Even the hardest hearts can make room for charity.

Think of the stingiest person you know. It could be a good friend or a close relative. They scrimp and save and hold onto and account for every penny but then spend freely on gold-plated puzzles, platinum-specked designer nail polish, diamond-encrusted cell phones. But ask them to give a buck to charity and you hear: “Can’t spare it. On a budget. Got bills. Not right now. Maybe later.”

That’s OK, because every tightwad knows there’s other ways to be charitable. No cash? No problem. Bring groceries to a shut-in.  Send an e-mail to someone who’s lost a family member. Donate books or clothes to a homeless shelter. Everybody’s got a soft spot for something and charity doesn’t have to cost a dime.

For The Cheap
Can’t part with a penny, then let someone else do it for you. Change your search engine to http://www.goodsearch.com http://www.goodsearch.com/whosdoinggoodpage.aspx?goodid=350

GoodSearch gives your favorite charity a penny with every search.

Add your favorite charity http://www.goodsearch.com/addcharity.aspx

Share with friends http://www.goodsearch.com/getinvolved.aspx#email

Pennies add up in a year.

For The Lazy
Can’t quite get off the couch or the computer long enough to support a charity? Then sit and click. Support six charities at once EVERY DAY with the CLICK of your cursor (Hunger, Breast Cancer, Literacy, Children, Rain Forests, Animals):

http://www.theanimalrescuesite.com/clickToGive/home.faces?siteId=3&link=ctg_ars_home_from_lit_home_sitenav

For The Indecisive
Help the helpless. Children, animals, those struck by natural disasters:

Second Chance Dobes: http://www.secondchancedobes.com/donation_form/donations.php

Hollow Creek Farm: http://hollowcreekfarm.org/animal_rescue/adoptions/donations

The Red Cross: http://www.redcross.org/portal/site/en/menuitem.d8aaecf214c576bf971e4cfe43181aa0/?vgnextoid=46f51a53f1c37110VgnVCM1000003481a10aRCRD

The Jane Goodall Institute: http://www.janegoodall.org/

For The Hard of Heart
So you don’t want to give to the poor, hungry, animals or children? Then go with your gut. A  hobby, interest, religious or political belief and support it. Sign a petition online, forward e-mails, write a letter to a congressman, go to the events. There’s nothing wrong with following your heart, no matter how hardened. http://www.charitynavigator.org/

Make Room For Charity
Take a few minutes daily to click a button. Search charitably online, pick a charity and stand by it. Sure the economy…times are tough…money’s tight… But to all the excuses,  share this:

“Goodness is the only investment that never fails.”
- Henry David Thoreau -

Who Will You Help Today?
©2010 Rebekah Brown

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A sad song, a celebrity and a TV ad ask for money to help a charitable effort. Moved to tears, you go to the website and donate. Maybe you call its 800 number. Commercials give the perception that a charity is safe, solid. The immediacy drives donations nationally.

Consider Donating to a Local Charity
Actually, charities needing the most help aren’t on TV, they’re too small. Find a local charity, right around the corner, in your city, or your state. Managed by people with the guts and commitment to make a difference, small charities can’t afford expensive commercials, celebrities or TV time. Consider supporting a local charity and drop the donation in the mail. It may not have a website, but you can find its address in the yellow pages online.

Charities are Struggling…TO HELP
Charities help abandoned children, the homeless, disabled seniors, neglected and abused animals, endangered wildlife, research to end disease. If you need proof and have to see what a charity really does, then take a visit or be a volunteer for a day. Find out firsthand what goes on and you’re likely to get a wake up call. But you’ll understand where help is needed and know what it’s like for charities that are struggling to help.

Two Dollars = Two Miracles
Charities know how to stretch a penny, so every dollar received is like a miracle coming through the door.  No amount is too small.  Give what you can. Understaffed and overworked staff divide dollars into food, medical care, clothing, bedding, housing for those they help. Giving $2 to a charity may seem a small act, but it means a lot.

Give What Charities Want and Need Most
Small charities make big differences saving lives and doing the work that most people don’t have the heart for. Choose a little charity, stick with it and go by and lend a hand. Go to its fundraisers. Donate needed items. Volunteer during hard times. Write a newsletter. Sponsor a food drive. There are many ways to give what charities want and need most. Money, yes. But in hard times, volunteering is priceless.

Who Will You Help Today?
©2010 Rebekah Brown

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Charities around the world are challenged by an economy taking turns no one can predict. Cash is always king to charities, but maybe your heart is bigger than your budget right now. You want to volunteer, but your schedule is stacked. Instead, turn your compulsion for social media into support for your charity of choice.

Be generous by using your time online spreading the messages of a charity. If you can’t donate dollars, chances are, someone in your network of friends, family and business associates will be able to give something. Socialize for social change. Choose a charity you have a passion for and share relevant information with people you know–and even some people you don’t.

It could be a shocking video, a compelling reason to take to action, a cry for help or a plea to pledge money. If it’s a worthy cause and the charity touches another person’s heart as it’s touched yours, you’ll make a difference.

Good Search

• Every time you search, a penny goes to your favorite charity
• Make http://www.goodsearch.com/ your search engine
• Powered by Yahoo

Twitter

• Follow your favorite charities and list them
• Retweet videos, pictures, posts to your followers

Facebook

• Share charity videos, photos, events, donation requests, links
• Like your charities
• Comment on their walls

YouTube

• Share the charity’s videos, rate them, like them, link them to or from your blog or website
• Subscribe to the charity’s channel

E-mail

• Share your e-mail address with a charity
• The charity will contact you to vote, write, call, invite others to support legislation, change minds

Channel your urges to chat digitally and affect charities from the comfort of your computer. Who Will You Help Today?

©2010 Rebekah Brown

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Father’s Day could use an awareness campaign. The date isn’t easy to remember because it falls oddly every year. It’s in June, on a weekend, but most people have to look at a calendar to be sure of the date.

Considering the fact it celebrates a parent, it would be nice to have an easy, established day just like Christmas, Valentine’s Day or Halloween.

Instead, the reminders come late. A week before Father’s Day, gun store, hardware store, golf equipment, weird lawn and garden tool ads appear on TV offering gift ideas. Dads deserve better.

Even Moms get better gifts. Advertising for Mother’s Day starts a month in advance for jewelry, flowers, candy, dinner. Kids make cute things at school, bring it home wrapped just in time for her special day. Schools are out for Father’s Day.

The only thing certain about Father’s Day is that some Dad, somewhere is getting a tie–whether he wants one or not.

I should know. I made one for my Dad when I was in first grade on Father’s Day morning. It was nice. Psychedelic material cut with a pair of zigzag-edged scissors. For even more style, I sewed a button on it (first grade). But, Dad wore it.

Give and Give Big in Honor of Dad

Meaningful gifts are abundant online when you donate to a charity in honor of Dad.

Be generous. The more you give in a down economy, the more you’ll remember it. The bigger the donation, the more he’ll appreciate it. Make Father’s Day a day to remember. Here are several charities rated by Charity Navigator:

Animal Welfare Association: http://tinyurl.com/37hq6st

Bread for the World: http://tinyurl.com/23b3ada

Cancer Care: http://www.cancercare.org/support_us/

Disabled American Veterans: http://cst.dav.org/donate/Default.aspx

Who Will You Help Today?

©2010 Rebekah Brown

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The Ulvila family from Kalispell, MT., was enjoying a quiet morning on a Fort Lauderdale beach the first week of May. The sun was shining and the waves were crashing unusually hard and rough on the shore.

A young Bonito washed up and Mr. Ulvila showed his son and daughter the fish and tossed it back into the ocean. A small act of kindness to save a life. It was second nature to help the fish as it gasped for air.

There was no sign of oil-covered birds, suffocating fish, dead wildlife from the BP oil spill. The damage was beginning miles from beaches where hundreds of thousands of gallons of oil gushed freely into the ocean every day, one mile below sea level.

The Slick Has Hit the Sand
One month later,  brownish, reddish oil and tar balls hit the sand on scattered shore lines of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. Residents of Gulf Shores, AL., tell NPR that there is a strong smell of oil inland. The  New York Times reports the oil could be carried as far as Cape Hatteras, N.C. Motionless birds covered in tar-thick oil, suffocate and die on-camera as TV news teams fly overhead. Dolphins swim just below the murky, oily surface water as seen via YouTube stories shared by ex-fishermen. BP streams its live feed of the spill, its efforts to stop the catastrophe scrutinized by the world.

Snapshot of the BP Oil Spill

• The size of the slick is estimated to be between 2,500 and 9,100 square miles
• NPR and the Associated Press reported that 500,000 to 1 million gallons pour into the ocean daily
• Wildlife is dying: pelicans, egrets, terns, ducks, snowy plovers, seagulls, dolphins, whales, turtles, manatees, fish, shrimp, oysters, crabs, corals
• BP may not be able to contain the leak until August, possibly December
• The oil flow is carrying crude under water at up to 100 miles per day

An Experiment in Natural Disasters
Scientists and experts say the oil spill will affect nature in ways never seen before and its influence cannot be predicted. From the hurricane season to the oceans’, wetlands’, and human ecosystems…the spill’s affects are unfathomable. It is an experiment in natural disasters.

What to Do
Helping is as easy as dropping a fish back into water. Donate to existing, established organizations to allow them to continue helping where the damage is worst and while salvage and prevention efforts are still possible. Here are charities rated and recommended by Charity Navigator: http://www.charitynavigator.org/

Suncoast Seabird Sanctuary: http://tinyurl.com/39q8wnj

Oceana: http://tinyurl.com/2chxopo

American Bird Conservancy: http://tinyurl.com/3yk2lbe

Greenpeace: http://tinyurl.com/243zcs5

The Greater New Orleans Foundation: http://tinyurl.com/32cvegq

National Audubon Society: http://tinyurl.com/29wsjkz

National Wildlife Federation: http://tinyurl.com/2dxrv5q

Who Will You Help Today?

©2010 Rebekah Brown

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Not Every Story Has a Happy Ending
Waylin, a 24-year-old horse rescued by Hollow Creek Farm, wasn’t able to be nursed back to health, and was euthanized January 10. Waylin was starved and neglected by an  owner for too long.

Emergency care, medication, hand feeding and a warm home with Hollow Creek Farm could not undo the abuse suffered. Waylin was gently and respectfully cared for by the staff at HCF, if only for a few days.

Donations Go Directly, Only to Animal Care
Hollow Creek Farm has been rescuing animals from severe neglect, abuse and certain death since 2002. It takes on only the worst medical and behavioral cases. It uses 100 percent of all donations only for the care of the animals. Donations are needed desperately.

Donate to Hollow Creek Farm:
http://tinyurl.com/25medcc

Send donations to:
Hollow Creek Farm
P.O. Box 147
Sharon, SC 29742

HCF is a 501(c)3 organization. All donations go directly and only to food and medical care for the animals. Donations may be designated to specific causes or animals at the farm. The wish list is long. All donors are mailed tax deductible receipts.

Committed Volunteers Welcome
There is a man and a woman who run the farm by themselves but for the animals. Their hearts are so big that their pockets are empty despite working full time and doing what they can to get donations. They buy the food, build the fences and structures, mop the floors, buy and administer the meds, pick up and drop off, train, and care for the animals night and day. Many, many more committed volunteers are needed. There are never enough.

Rehabilitation is the Difference
There are animal rescues galore. What sets Hollow Creek Farm apart is its commitment to rehabilitation. Dogs that bite, can’t walk on leashes, pee on floors, chew are rehabbed and placed in permanent homes. Horses that can’t be broken are trained and are adopted. The key is the unique training process and the commitment to the turnaround.

Medical Miracles
Hollow Creek Farm takes in animals that have been shot, wounded, starved, beaten, and neglected. At HCF, animals get necessary medical treatment from simple antibiotics to heal a blind goats’ eyesight, to complex surgeries to correct deformities. It does not receive free vet care or vet discounts and pays full price to care for the animals.

See Hollow Creek Farm’s adoptable animals:
www.hollowcreekfarm.petfinder.org

Learn about Hollow Creek Farm guests:
www.hollowcreekfarm.org

Who will you help today?

©2010 Rebekah Brown

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Mother’s Day and you’re sending flowers–again.

Flowers are beautiful, flattering and exciting to receive…they’re also fast and easy to order online. But it’s just as simple to donate to a charity.

This is your Mother. It’s her day. You want her to know you put time and care into choosing her gift because of all that she’s done for you and you love her.

All Moms say that it’s the thought that counts, so put some thought into her gift and be creative. You know what matters to your Mom. You know what she talks about, what’s important to her, what she likes, what her hobbies are.

Show her she raised a kind, giving adult by donating to a charity in her name. Or donate to a charity that honors mothers or supports women. Here are a few direct links:

Meals On Wheels Association of America

http://www.mealsformoms.org/

Women For Women International
https://mywomenforwomen.org/donation/mothers-day-donate-form.php?wfw=MDGIVPS10

American Cancer Society

http://www.cancer.org/docroot/DON/content/DON_0.1_Gifts_in_Honor.asp

American Heart Association

https://donate.americanheart.org/ecommerce/aha/aha_index.jsp

RAINN: The nation’s largest anti-sexual assault organization

http://www.rainn.org/support-rainn

National Coalition Against Domestic Violence

http://www.ncadv.org/donate.php

Tips:

• All forms of payment are accepted (check, credit card, online, phone, snail mail)
• Pick a rated charity found on www.charitynavigator.org
• Tell the charity that you’re donating in your mother’s name and provide her address if they offer a thank you card or confirmation e-mail
• Tell her about the donation in your Mother’s Day card

Most important: be generous. Who Will You Help Today?

©2010 Rebekah Brown

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Support Second Harvest Food Bank Before and After Super Bowl

More than $8.8 billion is expected to be pumped into the economy on Super Bowl weekend according to the Retail Advertising and Marketing Association. The average spend per viewer is $52.63 with the majority purchased Saturday, February 6, the biggest snack food buying day of the year.

Whether you’re one of more than 100 million people watching the game, its $3 million-a-piece-commercials or eating with friends at a Super Bowl party, there’s something you can do to support Second Harvest Food Bank of Metrolina in Charlotte.

Second Harvest is holding its annual Souper Bowl of Caring to gather food and donations from 9 a.m. to midnight Saturday, February 6. (Second Harvest Food Bank of Metrolina, 500-B Spratt St., Charlotte, 28206)

The need for food and donations is great and if you can’t go on Saturday, there are several other ways to help:

1. Announce the date and time of the Second Harvest Souper Bowl of Caring and ask people you know to bring a monetary donation or non-perishable food item to the event.
2. If you’re having or attending a Super Bowl party, ask guests to bring a donation for Second Harvest Food Bank. Collect non-perishable items or monetary donations and bring them to Second Harvest.
3. Gather donations at the entrance or exits of your church, business, events, or meetings. Deliver your donations to Second Harvest Food Bank on its Service Day February 6 or soon after your event.
4. Give a financial donation. This is the best way to help, according to Second Harvest, because every $1 contributed provides six pounds of food.
5. Donate food or host a food drive for Second Harvest at any time. Every pound supplied is the equivalent of 1.25 meals for a hungry neighbor.
6. Designate matching contributions for funds employees raise or send an employee group to volunteer at Second Harvest.

“Souper Bowl of Caring is a great way to get youth involved in feeding the hungry in their community,” said Kay Carter, Second Harvest Executive Director. “Every dollar raised helps Second Harvest Food Bank of Metrolina feed the over 170,000 children and seniors at risk of hungry every day in our region.”

Second Harvest is a member of Feeding America, the nation’s leading domestic hunger-relief charity. The Charlotte regional distribution warehouse has branches that supply food and grocery items to over 600 partner charitable agencies that assist people in need in 19 counties in North and South Carolina. Second Harvest Food Bank of Metrolina has a Charity Navigator four-star rating.

You can be more than just a number and donate anytime to:
Feeding America: http://tinyurl.com/356s6uq

Who will you help today?

©2010 Rebekah Brown

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Cornelius Veterinarian Dr. G. Wayne Jones Gives Kitten a Second Chance at Life

(This Kitten Has Been Adopted. See Others Who Need a Forever Family.

A woman brought a kitten crushed by car to be put to sleep at Cornelius Animal Hospital in December. The gray and black tabby was only eight weeks old and had a broken hip, some dislocated bones and was unable to walk.

But the kitten had spirit and heart and Dr. G. Wayne Jones and his staff had another plan for the kitten because she was so affectionate, she was purring and deserved a second chance.

Dr. Jones performed emergency surgery to repair the kittens’ hip and legs and saved its life.  Several hours later, Dr. Jones’ staff called Hollow Creek Farm Equine & Canine Rescue.

The case was extreme and unusual and Hollow Creek doesn’t rescue cats. But finding a home for an injured kitten was a challenge that the farm was willing to take. The kitten, Henrietta Pussycat, was transported to Hollow Creek where she was cared for during her recovery.

Henrietta constantly purrs, she’s playful, walking, moving around well and is litter-trained. She found a forever family on Dec. 23 with a Charlotte, N.C., family.

Dr. Jones, the owner of Cornelius Animal Hospital, said the kitten was too lively and friendly to be put to sleep. He donated Henrietta’s medical care, spaying and remaining kitten shots to assure that Henrietta will have a good life.

Dr. G. Wayne Jones went above and beyond to save a beautiful kitten out of the kindness of his heart. Who will you help today?

NOTE: If you have a story idea, shoot me via my contact page.

©2009 Rebekah Brown

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Denver Firefighters are Holiday Heroes to Local Children
Firefighters and school children filled the toy aisles at Walmart in Denver, N.C., Thursday night for the first Operation Angel Tree, a Christmas shopping trip for children in need.
Sandra Turner, a kindergarten teacher at Catawba Springs Elementary School, told her husband Mike, an assistant fire chief with the East Lincoln Firefighters, that children at the school were facing a difficult Christmas due to job losses and financially challenging times.
“There are a lot of families that needed help and the firefighters decided to do something,” Sandra Turner said. “They got started and others wanted to help. They could have gotten lists and dropped off the toys, but we wanted to let the kids pick their own toys.”
The firemen collected over $9,200 in donations and organized a shopping trip for 85 children and their families. The evening began with a dinner at the school donated by Jersey Mikes Subs in Denver. Soda, chips and beverages were donated by Walmart which donated $1,500 to the effort. A bus was provided to families who needed transportation from the school to the store and more than 25 firefighters, friends and relatives were paired with children and their families for the shopping sprees.
“This is the best Christmas I’ve had in a long time,” said Ben Reagan after helping a group of children pick out their favorite things. “Someone just donated $500 tonight at the door when they heard what we were doing,” Mike Turner said. “That will go towards next year because we’ll do it again. A local man donated $3,500 at the firehouse. People really wanted to help.”
Operation Angel Tree started December 1. Fire Chief Tim Tench and Assistant Fire Chief Ken Hoag and the rest of the firemen at the East Lincoln station collected donations and made the childrens’ holiday wishes come true.
The East Lincoln firefighters would like other firehouses in the area and across the state to participate in a competition to see which firehouse can raise the most money to help the most children next year.
Sounds like a challenge to me. Any takers?

Who will you help today?

©2009 Rebekah Brown

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