ApplaUSe For A Cause

Give on "Giving Tuesday" Without Breaking Your Budget

If you are like me, you want to give back to your community or even national charities; but can find it hard to do if your income is low or already stretched too thin. With the holidays approaching, it might seem impossible to donate on #GivingTuesday - but there are many free and cheap ways to be charitable today and everyday. These blog posts highlight just a few of them.

image provided by freestocks.org

I hope you enjoy and use these ideas today on Giving Tuesday 2019 and everyday . Please let me know what you think or if you have more ideas to donate that are free or inexpensive in the comments below. I'll try to post more frequently than in the past.

On Homeless Shelters and NIMBY-Updated

When I asked a question on Quora about homeless shelters and NIMBY (Not In My Backyard), I got a few interesting answers. Some who answered were (or had been) homeless and some have worked with the homeless.

pictures are from unsplash.com

             Some of the reasons they gave why people oppose homeless shelters in their neighborhood are;

    Fear of crime and drugs coming into the area and feeling unsafe
    A sense that the homeless may deserve to be there because of wrong choices, behavior, and etcetera.
    Some just have no reason
    Others say that the neighbors may not understand until they experience homelessness themselves.

                              Some responses were reasons why the homeless don't like living in shelters. They do not like having to follow rules that are set by the shelter or they feel imprisoned. Some of the answers suggested were to build individual homes for the homeless.
                        I know that one charity- Family Promise Chattanooga- in my area has a yearly fundraiser where people donate and rent a cardboard box for the night and camp out.

   Here is a related article on this subject from Nonprofit Quarterly.

What do you think about this topic? Do you know of any solutions that will work for both the homeless and their community? What has or has not worked in your community? Please let me know in the comments below or on Twitter and Facebook

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Giving Tuesday or Any Day Ideas

Today is "Giving Tuesday", do you have plans to donate to your favorite charity now(or any day) ? If not, here are a few ideas;

If you can't afford to give money now, there are other ways to give such as volunteering. You can even volunteer online for some charities at sites such as Skills For Change. For more info see;
Start With 1:Giving on a Shoestring Budget and A Dozen( or so) Free Ways To Make A Difference
You can donate part (10 dollars each) or all of a goat (120 dollars) or another animal for people in need around the world through Heifer International .
For 25 dollars or so, you can give a Kiva loan to provide education, business development and other resources for people in need. When the loan is paid back, you can use the money for another Kiva loan.
For 250 dollars, you can provide a camp scholarship for kids with and without special needs through the National Inclusion Project. (If you wanted to do a group donation, you and 9 other friends could give 25 dollars each or you and 24 other friends could give 10 dollars each).

Now, you have ways to give back on #GivingTuesday or any day, no matter how big or small your budget is. Let me know what you think of this post in the comments below, please.

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Best Military & Veterans Charities

Original pic source: https://freerangestock.com/photos/11975/arlington-national.html

Here are some of the top rated military and veterans charities according to Charity Navigator (for the rest of the list see the Charity Navigator page in the link above) ;

for Wounded veterans;

Adaptive Sports Center- "At the Adaptive Sports Center, we provide high-quality outdoor recreation for people with disabilities."
Wounded Warrior Project-"The greatest casualty is being forgotten. "
Puppies Behind Bars- "Training inmates to raise service dogs for wounded war veterans and explosive-detection canines for law enforcement"

for Military;

Admiral Nimitz Foundation- "Supporting the mission of the National Museum of the Pacific War"
- Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation- "Perpetuating a legacy of courage, sacrifice and patriotism"
  - Soldiers' Angels-"May no soldier go unloved"
for Military families

AdoptAPlatoon Soldier Support Effort- "Supporting deployed U.S. troops, assisting military families and providing financial support to wounded veterans"
- American Red Cross-"Helping prevent and alleviate human suffering in the face of emergencies"
  - Fisher House Foundation- "Helping military families"

If you are looking for a way to support the United States soldiers, military families and veterans; these are some of the best options. Let me know what you think of this post in the comment section below.

related ; Local men to kayak over 500 miles for veterans charity Team River Runner.

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Autism Awareness Month Starts Today

April is Autism Awareness Month. These are my posts about Autism;

Autism News Roundup featured a few news stories and a Western-themed photo.
- Going Blue for Autism Speaks was 1 in a series of blog posts about autism during a group blogathon.
- A short blog was USC Questionaire Helps Diagnose Autism
- There was a list post, called Great Autism Resources .
- The last post was, Using My Voice & Helping You Use Your Voice

Petsmart's "Buy A Bag, Give A Meal"

During 2017, Petsmart is giving away a meal to an animal shelter or similar charity for every bag of cat and dog food that is sold online, through autoship, and in-store. To find out more information, go to Petsmart's program website.

If you have a cat or dog, this is just an easy way to provide for them and for animals in need.

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Anonymous Commenters, Who Are You?

Anonymous commenters, who are you?

Could you please give some initials in the comment form, even if they are fake? It would be a great help to me in sorting out the spam from the valid comments. Thank you.

Give Better in 2017

What are your resolutions for the New Year? Any of them involve giving more to charity? They might tie in better than you think;

- If you are trying to save money,
  
  volunteering may be your best choice. Also, you can use websites like GoodSearch and iGive to give back-
  - If you are trying to lose weight,
    
    a charity run, walk or dance may do the job. In addition, these would be a great way to get some family time; in preparation and during the event.

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Local Charities Need Some Holiday Love

Two local charities could use your donations before the end of 2016.
- Woodmore Fund for families of the victims of the Woodmore Schoolbus Crash
- Smoky Mountain Wildfires- over 10 people died last month in a wildfire at the edge of Gatlinburg,TN. Many residents lost their homes. However, Dolly Parton has started a fund with her Dollywood Foundation.

Time to Go Back to School!

https://www.flickr.com/photos/elliotstokes/6124932974/

Summer is nearly over and here comes the time that some students and teachers dread- "Back To School" time. Here are some ways to be prepared for school and to be charitable, as well. (If you like this post, please comment and share).

Before you or your kids head to school on the first day, brush up on your vocabulary at FreeRice.com while earning grains of rice for the poor.
If you want to buy clothes or school supplies online, a charity of your choice can earn a percentage of your bill when you use GoodSearch or iGive
Some cities, such as Chattanooga, TN, have "Stuff the Bus" events where you can donate supplies to teachers for them to give to students in need. Other places have clothing drives or pack a backpack drives.
There are programs such as Donors Choose where you can help fund classroom projects in your area or another area.
If you use Microsoft's Bing search regularly, you can donate points earned toward Teach For America . The site also has a program called Bing in the Classroom, where teachers can find lesson plans based on Bing's homepage. In the past, you could donate Bing points toward a computer for your school.
Some acts of kindness for school are; eat lunch with someone new, bring a treat or thank you note for a bus driver, and put up positive quotes or messages on the bathroom mirrors. These were found on a Pinterest pin by the Random Acts of Kindness Foundation. Another idea is when you pack a special treat in a child's lunch, give them 2 with a note to give the second treat to a friend.
Check to see if your school or classroom is participating in programs like BoxTop(s For Education or Campbell's Labels For Education (The site has this note: "As of August 1, 2016, only UPCs with the Labels for Education logo will be accepted and redeemed for points into registered schools’ bank account. We have begun the process of removing the logo and expect there will be a limited number of products that contain these labels in stores through August 1, 2017. Once all Labels for Education logos have been removed from the products, UPCs will no longer be accepted. The banked points schools have accumulated will not be affected. ")
Now, you and your child should be ready for school and feel good about yourselves if you tried at least one of these things.

Swagbucks for Good (update)

You Can Get Free Gift Cards For Shopping, Searching and Discovering What's Online at Swagbucks.com

If you haven't tried Swagbucks, now is a good time to join. Swagbucks is a site where you can shop, search the web, play games and more to earn Swagbucks. After you earn so many, you can redeem them for donations to such causes as; American Red Cross, Doctors Without Borders, UNICEF , and

charity:water. These are just a few of the causes listed there. You can also redeem Swagbucks for gift cards for yourself or to give to friends and family, but that's another story.

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