What are you gifting this Holiday Season?

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by kennyc

You've heard NOTHING GOOD or NOTHING BUT GOOD?

Originally Posted by kindlekitten

I think he meant nothing BUT good.

I have received a question about the Southwest Indian Foundation and will be contacting them tomorrow as well as at least 2 tribal councils. I'll ask the councils if they have a charoty of choice

Yes, I meant to say nothing BUT good about them. I just fixed the post accordingly.

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This is kind of like the old story of the criminal whose life was spared by a misplaced comma. He was to be exiled to imprisonment and death in Siberia. Czar Alexander III had written on the warrant (in Russian, I assume), "Pardon impossible, to be sent to Siberia." The Czar’s wife changed the punctuation to "Pardon, impossible to be sent to Siberia," and his life was spared.

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The fellow who told the following tale to me said he knew the guy in question, and this was a true story. A friend of his had just returned from Vietnam. While dining at the home of his fiancé’s parents, he said, "Would you pass me that **** salt, please?"

Her prim and proper parents immediately went silent. Realizing his faux paz, he arose to leave. Then his fiancé’s father said, "Aw, come on back, son. We know you just got out of the army. We can't very well expect you to talk like a saint."

He replied, "Thanks, but I better go ahead and leave, before I **** up again."

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I better leave, now.

[93terp]

Being completely fed up with the hyper commercialization and consumerism of the holiday season, as well as being agnostic & not a celebrator of Xmas, last year I decided to start using www.justgive.org to send charitable donations on behalf of family & friends. For each person that my husband & I donate on behalf of, we customize our donation to a cause that is important/unique to that person. For example, my husband's cousin's husband went through treatment of Hodgkin's lymphoma at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, so we made a donation on his behalf to D-F. We intend to make this a yearly holiday tradition - in these difficult economic times for so many, I feel very fortunate to be in a position to give back to those organizations that do so much good & rely so heavily on contributions.

[kennyc]

Another great place is:

http://www.kiva.org/

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by 93terp

Being completely fed up with the hyper commercialization and consumerism of the holiday season, as well as being agnostic & not a celebrator of Xmas, last year I decided to start using www.justgive.org to send charitable donations on behalf of family & friends. For each person that my husband & I donate on behalf of, we customize our donation to a cause that is important/unique to that person. For example, my husband's cousin's husband went through treatment of Hodgkin's lymphoma at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, so we made a donation on his behalf to D-F. We intend to make this a yearly holiday tradition - in these difficult economic times for so many, I feel very fortunate to be in a position to give back to those organizations that do so much good & rely so heavily on contributions.

www.justgive.org is a great site. I'm glad you mentioned them.

[Katti's Cat]

Thanks for listing those charities - as I am in Australia I am not so familiar with them and most likely won't contribute to ones that are specifically for Americans (sorry folks).

I have now decided that I will contribute a percentage of the money I save by buying eBooks instead of hardcover books at the end of the year. I still come out ahead.

I don't buy presents for family & friends, unless it is a special occasion like this year when I actually get to spend Christmas with my family back home in Germany.

We all have more than we need and I rather someone dontated some money on my behalf than give me a crappy candlestick holder I'll never use.

My favorite Charities are
International:
www.msf.org.au - i cringe at the thought that so many people don't even have basic medical care

Australian:
www.careaustralia.org.au - i like that i donate money towards a cause that empowers the people to fend for themselves. I haven't found the gift section from the Australian site on the international care website (www.care.org ) but check it out - you might have more luck.
www.abusedchildtrust.com.au - just close to my heart

I am aware that not all charities pass on 100% of my money. Although I am not happy with that I figure that a percentage received at the right place is better than no money at all. I just try and research as much as possible and give to charities that use a higher percentage for others rather than for their own administration needs (really don't know why some of them need to drive expensive cars rather than the cheaper versions).

I also believe in the saying "Give a man a fish and he can feed himself for a day. Give him a net and he get feed himself for a lifetime"

I also donate money (if I have) to disaster relief like the one we had earlier this year in Victoria (the bushfires) or the tsunami a few years ago at Christmas.

And to all of you who think they can't afford charity: 1$ can make a difference in places where a dollar is worth a lot more and they have nothing. But charity should never be forced but given freely. I have only recently 'learnt' to be charitable as I know feel I can afford it.

[vivaldirules]

Thanks for this, kindlekitten. I have had more than enough *stuff* for years. My kids, I think, are mature enough to believe me when I tell them that and to not be sad about it when I say it. So I've given them and my wife my Christmas Wish List 2009 which asks them to stay healthy, happy, take care of their other loved ones, and then when they're thinking of buying something for me, to instead give to Heifer International and then tell me about it. It'll make me very happy if they do. I love organizations that help people to help themselves and I'll be very glad to help them do that.

[kindlekitten]

ahhh VR! that's fantastic!

[desertgrandma]

Originally Posted by Katti's Cat

Thanks for listing those charities - as I am in Australia I am not so familiar with them and most likely won't contribute to ones that are specifically for Americans (sorry folks).

No need to apologise. As we all realize this is a world wide forum, this was never intended to be an American only thread.