Somehow, impossibly, it is already almost Christmas. Holy cow. This week, I’m delighted to institute the second annual Giving My Money Away (GMMA) extravaganza here at pseudostoops. I started this last year, and if this year goes even half as well as last year did, I’ll be delighted.
Here’s how this works: I’m inviting audience participation in my end-of-year charitible giving. This year, I am going to feature three organizations that do amazing and important work in the community. These are organizations I know either personally or professionally, that are perhaps not as well-known as some of the bigger charitable causes.
Some of the organizations I’m featuring this week will be repeats from last year, because a year later, the economy isn’t any better and these organizations need help more than ever. In times like these, organizations that provide much-needed services are hit particularly hard, since the need increases dramatically at the same time donations taper off to a trickle. I’ll also be featuring one new organization that wasn’t part of last year’s group.
I’m hoping that I can spread the word on some places that are quietly doing very cool work. I’ll tell you a little about the organization and its mission, give you a link to more info, and then YOU will determine the amount of the donation I make.
Here’s how it’s going to work:
1. I’ll put up a post featuring the organization.
2. I’ll guarantee a minimum $25 donation to that organization.
3. For every comment I receive on that post, I’ll donate an additional $0.50. I have an absolute maximum in mind, but I’m hoping people amaze me with their participation and I have to really stretch my budget! (Hats off to RudeCactus, whose brilliant idea I totally stole last year, and again now.)
4. I will feature a different organization Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. When you leave your comments, I’m hoping that you will also tell me a little bit about one of your favorite charitible organizations, perhaps on that is on the smaller side and deserves a little support this holiday season. Name it in the comments, and provide a link if you have one. (If you’re participating every day, you can name several different organizations, or just name the same one four times to show the depth of your love for them.) I’ll research each organization suggested in the comments, and will chose five finalists.
On Thursday (Christmas Eve) ‘ll select five organizations from the comments and set up a poll. The poll will be open for a week, and the organization that receives the most votes will receive a $50 donation. I’m excited to learn about the great organizations in your communities that are doing important work!
This was really fun last year, and I hope it is this year, too!
*****
Today’s totally deserving organization is one I also featured last year: The Women’s Treatment Center. I’m going to borrow liberally from what I wrote last year about this extraordinary place:
Located in Chicago, the Women’s Treatment Center is a residential drug treatment center for women that has childcare capacity, so women do not have to be separated from their children (who often have no other place to go) as they go through treatment. It’s one of the only drug treatment centers around that has a crisis nursery, which can provide round the clock infant care while a woman is in detox, so a woman does not have to make the impossible choice between entering rehab and making sure her infant is cared for. From their website:
Women with children often are denied residential drug abuse treatment services, because facilities lack childcare services. At TWTC, we provide mothers in treatment comprehensive, compassionate and high quality treatment services, as well as a safe environment in which to detox, without separating them from their children. Mothers at TWTC interact daily with their children, mending the bond broken by addiction. Pregnant women at TWTC have an opportunity to give birth to drug-free babies, providing these infants with a healthier start.
The Illinois state budget is a mess, and funding for the health and drug treatment programs like those provided at the Women’s Treatment Center has been cut dramatically. They need our help.
SO! Get to it! Comment below, then tell your friends, your family, your twitter stream your blog readers, etc etc. Last year we got 27 comments when I featured TWTC. Let’s blow that out of the water this year.
Thank you.
Comment! My favorite charity is St. Jude’s, but they’re Large and Well-Known so I always enjoy your posts on Smaller and More Neglected organizations.
As always, I’m so impressed in your charitable ways, my friend. The Women’s Treatment Center reminds me of another favorite charity: CAWC, which provides services to domestic violence victims and their children.
Yay! So glad you’re doing this again.
Let’s see. One of my favorite charities is DC-based and provides lots of HIV- and AIDS-related services, the Whitman-Walker Clinic: http://www.wwc.org
Wow what a cool idea!
What a great idea!
I tend to give my money to the bigger charities – Susan G Komen, American Cancer Society, etc. But I think it is excellent that you highlight these smaller organizations that need more help!
I am so glad tha tyou are doing this again!!
Funny this came up. I just finished a volunteer shift at WATCH, an organization located in Hennepin County (Minneapolis area) in Minnesota. WATCH is an awesome non-profit that does court monitoring of cases involving domestic violence, sexual assault, and child abuse. Every year the organization monitors over 4000 cases and helps to make sure that the justice system is serving justice to everyone involved – defendants, victims, and even court personnel. They do monitoring, national outreach, and lots of education. They are, basically, an awesome cause.
http://www.watchmn.org
Thanks for doing this
This is such a lovely idea, and a lovely charity.
Oh I LOVE GMMA! Wheee!
I’m still partial to Young At Heart Pet Rescue. A small Chicagoland animal rescue that only rescues and adopts out adult and senior pets, as they are the ones to get put to sleep first in kill shelters.
http://www.yahpetrescue.com
This my first visit and I love this idea! Thank you for being so generous and allowing us to participate vicariously : )
I try to support breast cancer charities since my mother died of complications from metastatic breast cancer. And of course, anything that helps kids. I donate monthly to the local children’s hospital here in Dallas.
This is a great idea! Comment comment comment!
It’s a great charity but they all are really, especially at this time of the year.
Saw this on your twitter stream. A great cause!
This is such a fantastic idea! My personal charities of choice are Susan G. Komen, and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. But this is such an awesome way to put a spotlight on smaller charities that need help!
Commenting for TWTC!
I’ll comment for a good cause! What a great idea!
My favorite charity is one here in Portland – Cat Adoption Team. It’s a no-kill cat-only shelter that adopts out 3,000+ cats every year. I’ve been an active volunteer and foster mom for 6 years now.
This is a fabulous idea. Well done YOU. I may steal it for next year.
What a great thing you are doing. Thank you for supporting Chicago’s smaller charitable organizations.
This is a great idea! One website I like to use is is http://www.charitynavigator.com They rank charities based on how much of the money they take in goes directly to services, etc. etc. (Although I noticed that they don’t seem to have a lot of the smaller groups).
commenty commenty! i love that you do this
thanks for donating!
Good luck getting more comments!!
Very good idea! And what a great charity to support.
Great idea!
So nice to see a place identify a need and then address it. Thank you!
Thanks for doing this! I usually donate to a children’s hospital in my area.
This sounds like a brilliant charity….
well done.
This is an amazing idea! Here’s another comment to help!
Also, on September 11th, 2010 I’m participating in my first ever major Charity walk, it’s for The Weekend to End Women’s Cancers which supports the Campbell Family Institute at the Princess Margaret Hopital here in Toronto, Ontario — which is one of the TOP FIVE Cancer Research Centres in the WORLD. It’s a huge walk, and they raise a lot of money each year (but for cancer research, is it ever enough?). In previous years the Weekend has been “The Weekend to End Breast Cancer”, but this year they’ve changed it to “Women’s Cancers” and I’ve allocated my money to go towards gynecological cancer research. My team (“Couch Potatoes For The Cure”) page is http://www.endcancer.ca/goto/couchpotatoesforthecure.
I feel bad pimping this out here, but you did say to mention the Charity I care about, and this is what I’m focused on right now! haha.
My faves are Doctors without borders and the local humane society. This is a great idea!
Here via Swistle – this is a fantastic idea
My favorite charity is the Northern Virginia Therapeutic Riding Program. They provide horseback riding lessons for people with disabilities (mostly children), subsidizing 55% of the cost since it’s prohibitively expensive for most people.
Love this, great program!
Great idea!
that’s awesome that you do this. Another great charity!
What a great cause. I have a sister-in-law who’s an OB/GYN resident in Chicago, I’m going to tell her about this over the holidays!
Sounds like a great organization!
Now THIS is the spirit of the holidays!
I am so moved by the idea of this charity that I couldn’t even finish reading the description… So glad you’re doing this – what an inspiration!
That’s incredable, it doesn’t even occur to most people that mother’s don’t just need help getting clean, they need help being MOM. Not every addict has given up on parenting & the ones who haven’t should be fully supported and cheered on.
You are awesome! This charity is sooo needed!
What a wonderful charity, and a lovely idea you had! Good luck with comments!
Just clicking over from Swistle to say: What a nice thing for you to do!
Coming over here from Swistle as well:
I only read as far as: Women’s rehab with childcare, helping to prevent mom’s being separated from their kids. That’s all I need to know.But honestly, knowing that there is a program helping moms maintain the primary care provider role with their kids while in treatment to keep that motivation and responsibility forefront in their minds and hearts is awesome.
Once again, such a great idea and such a good deed. Thank you!
Sent by Swistle, thanks!
This sounds like an amazing program. Kudos to you for choosing it! mERRY cHRISTMAS & hAPPY nEW yEAR!
I would vote for any smaller animal-related/pet rescue charity that doesn’t get as much play as ASPCA and Humane Society (though I fully support their work as well). The one that Samantha nominated sounds perfect!!
Great idea!
i love this idea, just heard of it. My favorite charitible organization is a small one, called A Women’s Work. It benefits people in the community by doing the following things:
“provides financial assistance for a variety of needs such as childcare, housing, transportation, medical needs and more. We ask only that recipients perform an act of kindness in return.”
they do much work in Longmont, CO.
Just commenting to help the treatment center get more money!
My favorite charity is Reach LA who does great leadership training for young women.
I think what you’re doing is awesome! I work for a nonprofit and donations have been hard to come by this year. Kudos!