Getting involved with your charity
I hope that everyone out there has a special cause that they are involved with. For us, we give monthly to St. Jude Children’s Hospital. I used to work with a pediatric neurosurgeon, and although the thought of a sick child is heartbreaking, seeing how they are still able to be themselves despite their illness is absolutely miraculous – there aren’t even words to describe some of the adversity these kids are able to overcome (sometimes against all odds).
Although we believe wholeheartedly in St. Jude’s cause, it is difficult for us to become more directly involved with them because of our physical location. At some point in my life, I would like to return to the bench to do some more science, and St. Jude’s tops my list of who I would like to work for. In the meantime, we’ve been trying to get involved with more local charities.
But St. Jude’s is super cool. They called us and asked if we would be willing to take part in their mailing campaign, where we sent out donation requests to close friends and family. Any donations are mailed back to us, and then we mail it back to St. Jude. I think that this is a wonderful way for us to encourage others to give without being too pushy. It also gets us more directly involved with their cause.
What about you? Do you have a charity that isn’t local that you are involved with? What do you do?
We try to donate money to the Ronald McDonald House whenever we can. They operate housing units near hospitals throughout the country for families who need a place to stay while a child is being treated in the hospital.
Not only is it a free place to stay for families who often can’t afford to pay for hotels for weeks or months while their children are treated at expensive out of town hospitals, but it offers a sense of community where families with children battling serious illness can lean on each other for support.
I have a nephew who was born two months premature. He weighed just under 3 pounds at birth, so he was in the hospital for a few weeks while he gained weight. His prognosis was very good, and he was out of the hospital in about a month. But my sister doesn’t know what she would have done if there hadn’t been a place to stay close to him. She lived about an hour away from the hospital. She might have been able to camp out on a cot in the neonatal unit, but the Ronald McDonald House offered a comfortable bed and a homey environment at the time when she needed it most at no charge.
Hers was a best case scenario. Many of the people staying at the Ronald McDonald Houses have children who are much sicker. :-/
It’s something that I never would have thought about until someone close to me experienced it, but it’s a nice to know that they take care of accommodations for these families who have so many more important things to worry about.
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I actually just felt very rich. We have almost no money to spare — debt and not much income. But I read about a local shelter that might have to close because donations dried up AND the shelter has already run through its rather substantial savings.
And it was for women escaping unstable/violent home lives.
And I thought, “Ya know… I have $45 in my checking account. But, man, I *must* be able to spare $25.”
I wish it could have been more (though my mom also sent in a donation when I called her attention to it). But it was also an excellent wake-up call to me to stop whining and start appreciating what I have! I’ve felt pretty darn lucky for the past week or so, let me tell you.
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