Charities?

[Worship Jaclyn]

What charities do you donate your time and/or money to?

I always go with my local shelter for abused women and children. I'd love to hear about more national or worldwide organizations though.

 

[Bocefish]

https://www.fisherhouse.org/

https://support.woundedwarriorproject.o ... AhxF8P8HAQ

http://www.tg.stjude.org/howtohelp?sc_c ... AiA98P8HAQ

 

[JerryBoBerry]

My main one for years has been http://www.anysoldier.com/index.cfm

Basically soldiers of any branch can post things they need but can't get where they are stationed. Usually a letter will be posted on behalf of several people in their unit. Little amenities to make things easier. Books, powder mixes for water, toiletries, socks, even feminine products. (Evidently military Exchange stores mainly stock a lousy type cause that gets mentioned often)

So once a month I go get a packing box (sometimes two) about the size of a shoe box from walmart for a buck and fill it up. The letters on the site usually mention specific things they could use but also just general things are always welcome. Basically it's a care package from home of simple things we tend to take for granted until we can't get them anymore.

Usually to fill up the box that size is anywhere from $20 to $30. And you don't have to pay shipping to get it all the way around the world. In the U.S. there's a military base on each side of the country you send the box to depending on which side of the Mississippi you're on. They will ship it to wherever that person is stationed from there.


Some will post pictures and replies when they get packages. Here's a couple sample requests just posted in the last few days.

25 Dec 2014:
We have electricity in our sleeping quarters, yes we have a laundry service but some of the soldiers do laundry by themselves,we can not cook in our sleeping area so therefor snacks would be best off. We have freezer and refrigerator, no microwaves. I am representing a platoon in my company

we are short in a lot daily use (tooth brush,shaving cream etc.) some soldiers do not have much snacks in their perspective sleeping areas. Anything you wish to send we will take i.e (socks,shirts,snacks, hygiene, beverage packets, anything we will take)

22 Dec 2014:
We do have electricity we use 220 but live in trailers. Many soldiers want snacks and things that they can microwave because we do have a microwave in the office. Cup of noodles, oatmeal, etc. Some of us have refrigerators with small freezer but would also like hot water heaters to make tea in our trailers or small cofee makers to make cofee because we work long hours. We also have Laundry trailers and the upcharge for detergent is ridiculous. We honestly just would appreciate a touch of home. For many of my soldiers including myself this is our first deployment and being away fro our children, our parents, and spouses is very hard especially during the holidays and the new year. I as a young officer cant afford to do it all on my own but seeing my soldiers smile makes being away from my son easier. As a single mother this is hard on me but they make it better to deal with, they check on me, they keep me going and motivated and I would love to give back to them and would apprecaite all the help to give them something!

 

[Bocefish]

As a vet I can attest to the fact that there is no lonelier time than now for military personnel abroad.

The following is for your consideration...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_l4Ab5FRwM#t=321

 

[Fay_Galore]

@Jerry, that's nice! We used to do that for kids in Africa when I was little, fill a shoebox with food, toys, soap, etc. A pretty personal way of doing something nice instead of just sending anonymous money or something.

Once a year I go door to door for Amnesty International, collecting money.
I just did a fundraising on MFC for The Red Cross, specifically women who are victims of sexual violence in conflict areas.
I also volunteer at a local old folk's home with people who suffer from dementia, my nan used to be in that same ward and I just kept going there after she died. Mostly doing activities or watching a movie or something. It's such a heartbreaking process seeing people get more and more confused, but it's also sometimes really funny.

One time I was there during lunchtime, all the residents got a sandwich and a cup of soup. Bear in mind, some of the residents don't know up from down, some are just a little forgetful and everything in between. So, this one lady had survived the second world war, and for those who might not know, in europe there was one perticular winter during WWII where there was no food to be found, lots of people died of hunger, she survived that and since then food has been very important to her.
so, everyone was finishing up their lunch and that lady who particularly enjoyed her cheese sandwich, got her purse, got up and went for a 'walk' through the halls in the ward. she returned 5 minutes later and takes a seat at the now empty table. The 80 year old woman in a wheelchair who was sitting next to her during lunch turns to her and says "well have I ever! We just had lunch, but you weren't here!" The lady with the purse then responses and says she was having a stroll and wasn't amused nobody told her there was lunch! so she goes to one of the nurses, quite aggravated, demanding to know why she missed lunch. The nurse was really sweet and said "I'm so sorry miss, have a seat and I'll get you a cup of soup" so the lady sat down for the second time and had another cup of soup with a sandwich. :mrgreen:

and then there was this one time my nan was still alive and we ordered pizza, we gave her a knife and fork and a few minutes later realised she was cutting into and trying to eat the cardboard box instead of the pizza :lol: After that we cut her food for her.

so yeah, it itsn't all horrific.

 

[Teagan]

Ive donated to wounder warrior project for about 7 years now. Once a year in the summer time. I choose then as people dont seem as charitable around that time of year vs xmas and stuff.

I'll definitely check out the any soldier charity now too. About once every other month when i'm stocking up on my personal things I buy double of stuff to give to my local womens shelter so going a bit further for the soldiers sounds great to do. Ill see the sales of makeup BOGO or Buy one get one half off on personals and I cant possibly use all the stuff so i'll donate the rest. They're so appreciate of just daily essentials and even girly stuff like makeup and body wash. If I see a good coupon for diapers or formula or something i'll go direct to the store then and grab them right up as thats one of the biggest requests they get usually. I'll give them any good clothes I have but dont wear too. The others go to goodwill.

Theres a local humane society here I buy cleaners, mops, towels, and such for and bring them every few months after their newsletter goes out with their current wants in it. I just a month or two ago gave them a ton of blankets too. I bought one new set for myself and gave them 4 sets I just had around and they were so happy to give them to the animals as the cold was coming soon.

And lastly there's a foster group for animals where I used to live in TN that I do what I can for. Ive posted the link once of their wishlist as they needed supplies so badly and I couldnt cover it at the time myself. They got lots of donations and it warmed my heart so much people here reached out to help them. I buy what I can for them but they get bogged down sometimes as shelters just do. Once a month I send in enough to sponsor the adoption of one of their cats to go to a good home. The lady who runs it knows I want it to go to the least adoptable cat they have at the time just to get it a good furever place to go. Usually an adult/senior or all black as those rarely get out.

 

[TacoBelle]

Personally, I donate to my local animal shelters and libraries before anything else. I also donate to Wounded Warriors whenever I can. I have my Amazon Smile set to donate to saf.org.

Those are the ones nearest and dearest to my heart.

 

[mynameisbob84]

http://www.actionaid.org.uk/

Work do a thing where they match whatever I donate each month, so I donate £10, and actionaid wind up with £20. It comes out of my wages automatically so I don't actually have to donate any time or effort. Which is nice, cos... I'm lazy.

 

[Shaun__]

Sometimes people think they can not afford to give to charity, but that is not always true. You can still do things, like use smile.amazon.com so part of each purchase goes to the charity of your choice.

 

[Worship Jaclyn]

Thanks for the ideas! Keep sharing!

I already give to the VFW, although I have never looked into how that organization even works to be honest. My Grandpa gave to it and was helped by it so since he died I do a yearly donation to them.

I searched and searched and found this http://www.pawsweb.org that I think I will get involved with

I found a website, that I forgot to save the link of but it had a lot of reviews including top ten lists. One was the top ten charities with the lowest paid CEOs which I thought was a pretty great thing to pay attention to.

 

[Red7227]

I donate to two when I can.

http://www.hollows.org.au/
http://www.wwf.org.au/