Charities Blog

Giving Something Back

5 Ways You Can Give If You Can’t Afford a Charity Donation

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Giving to charity is a great way to contribute to society by selflessly giving to those who are more in need than you. People are always talking about the benefits of charity contributions from the tax breaks to feeling good within yourself.

But how do you give to charity if you simply don’t have the funds? Perhaps you don’t have the luxury of donating $100,000 to a recovery center. Sometimes there are ways to give that don’t involve any currency or bank accounts, simply human kindness and generosity. [Read more…]

How Charity Work Affects Your Business And Taxes

Individuals are the only ones that spend time doing volunteer work, or donating to charities. Businesses sometimes have a hand in such things as well. In fact, often charities will specifically contact businesses asking for donations of time and or money.

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Individuals that donate to charities can use that monetary donation to save some money when tax time rolls around. But what about businesses? Cab donating your time and money save your business some money when it comes to tax time? It’s a possibility, and being a little giving could even save you from bankruptcy. [Read more…]

Insights from Charities on Recent Japan and Ecuador Disasters

Japan earthquake relief efforts

Natural disasters such as earthquakes can wreak havoc on the lives of people and properties. The trauma that they bring can last for a long time but thanks to humanitarian efforts, victims of these disasters get their much needed financial help and emotional support. With charities lending a helping hand, people were able to rebuild their lives.

Last year, Nepal suffered greatly from two major quakes that affected its more than eight million citizens. This April, two more countries were shaken by deadly earthquakes, Japan and Ecuador prompting charitable institutions from the different parts of the world to take action. [Read more…]

Your Community Needs Your Help

The holidays give rise to a season of giving. It is normal for people to want to be part of that giving process. It can really make a person feel good to contribute in a way that helps others, much like a medical student who helps her first patient to get well.

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Charity is often more than simply opening your wallet. Sometimes it means giving back to your local community in a more hands on way. Sure, anyone can write out a check and make helping others someone else’s problem, but the spirit of giving is not a spectator’s sport. Real charity comes from the heart, when a person is moved by compassion to lend a hand where it is most needed. If more people became active in charity work, then their community would be a more functional place for all its members. With a little thought, anyone can be part of the giving process. [Read more…]

Putting Excess Food And Clothing To Good Use

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With the economy treating so many people roughly these days, there are a lot of families who could use a helping hand. Food, clothing, and other general use items are at the top of the list of things impoverished families tend to need. Also, by cleaning out your closet of unwanted wears, you will be making additional room for those designer furs you always wanted. As you take a look through your pantry, canned and boxed food items are generally the most useful items to donate. these items generally have a longer storage life than the food in your refrigerator. They are often the easiest for poor and homeless people to store — especially if a person does not have a refrigerator of their own. Although that is hard for some to imagine in our modern age, it is a situation that is more common than people might expect.

Giving to Churches and Food Banks

A lot of people would like to get involved, providing food items to the poor and needy, but are not sure where to begin. Generally, the poor and homeless obtain their food from shelters, food banks, and churches. In some cases, food that makes it into these centers is derived from the USDA surplus and other food redistribution projects. Though the redistribution of food from such sources is helpful, it generally does not satisfy the great need that exists. Most food pantries and food bank services still rely on other community members to donate to their cause, which helps to support the many efforts made to keep economically challenged people fed. If you have ever wondered how great the hunger problem in America truly is, according to the Feeding America website, approximately 49-million Americans struggle to obtain adequate food each day. [Read more…]

How to Encourage Teens to Donate to Charity

It’s a fact that children learn from example. As such, they get to imitate the things they see their parents, teachers and older siblings are doing.

Yes, role modeling is still an effective way of teaching children the right way to do things. This is despite the modern techniques people and psychologists now use to raise kids. Even the teens can still be influenced by what they see their mom or dad are doing inside and outside their homes.

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This being the case, parents need to instill in their children the value of giving to charities while they are growing up. Not only should this be done in their early years but even in their teens. [Read more…]

Planning a Charity Event

Being involved in charity work is said to be very fulfilling. While some are given the chance to go to other places to serve and perform charity work, others can still do their share without leaving by holding a charity event. A successful charity event requires meticulous planning to maximize the intended benefits for the beneficiaries and the sense of accomplishment for the organizers.

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Charity events are not the monopoly of charitable organizations. People with the same cause in mind can actually come together and organize among themselves to think of ways to raise funds for specific beneficiaries. Every person will always have something to contribute whether in time, talent, or money. A group that intends to hold a charity event should plan accordingly and here are some suggested steps in doing it systematically.

1. Connect with a Registered Charity Organization

Logistically, connecting with a registered charity organization can make the whole process a lot easier. Charity organizations have built-in systems that have been tested by experience. They also have the specific know-how in raising money which is the main goal in this task.Organized groups just have to choose what type of cause to support for their planned event and choose the charity organization that supports it. It is also advantageous to be connected or associated with a known name since most people are more open to sponsorship, donation, and participation because of the established trust.

2. Choose the Type of Charity Event to Hold

In choosing the type of charity to hold, organizers are better off opting for the kind that they can appreciate themselves. If they are into sports, a running event may be a good choice. For people who are quite active in the social scene, holding a gala night or some high-profile party activity may be the way to go. Whatever it is, the organizers must be prepared to work for it and be in it, preferably beyond show.

3. Pool the Manpower

No charity event will ever be produced without people willing to work for it. Since this is a charity event, organizers should be looking into volunteers instead of paid staff. There must also be identified leaders to guide the whole project.

4. Find Sponsors

A charity event will always need sponsors because of funding requirements. Businesses and known philanthropists are possible sponsors. It would be better to have a sponsor that also believes in the cause.

5. Publicize the Event

The success of the charity event will depend on the amount of participation obtained from the public. It is necessary therefore to make the event known. All types of advertising and promotional strategies can be used.

 

 

Healing With Mirrors

Around the world today, there are people taking on valuable missions on their own to help other people. Some do get publicized a lot while the others don’t get much exposure. But just the same, they continue to pursue their mission with as much help they can get or sometimes through their own personal funds.

One very inspiring man pursuing a unique humanitarian mission is Stevo (Stephen Sumner) of Me & My Mirror.org. He is actively helping less fortunate people with disabilities notably in Southeast Asian countries. His main objective is to ease the suffering of amputees in poor and conflict-prone areas around the globe through the power of the mirror.

Stevo is an amputee himself who rides a cargo bicycle to deliver mirrors to amputees in the villages. The mirrors are no ordinary ones as they are hand-made and created using the acrylic material. His goal is to alleviate the so-called “phantom limb pain” normally experienced by amputees and improve their quality of life amid the depression and ostracizing they get from other members of their community.

Stevo is currently running a crowd fund raising campaign at StartSomeGood.com, he needs to reach the target of $5,000 for all the money to go to helping people in Cambodia who have lost limbs. Please give what you can.

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This particular therapy using mirrors was started by VS Ramachandran in the 1990s. Ramachandran is one of the world’s renowned neuroscientists.

The mirror therapy uses a visualization technique that allows a patient to look at a mirror image of his limb in place of the one that was amputated. When this procedure is done regularly at least 10 minutes twice a day for about a month to five weeks, the amputee can be treated and cured for the rest of his life.

The therapy works by helping the brain re-wire and stop sending warning signals that causes the phantom limb pain. In fact, this form of treatment is now being utilized by the U.S. Military, the American Pain Foundation and the American Automobile Association.

Stevo believes that if only the less fortunate people in conflict-torn areas are given the chance to learn about this mirror therapy, many would greatly benefit from it. It is a very cost effective technique in that patients don’t need to buy medicines, visit the doctors or hospitals and travel to the town centers to seek treatment.

Stevo has initially helped amputees in Cambodia where landmines were widely used in the past through his own personal funds. He looks forward to collecting additional funds until February 15 from kind-hearted people to carry on his next mission for three months until May this year. Other Asian countries he plans to visit are Laos, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia, Haiti and the Balkans among others.

About the author:
Teresa is a freelance blogger and mom of two. She gets inspiration from the success stories of people strongly supporting humanitarian campaigns.

Children Generosity Without Prejudice (From the Archives)

Charity abounds and it is not limited by age as the charity event sponsored by Save the Children showed many people when they flocked to several locations to support a “Sleep-over” program that aimed to raise awareness and funds for less fortunate kids all over the world. The event was held in June when they also broke records for the most number of children who have participated in an event of the sort anywhere in the world.
Children should be educated in the roles they are to play in this ever troubled world for they are some of the most affected by strife and misery when problems occur. May it be economic turmoil, conflicts or even victims of long past wars, they are the most scarred and abused which leaves them helpless and maimed both physically and mentally unable to deal with life that should have been in front of them.
Most of the world’s displaced children suffer from poverty, crime and other illegal activities such as child labor that they sometimes feel nobody cares for them and their future. Organizations who aim to help them like the UN through UNICEF and other Non-Governmental charities aim to change that and again bring hope into their lives educating them and teaching them all they need to know that would allow them to face tomorrow and see it as bright as it could be.
The event, in partnership with the Autism charity TreeHouse, was successful in showing that children where ever they may be have the power to change and influence their world in their own little ways. More power to the people who makes such events and charities possible, and to the millions of people who give to others in need as we all make this world a better place to live in for all.

World Oceans Day

wod.jpgJune 8 is designated to be the World Oceans Day and the event started in 2007 with over 50 countries spread over 5 continents participating. Various marine conservation groups have been part of the celebrations which aims to heighten the awareness of the problems our seas are facing as well as the creatures big and small who live in them. We humans are the most destructive beings to ever walk this earth due to the huge amount of destruction we have brought about in our short history as the dominant species on the face of the earth. There are millions of animal and plant species the world over but none has been so to blame for the extinction of the most animals and plants. Deforestation, dumping garbage into the land and sea are just some of the destructive acts we have committed against mother earth and the event aims to educate more and more people as to what we can do to lessen the impact we have on our environment.
This planet of ours has 70% of its total area as bodies of waters and of that 70% not much is known of vast oceans of the world. To this day, scientists are still finding formerly unknown species of plant and animal life from the seas, many of which hold unique and interesting properties that can prove solutions to some of our most pressing problems. The WorldOceanNetwork.org is one of the many organizing bodies which coordinates and provides materials of the scheduled events with organizations such as the Marine Conservation Society of the UK, UNESCO, TheOceanProject.Org, Nature Conservancy and many others taking part in helping our seas get the respect they deserve for theirs and our survival.