Charities receive a large percentage of their donations during the holiday season and today I would like to highlight a few worthy causes.
1. Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Clara and San Mateo — This is a charity that’s rated fairly high on Charity Navigator because they’re very efficient in using their funds. They’re still short on food and they are taking any donations at their website or at donation bins at Whole Foods, Safeway, Nob Hill, and FedEx Kinkos in San Mateo and Santa Clara.
2. Bay Area Rescue Mission — I just heard on the radio that this year the Bay Area Rescue Missions’s donations dropped 40% and they’re severely short on food and funds to accommodate hundreds of homeless for Thanksgiving. This is a large homeless shelter in Richmond where my high school youth group used to volunteer. They have an online giving form if any of you Bay Area folks (especially East Bayers) would like to help those in need in your neighborhood. If you’re within driving distance they’re also taking donated turkeys and any kind of food. They believe that this year there is a sharp drop in donations because a lot of aid went to San Diego wild fire relief.
3. One Laptop Per Child — my friend just told me about this buy one give one event at laptop.org and he bought one. This allows you to get the specially designed laptop for $399 and another laptop will be sent to a child in need somewhere in the world. $200 of the $399 you give would be a tax-deductible donation. To bloggers out there, I have confirmed that you can blog on these laptops and T-mobile is offering 1 year of wireless HotSpot service for free so you can take these cute little gadgets to Starbucks and blog. Additionally you may be helping a child somewhere learn about the world. This event ends November 26th.
As always, I still donate to Habitat for Humanity because they make having homes possible for families in need. As I write this I am reminded of Acts 1.8 which says “you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth.” This is because I have listed the charities in order of their relative distance to me. Since I do believe that my money is from God I hope that the little I give would go from here to the end of the earth. Even if you don’t believe in God I still encourage you to help those closest to you first this holiday season. By helping those in your neighborhood you will improve the part of the world that is most important to you, and it is a win-win situation.
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving everyone!
Related Posts
Cheers for Those Who Really Make Christmas Happen!8 Holiday Shopping Tips from The Baglady
My First Holiday with a Huge Family
The Baglady Will Be Hosting The Carnival of Debt Reduction on 1/21/08
My Husband’s Game is Launching Soon!
5 comments ↓
Xin, thank you for this post and your other posts about donating. After reading more details about the “buy one give one” event at laptop.org, I’ve decided to participate.
For me it is a nobrainer. The laptop is extremely durable, so it will come in handy for blogging during my off-road adventure trips. The free year of t-mobile hotspot access is icing on the cake. But most importantly, I’ll be giving a laptop to someone else who might not be able to have one otherwise.
The only thing I’d like to add is that, although it is good to donate material goods, there is something extra special about donating time. I think this is especially true for those of us who can easily afford to donate monetarily.
Hi Bag Lady,
Once again, this post shows your overwhelming generosity. By the way, I owe you 172,000$ (see my latest blog post).
-Soup
xin, thanks for your posting. I donated $100 to the east bay agency you mentioned in this post today.
Hi Ian and Jian, thanks for your generosity!
Soup — Your latest post is awesome. Though, some orphans don’t really get $250k from their parents.
[...] The Baglady has provided a list of charities, reminding us that “you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth.” [...]
Leave a Comment