A Year of Giving
Earlier this year I wrote about being purposeful in acts of kindness. My plan was to donate
$10 a month for every month of this year to a worthwhile organization, to a
cause I believe in. I wrote about my motivations for such a plan, which you can
read here:
http://letrasalaluna.blogspot.com/2013/01/acts-of-kindness.html#!/2013/01/acts-of-kindness.html
http://letrasalaluna.blogspot.com/2013/01/acts-of-kindness.html#!/2013/01/acts-of-kindness.html
In June of this year I wrote about the
contributions I had made up to that point. You can read that list here:
http://letrasalaluna.blogspot.com/2013/06/pay-it-forward.html
This week, I completed my year of
charitable contributions. I would like to share this with you. Again, I am not
posting this information to boast about my charitable giving. I only post it in
the hopes of sharing information, shedding light on causes and issues that I
feel are important and worthwhile, and share information about the
organizations. Here are the organizations I made monetary donations to:
Americans for Responsible Solutions: This organization was created by Gabby
Giffords, U.S. Congresswoman and Mark Kelly, her husband, a U.S. astronaut. In
2011, Gabby was shot in the head at a political rally. She and twelve others
were hurt, six were killed. To this day, Gabby is recovering from her injuries.
Her survival has become a symbol of intolerance to such shootings. Like many
around the world, I have been horrified to hear about any mass shootings, in
the last decade, in the last few years. I recently wrote about the issue of gun
control:
Last Monday, thirteen people were killed
in a mass shooting in the Naval Yard in Washington D.C. Last week, thirteen
people were shot in the city of Chicago, including a three year old child.
Miraculously, no one lost their life in that incident. Also last week, in my
city, there were four shootings in one night. The next night, a police offer
was killed in a shooting, less than a mile from my house. Mass shootings are
becoming commonplace events in the U.S. and around the world. This need not be.
Enough is enough.
Human Rights Campaign: This organization fights for equal
rights for homosexuals and transgendered individuals concerning marriage
equality, job equality, and many other issues. This June the U.S. Supreme Court
ruled that marriages of homosexual couples are legal under federal law. I wrote
about the court’s decision:
While the court ruling declares marriages
of same-sex couples federally legal, it is not legal in all states. I live in a
state where such a marriage is illegal. Thus I made a similar contribution to an
organization in my state, to ensure that marriage is legal for all of its
citizens.
K9 Parish Comfort Dogs: This is an organization of dogs and their owners who
travel across the country to comfort those in need. After tragedy, it often
helps victims to decompress from what has happened to them, by spending time
with a dog. This video shows the dogs and the work that they do:
The dogs went to Newtown, Connecticut,
after the children and teachers were killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School
shooting. They went to Oklahoma after the state experienced devastating
tornadoes. The dogs went to Boston after the bombing of the Boston Marathon, to
comfort survivors of the bombing. All the dogs wear a vest that shows their
name. The dogs carry business cards with their name on it, as well as their
Facebook page and e-mail address. Those who have been helped by the dogs are
welcome to take a card, and keep in touch with the dog they spent time with.
The comfort dogs make a difference in the lives of everyone they meet.
Save Japan Dolphins: This organization was created by Ric
O’Barry. The organization was formed to stop the practice of capturing dolphins
for placing them in zoos and aquariums, as well as to: “put an end
to the Japanese drive fishery slaughter of dolphins.” The work of the
organization has been featured in the movie “the Cove”. After seeing the
following video, I was compelled to make a donation:
Cookies for
Kids Cancer: Gretchen and Larry Witt began this organization after
their son Liam was diagnosed with cancer. Sadly, Liam did not survive his
battle with cancer. But the Witts are determined to increase funding for child
cancers. To support this organization you can hold a bake sale in your city,
with all proceeds going to Cookies for Kids Cancer. Also, you can order a batch
of their gourmet cookies, or you can make a monetary donation and be a good
cookie.
Family
Promise: This is a homeless shelter located in Phoenix, Arizona.
They have partnered with the Petsmart chain of stores to make a truly unique
facility. When families are going through the transition of being homeless,
often times they must abandon their family pets. However, at Family Promise,
families in this time of transition are allowed to bring their pet. The
facility has veterinary personnel on site to care for the animals, and the
family gets to spend time with their animals. When a family is at the facility,
their spirits are lifted to have their pet with them; it serves as a motivator
to the families to find a permanent home where they can be reunited with their
pets.
Kickstarter:
Kickstarter is a fundraising organization that helps artists fund their
creative endeavors. Writers can ask for help to fund the publishing of their
books, filmmakers can ask for donations to help get their movie made. The
projects on Kickstarter are varied and many. Although technically not a
charity, people can pledge a project on Kickstarter, at different monetary
levels, and receive incentive gifts for their monetary contribution. Helping a
person’s creative dream come true-what could be better?http://www.kickstarter.com/
I gave 10 Euros ($13.50
U.S. dollars) to help fund this movie:
Smithsonian National Museum of African
American History and Culture. This was my final charitable
contribution this year. I heard about the museum from a recent commercial on
television:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDREXRahgRA
Upon seeing this video, I knew I wanted
to get involved. I made a $25 contribution to the museum to become a charter
member. The museum should be open for visitors in 2015.
In summary,
here are the organizations I gave to this year:
The American
Cancer Society
The Susan G.
Komen Foundation
The Michael
J. Fox Foundation
Planting
Peace
The American
Red Cross
The World
Wildlife Fund
Fair Indigo
Americans
for Responsible Solutions
Human Rights
Campaign
K9 Parish
Comfort Dogs
Save Japan
Dolphins
Cookies for
Kids Cancer
Family
Promise
Kickstarter
Smithsonian
National Museum of African American History and Culture
That is my
year of giving. Now that all is said and done, I am glad I did it. I chose to
donate $10 a month. It was an amount I could afford, one that was well within
my budget, and at an amount that would genuinely do some good to these
organizations. I chose organizations that are working on an issue I care about,
working to further a cause I believe in.
.
I hope
this has inspired you, or at least made you think about what causes you might
contribute to. Donations do not have to be in the form of money; you can volunteer
at an organization for a day, donate your time, and your talents.
.
What are you
passionate about? What excites you about the world we live in? What upsets you?
What would you like to change? Which causes would you support?
.
One of the
benefits of helping others is that we ourselves benefit in the giving. If each
one of us chose to make even one charitable contribution in a year, that would
make a difference. If we made a contribution for every month of the year, the results
would be vast. The positive change in the world would be enormous. Everyone
would benefit. What a wonderful world that would be.
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