S/O Charities? causes? What do you like?

food bank, a non-profit that provides legal advice for families with kids with disabilities.. to deal with the school system (they helped us years ago)..sliding scale work. Girl Scouts, my church, a couple of national parks.. the Juniper Fund.. helps the families of sherpas who are killed while working supporting climbing teams.

We give to our local Dream Factory chapter. It's like Make a Wish, but includes kids with chronic health conditions, where MAW requires the child to have a life threatening disease. They blessed my daughter with a Dream. We also gave to Give Kids the World, an amazing place that hosts families on Wish trips to Orlando.

We support our local food pantry, and make and serve meals at the soup kitchen. We volunteered in the spring and did repairs at a family homeless shelter. We fundraise for the Arthritis Foundation for research and programs for juvenile arthritis. And through our church we adopted kids at a local elementary school for Christmas.

Children International

I mostly stick to local organizations. Humane Society, local chapter of the National Child Advocacy Center, Mental Health Association, etc. When there's a disaster, I either donate to the Red Cross or an organization that is helping with disaster relief (like friendsofthesmokies.org for the recent fires in Gatlinburg, TN).

I also like to find ways to help other than money. For example, I bake for our Humane Society's annual fundraiser bake sale every year in November. I've also wrapped gifts for our Mental Health Association's Christmas event every year for the past 10 years. This past summer, I donated a painted chair to an auction for the NCAC. To me, my time is worth more to me than money, so it's a more meaningful for me to actively participate in "service" to my community.

Something I did last year: I bought 70 pair of men's underwear to donate to a local organization that collects clothing and household items for those in need. I can only imagine what the folks at Amazon were thinking when they packed that box for me:P. When I took in my donation, the woman nearly cried, she said that was something that people didn't think to donate and it a was very much needed item.

I live a few hours away from Betsy's house. My family visited the town when I was a child, because they were my mom's favorite series of books growing up, but that was before the society had bought the houses, restored them and turned them into museums. As a kid, I felt weird looking at some strangers house and trying to picture Betsy living there. Then a couple years ago, DH and I visited again.



Tacy's house is now a gift shop, with various actual items mentioned in the books (Mrs. Ray's brass bowl she wanted for Christmas, the dish her husband gave her for their anniversary, etc) and Betsy's house is restored to the era she lived there. It is furnished, some of the pieces belonged to the family and others are period appropriate antiques. The houses are open on the weekends spring-fall, and the society does guided tours. They have also placed a bench up the street, just where a bench stood in Betsy's time. Since my last visit, they have restored the second floor of Betsy's house, including her bedroom, and I hope next year we will be able to make a trip down to visit again.



This book series was a favorite of mine growing up, and I read it over and over. I STILL read it over and over. Every holiday season, I read the complete series, because the Ray family made such an occasion of the holidays, and I love to share in it every year. When we visited her house and were able to go inside, I found myself moved to the verge of tears, because all the work was done with such caring and such detail. If you visit her house with your books, you can compare the illustrations in the books to the house, and they match so well, you actually feel like Betsy, Tacy and Tib must be just outside playing.

I donate to Beagle Freedom Project. They work to end all animal testing and rescue all beagles from labs. Beagles are often preferred because they're so docile.

Locally, I donate to a homeless shelter, the city's animal shelter, and the fire department's toy drive. I participate in Amazon's smile program and picked the local animal shelter to benefit along with Walk With a Dog app. I also give all of my BoxTops to my kids' school district. The high school doesn't accept them so I have to drop them off at the middle school once a year.

ETA - I also donate proceeds from my music-themed stuff to my kids' marching band. Funds are very limited (almost a zero budget) so I try to donate as much as I can to them. DH and I have agreed that we will attempt to donate enough to cover at least one student's band camp fee every year after the boys graduate. It seems like every year, there is a few that can't go because they can't afford it, even after the scholarship. 

Awesomeness! I think this must have been my favorite series growing up. Right now I'm thinking of them playing in that big box; cutting their hair, so many great stories. When Tib arrived and they thought she was yelling something mean but she was only trying to introduce herself.

I love that the books were carried out to their adult years. Did you read Carney's house party? I wanted to go to a house party!

I just saw the place for the first time about a month ago. Sadly I never heard of her until I moved to that town! I was visiting a client and drove by it, accidentally! Twenty years later, I still haven't given it a thought. I was shocked when I saw you posted.

I do the same thing, one to Food Bank of the Rockies and one to Nation Military Family Assn .   My Amazon smile is set up to support Colorado Canine Rescue , they're who we adopted Senna through.    I also donate to the Jimmy Fund & the American Heart Assn every year and assorted other charities I get asked about at stores or from kids.


ETA: I forgot Toys for Tots.   My husbands office has a collection box every year, so I get things for him to put in it.