Feeling Charitable

When it comes to donating to charities, I have an established protocol. I am very passionate about "my" charities, usually donating only to those. I am unlikely to donate to random organizations, though I do try to budget to support the occasional friend's passion (e.g., the Light the Night fundraiser K.D.S. raises money for each year). If the cause is near and dear to a friend's heart, I can easily find room in my own heart. I do, however, in both instances demand knowing where each penny of every dollar goes before I'll even consider writing a check. After Peace Corps, I'm particularly stern on this; the mismanagement of money is worse than you can believe. My last rule of thumb: I donate during summer, when donations are generally at their lowest.

Lately though, send me a brief on someone in need and I am in. All in. I’m feeling quite charitable lately.

(I hate to say it’s unlike me because I don’t necessarily think that’s true.) 

In addition to the spending I witnessed in Lesotho and through Team Mathias, I'm more inclined to donate to local (and/or small) organizations, where overhead spending does not play a huge role in costs. To my knowledge, Team Mathias funds have gone directly to help cover medical costs for Mathias and support childhood cancer research. I can buy in to that!

These are some animal, children, and illness-related "organizations" I might consider learning more about going forward. If it's not based in one of the above or Africa, my interest is quickly displaced.

• Chocolate Bar – This story of a six-year-old helping his friend battle a rare liver condition, Glycogen Storage Disease Type 1, through the publication of Chocolate Bar, appeared as a follow up to an earlier airing on NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams. I was almost brought to tears by the story. It's simple and heartwarming, and something this world could use a whole lot more of. The success of Chocolate Bar is rooted in the BIG idea of one six-year-old, and a bunch of people standing behind his idea and mission to cure a rare disease. Wow. 

BIG news: After years and years of waiting, I finally received my first free set of address labels! They came from a nonprofit I had previously been unfamiliar with. My parents receive thousands of these each year. Even during the "on-the-move" period, address labels magically found their way to the mailbox. I’ve always wondered how it happened. Though I'll continue to wonder, I'll do so less now that the magic has been bestowed upon me. After having Boyfriend check The Children's Inn charity rating and approving, I made a celebratory donation. 

• The Children's Inn at National Institutes of Health (NIH) – A "place like home" for sick children and their families to stay for free while receiving groundbreaking medical treatments at the NIH.

My new running habit led me to the untimely purchase of not one but two pairs of shoes. After more than a decade of running, I'm a firm believer in rotating shoes. This led me to my local running store for a fitting, where I decided on two pairs shoes. If I'm going to continue running this mileage, I'm not going to do so on shredded shoes. I purchased one of the two pairs at market price to pay my thanks.

In my hunt to find a new perfect fit, I was real picky. I wound up trying on at least nine pairs of shoes. In high school and college, I relied on a retired line of Asics. Those shoes became dead to the world when the new "minimalist" movement moved in. Sigh. For the marathon, I went with Mizuno Wave Riders, a line from the old track days. The Wave Riders underwent an unfavorable upgrade from 17 to 18 during the previous months. Wouldn't it be convenient the newer version mimics a model prior I haven't run in and rubs my outside big toe in an unfavorable way?

(How much didn't you want to know about my running shoe saga? All of the above, I'm sure.)

Enter eBay, to my quest to be a bargain shopper. As I was checking out with my Brooks PureFlows 3, I was asked to donate to the Blind Cat Rescue and Sanctuary.  

• Blind Cat Rescue & Sanctuary –  If there are blind cats in this world in need of rescuing, I'm here to be of assistance. Well, financial assistance. I don't actually like cats. Not even a little. But the idea of blind cats was the saddest thing my little mind could fathom on Sunday afternoon so, of course, I made a donation. And no, I didn't check to see if said organization is a real thing. Later, I found their website where the slogan Help Blind Cats See a Future resided. Hello puns, one of my favorite things. So if only five cents goes to help a blind cat, I'll find comfort in my good intention. Animals--including cats--and puns, I'm sold. 
• Note: This was my first eBay purchase and will likely be my last. I'm on a budget and I hardly made out well, when I take into account the price of my shoes after the donation and the time spent both researching running shoe steals and later blind cats. Oy.  

• Ellery's Life – Another child battling another rare disease--Primary Ciliary Dyskinesia (PCD). Ellery is managing PCD with music. Her story, told through her mother, is one of patience, perseverance, discovery, and reclaimed life. I'm willing support Ellery's dream and her efforts to raise money for PCD research and awareness in the process.

This has been (and hopefully will continue to be) a nice regrouping with my wannabe humanitarian ideals.