Charities Blog

Giving Something Back

5 Charities That Build Homes For People

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Poverty is a problem that all seven continents on this Earth face. Though the poor people in America are living a posh existence compared to the poor people in other countries, poverty and homelessness still affect a large population of our country.

There are hundreds of charity organizations throughout the United States that do everything they can to assist struggling individuals and families, but some of them stand ahead of the rest of the pack. Check out five of the most shining examples of awesomeness, and learn a little about some of the charities that have contributed the most to our people. [Read more…]

Aid for Japan: The Charity for Orphans

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In the wake of the earthquake that hit Japan and the subsequent tsunami in 2011, hundreds of Japanese children are left with only their memories. One of the charities that offered help and support to the victims of the tragedy, particularly the Japanese orphans who have lost their families, is AID FOR JAPAN.

Founded in 2011 by Akemi Solloway Tanaka, a consultant, presenter, teacher and speaker of Japanese culture; the charity has been running for quite some time now lending help and support to these children and their carers as they rebuild their lives. [Read more…]

5 Excellent Charitable Causes

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One of the best feelings that you can have as a person is if you know that you can give money, time, or energy to a particular charitable cause. There are some cases where charities aren’t so above-ground though. And that’s why you have to do a little bit of research to find out which ones give the most to the people that they are supposed to give to.

So, five excellent charitable causes that have a great track record for helping people out are going to be charities that help with drug abuse, help prevent trafficking, give small loans to people in need, get wigs or other hair related items for kids, or the organizations that help to fulfill wishes for people in need. [Read more…]

3 Top Charities Dedicated to Road Safety

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road safety

Road accidents occur in the millions worldwide each year. Many of them take place due to negligence and other mechanical factors.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has noted that in 2013 alone, road mishaps claimed the lives of 1.25 million people around the world and low-income countries had the highest road traffic fatality rates. Nearly half of all deaths involved people with the least protection such as pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists. [Read more…]

Sex trafficking and prostitution in South Korea

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The streets of the red-light districts in South Korea are teeming with people looking for sexual gratification. There is little to disrupt business in this sex capital. Young men and women go into these district and rarely come out. The sex industry in South Korea generates enough capital to make 4% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product. Sex tourism thrives in South Korea as johns travel from all over the world to engage these girls in sex acts. Girls are either stolen or forced into prostitution to pay off debts. Girls from all nations are in danger of being trafficked into the sex trade.

Traffickers have specific targets for their victims. A large number of migrant women are lured into the sex trade. They fall prey to marriage scams that promise an honest marriage but they end up in a brothel. Women are also lured into thinking they have received a job offer when it’s just a cover to force more girls into prostitution. A large number of North Korean defectors end up as prostitutes because they can’t find any other kind of work. The large influx of migrant workers and defectors are prime targets for traffickers. Internally, girls with high levels of debt or runaways are common victims of pimps. Teenagers are especially vulnerable to trafficking. Teenage girls are promised they will make enough money to purchase luxury items. And like with most women they are promised freedom after earning a certain amount or paying off their debts. In most cases, these women are never let go. There are approximately 200,000 runaways involved in prostitution, according to Al-Jazeera news. It is only after a police raid or a successful runaway that these girls are free. So what makes the sex trafficking and prostitution viable in South Korea?

The red light districts operates openly in front of the law. Places offering sexual services are not limited to brothels. Meetups happen at salons, coffee shops, and even shopping centers. Sexual encounters are often arranged online to prevent police interference. Johns can solicit any type of prostitute online which often goes undetected. This is also how the underage sex trade thrives. Pimps will over underage prostitutes via online channels. This makes it less easy to track and be found out by law enforcement. There is also prevalent attitude that prostitution is simply another form of business. It’s viewed as being a natural part of life. There are even prostitution unions that organize to protest better working conditions. The government has taken action to stamp out prostitution but until attitudes and demand change, it’s likely that sex trafficking and prostitution will continue to remain a problem.

The sex trade continues to grow in South Korea. The demand for girls and underage youth doesn’t diminish, despite internal and external pressure to eliminate prostitution. As long as sex trafficking continues to fly under the radar, women will still be at risk to falling prey to sex trafficking rings.

The Global Fund for Women makes grants and advocates globally for women’s human rights.

Global Fund for Women

Planning a Charity Event

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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

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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.

me-and-my-mirror

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.

Thirst Aid

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The non-profit group has been running for quite sometime since the Tsunami’s of past and they have been filling the gap that left millions of people without clean drinking water. Founded by Curt and Cathy Bradner, an American couple who have given up everything to help the poor people of Myanmar (formerly Burma) many of whom lack basic necessities for safe and healthy living as most of Asia’s developing countries. Myanmar, being run by a Military Junta has been cut-off from the rest of the world by a military that reports directly to their generals. Suspicious of Westerners (mostly Americans) whom they distrust due to criticism they receive from most of the West.

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The couple have been working in the country for quite sometime and have bought Visas (long term) which is a rarity in the country. The tsunamis devastated much of the effected areas contaminating water tables, decaying animals and people who were left without proper burial have also contributed to the pollution which if not corrected, would kill just as many people that were killed during the disaster itself. Disease is the aftermath of any disaster and many of them are spread through contaminated drinking water. Many of the developing world’s diseases are water-borne and the couple who started it all has been working ever since to get safe and clean drinking water to all who needs it. They have focused their efforts on Myanmar due to the utter isolation of the country from the rest of the world.

They sold everything they had and made a promise to get clean and safe drinking water to all who need it. The tsunami ravaged Myanmar was a perfect area for them to operate in due to little or no contact with the outside world. They designed simple filters made of pottery and lined with coconut husks that are capable of filtering out almost all of the harmful bacteria and other contaminants that may be present in the water. It is estimated that every 15 seconds, a child dies form disease caused by drinking untreated or polluted water and they have been fighting ever since to bring their low cost water filters to poor people who do not have much cash to purchase commercial filtration systems. The coconut and earthen filter removes all but the tiniest contaminants with a colloidal silver solution mixed in to kill any deadly pathogens that may still be left in the water. They are then safe for all to drink, especially children whose small bodies can be easily ravaged by disease.

The country is so poor that most live in huts outside of the capital with not much in terms of modern infrastructures to support the country’s growing population. They need help in their projects and their children back home manage and maintain their web site which is one of the ways they earn money for their many projects. They have managed to produce filtration systems that run from car batteries and they are in urgent need of money for funding and other purposes for them to continue helping those who need it the most.

World Oceans Day

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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.

PetSmart

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tesmart.jpgEstablished in 1994 to address the alarming statistics that shows a yearly rate of abandoned pets to be at 6 to 8 million. Among those, around 3 to 4 million are euthanized due to the inability of shelters to take care of them due to restricted resources and funding. Rated a four-star charity by the Charity navigator, they have managed to save the lives of around 3.3 million pets spanning the species spectrum of animals that they send into adoption programs to get them the loving homes they deserve. These abandoned pets are a result of irresponsible pet ownership, some are abandoned due to financial problems, and some are left to fend for themselves, sometimes in appalling conditions. These animals got through health checks and are brought back to proper health according to pre-set standards. Animals are then checked for signs that may show if they are indeed probable candidates for adoption, animals with degenerative diseases and psychological issues are put down for apparent reasons. Their vision of a home for every pet might be too ambitious but they are getting things done and indeed saving lives of animals who would otherwise have to be put down. With the help of state and local authorities and funding from private individuals and businesses they continue on their loving work to get each and every animal a home that would give them the best possible care.