Charity in the meh Community

I was a Prep for Prep kid and it changed my life for the better; I toss them a few dollars each year. I’d also consider my time in the support group BiRequest a kind of local time-based volunteering to the bisexual/pansexual/fluid community, and a few dollars each meeting go to rent at The LGBT Community Center.

I also locally give to City Harvest.

In semi-related news, @mtb002 mentioned a clinic they work or volunteer for when Meh was selling fidget spinners. I’m very curious about the details; @mtb002, if you’re here, I never gave any of mine away on Halloween - tell us about the clinic and the kids you help, and I’ll be happy to send my spares your way.

We try to support some local charities but as far as nationally known ones, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital is near and dear to our hearts. One of our daughters was diagnosed with leukemia at the age of 4 and went through 2.5 years of chemotherapy treatments with St. Jude. They took very good care of her and we are very grateful to them and to those who give towards the hospital.
We didn’t have to pay anything towards her treatments (other than what our insurance provided on our behalf) and they along with Ronald McDonald House provided housing and almost all the meals for her and myself when we had to stay in Memphis for weeks and months at a time. Being over 500 miles away from home was difficult but it helped tremendously to not have to worry about paying for lodging in addition to a mortgage and the rest of the family’s expenses back home.

TL:DR- St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital & Ronald McDonald House Charities are awesome.

Local food banks, children’s shelter, and animal shelter. National/regional charities I always check out first with Charity Navigator to see how much money actually goes to charity versus overhead/salaries/advertising.

I’ve been a contributor to Donors Choose for the last 6 years, mostly helping with STEM projects in poverty/ low-income areas. (Yea, Meh! for all the supporters here!) Others, like hurricane cleanup and disaster relief, as I can manage.

https://www.fshsociety.org/
They act as a support group to everyone involved. Very grassroots, effective at working towards cures, and really just great people all around. My brother has MD so I’ve signed up to smile.amazon to funnel donations their way with each purchase.
I also donate blood on the reg at a children’s hospital.

So many worthies, and we try to give whatever time and money we can afford, but especially:
Locally, our two home-grown charitable foundations, Puente de la Costa Sur and Coastside Hope, which do amazing work with education, healthcare, employment, housing, childcare for our disadvantaged, immigrant and senior communities.
Regionally, Second Harvest Food Bank, a year-round need but more critical now and through the winter.
Nationally, Habitat for Humanity.
Globally, Doctors Without Borders.

And thank you for the many wonderful suggestions above …

I gave a Franklin along with millions of other like-minded charity-forward Americans to change the life of an anonymous recipient in South Carolina with a 1.6 Billion annuity.

Local service organizations and St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital.

My amazon.smile is for cancer research. Loss of grandmother.

A few fav ministries and The Salvation Army. They work hard for next to nothing. Their heart is in it. It was the only charity (besides some Veterans ones) that my husband was very fond of and gave to. I also give in his memory. I shop thru Amazon Smile and give to SA thru there also.

visiting with my aunt, who was a superintended, she challenged me to stop giving to a charity that has a great marketing campaign, and gives 75% of its intake to the salaries. instead, she suggested that l sponsor a first grader’s lunch program, as there are many kids who don’t get enough to eat every day. and a balanced meal in young kids is critical to childhood development. it wasn’t easy to reach the right ppl at the elementary to find out how to go about it, but l feel better about how l give. l like the idea of helping a youngster meet such a basic need.

The regional food bank, the Red Cross, Doctors without Borders (man they’re brave), Haven of Rest (a local faith based charity for homeless), Nature Conservancy (I really like their platform of solving conservation problems) and UNICEF.

I am not enamored of the Red Cross - good volunteers, but institutionally way too corporate and hidebound. Once I quit donating to them, I’ve given gallons of blood at a local children’s hospital; if you know your blood type - and if that type is O neg, CMV neg - bypass the red cross and give to your local childrens hospital. They will love you forever (O neg, CMV neg is all they’ll give to neonates, and it’s not common).

I’ll also put in a shout out for international child welfare agencies; there are many to choose from. I’ve given and volunteered for years and would encourage others to do so. There should be no argument about this: Every kid deserves a loving home. Period.

The Trevor Project is very deserving. I personally give of my time (and a TON of it), the work is very rewarding. But if you aren’t cut out for that kind of work, then money goes a long way. Feel free to let me know if anyone needs more information.

Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. They give some money to patients to help pay medical bills and some money to research. Just about the only thing out there that financially helps adult blood cancer patients.

Local no kill animal shelter (CARA in my case).

Halo House (Houston) for blood cancer patients to have a cheap place to stay during extended treatment (hotels are incredibly expensive there - I usually sleep in my car when I drive there because of that). My oncologist is the one behind that project. He started it as an assistant professor no less! They still need some money for furniture and a few other odds and ends…they just built a building, before that were renting apartments for patients and then charging only $20/night but couldn’t even come close to meeting the need (still won’t but will be able to help a lot more people).

Stuff kids like to Ronald McD’s house. The 24 princess gift bags I got in a fuko were loved at the one I donated them to.

Lately I’ve been donating to local charities - start up of food bank at the local high school, start up of food bank at our local university, and an organization that has a house for girls 18 - 24 who have aged out of foster care but still need to learn skills to enable them to live on their own and to finish their education. I was surprised and saddened how many high school girls live there. Thankful someone saw and addressed these needs. Since my mother recently passed away and she would have been horrified to know there are hungry young people who aren’t eligible for other programs, the donations are in her honor.

Here’s a few charities I have an interest in:
The Internet Archive
So many amazing things offered to the public at no cost- truly the Internet’s library.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation- The Electronic Frontier Foundation is the leading nonprofit organization defending civil liberties in the digital world.

Project Night Night:
Project Night Night donates over 25,000 Night Night Packages each year to homeless children 12 and under who need our childhood essentials to have a concrete and predictable source of security and an increased exposure to high-quality literacy materials during their time of upheaval.

Welfare Group Disabled and Sexuality (Fabs) is a Swedish charity that provides erotic massages for the disabled.

Some people due to certain debilitations lack sensual touch in their life. This helps them bridge that gap.

FYI. Not a joke and I do think this is a good thing and valuable service.

The Guatemala Friends Scholarship Program, which provides college and secondary school scholarships to very poor Guatemalan students (90% Maya), giving priority to rural students, women, Mayas, and those whose chosen careers can benefit their communities. Train a doctor, nurse or teacher! Donations are deductible in the US.

Atheists Helping the Homeless-Phoenix hands out toiletries and hygiene items to the homeless of downtown Phoenix. We do it all with an Amazon Shop button on Facebook and buying items in bulk or on sale. No 501© status. Just a group of Atheists caring for fellow humans without expectations of a great place to “be” after death.

We gave out fidget spinners on Halloween to support the Teal Pumpkin Project, and I’m planning on dropping off a bunch of soft colorful blankets to the children’s hospital . Also, we donate to various causes throughout the year.

I don’t ever have any money since I hurt my back and then my wife left out of state with my children w/o telling me. But I always try to give to less fortunate when I can. So I volunteer at Pioneer Relief Nursery . The Pioneer Relief Nursery’s mission is to prevent child abuse and neglect by early intervention that focuses on building successful and resilient children, strengthening parents and preserving families. I’ve always enjoyed and have been pretty good at dealing with young children so it’s a good fit.

It’s not much but when I’m having less painful back days, it gives me something meaningful to do.

My Amazon Smile, Walk for a Dog and other support funds used to go to the local Great Dane rescue, but they shut down, so I switched to the local Humane Society. A substantial portion of the joy in my life has come from the animal companions adopted through these organizations. After the money set aside for the lifetime care of my current pets when I pass, I plan to will the remainder of my estate to them. I participate in numerous local charities through donation of time, money, goods and art. I have a small account at Kiva, and donate to Trees for the Future and the World Wildlife Fund and other endangered species defense agencies in memory of my best friend on his birthday and Christmas as he supported these organizations.

There’s two places I try and donate to when I can. North Texas Cat Rescue, they have done amazing things and they do everything they can to help cats. The MS foundation, any bit helps–they have come a million miles in treatment.