National Denim Day with Debbie Travis

Join the CURE Foundation in its fight against breast cancer, by wearing denim and donating $5 on National Denim Day, this Tuesday May 13th, 2008.

Over 11 years ago, CURE launched NATIONAL DENIM DAY, its main fundraiser. This event is held on the Tuesday following Mother’s Day. Employees from companies across Canada show their support by wearing denim and/or a “pink flower ribbon” for a suggested donation of $5 to the CURE Foundation. The CURE Foundation is a national, non-profit foundation that provides funding for breast cancer research and awareness. So far, over 13 million dollars
have been raised!

All the funds raised enable the CURE Foundation to support research and technology in order to provide the means for early breast cancer detection, prevention and, one day soon, a CURE.

For more information on the CURE Foundation, visit www.curefoundation.com or call 1-888-592-CURE. 1-888-592-CURE
www.curefoundation.com

Eat My Words at Sherway Gardens

On Saturday May 10, 2008, treat Mom to one of these adorable charitable cupcakes for Mother’s Day.

Eat My Words will be at Sherway Gardens on Saturday, May 10, selling their thoroughly original selection of delightfully decorative cupcakes and cookies in the Comfort Zone across from European Jewellery at Sherway Square. Normally these are only available online.

Each Eat My Words cupcake is topped with a buttercream icing, and then crowned with an elaborate royal icing flower. The individually packaged sugar cookies are a sweet assortment of colourful dresses, purses, shoes, flowers, hearts and butterflies. Cupcakes are $5 each and cookies are $4 each.

The profits from all Eat My Words treats go to the Stephen Lewis Foundation, which funds community level projects that provide care and support to women, grandmothers, orphans and people living with HIV/AIDS in Africa. Why not butter Mom up while supporting a good cause?


www.eatmywords.org
www.stephenlewisfoundation.org

Last Minute Charitable Gift Idea: Get 'Em a Goat!

Ok you're really down to the wire here. Christmas is next week and you still don't have a gift for that impossible to shop for person on your list who truly has it all.

Why not get them a goat?

Seriously. At Ten Thousand Villages you can buy a goat for $33 that will feed a family in Africa. By making a donation on behalf of someone you are giving a gift to multiple people that will actually be useful. To top it off, this gift is tax deductible.

World Vision offers the same service, but it is more expensive.

See? Problem solved. This year, get 'em a goat.

Ten Thousand Villages Goat

World Vision Goat

The Gift that keeps Giving: Make a Difference on a Tight Budget

A Mexican legend tells the story of a child who picked some weeds at the roadside to give to Baby Jesus on Christmas Eve, because he could not afford a gift. This humble gift given in love was acceptable in God's eyes, and when it was brought into the church it blossomed into red and green flowers - a poinsettia and a Christmas miracle.
(Source: Wikipedia)



You want to reach out and give back, but at the end of the month you find yourself with a measly $84.72 in your account after rent, groceries, and car payment. Can you make someone's holiday a little more special, even when you are struggling to make ends meet?

Today we finish our 3-part series on charitable giving, focusing on ways you can help without spending money.

Donate

*Give a worthy cause the gift of your time and volunteer! Soup kitchens, food and toy drives, and Habitat for Humanity are just a few places that are looking for extra help in many ways.

*Want to clear out some space in your closet? Donate your gently used clothes, books, dishes, and furniture to a local charity such as Goodwill. Go one step further and organize a clothing drive in your apartment building or neighborhood. MissChickie explains how she made this a success now three years running!

*Think about donating blood or placing your name on a living donor's list (e.g. bone marrow, etc.). Challenge friends and family members to do the same - hey, you may need the support if you're queasy about needles!

Give some holiday cheer

*Call up some friends and go caroling at a retirement home! Spend some time playing checkers, eating cookies, or just listening. Many elderly people feel alone during the holidays and you may be the only visit they get. Call the events coordinator at the home first to set up a convenient time.

*Costume up, grab some books and games, and head over to the pediatrics ward at your local hospital. Call the hospital administrator to set this up, as they probably wouldn't appreciate a surprise visit for the sake of their patients.

*Write your grandparents a proper letter; their generation appreciates these things more than you might realize.

*Cook a proper dinner for a new mom or dad in your family or circle of friends. Bring it to their home, and if it's convenient stick around for a visit. They may be starving for adult conversation!

Do you have any fun and inexpensive ideas? Share them here! We at ChickAdvisor want to encourage you to do something extra this year and make a difference in someone's life. It might be a small thing for you to give, but huge for the person on the receiving end.

The Gift that keeps Giving: Make a Difference at Home

Last week we started a series on charitable giving. Those of us living in the US are still stuffed to the gills from our Turkey-fest, glowing with thankful thoughts and sluggishly trying to vault ourselves off the sofa onto our feet to get something accomplished today. I, for one, just came in from splitting logs. Which may not have been such a great idea on a full stomach.

While you're still feeling the warm snugglies, we'd like to highlight a few ways you can make a difference for someone less fortunate in your city.

If you're not sure where to start, consider donating to a charity that has many worthy causes under its umbrella. The United Way spends 88¢ of every dollar donated and is a BBB accredited charity. Their programs range from local disaster relief to providing health insurance for low income families. The Salvation Army uses 84¢ of each dollar on its programs including national and local services. These are just two such charities.

Maybe there is a cause that lies near to your heart, such as soup kitchens, food drives, schools, or shelters for abused women. Many of these are small charities that lack the resources to advertise in the mainstream. Here you can be sure that your dollars are desperately needed, but you should do your research before you donate if you are curious about how your money is spent. Another great option is to donate to medical research or your local hospital, perhaps in honor of a family member who has passed away.

Looking for an even closer connection? Get some friends together and assemble a Christmas hamper! This typically includes a holiday dinner with all the fixin's plus gifts for the family. Search for a local charity in your city if you are interested; they will supply you with contact information and some general details about the family to help you with your shopping decisions. Often, these organizations will expect you to drop off your hamper at their distribution center, but in some cases you can choose to bring the family the package yourself. Expect to spend $75-100, depending on the size of the family.

Do you know about a unique charity opportunity in your area? Spread the word here and help a great local cause! We want to challenge you to add one more charity to your list this year, or increase your involvement with one of your favorites. Satisfaction guaranteed!

Strapped for cash this year? Check back next week for our final post in this series entitled "Make a Difference on a Tight Budget".

The Gift that keeps Giving: Make a Difference in the World

A recent poll on our homepage showed that many of you plan to support charities this holiday season. Today we begin a three-part series to convert the rest of you who decided to support The Charity of Myself :D

You know the season is upon us when the charity commercials displace the ED and herpes spots on TV, and everywhere you look there's Santa ringing his bell beside a Salvation Army bucket - some looking more jolly than others.

All joking aside, we push away from the Thanksgiving table bloated with turkey and have only a few short weeks to prepare for the next feast, not always mindful of our blessings compared to others.

One important way you can help is to donate to foreign aid charities. Here are just a few of the worthy causes we want to highlight.

Disaster Relief and Humanitarian Aid
Red Cross is probably best known in this category. According to their website, approximately 91¢ of every dollar donated is used for the programs they support, and you can designate where your money should be used (e.g. disaster relief, international aid, etc.) You can choose to support your national branch or select the International Red Cross/Red Crescent. Other comparable agencies include UNICEF, Doctors Without Borders, and Mennonite Central Committee (MCC).

Impoverished Children
There are many charities to choose from if you want to help a third-world child this year. World Vision puts 87¢ of every dollar toward its programs; you can support a child for $30/month or a whole family for $40/month. Christian Children's Fund uses 81¢ per dollar on its programs, and the monthly cost to support a child is only $24.

Do your homework when deciding between several agencies, because the programs are not necessarily the same and will focus on different ways to help (e.g. providing food and clothing vs. digging a well and providing agricultural materials). Many charities also offer the option of making a one-time donation, if you're not sure you will be able to afford a regular monthly contribution.

Sending a special gift
One year, my family decided to pass on gifts and instead spend that money on Operation Christmas Child. This charity asks you to assemble shoe box-sized holiday packages (OCC boxes are available at certain locations and sponsors as well) filled with toiletries, candy, toys, and/or clothes for a girl or boy within a certain age range (2-4, 5-9, 10-14) that will be distributed to children all over the world during the holidays. This is a really fun activity to do with your children or nieces and nephews, but the deadline for dropping off your boxes is November 19th so you need to act quickly. Check the website for a drop-off location in your area.

There are many other local, national, and international charities that provide gifts to disadvantaged kids, and too many to list here. Also, some of the organizations mentioned above have similar programs under their umbrella.

Supporting charity is important to most of us. This year, we want to challenge you to add one more charitable act to the ones you were already planning to support this season. For more ideas on where you can make a difference, check back here soon. Our next installment is entitled "Make a Difference at Home".

Heck, at least these donations are tax-deductible. Take that, Charity-of-Myself-ers! ;)

Editor's note: Many of the charities we've noted here are faith-based organizations. No offense or prejudice is intended toward faiths or charities omitted here, there are simply too many to list and these are the charities the writer is most familiar with at the time of this posting. Which charity will you support this time? We're interested in your stories; please add them in the comments to this post!

Start Your Own Charity

We all love a good cause but finding the right charity to invest your time can be difficult. You have limited time and they have limited resources and opportunities. Often, landing the right volunteer position can be nearly as hard as finding a new job. That's why sometimes you've just gotta take matters into your own hands.

Nearly two years ago, I started my own clothing drive at my condominium to help the local homeless and I've been doing it ever since. It's a pretty easy thing to set up actually. Here's how I did it in case you'd like to do something similar:

1. Approach the condo board for permission to run the drive and place donation bins in the mailrooms of the condominium complex for a 1-2 week period. That was relatively easy to do.

2. Approach local charities and see if they would be willing to pickup and distribute the donations. This was a little bit harder. The first couple of times I did it with the help of a friend and fellow resident who secured an agreement with one of the shelters run by The Salvation Army. They provided the bins, picked up all of the donations and distributed them to homeless at Salvation Army shelters.

3. Run the clothing drive. This is where the elbow grease comes in. A lot of people donated loose articles of clothing, which we bagged up ourselves to make it easier to transport. There were a few odds and ends that made their way into the bins, which probably should have gone into the garbage instead (homeless don't have sewing machines or washing machines, people!)

Sometimes the mailrooms were flooded with donations so we had to check on them several times a day to make sure it didn't get messy or out of hand. We also met the delivery van and loaded the donations every day. Over a couple of clothing drives, we raised over 100 large bins of good quality clothing.

I'm running another drive starting this weekend in conjunction with the Yonge Street Mission, who it turns out is logistically more equipped for this sort of endeavor. They have stores where their clients can purchase the clothes with dignity going into their store with a prepaid card that they provide them with. It feels less like a handout, gives them a sense of pride, and they also hire them to work in the store so they can gain valuable job experience.

Whatever your passion, be it the environment, kids, the homeless, disease - don't be afraid to just start something on your own. It requires a little bit of extra elbow grease and organization but it allows you to start helping right away, on your own terms. You don't need to sit around and wait for a perfect volunteer opportunity.

I honestly believe that if we all do our part to help in some small way, together we can make a huge difference.