Stop, Look & Listen

Very little of what I may talk about in this forum has any resonance at all, beyond the tip-typing of my keys, but today is different.

This has been a year of challenges and tragedies and perseverence and frustration the world over. The Tsunami, Hurricane Katrina, the Pakistani Earthquake. Our lives all colored by the shared national and international tragedies, as well as the personal ones. Those touched by cold fingers of cancer, those stricken by the ravages of AIDS, those subjected to the cruel indiscriminate whims of non-lethal but debilitating (if not degenerative) conditions such as fibromyalgia or rheumatoid arthritis.

The outpouring of generosity of spirit and resources in every one of these circumstances has been remarkable. And with the strength and force of such outpouring, it seems no surprise that people would begin to speculate about "donor fatigue." This concept seemingly centering on the idea that people are tired of giving, that they are tapped out. I counter that what people are tired of is the emotional drain of large-scale and immediate tragedy, the inevitable frustration that anything one does just doesn't seem to be enough to solve the entire problem, and the fear of what else might be around the corner. It has been a long year. In every way.

But we are all still standing. And that counts for something.

While I am still standing, I feel that I ought to outstretch my hand, to extend my grasp, and pull someone up. Just the thought of it actually makes me feel like I am more firmly balanced, standing here on my own two feet, than I have in a very long time.

There are a lot of worthy causes out there, and everyone needs help more than ever before. The national and international natural disasters still require all the assistance we can muster and health crises of every variety continue to need as much funding for research and treatment as can be channeled their direction, but I decided to take a slightly different approach in the charities I chose to give to this year.

Recently, someone sent me this, and it reminded me that while there are large scale crises in the world in every way, there are so many simple and every day needs of so many people that go unmet simply because they are ever-present and therefore do not set of a flurry of press coverage and turn people's attention to them. Yet these are problems that we can solve, all of us, collectively and individually, but most importantly, immediately. And the funds and efforts required to make a significant and immediate impact are often less than a weekly coffee bill with someone with a moderate-to-severe Starbucks addiction. Such changes can be made, and they can be done as stocking stuffers, as conscious abstinence from one high-brow night of cocktails, from saving all of your change from breaking larger size bills for a week.

So I picked a number of causes, both domestic and international, adult and child-oriented, large and small - but all of which address the basic issues of food, clothing and shelter in a real and significant way, all year round and for a lifetime.

America's Second Harvest: A.S.H. is the nation's largest charitable hunger-relief organization, with a network of more than 200 regional member food banks and food-rescue programs. Last year, the A.S.H. provided food assistance to more than 23 million low-income hungry people in the United States, including more than 9 million children and nearly 3 million seniors.

For every dollar that is donated to A.S.H., 16 meals are provided to those who are hungry. $50 buy 800 meals; $75 buys 1200 meals, and $100 buys 1600 meals. The synergistic effect is astounding.

Heifer International: Heifer International aims to end world hunger and bring self sufficiency to people in developing nations by providing them with necessary livestock which can feed them and bring them economic returns. For instance, $20 buys a flock (gaggle? group?) of chicks which, "Starting at six months, they can lay up to 200 eggs a year — a reliable source of protein for children who otherwise subsist mostly on starches. Extra eggs can be sold to pay for school, clothes and medicine. And in the vegetable garden, chickens peck at bugs and weeds, scratch up the soil and enrich it with droppings. Chicks are an elegant solution to improving a family's crops and their diet — and to the dilemma of what to give your socially aware friends this season. In Zimbabwe, Mrs. Ndagurwa is a leader in her women's agricultural club. She grows impressive vegetables in soil scratched up and fertilized by her Heifer chickens; their eggs add protein to her family's diet and generate cash to help market her produce."

For the more ambitious (with larger and more flexible wallets), you can buy a heifer or a water buffalo for $500, or a goat for $120. For those of us who like to think big, but whose wallets are small, a share of one of these larger scale livestock can be purchased for anywhere from $20 to $50.

Grameen Foundation USA: GFUSA provides funding, technology, technical assistance, training and information services to a network of 52 local microfinance** institutions (MFIs) in 22 countries. These partners then give very small loans and other financial services and support to the world’s poorest people to start very small businesses to pull themselves out of poverty. Thus far, this network has impacted an estimated 5.5 million lives in Asia, Africa, the Americas, and the Middle East.

More than 90 percent of the network’s clients are women because they have proven to be the most effective in fighting poverty.

** "Sometimes called “banking for the poor,” microfinance is an amazingly simple approach that has been proven to empower very poor people around the world to pull themselves out of poverty. Relying on their traditional skills and entrepreneurial instincts, very poor people, mostly women, use small loans (usually less than US$200), other financial services, and support from local organizations called microfinance institutions (MFIs) to start, establish, sustain, or expand very small, self-supporting businesses. A key to microfinance is the recycling of loan dollars. As each loan is repaid—usually within six months to a year—the money is recycled as another loan, thus multiplying the value of each dollar in defeating global poverty, and changing lives and communities."

Homes For Our Troops: HFOT assists injured service men and women (across all branches of the military) and their immediate families by raising donations of money, building materials and professional labor and coordinating the process of building a new home or adapting an existing home for handicapped accessibility. HFOT provides this service at little or no cost to the veteran.

The bravery and the selflessness of these soldiers' sacrifices must not be forgotten.

My Stuff Bags Foundation: MSBF works to address the physical and emotional needs of children who must be rescued from abuse and neglect, or displaced by natural disasters, and placed in crisis care, often with no personal belongings. Filled with items such as toiletries, toys, blankets and stuffed animals, My Stuff Bags provide comfort for children throughout America. In 2004, volunteers stuffed 87,000 bags that were sent to 900 centers.

MSBF's ultimate goal each year is to deliver a My Stuff Bag to every child that needs one.

These are causes which spoke to me. They are why my family is getting a waterbuffalo for xMas this year, that my friends are getting duffel bags and piping hot meals that they will never see for Festivus this year, why Starbucks is going to miss my presence as my latte money is better off being loaned and re-loaned out over and over, and why that new pair of shoes is going to be used for lumber instead.

If these causes resonated with you, I encourage you to give. If there is anything these researching these causes has shown me is that a very little goes a very long way. If you'd like to look for other causes that need your help, this site and this one are very useful in revealing to you what is out there and how exactly/effectively your donation is used.

If there is a cause that is near and dear to any of you that I did not mention here, please append it (and a link to its site) in the comments section below. The more attention all of these causes can get, the better.

Thanks for reading.