Frowning takes 68 muscles.
Smiling takes 6.
Pulling this trigger takes 2.
I'm lazy.
For many years an important part of our family’s Christmas celebration has been giving the gift of farm animals to folks in the third world. My kids (now from 6-12) gather some of their money saved from jobs and received as gifts for birthdays and holidays and in a family meeting we sit down with a catalog from Heifer International http://www.heifer.org/ , a charity that got its start and specializes in providing farm animals to families in the third world. As their website and older literature states “Heifer International is a non-profit organization whose goal is to help end world hunger and poverty through self-reliance & sustainability.” They have good rating as far as their efficiency . I always liked their emphasis on “teaching a man to fish” and requirement that their recipients eventually donate some of the offspring of their animals to others. They publish beautiful catalogs showing the types of animals that can be donated in different countries, how the recipients are trained and how the animals can change their lives. Our children love to sit with the catalog and read the stories of what the gift of these animals mean to people who are not as fortunate as they. And believe me – they really do “get it.”
My problem is that in the last few years the literature we get from Heifer International has taken a hardcore turn to the left. Whereas the themes of the past, teaching a man to fish, the power of giving people agricultural freedom, and developing self sustaining families is still there it is now mixed with heavy doses of “Gender Equity”, “Sustainable Development” , “Global Warming” and other Leftist claptrap. I can no longer send money to a group that allows a political agenda to supersede their charitable mission. So I am looking for a new charity or mission to support that does the same thing, specifically donates animals to the poor. I have found lots of them out there but I wanted to see if any Freepers had a personal recommendation of a group they have worked with. I am looking closely at Gospel In Asia http://www.gfa.org/gift/from-the-stable/
which has a similar program. I talked with some missionaries from their group at CPAC a few years back so I figure their ministry is Christ based and not Marx based. Some may think this aspect petty but it is important to me that the organization have a nice website or printed catalog/brochure that shows the animals and the kind of families that receive them. Over the years we have told many other families of our Christmas tradition and they have also participated. The ability of children to see what they are doing and participating in is important to helping them develop an appreciation for what they have, their duty to Christ to serve others, and the vast need that is out there.
Consider supporting your local hospital,
or a support function of it.
A Ronald McDonald House type thing often needs help
and is supporting families with sick relatives
who have to travel a long way for care.
Some good ones:
* Your local Midnight Mission
* FeedTheChildren
* ChildFund (you sponsor kids)
You might check with Salvation Army to see if they can steer your funds in this sort of direction.
We’ve supported Dare2Share ministries over the past few years and they do amazing things with teenagers.
I like “Operation Smile” which is part of The 700 Club’s charitable good works. Operation Smile pays for cleft palate surgeries for children and adults in need. This is a surgery that makes a child born with cleft palate able to go on to have a normal life, and not be ashamed to smile anymore.
The 700 Club has many types of outreach programs that one can choose from.
At first I gave to the Katrina fund, Operation Hope. Then when I got further info from them, I felt compelled to give to Operation Smile. I have an aunt who was born with cleft palate and she got her operation as a child and has led a perfectly normal life and she is quite beautiful too, inside and out.
St. Vincent dePaul is fabulour....so is Salvation ARmy.
The Boy Scouts is high on my list. They provide great role models and values to young boys. Their impact on fatherless boys can’t be overstated.
My second suggestion is visit with your local Rotary Club. You will find they are active in your local comunity and doing great things around the globe. Have nearly reached their goal of whiping out Polio world wide, they are bring clean drinking water, medical support, education etc to the third world, all with zero overhead and graft.
c/o geronl
We love the shoebox ministry that Franklin Graham founded. It’s called Samaritan’s Purse. You fill a shoebox with all kinds of needed items, which they suggest to you.
From Military.com:
"ABC newsman Bob Woodruff spent five weeks in a medically induced coma before waking up from a traumatic brain injury March 6, 2006. As a result of his injuries and the subsequent care he received from the military, Woodruff decided to open the Bob Woodruff Family Fund for Traumatic Brain Injury to raise money to assist members of the military with cognitive rehabilitation and other care needs following a traumatic brain injury suffered during service to their country".
My daughter has a TBI as a result of an auto accident and I know how much rehabilitation is involved and how expensive it is, but how very worthwhile it is for full recovery. The number of TBI's sustained in battle is surprisingly high. These brave warriors deserve all of the help they can get on their long roads to recovery. Please consider donating to this worthiest of causes.
http://www.military.com/military-report/bob-woodruff-foundation-for-traumatic-brain-injury
You can also ask your local visiting nurses organization who can tell you about local families in need. I did that a couple of years and it was wonderful.
Wounded Warrior Project...Do you have any reason to believe that the Heifer program is not actually delivering farm animals to needy families, as advertised?
Operation Gratitude is another one I gave to. They send things to the troops.
The official website for the 700 Club charitable organizations is:
www.OB.org
Operation Blessing International
They help Americans and people all over the world.
I received their giving catalog this week. There are more than a dozen areas of giving to choose from, or one can choose to let them decide which fund needs the most help.
Your thread on giving today, has nudged me to write a check to Operation Blessing International to the Operation Smile fund. I hope others were similarly inspired.
http://www.graceinitiatives.org
Provides housing to expectant moms in Ocean County, NJ, with Godly host families. When you provide housing,moms tend to carry to term rather than abort.
Near and dear to my heart.
I used to do the same — gave to Heifer — especially for teacher gifts. Instead of a candle or box of soap, my kids would give a note saying that a chicken or share of a goat had been given in honor of them. Teachers loved this and expressed their appreciation. Then Heifer went too far to the left for my comfort in giving them our $$$$.
For the last few years, we transferred our Christmas giving to Samaritan’s Purse. It’s the same kind of outreach, but Christian, without the political agenda. We highly recommend this organization.