Homegrown Charity

Homegrown Charity

by Diana McCollum

This month at Romancing the Genres the suggested subject is:  A Shout Out to Charities.  There are charities for everything imaginable.  Charities to help with disasters such as the Red Cross, Charities to help animals:  cats, dogs, horses, big cats & exotic animals kept as pets that need rescued.  There are charities to help specific causes:  homelessness, the environment, Doctors with Out Borders etc. 

There are world charities.  You can donate to feed the world, to build wells in Africa, to educate the illiterate in third world countries, to help fund the orphanages in other countries. 

If you can think of a cause, there’s probably a charity established for it.  There are many choices to donate your spare change towards.

Helping charities with donations of money or time is a wonderful thing.  I believe that when one gives freely to help others, it will come back ten-fold.  Karma, you know?

What I don’t like and don’t contribute to are the enormous amount of mailed solicitations for donations.  It irks me to no end the mailers I receive for donations.  Sometimes, I receive the same charity mailer two or three times in the same month!!  Those charities should use the money spent on paper, printing and postage to help their charity.  Or send one instead of several. 

One letter requesting donations should do it.  Either the person receiving it will donate, or they won’t.  Why waste money sending the same ad over and over to the same person?

I believe that charity begins at home.  By home I mean, the country, the town, the community, and the neighborhood I live in.  There are so many homeless families in America.  

There are still illiterate people living here who need help to learn to read and write.  Many adults and children go to bed way too often without ever having a meal.  The foster care system is over crowded with children many who are waiting to be adopted. 

This year through Romance Writers of America, I donated to Literacy.  Why?  Because reading and being able to comprehend opens up worlds of information for everyone.  When one reads a book one can relate to, it might help with a problem he might be facing.

Reading can take you away to far-away places.  Reading can inspire one to higher goals.  Learning without being able to read?  While not impossible, without the skill of reading, learning can be very hard.

 This year I donated to the Bethlehem House in Bend, OR.  Bethlehem House is a place for homeless families to transition back into a home of their own.  The children attend school and there is counseling to help the jobless find jobs and get back on their feet.

I volunteer my time at the local hospital.

We are all caretakers of the world we live in.  Let’s begin at home, wherever in the world that may be, and make a difference.  One small act can spread further than you ever dreamed.

Do you have a favorite charity?