Donation Day! Charity Piggy Bank 2008

I was going to wait until I returned from an early January trip but I remembered that, on the off chance I itemize my tax deductions this year, it might be nice to do my Charity Piggy Bank donations today on New Year’s Eve. I ended the contribution year with a little over $471. I threw in a bit extra to get us to an even $500. Taking advice from kind reader comments, including Emily at The Lost Albatross, I decided to focus primarily on local groups: two literally local, and one across the Big Lake but local to my heart.

Where did the money go, in this happiest of New Year’s Eve activities? I knew I wanted to contribute a big part of the Piggy Bank to the Second Harvest Food Bank of Southern Wisconsin, which supplies all the food pantries and feeding programs here in town. SHFB responded immediately with a very nice auto reply telling me how the money would be used. I was especially pleased to read about an expansion of their Mobile Pantry Program; maintenance for their kids’ BackPack program (easy to prepare food for long weekends and breaks when kids miss in-school meals); and of course their ongoing work distributing food to 400 partner programs in 16 southern Wisconsin counties.

I also made a smaller contribution to Keep Wisconsin Warm, the program that helps families pay their heating bills in these cold Wisconsin winters.

I had initially intended to use all of the piggy bank for local social welfare programs like the above. But I also wanted to make a contribution that nurtures the spirit, especially for children. My favorite summers growing up included five weeks at Camp Miniwanca, an amazing world of women and girls set on 360 acres along Lake Michigan. The camp has been in place since 1925, it’s one of the most beautiful places I know, and it provides leadership training (kid-style) and really life changing changing summers for young girls.

Honestly, I had considered forgoing these contributions — the economy is worrisome and it would perhaps have been more practical to put this money in a rainy day savings account. But, happily, I had already made a promise the more than 3200 readers who’ve clicked on Daily Mitzvah this year — so that was motivation! I also made these gifts in honor or “the readers of the Daily Mitzvah blog,” in thanks for the comments and the clicks!

I have to say that making these donations today was such an happy and fulfilling way to spend the last day of the year.

My very best wishes to one and all for a happy, healthy, and reassuring New Year.

Today’s mitzvah: It’s not too late to make a year-end donation to a worthy local group (most will reply immediately with an email confirmation for your taxes) — or to resolve to begin your Charity Piggy Bank for 2009!

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Dec. 10: World Day for Human Rights

I’m running out the door to go teach, so I’m letting Amnesty International do the talking. (Roll over the image to light the candle.)

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Proposition 8: The Musical

Election night was so exciting for me, but such a depressing night in California where the passage of proposition 8 ended legal gay marriage in the state. The web site Funny or Die assembled an all-star cast for a sweet and funny video to bring attention to the issue and encourage people to visit JoinTheImpact.com. Unfortunately there’s no way to embed the video without the gratuitous Jack Black promo link (sigh), but I like the video enough to ignore this.

See more Jack Black videos at Funny or Die

Today’s mitzvah: Visit Join The Impact: 1 Million Plus for Equality, and read about upcoming activities, including December 10th’s “Day without a Gay” and December 20th’s “Light Up the Night for Equality.”

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Stumped for Xmas Gifts? Adopt a Wild Koala

How cute is this fella? I have a post in the works about some great “give back” Christmas gifts. But when I saw this story in a Reuters article, I had to post about it. The Koala Preservation Hospital of New South Wales, Australia, takes in injured and sick wild koalas, treats them, and then reintroduces them back into their native environment. This is the basis of the program name, Adopt a Wild Koala, since the goal is to return the little guys to the wild as quickly as practicable.

“Adoption” proceeds with the forms and photos typical of these kinds of programs, costs only about US$26, and helps to support the hospital’s ongoing in-patient — er, “in-bear” — programs.

Today’s mitzvah: Consider holiday gifts that give back.

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Bloggers Unite: World AIDS Day

December 1 is a Bloggers Unite Day, this one focusing on AIDS awareness.

I’m not the first person to note that AIDS has fallen off many people’s radar. Some of this is a result of encouraging news. People are living longer, drugs are now available to make this a disease people can live with, and an HIV+ diagnosis is just not the immediate death sentence it was in the 1980s, when several of my dear friends lost their battle in harrowing illnesses within months of being diagnosed. AIDS also affects minority communities disproportionately, at least at present, which can also distract attention from those whose friends and families do not include HIV+ individuals.

But AIDS is still a problem not only worldwide, but also in the United States. Since today is also Cyber Monday, the biggest online shopping day of the year, I thought I’d combine a pitch for the shopping portal iGive with our AIDS awareness post. I have an iGive badge in the right sidebar. Basically you can access almost any online merchant through the iGive portal. These merchants then rebate a small percentage of your purchase, to the nonprofit you designate. It takes a few minutes to set up an account, but after that it’s an easy peasey way to ensure your chosen nonprofit gets a kickback for a purchase you were going to make anyway.

I have my own iGive account set to rebate to the South Central Wisconsin AIDS Network, which serves Madison and vicinity. Given the bad economy, I’ve been trying to help local groups whenever I can, and this is a solid and hard-working organization.

iGive includes two nice features: it will track your donations in a form you can use at year-end if you itemize your tax deductions (the only shopping portal I know of that does this). And they also partner with LOTS of local and community nonprofits, so it’s very likely that your favorite community organization is already there.

If you want a quick portal that doesn’t require registration, Nonprofit Shipping Mall also includes many AIDS-related national and international charities.

Today’s mitzvah: Remember to use a rebate portal when you shop online. You’re making the purchase anyway, why not have the merchant rebate for you!

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Charity Piggy Bank: Almost There

As we close in on the end of the year, a double Charity Piggy Bank update for October and November. In keeping with the blog’s theme, the charity piggy bank is a small way to make a difference in a big world (even on a budget). Here are the totals:

• Proportional giving (Oct + Nov): $76.01
  
• Savings account interest, with thanks to ING!: $16.31
  
• Rebates for BYO grocery bags: $2.50
  
• Balance forward: $376.42
• NEW TOTAL: $471.24

I’ve been sticking with this, even as the economy gets wobblier. While my panic instinct is just to focus on my own personal savings — especially since my 401(k) is performing swan dives and I am well behind Suze Orman’s ideal 8-month emergency fund in my savings account — I think now more than ever it’s important to share with nonprofits that are facing increased demands and reduced contributions. I’ll post some thoughts in the next week or so as I figure out where to contribute this year’s piggy bank, which looks like I will be right around $500. Pain free savings!

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Shop till you drop? Grab an extra gift card.

As breathless newscasters keep reminding me, today is “Black Friday,” the biggest shopping day of the year (and the day retailers allegedly turn their first profit of the year, ergo out of the red and into the “black”)

For me Christmas shopping just isn’t the same without Marshall Field’s. Yet we carry on.

I try not to post too many daily good deeds that cost money. But if one happens to be shopping up a storm today: consider picking up an extra $10 gift card at your favorite store. Mailed in a Christmas or holiday card it’s a thoughtful gift for a charity to on-pass to a client — or for one of the organization’s hard-working staff members. On the way to school I pass a Ronald McDonald House whose Wish List requests always include small items appropriate for birthday gifts; I try to send them gift cards a few times a year. Other ideas: a local homeless shelter, food pantry, or any organization that serves people in-person.

Happy shopping!

Today’s mitzvah: pick up an extra $10 gift card to send to a local charity.

Original post date: 11/23/07.

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Thanksgiving - Helping the Hungry

Today’s mitzvah (click below):

Hello after a long absence! I'm hoping to be back in force for Advent I. For now, I’ve been thinking about what an anxious Thanksgiving this will be for many people. Our grocery has the usual donation bins for non-perishables. I’d like to offer a personal challenge: Instead of just putting one item in the bins, how about putting in two instead? Pasta, peanut butter, tuna or other canned meats — most of us can afford a second item, especially if we look for sales and store brands.

I know the temptation is to cut way back on everything. But I keep thinking that there’s always someone else whose finances are tighter than mine — and in a scary economy more than ever, we need to stick together! There are also many small ways to contribute for free, including The Hunger Site buttons on this site.

The Hunger Site is supported by sponsors that make donations based on how many people click the web site’s “Give Free Food” icon each day. No cost to you, no strings. Just a lot of sponsor ads and a chance to join with thousands of others each day whose clicks enable Mercy Corps International and Feeding America to provide food to hungry people. I click every day. It only takes a few seconds — and then you can get back to baking my favorite pie.

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Wordless Wednesday

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Election Night Scorecard

Think the interactive part of November 4th is over when the polls close? Think again! Committee for a Livable Future has an Election Night Scorecard — including spaces for your own predictions, should you care to play against yourself or set up a good old-fashioned viewing party contest. The scorecard includes each state’s electoral votes, as well its 2004 results. Additionally you’ll find a blank box for your own predictions, and a space for the actual result.

Scroll down and you’ll also find pages to track key House and Senate races, and LivPAC’s summary of why the races matter.

You can access the scorecard here.

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Stand by Me - Around the World

Bill Moyers ran a terrific piece this weekend on filmmaker Mark Johnson, who went around the world asking musicians to play or sing together as part of a documentary Playing for Change: Peace through Music. He edited these together for powerful performances, including this killer version of “Stand by Me,” from New Orleans, the Netherlands, South Africa, Rio, Moscow, Toulouse, Zuni, New Mexico, the Congo, and more.



Peace out.

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Charity Piggy Bank: Belated September Update

I’m late in posting, but happily with automatic savings the piggy bank grows whether I’m paying attention or not! Herewith, a belated Charity Piggy Bank September update. In keeping with the blog’s theme, the charity piggy bank is a small way to make a difference in a big world (even on a budget). Here are the August totals:

• Proportional giving: $34.75
  
• Savings account interest, with thanks to ING!: $9.15
  
• Rebates for BYO grocery bags: $1.60
  
• Balance forward: $330.92
• NEW TOTAL: $376.42

Today’s mitzvah: Consider creating a “charity piggy bank” to collect small sums for a year-end charitable contributions. I’m always interested in ideas for what I should do with this in December. It looks like I will be right around $500, which is a nice contribution (and makes me very happy since it involved so little work — this has been pretty pain free savings!)

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Mitzvah Toolkit: Caring Bridge and What Friends Do

A colleague recently used Caring Bridge in a very difficult situation, and another friend also mentioned it recently — so I thought this would be a good time to reprise this post from December 2007.

Here are two wonderful resources I hope we will never need to use. Caring Bridge is an online service that allows a person or family facing a crisis to stay in touch with family and friends through a free and easy-to-create web site. During a serious illness, hospitalization, or other life-altering situation, Caring Bridge facilitates communication by providing a template that includes a patient update journal, a photo gallery, and a guestbook for messages of support.

What Friends Do is a web-based concept that allows friends and family to come together as a team, via a centralized site, to offer coordinated and organized support during a health or other crisis. Once the group’s “coordinator” completes the sign-up process, a web site allows the team to: coordinate schedules for meals, childcare, errands and other needs; provide information updates via a team blog; share photos; and post messages of support. The main site also contains practical suggestions for how friends can help, as well as insight into maintaining a relationship with someone who is seriously ill or otherwise in crisis.

Today’ mitzvah: Check out Caring Bridge or What Friends Do for your mitzvah toolkit, to keep in mind in case a friend or family member might need them.

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CROP Walks This Weekend

I’ve been AWOL and missed posting on this earlier, but there’s time to donate to the many CROP Walks against Hunger across the country this weekend, sponsored by Church World Service. CWS provides an interactive map, where you’ll find many walks around the country, especially on Sunday, October 12.

Here’ a video with more info!

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Vote for Your Favorite

Impatient about waiting until November to vote? Trip Advisor (which has great hotel reviews written by real travelers) invites you to flex those voting muscles with a worthy election while we wait for that other one in November. Details below (with thanks to Ms. Champion Walker for the tip!).

clipped from us.mc524.mail.yahoo.com

TripAdvisor is giving away $1 million to 5 worthy causes. We need your help deciding how much each organization gets. Already voted? Tell your friends to vote. We'll add extra votes to the cause you're supporting.

Current Standings Based on votes received through September 24, 2008.

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Yummy Surprise

A friend is terribly ill, so I didn’t have the heart to post a video for Dance Party Friday this week. We’re lighting candles, with hopes of dancing in the future. There could not have been a better day to come home to such a nice surprise from Jazzy and her humans. Who knew there was such a thing as an organic lollipop? And how lovely is it to have family who know that a discovery like this had my name written all over it?

Thanks, J, J, and C!

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Fun With Words

Some of you know that Skeeterbess and I have a Guinness World Record-worthy game of perpetual Scrabulous. Skeet is in Hawaii, I am in the Upper Midwest, but neither time nor space can keep us from from our appointed rounds: namely, Skeet beating me 9 times out of 10 in online Scrabble! The one-word email notifications when it’s my turn have their own kind of random zen poetry:

Pax.
Time.
Fame.
Cold pairs.

When I mentioned this to Ms. Skeet she said, “Search my blog for Wordle!” I did, and now I have yet another word game addiction. Paste text into Wordle (or enter a URL), presto changeo, it’s transformed into word art. Here’s another one from me, using the text of the 19th amendment:












Today’s mitzvah: Wordle is fun!

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Searching for a Good Cause

How many times do I search the web each day? Several organizations have created web search interfaces that make small contributions for charity every time we use their engines. To date, most of these sites have used Yahoo as their search engine. Yet I recently learned about a newer option, EcoSearch.org, which uses Google. The upside: a much more powerful search engine, and support for organizations including the Sierra Club, Natural Resources Defense Council, and Save the Bay. (The downside is that EcoSearch is light on details about how much they contribute per search, how often they make their donations, etc.)












For sheer transparency and accountability (albeit with a Yahoo search engine), I really like iSearch, which is an offshoot of the charitable shopping site, iGive. On iSearch, you choose the charity you want to support, from an extensive list that includes lots of smaller local options. iSearch’s benefits: you can click to see the donations to the charity to-date, your own contributions to the organization — this is the only site I know that allows individuals to track their own contributions — and the date and amount of the last check they set to the organization. And iSearch/iGive mails quarterly for amounts over $25 (other similar sites only mail donations once a year). I’ve included a screenshot above for the group I’m currently supporting, Wisconsin AIDS Network.

Today’s mitzvah: search out EcoSearch or iSearch the next you’re searching the web

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Got the Vote?

Are you registered to vote? In some parts of the country, times’s running out! While a few states (yea, Wisconsin!) allow same-day registration at the polls on election day, most states have registration cut-offs in October, as early as October 5th.

The nonpartisan League of Women Voters has a handy page, Vote411.org, that allows you to locate information for your state, including registration deadlines and a direct link to your state’s Board of Elections web site. Most public libraries also have information and voter registration forms. Or just Google “vote” and your state name for information on where to go and what to do. (If you use EcoSearch.org, you’ll get a Google’s search engine combined with a donation to earth-friendly nonprofits with each search.)

Today’s mitzvah: Register to vote — or if you’re already registered, consider emailing this post to someone who may not yet be registered.

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Happy Talk Like a Pirate Day!

Q: What are pirates’ favorite socks?
A: Arrrrrrrrgyle!

Hee-hee. I love that one.

Can I combine “Talk Like A Pirate” Day and Dance Party Friday? You betcha, matey. Stick with this video for the first couple minutes, after which you’ll see Eric Idle introduce George Harrison — and not the song you expect!




With thanks to our Favorite Person in North Carolina for reminding me of this auspicious day. Avast ye scurvy dogs, back to work!

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