What is your most passionate cause?

[missy]

It's September already and the holidays will be here before we know it. I am thinking about all the people and animals struggling for food and shelter and a better life and wondering what are some of your passionate causes and what do you do about it?

I know we have a similar thread posted here almost every year but it is never too early and never too frequent (IMO) to start discussing new and old causes and how to improve the lives of others who are less fortunate. We have new members and new causes and I would love to hear about them if you would share what is near and dear to your heart.

Thanks for sharing.

 

[kathley]

I make it a point to give a small flower arrangement to a patient in hospice at least 1/month. The criteria for the recipient is that this person has no family/friends and is "dying alone." I hope this brings a bit a brightness to that person during this difficult time.

 

[Paigeag800]

I make it a point to give a small flower arrangement to a patient in hospice at least 1/month. The criteria for the recipient is that this person has no family/friends and is "dying alone." I hope this brings a bit a brightness to that person during this difficult time.

How do you find people that meet this criteria? I think this is a lovely idea.

 

[MollyMalone]

How do you find people that meet this criteria? I think this is a lovely idea.

I obviously can't speak for kathley, but the local hospice program for which I've served as a patient volunteer is the liaison for a thoughtful person like her I.e., kathley herself wouldn't deliver the flowers; rather, the flowers are delivered to a hospice office & a patient volunteer takes the flowers to an alone patient. Typically, that's someone who is under hospice care in a nursing home or hospital -- and who, hopefully, has one or more patient volunteers assigned to her/him.

The MO followed by "my" hospice program is is because of concern with HIPPA regulations; the hospice is aware of restrictions on floral/plant deliveries to a particular patient or unit (even if not prohibited as a matter of policy, hospice patients can be uncomfortably sensitive to scents); means that a familiar face is whom the patient sees; and also provides flexibility, in the event that the anticipated recipient unexpectedly dies, for delivery of the flowers/plant to another patient.

 

[Arcadian]

I'm really embarassed to say I don't have a cause that I really herald at the moment.

 

[Tekate]

Freedom, white privilege, animals and cancer. Not in any order.

 

[Paigeag800]

We adopt a family every year for Christmas. The kids always ask for the simplest things like shoes and clothes. It is really important to me to show my children that they are very fortunate to have the lives they do and that it is imperative to always give back. We do this through adopting a family and participating in events such as Feed My Starving Children.

 

[MollyMalone]

I honestly can't narrow this down to one, but here are the local (NYC) causes that receive the most of my support nowadays. (I really miss the convenience of payroll deductions offered by my previous employer!) If any appeal to you, there are non-profit programs around the country similar to these:

• Books Through Bars NYC - sends paperback books to inmates in New York and in other states' jails-prisons.
• Career Gear -- like Dress for Success, but for men, i.e., provides business attire, job readiness prep, mentoring. I've been focusing on Career Gear because it's not as well known as Dress for Success.
• City Harvest - collects tons of produce, prepared meals, sandwiches, salads, meat, dairy products from farmers, restaurants, grocers, etc. & delivers the food to, e.g., soup kitchens and food pantries; also sponsors nutrition-cooking classes and distributes free fruit and veggies at special green markets in NYC's poorest neighborhoods.
• New York Philharmonic's Education Fund & NY Metropolitan Opera Guild -- I earmark the donations to these 2 for musical arts programming in schools.

 

[marcy]

I donate frequently to our local hospice and always participate in the work sponsored back to school supplies and Christmas donations.

 

[AprilBaby]

Dental work for homeless families.

 

[kathley]

How do you find people that meet this criteria? I think this is a lovely idea.

Our local hospital has a dedicated hospice house facility. I will take the small floral arrangement to the front desk and the staff will know which patient will meet the criteria and have a volunteer take the arrangement to the recipient.

 

[doberman]

Animals. I'm all about animals, all my donations. Looking forward to fostering some after we move.

 

[ohsomethingshiny]

Children of Fallen Heroes.

We love Snowball Express. My children have been able to participate twice so far. It happens every December. It’s a multi-day event that costs nothing for the child and their surviving parent or guardian. Transportation (to include charter flights), hotel accommodations, and food (with some exceptions) are all paid for by donations and corporate sponsors through the Gary Sinese Foundation. These children get to spend time with so many peers who have also lost a parent due to military service. They stay busy with activities in the area and at the hotel. The timing helps as well as it is in between Thanksgiving and Christmas, which can be very difficult for the kids as they miss their late parent around the holidays.

Here is a video that shows what the heart of Snowball Express really is about:

 

[arkieb1]

My son goes to a tiny government (not private school) we raise a lot of money to do basic things like putting air conditioners in a super hot climate into each classroom, to put internet access into each classroom, we are working on more computers and more covered walkways so when it rains the children don't get soaked.

As a family we also sponsor a child through World Vision (up to my 3rd as they grow up and leave the program) and I help with food and other parcels for poor people in the local area at Christmas, Easter and so on.

We have also been donating to help a farmer - a large amount of Australian farmers are currently in severe drought conditions and cannot afford to feed their animals or for that matter their own families. If anyone is interested you can buy a bale of hay to help keep stock alive online.

There are also regular donations to the RSPCA in QLD, Autism QLD, I buy canned dog and cat food and put it into a basket for a local animal shelter near where I live and give money for SWAGS (roll up bedding and mini tents for local homeless people). The school has children bring in all sorts of products to make up hampers for the less fortunate at Christmas and they have dress up days every few weeks to donate to causes there too. There are probably others that I'm forgetting.

 

[Queenie60]

Freedom, white privilege, animals and cancer. Not in any order.

What do you mean by "white Privilege?"

 

[JPie]

I am a huge fan of an organization called Project Open Hand. They serve about 2,500 meals daily and provide groceries free of charge to the critically ill and seniors. Their philosophy is that food is medicine, and they’re partnering with UCSF on a study of the impact of food on illness.

 

[Sparkles88]

We sponsor two children ( Tanzania and Bangladesh) through World Vision and also another child with The Smith Family. The Smith Family is an Australian charity their goal is to create opportunities for disadvantaged children and their families and encourage them to participate more fully in society, using education as tool to help them break the poverty cycle.
We recently donated to buy a bale for the drought stricken farmers and regularly help out when we can, donating to cancer research and various fund raisers with our children’s school.
My DH and I tried for a very very long time to have a family of our own (we have 2 kids now) so we were drawn to helping disadvantaged children.

 

[mellowyellowgirl]

Being as green as I can!

Gosh where do I start. I used to be normal once, used my plastics happily until I gave birth to a hippy child. As soon as he could talk he had a great empathy for all things living and adored documentaries on animals when he was finally allowed to watch TV after the age of two. We watched a lot of documentaries together and learned about the plight of animals.

Slowly we became greener and greener. I am happy to say I have gone almost 2 years plastic bag and cling wrap free. Apart from food that is packaged or any plastics that are packed by others we have not brought a single plastic shopping bag, freeze bag etc into the home.

We also try and recycle as much of our kitchen water as we can. I have a network of friends who are willing to use my son's old clothes for their children so all our kid's clothes are passed one to 2-3 other kids.

We recycle glass jars and give people food/bring home take away in all these jars. We bring our own reusable straws and cutlery out with us (to avoid plastic cutlery), our own shopping bags etc

I am also trying to purchase less clothing (I bought 2 new dresses and one jacket in 2017, one jacket and a pair of shoes in 2018 so far).

I try and walk or catch public transport everywhere instead of driving. I sometimes use my son's old pram to push home groceries from the shops.

We could be doing more and hopefully we will think of ways to pollute less but this is where we are at for now.

 

[Tekate]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_privilege

What do you mean by "white Privilege?"

 

[Austina]

For more years than I can remember, we’ve been sponsoring the training of guide dogs for the blind. You get allocated a pup, and you get pupdates on their progress right through to them being given to a blind person, then you start again.

We also sponsor children in third world countries.

Regular contributions to homeless charities and those dealing with ex-armed forces.

Regularly contribute to Spinone specific charity to rehome abused and neglected dogs dumped by Italian hunters.

 

[Bron357]

I support greyhound rescue.
Here in Australia we still have greyhound racing. This means that every year thousands of greyhounds are bred for racing and those that don’t make the grade, get injured while racing or get too old to race are at best euthanized at a vet or at worst hit over the head with a shovel and buried in a mass grave down the back paddock.
Estimates are that over 17,000 greyhounds EVERY YEAR are wastage ie killed in New South Wales (that’s the state I live in).
It is disgusting and totally ludicrous that such animal overbreeding and subsequent cruelty is permitted.
I support groups who lobby our Government to ban this sport.
I own still, Button is 15, a rescued ex racing greyhound. Button is our 4th rescue greyhound.
But what Pricescope has done, with the help of my suprise gem haul and PSers who have shared my haul is give nearly $2,000 so far to the privately run greyhound rescue groups I support.
We, us PSers, have been paying for food and much needed vet care for dozens of abandoned and unwanted greyhounds AND we get sparklies as well.
Win Win.

 

[missy]

Thank you all for sharing and please keep it coming. I love all that PSers do to help others and how many different causes we support.

My dh and I support many different causes but give more time and energy and resources towards the animal causes since those (at least around us) have the least support.

We trap, neuter and release local feral cats and feed them and shelter them. In fact my dh is working on a new feral feeding system as we speak. Here it is in progress. My dh is building it like a real house with siding all around it etc. to keep it safe from the elements.



Here is the original one that is getting beat up so hence the new one in progress that is stronger and sturdier. They go through 40 lbs of food every week to 10 days depending.



We donate money and time to local animal charities. Our three favorite charities are K9Kastle and Brooklyn Animal Action and Best Friends.
And we support Habitat for humanity.

And when I was working I donated my services to non profit organizations working with people with intellectual and physical disabilities. I plan on continue working with them in some capacity but no longer my professional one as I put my license on inactive recently since I retired.

 

[jordyonbass]

We've contributed to marine apex predator research for a very long time now, however I don't see that as a cause but rather something we just have to do. It's ensuring the future of our oceans which is in everyone's best interests IMO.

I used to do something when I worked in the city that I haven't done for a very long time, I would stop past McDonalds if I was working an early weekend shift and buy more food than I was able to eat. The walk from the carpark to the office at 6.30am meant I would see a number of homeless people, so I would quietly leave each person I saw a muffin and hashbrown. Unfortunately I don't work in the city anymore, so haven't done this for a long time

 

[LJsapphire]

I make monthly donations to Water Aid, Save the Children and Medecins Sans Frontieres, I feel strongly about anything to do with children or animals. Sometimes I'll give to Disaster Relief charities, DEC or Red Cross.
At Christmas I give a donation to Shelter, a homeless charity rather than buying Christmas cards. I actually give them more than I'd spend on cards but I think cards are a waste of money and bad for the environment. I try to check out the charities before donating and see how much actually goes back to the work they do rather than in the pockets of the top dogs.

In an non-financial sense I do as much as I can to be environmentally friendly and I've changed all my beauty products, toiletries and most household products to cruelty free ones.

 

[Austina]

That’s what we do @LJsapphire, no donations to charities whose HQs are in expensive London offices, or the CEOs are on big bucks.

DH always donates his cold weather payment to charity, usually Crisis at Christmas and the Salvation Army.

I don’t buy charity Christmas cards, only a couple of pence per pack actually go to the charity, I’d rather give it to the charity direct.

 

[MamaBee]

My husband donates to homeless shelters regularly..especially meals for Thanksgiving and Holiday dinners..We have an adult autistic son so we donate to his workshop to help them receive paychecks for the jobs they do...I occasionally make a meal for 25 once homeless men ..rotating with other ladies..It’s run by two unpaid volunteers who scraped up the money for the house and relies on donations to keep it running...no government help either. They can stay for two years to get on their feet but must have a job to stay. I volunteer once a month to help the seniors play bingo at a state funded nursing home. Most don’t have families so we do more talking than playing bingo..