Give a Little and Receive a Lot

I'm taking a break from this series to give my impute on the situation in Myanmar. Hundreds of thousands of people are dying from every imaginable horrible thing, while I sit in my air conditioned home, drinking a Diet Pepsi and munching on peanuts. The dichotomy is so wide, it's freakish. Today I logged onto my World Vision account and donated $100 toward that cause. It's not much, but it will buy rice and blankets. Sometimes I feel insulated from tragedies all over the world, and yet it could happen anywhere. Would someone send me a few bucks? I can only pray so!

Money is tight these days, what with the dollar collapse, high energy and food prices, and unemployment climbing. People are not letting go of their cash. According to CNN, donations are down. On our own shores they state: "Charitable groups that help the poor -- food banks, thrift stores, shelters -- say the slumping economy is eroding their ability to help the nation's needy. They report declining donations and a surge in people seeking help." CNN I like being altruistic, it makes me feel apart of something bigger than me, even if I can't give much.

Last month I agreed to do a Leukemia & Lymphoma Society pledge drive in my neighborhood. Of the 14 people I sent letters to, only one neighbor responded--the one I did not expect to respond! All I asked for was $5.00. There was a time when neighborhood pledges were very popular as a means to fund raise. As a child, every year I helped with Jerry Lewis' Muscular Dystrophy fund raiser. There wasn't a problem (other than pronouncing the disease) knocking on doors and asking for support, and getting it. Now a days people won't open their doors to strangers, and apparently they ignore mailings their neighbors send.

I support several causes. World Vision, which includes sponsoring a child and helping in devastating events world wide. We have a wonderful little girl named, Annie, who lives in Malawi. I did not expect to think much about this child, but over the past six months, I do--and I enjoy finding little gifts that fit in a 6 x 9 envelope! Sometimes I buy a goat or chicken for poor families. Before when I got stressed out, I hit the malls, now I buy farm animals!

My father got me started on the Paralyzed Veterans of America, plus they send cool return address stickers! Sometimes I drop the City of Hope some cash and donated for breast cancer research. Mom died of breast cancer and because of research more and more women are surviving this devastating cancer. Now dad has Alzheimer's, so I'm donating to their research.

I believe in Joyce Meyer Ministries and donate monthly. I tithe to my local church, and finally, there's the St. Francis Inn for homeless in Philadelphia that captured my heart in an HBO special years ago.

There are people who think giving money is a waste, that it doesn't reach those in need. But sometimes we just need a little faith that those who manage these organizations are doing the right thing. Temptation resides everywhere, and money can be misused. What if you really, really want to know for sure? There's a couple of ways. First, check into your organization at Charity Navigator. Make sure the organization is approved by the Better Business Bureau. These are good starting points. But don't just assume your money doesn't make a difference. In the case of World Vision, I know someone who travels to Malawi and sees the work going on in Annie's Village. Even if the administrators of these programs take nine dollars and hand out one, it's one dollar more than they had before. I'm willing to take that risk. Writing a check is easy. The people our checks sponsor to do the work are the real hero's.