give more to charity

http://www.openarmsmn.org/

I’m making this donation a bit early so I can get it in this tax year. I chose this organization because they do REALLY important work, delivering nutritionally sound meals to people who are shut in…they deliver DIFFERENT meals depending on the disease people are suffering from…multiple sclerosis, HIV/AIDS, ALS, etc.

I said earlier this year when I was decluttering and ran across my american girl paper dolls (that had been played with to shreds) that I felt ok throwing them away if I could give a new set as a gift to someone else. So tonight I stopped at the American girl store and bought two paper doll sets to give for a children’s gift drop off this year.

I was surprised at how they were really exactly the same as mine…now they have sticky dots instead of tabs, but the accessories and dresses were all exactly the same as the ones I had as a little girl.

Just read a very very sad story about eagles dying of lead poisoning after ingesting fragments of lead bullets in deer that during hunting season. It was very very sad :(

I’m kind of a bird nut, and the raptor center was where my favorite one-eyed owl originally was taken care of, so it’s an obvious choice for this week’s donation.

for a high school team…they were selected for nationals and need to raise money to send the whole team out of state.

Very sadly, a coworker’s daughter in law was killed in a car accideent this pst week. I didn’t know her, but I know her father in law quite well, and there are other mutual friends we share. She was a teacher, and a memorial fund was set up in lieu of flowers to purchase books for the school.

Between my next few paychecks and the bonus I got at work, I’m giving to two things:

a) the wildlife center who houses the one-eyed screech owl I fell in love with at the state fair (they also have a great story…that they were a federal research facility for wolves, and when the feds decided to end the project, they said, “ok, we’re done, euthanize the wolves, as we’re not paying anymore,” and one of the biologists there self-taught herself non-profit management, grant writing, and fundraising to keep the place going as a non profit…)

b) a friend at work is having a benefit party (what a great idea!) He throws a Halloween party every year that apparently is really fun, but this year is asking for donations from everyone who attends to benefit a friend of his who was severely beaten after trying to intervene in a crime in progress and now has severe injuries and no health insurance. I can’t go to the party, but I want to give a nice amount to him for this cause.

There was a heart attack and a near heart attack in my family recently, so I thought this was a fitting charity for this paycheck’s contribution…

This paycheck, I bought three books of stamps and sent them to a local social work agency that gives them to low-income seniors who still prefer to write paper letters.

I’m going to fill a backpack with school supplies for “operation backpack,” which has them on hand to give to foster children or other kids who were recently displayed or for other reasons don’t have the supplies they need to start out the school year.

I had not given anything toward the myanmar cyclone, so I gave through google where they are matching donations for this week’s donation