Charity

Going to talk about charity today.  I have two favorite charities.  The first one is is The Salvation Army.  They have never had a scandal that I know of.  They don’t get a lot of press like the Red Cross or United Way but both those have had very public scandals.  They quietly go about their business of helping people.

The second one is KIVA.  They make loans to people all over the world, they’ve even started making loans here in the United States.   These are small loans for small businesses.  Each person can only donate $25.00 to one business.  When the loan is repaid you can withdraw the money or loan it to someone else.  My favorite one was to a woman in Afghanistan who was starting a school for girls.  How great is that?  That loan is paid back along with a couple of others.  I just received a gift certificate to KIVA for my birthday.  I donated it to a group in Vietnam who deal in poultry. 

I have given these gift certificates for Christmas to family, including children.  They all used the certificates and had fun picking their person or group to loan to. 

The other charity is the kind I receive from my friends,  family,  and neighbors.  It’s so much fun to give but I’m having to learn to receive also, that way someone else gets to feel good.  That is a goal because I’m not quite there yet.

Later….