Free Republic

Do you give money to charity? You do if you're a typical American. More than 70 percent of US families contribute every year, and the average household gives at least $1,000. Charitable donations in America add up to about $300 billion annually — which is more, as Arthur C. Brooks of the American Enterprise Institute points out, than the entire gross national product of Finland, Portugal, or Peru. Americans give 12 times as much to charity each year as they spend on professional sports, and almost 30 times as much as they spend going to the movies. By any yardstick,...

Free enterprise should be defended, not simply on the basis of statistics, but on the basis of morality, including the “moral imperative” to care for those in need through both job creation and charity. * * * Strain is dead right that foes of big government/national community must paint a clear and appealing picture of the local, non-governmental communities they want to take the place of the Leviathan nation-state.

Michigan cities, which love to pride themselves on being green, are giving a red light to outdoor recycling bins on private property. Grand Rapids, the latest city to ban the boxes, claims the bins are a source of uncontained trash, but the city has not provided any documentation of complaints. The recycling bins being targeted typically are set on property to collect clothes, shoes and books. Property owners say the recycling organizations have been responsive in emptying the bins. But Grand Rapids officials disagree. Suzanne Schulz, director of planning for Grand Rapids, said the city doesn't have the manpower to...

There is a fundraising drive today to collect for the families of the Granite Mountain Hotshots. I am proud to say that our Kern County Firefighters have collected over $27,000 so far today in a Fill the Boot! drive for the families. If anyone else wants to donate Granite 19 is selling memorial t-shirts on this website to help out the families. Thanks everyone!

A recent Gallup poll, timed for the Fourth of July, found that while most Americans (85%) are “proud to be an American,” most (71%) also believe that our Founding Fathers would be “disappointed” in the America of today. The numbers highlight the difference between our regard for our Constitution and for the people who make America great, on the one hand, and our collective distrust of government overreach on the other. The daily news is a patchwork story of America’s great people -- and I’ll share one touching example in a moment -- as well as our very real political...

I always believed that giving to a good cause or helping victims of a disaster was a noble thing to do. I mean, “There but for the grace of God go I”, right? With the recent uncovering of scandals within the government, more and more investigators are digging to uncover other cases of fraud and mismanagement. Is nothing sacred anymore? A recent investigation exposed by CNN, The Center for Investigative Reporting and the Tampa Bay Times have found that there are dozens and dozens of charities that basically do next to nothing for the causes they raise money for. 50...

The worst charity in America operates from a metal warehouse behind a gas station in Holiday. Every year, Kids Wish Network raises millions of dollars in donations in the name of dying children and their families. Every year, it spends less than 3 cents on the dollar helping kids. Most of the rest gets diverted to enrich the charity's operators and the for-profit companies Kids Wish hires to drum up donations. In the past decade alone, Kids Wish has channeled nearly $110 million donated for sick children to its corporate solicitors. An additional $4.8 million has gone to pay the...

<p>Helen Mirren has granted a boy’s dying wish to meet the Queen — by dressing as Her Majesty and inviting him round for tea.</p> <p>Oliver Burton, ten, may have just weeks to live after being hit by cancer for a third time.</p>

Boston bands Aerosmith and New Kids on the Block, singer-songwriter James Taylor and country singer Jason Aldean will headline a concert to benefit the victims of last month's Boston Marathon bombing, organizers said on Friday... All proceeds from the concert will go to The One Fund, which was set up by Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick and Boston Mayor Thomas Menino. Tickets priced from $35 to $285 go on sale on Monday.

This year, Joe and Jill Biden increased their charitable donations from 1.5 percent of their income to 1.87 percent. "The Vice President and Dr. Jill Biden also released their 2012 federal income tax returns, as well as state income tax returns for both Delaware and Virginia. The Bidens filed joint federal and combined Delaware income tax returns. Dr. Biden filed a separate non-resident tax return for the state of Virginia. Together, they reported adjusted gross income of $385,072. The Bidens paid $87,851 in total federal tax for 2012. They paid $13,531 in Delaware income tax and $3,593 in Virginia income...

"The Bidens contributed $7,190 to charity in 2012," the White House revealed today. A look at the Bidens joint filing reveals that $2,000 of that donation was in the form of "donated property" given to Goodwill in Wilmington, Delaware. Here's the relevant form, from the Bidens' tax return: As the form states, on June 25 of last year, the Bidens gave "Clothing, Boots, Kitchenware, Glassware" totaling $400 to Goodwill. Earlier, on May 16, the Bidens gave "Furniture and Exercise Equipment" valued at $1,100 to the Ministry of Caring. And on May 27 of last year, the Bidens gave "Bicycles, Toys, Glasses,...

A Barnado’s charity shop has been forced to close after the front was smashed during a party celebrating the death of Baroness Thatcher. A gaping hole was left in the window of the store in Brixton, south London, where around 150 people gathered for a street party following the news that Lady Thatcher had died of a stroke. Similar celebrations in Bristol left six police officers injured after an anti-Thatcher crowd turned violent and began throwing missiles at police.

We are God's House ! Sent to restore the foundations ! You Will BE Sustained by My love for you . So do not fear but receive My messengers of Grace bringing and bearing My love for they "ARE" My heart of endearment ,"Yeah"the very Virtue of eternity I call ((("GRACE" ))) . . . Receive your healing and allow My Joy to rise up and fill your WellSpring to overflowing "That My River may "BECOME YOU" for others in this same way . . . " I BESTOW ~ AS You LET GO" ~ ~ ~ Ezra 1:5 5...

European Union families and individuals are increasingly reliant on charity organizations like the Red Cross for basic needs like food, water and shelter. While Germany is relatively unaffected, unemployment and austerity in countries like Spain make the problem even more severe. Two-thirds of national Red Cross societies within the European Union distribute food aid -- a sign that the economic crisis in Europe has an alarming effect on poverty. Yves Daccord, Director-General of the International Committee of the Red Cross, said that the scope of food distribution is the highest since the end of World War II. The Spanish Red...

There are two times in a young mans’ life when he feels that he is all grown-up, when he gets his first car and the first time he votes. Last year, we received an interesting donation. Ruth, our donor service manager, received a phone call from Laurie. She, along with her family, wanted to donate a very special 1983 Buick. The car had been in her family and was given to her son when he turned 16. He drove it back and forth to work and school. When his brother turned 16, they both shared the Buick. In late fall...

There is certainly no ‘waste not, want not’ badge for Girl Scouts of America, at least not in Southern California where over 13,000 boxes of the organization’s famous cookies were bulldozed to bits in a warehouse as bulldozer operators gleefully yelled ‘Goodbye girl scout cookies!’ After the May incident, when the cookies were sent off to a landfill, leaders of area food banks are up in arms about the so-called service organization's wastefulness. Bruce Rankin, Executive Director of Santa Monica’s West Side Food Bank, watched footage from CBS 2 in Los Angeles, and was shocked as two heavy-duty construction vehicles...

On Tuesday, the International House of Pancakes will celebrate National Pancake Day by offering guests a free short stack of buttermilk pancakes. With every short stack of pancakes served, diners will be invited to make a donation to designated charities, including Shriners Hospitals for Children.The IHOP restaurants that have chosen Shriners Hospitals for Children as the beneficiary of this event are primarily in Texas, with additional locations in Arkansas, Colorado, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Wyoming.

A Christian church and school in Florida are devastated after they said Wounded Warrior Project refused to accept their fund raising effort because it was “religious in nature.” “We were heartbroken,” said Wallace Cooley, pastor of Liberty Baptist Church and Academy in Fort Pierce, Fla. Cooley said they had already paid a $100 registration fee to raise money for the Wounded Warrior Project and were about to launch the campaign when they received an email from the organization. The church had planned on taking up a special offering on the last Sunday in February and students were collecting money from...

I was tempted to address Cardinal Dolan in my headline but I'm not yet sure how responsible he is for the decision to put two Staten Island schools on the "at risk" list for closure. I met the affable Cardinal at the 125th anniversary of Immaculate Conception Church but that didn't stop its inner-city school from being targeted. Clearly the archdiocese has abandoned its educational mission for the needy which was established hundreds of years ago. Instead the economic bottom line seems to count more than educating minority children in the neighborhoods with poor performing public schools and few alternatives....

PALOS HILLS, Ill. (AP) A local bank has closed a mosque's account after it donated money to an Islamic charity under federal investigation for allegedly helping terrorists. Family Bank and Trust Co. closed the account of the Mosque Foundation in Bridgeview after the mosque wrote two checks to the Islamic American Relief Agency, according to the mosque's imam, Sheikh Jamal Said. Mosque Foundation president Oussama Jamal said the mosque made its donations in August and September, before the federal government froze the charity's assets and raided its Missouri offices in October. The Treasury Department alleged Islamic American Relief was part...