When I decided to be more conscious about how and where to donate time and money, I had no idea that the decision process would be so much like dating. With so many nonprofits in existence, and all of them in need, how do you find Mr. or Ms. Right?
As I began the [...]
Filed under: Donating, Nonprofits I've Checked Out | No Comments »
When my nephew planned to visit us over spring break, I panicked. How do you entertain a 16-year-old boy for four days? I thought he might like the play Shear Madness at the Kennedy Center, a witty comedy with lots of audience participation. I logged onto the Kennedy Center’s website and scanned the available [...]
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I ran into Lenore last week on my way to do my Wednesday service work at our church. Lenore was with a younger guy, and she was walking away from the church entrance, not toward it. Knowing that Lenore normally shows up on Wednesdays to get food and some help with her bills, I asked [...]
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As I prepare to move the “Get Out and Give Back” blog and newspaper column to a bigger writing/speaking/coaching venue, I realized that I’d been spending too much time in the last few months holed up developing the business and not enough time contributing and serving. So, yesterday (Wednesday) I pried my fingers off of my laptop [...]
Filed under: Donating, Faith-based, Giving, Homelessness, Humanity, In the Neighborhood, Kindness | 1 Comment »
A long time ago my dad decided to give one percent of the gross sales from his lumberyard business to the poorest village in the western hemisphere. Through a little research he was partnered with a village outside Port-au-Prince, Haiti. For years he sent a check to a French nun down there and in [...]
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One advantage of being an old bride is that you aren’t beholden to a fluffy white dress. So when I started the great wedding dress hunt two years ago, I had only three criteria: The cost wouldn’t require re-financing my house, it had to make me look like a goddess, and I had to [...]
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Everyone loves a sale. But, rather than fighting through the clearance racks for winter markdowns, I volunteered the other day with ReStore, the resale outlet whose proceeds help fund local Habitat for Humanity projects.
ReStore (http://www.habitat.org/env/restores.aspx) sells used and surplus building materials at a fraction of normal prices-up to 90 percent, according to Herb, [...]
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Nothing beats the winter blues quite like shopping. And so when I was invited to a fundraiser held at an upscale boutique I couldn’t RSVP fast enough. The price of admission was easy — bring gently used accessories, jewelry, shoes and handbags to donate to a local non-profit that helps women move from [...]
Filed under: Donating, Women | 2 Comments »
I have always been kind of cheap. Really, I re-gift like a pro and have a drawer full of presents – all bought on clearance – that I put in used gift bags with recycled tissue paper and can still deliver with the sincerity of a 1960’s Welcome Wagon hostess. My friends all know this [...]
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Fundraising always evokes images of glamorous balls, gorgeous dresses, gourmet food, and for some reason, feathery masks to me. The objective, of course, is to raise bazillions of dollars for charity to fund research and cures.
A few weeks ago I discovered that a scaled down do-it-yourself fundraiser is just as fun, if not more, [...]
Filed under: Disease, Donating, Fundraisers | No Comments »