for 6 months, she got used furniture donated, the kids nearly got whole new wardrobes, some used and some new, she got 3 TV's that people didn't need anymore, she got her kitchen cabinets filled with donated canned goods, etc.....she was just getting out of rehab and was doing really well. She is still doing well and this support was something totally unexpected. She didn't think she would ever get her traffic fines paid off. For someone who has no income $600 is the same as our national deficit...no chance of ever being paid.
If you think about it and do some local research I think you will find some organization or family that is worthy. Even your local school might be able to guide you to find someone.
I'm partial to St. Judes.
I also partial to local charities in my community. I like to know what my money is going to benefit, and how much is getting consumed in overhead. Many of my local nonprofits are all volunteers, and I know my money is being well used.
Is there an organization that has made an impact on your family as a whole? Scouting? 4H? A particular college? Something military related?
Whatever you decide on, I would suggest doing a little research to make sure they aren't one of the organizations whose CEO's get paid $750k annually. Just because it's a non-profit does not mean that salaries and benefits are kept in check.
What a wonderful idea!
Catholic Charities
The Red Cross
St. Jude's
My extended family gets the name of a needy family from the church every year, then we collect, then give the money to the church who gets it to the family in time for Christmas shopping, dinner purchases, whatever their biggest need may be. It's been very fulfilling for us.
Habitat for Humanity & the good old Salvation Army
We adopt a family from the Salvation Army program for Christmas. It's fun as you get to shop for specific items, they let you know the ages, gender and interests of the kids. I've found I can get a lot of bang for our buck and we love picking out clothing, toys and a holiday meal that will go to particular families in our community.
It's ALMOST my favorite Christmas tradition!
The A21 Campaign. It's an organization that works to free women from human trafficking and they are extremely effective!
Also check out Tiny Hands - they also rescue people who have been trafficked. We donate to several charities, but abolishing slavery is the one that is very close to my heart right now.
Samaritan's Purse
http://www.samaritanspurse.org/
You can pick where you want your donation to go, either most needed, or say you'd like to send a dairy cow to a starving family in africa you can do that too. It's not just sending food,clothing, etc, it's sending them supplies or even vocational training to help the become independent. Things that last beyond the next meal.
I really like St. Jude's. I also love the Make A Wish Foundation. You can usually donate to your local chapter if you want. I love the idea of giving something really special to a family going through such hard times. I also give to our local children's hospital.
Other than those, I tend to find small, local charities focused on helping women and/or children. I've given in the past to a local children's home, a women's shelter, etc.
What a nice idea!
When people ask me for the name of an organization to donate to in my name, my list includes
Planned Parenthood
ASPCA
Human Rights Campaign
The Butterfly Fund/DEBRA
we always give to the Salvation Army the most, and some here and there to others.
Make a Wish, Toys 4 Tots & St Jude's are my top 3.
My favorite is a local charity called Santa's Helpers. I worked there every Christmas while I was in college. It didn't feel like work, I mean I got so much more out of it than I put in.
Our daughter was born with a large facial tumor on her nose and upper lip called a hemangioma so this charity is very near and dear to my heart. Many people do not know about the Vascular Birthmark Foundation but they literally perform miracles. Our daughter would not have received all of the 11 surgeries she needed without them. Check out their website:
St. Judes
2nd Harvest Food Bank (local)
Sleep Country ~ they take donations for local foster children
We live in Plano so I love Minnie's Food Pantry and Hope's Door!
I give to the Salvation Army.
My mom worked as a Social Services director for SA for years. I also volunteer at their summer camps and during the holidays at their food banks and toy store for the poor.
SA does a tremendous amount for the community...and the wonderful part is, the money you donate helps those people LOCALLY all year. The operating costs are kept very low so that the donations can go as far as possible.
My personal favorites are:
-The Arbor Day Foundation: you can sponsor a tree in a national US forest that needs it the most; trees are only $1 (I think there is a min. of $12 or something like that); which is great because you can plant 2 dozen trees in a national forest where it is needed, it is local (i.e. supporting the needs we have in the United States) and it is good for the environment
-World Wildlife Fund: you can sponsor an endangered species at $25, $50, $125 and up; you can choose which area of the world, you can choose which species, it tells you about each one, how great of a need they have, how endangered and close to extinction they are, etc. You get a little plush animal in the mail as a keepsake. I like this one because it also goes to a greater need than one would think (much like Arbor Day Foundation and trees).
No, I'm not a "tree hugger" just someone who tries to do good!!
I second the Ronald McDonald house! That is where our donations went this year.
We have also given to Salvation Army.
Good luck!
