17 Comments

  1. Pamela Gray

    Great post! When I’m traveling and using public transportation, I usually buy a pass, not pay for for each ride separately. After my last ride, I give my pass with the leftover $ to a random person at the station. It makes me happy to brighten someone else’s day. ?

    • I remember doing this as a kid growing up in the DC area my parents and I would go for the day to DC and afterwards hand the unlimited Metro pass to the next person walking up at the station. It was such a good feeling to pass it on. The smiles we got too. ?

  2. A worthwhile read, Penny. We tend to focus on charity toward the end of the year and, I suppose, it is better than not doing it at all, but I encourage folks to bookmark this post and try to read it at least once a month in the coming year. Needs are constant, not seasonal, and those of us who have been blessed with relative bounty, can find even more blessings by sharing what we have.

    While I do donate to national and international causes such as Heifer Intl. (one of my favorites), I also suggest Nothing But Nets ( https://nothingbutnets.net/ ), which helps to battle malaria in underprivileged areas of the world, which disease kills 3,000 children per day around the world for the want of $10 bed nets.

    That having been said, the largest portion of the Oldsters’ giving is done locally. Our local Humane Society – a no kill shelter, our local Salvation Army Thrift Shop, our local food banks, and local funds to help pay for medical bills and utilities for those less fortunate. Seeing the benefit of ones work in their own community is a blessing we can all receive immediately. If we could each tend to our own backyards, the world would truly be a better place.

    Happy Holidays Penny. And thanks again for your voice of compassion and empathy.

  3. One of the greatest things I learned about money and giving was from the CEO of my previous company. He said that when people who don’t have a lot of money eventually make a lot of money, something interesting happens. It doesn’t CHANGE them, it REVEALS them. People who are naturally greedy become more greedy. People who are naturally superficial become more superficial. People who are naturally generous become more generous. After watching this happen over and over, I can say he was absolutely right.

  4. This is a post I need to read and come back to. I’m very bad at giving, and have gotten worse as we acquire more. We did give more this year but it’s still a single digit percentage of our gross.

    Anyway, I appreciate you taking on an issue like this. Cheers.

  5. Once or twice a year I like to donate blood because I know there many people who need it to save their life. I most likely won’t know who receive my blood but I know that I’m helping out a few people out there who are in need of it.
    I go to my blood donation center, Vitalant(https://www.vitalant.org/Home.aspx). It’s really easy to set an appointment and once you get there, you have to fill out a questionnaire then you will donate your blood.

  6. Thank you so much for including me on your post. I love giving and helping. There are so many ways to help people no matter the time of year. ?.

    I was a Key Clubber throughout high school so service and volunteering is something I love to do. I still volunteer for groups and now for my kids’ school.

    Love this post!

  7. Wonderful post, Penny. Thanks to your posts on giving as well as some others I’ve read, I realized we hadn’t upped our giving game in quite awhile and it is time to fix that. We made a number of donations today (all of them matched…yay!) and planned more for next month. Volunteering is important too, and although I’m not up for it physically, Suzanne volunteers at the local food bank every week, and gives blood when she’s able. We’ll try to keep exercising that giving muscle!

  8. Jody

    I like to try to find local charities to give to as well as national. My local favorite right now is the community medical fund that helps people who cannot afford medical treatment. I also give to the local women’s shelter and food bank.

    I also found a national dental charity that helps women who’ve been badly abused get major dental care (can you imagine not being able to afford this and having to look in the mirror every day?!?! My god!). I also give to the Shriner’s every year in my uncle’s name. He had polio and was in a Shriner’s hospital for a couple years. My grandparents would never have been able to afford the care he needed.

  9. Giving now is so important because there are problems now. At this point, I prefer to mainly help individuals because folks in my community are struggling to access basic needs (flu shot) and if I can just give them the $$$, our community is stronger and has a chance to grow more.

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