The Spirit of Giving

In the spirit of the season, I’d like to take some time to mention once again some special websites and charities that could benefit from your time and possible donations.

www.iabolish.com is the website for the American Anti-Slavery Group. Contrary to popular belief, slavery is not a thing of the past. It is a very, very real thing in every country on the planet RIGHT NOW. Mauritania and Sudan have chattel slavery. China has forced labor camps. There is slavery in the U.S. also, despite the fact that slavery has been outlawed worldwide. If you’d like to donate to a charity for Christmas, this is one of the best. They work to free modern slaves today.

I would also suggest reading “Enslaved” put out by AASG. Either get it from your library or buy it and read it yourself. Then pass it on or get another one as a gift to your local library or a friend.

***Also, a side note regarding the link between Slavery and Chocolate. Please keep this in mind when shopping for the holiday and only buy slave free (either organic or fair trade) cocoa and chocolate products. No one wants to contribute to slavery and suffering with their gifts. Thank you.

Another extremely worthy charity is Farm Sanctuary. You can donate directly to them as a Xmas present for someone, sponsor a rescued animal in someone’s name, or even make a purchase from their store.

If anyone has a computer, an internet connection, and 2 or 3 minutes of time every morning, they can donate to multiple charities every day with just a few clicks at Care2.com. Just click on the top left Click to donate button, and you can donate quite easily. The concept is simple. By clicking on a charity’s button, the site takes you to a “Thank you” page which displays ads and links for sponsors. The sponsors donate to the charity based on the number of people that see the ad on the site’s Thank you page. The sponsors get advertising, and the charity raises funds. Nice, eh?

Please practice random acts of kindness when you can, not just now but throughout the year. Pay for the person behind you on the toll road. Write a complimentary customer comment card or speak to the manager about an employee in an establishment that you patronize. Bake someone cookies for no particular reason. Just take advantage of opportunities as they present themselves.

Also, for anyone with time (and possibly transportation) – please consider volunteering at a local shelter for the homeless, for abandoned animals, soup kitchen, etc. You name it. Just make a point to do something extra nice. Take advantage of the opportunities you have to be generous with your time as well as (or instead of) your wallet.

If you’ve read this far in my rather long and windy post, thank you and I’ll be getting off my soap box now!

And have a very, very nice Holiday!