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And The Nominees Are…

November 30, 2012 By Sharon

Our virtual giving circles enter our final donation cycle of the year with $1,800 to donate. In total, we will have donated $6,190 in 2012. Do you still think your small donation is too small to make a difference???

I know that we will have tough choices to make this month, and we’ll have to console ourselves with the fact that we probably wouldn’t have donated to any of these great charities. Instead, we’ll be sending hundreds of dollars to our final choice and making a huge impact on their ability to fulfill their mission.

Here are our nominees for December.

People With Compassion for Pets Nominations

  • Freedom Service Dogs

    Freedom Service Dogs makes it 3rd consecutive appearance as a nominee. Their mission is to train dogs to aid disabled military veterans. All dogs in the program are rescued from shelters. These amazing dogs assist veterans who have become disabled during service, who have developed PTSD or other psychological trauma, or who have developed medical problems later in life after their service

  • Colorado Animal Rescue Express (C.A.R.E.)

    Twice a week, C.A.R.E. arranges and provides the safe transportation of dogs and cats from high-kill shelters in Colorado and neighboring states that are going to rescue groups or adoptive homes. C.A.R.E. works with over 110 rescue organizations who commit to taking the homeless animals into foster care for proper assessment and placement. An average transport consists of renting multiple vans in various locations to move approximately 20 animals. At this time, C.A.R.E. is primarily transporting animals from rural Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Arkansas, New Mexico, and Nebraska.

Poverty Busters Nominations

  • Give Directly

    Give Directly provides cash to extremely poor (living on less than .65 cents per day) families in Kenya. The cash is provided with no strings attached, and the families can use it as they see fit. I’m very interested to research this charity and this strategy to discover if cash transfers help families break the cycle of poverty or if it keeps them dependent upon aid.

  • International Rescue Committee

    The IRC is a large organization with a large scope. They respond immediately to emergencies and provide urgently needed supplies, expertise, and health care. In addition, they look to the future by resettling refugees, reuniting families and rebuilding communities. They work in over 40 countries and in 22 U.S. cities, to restore safety, dignity and hope to millions who are uprooted and struggling to endure.

Veteran’s Giving Circle Nominations

  • Active Heroes

    In most cases, military pay is adequate to support service men and women. However, there still are veterans and their families which find themselves in financial distress as a result of circumstances beyond their control. Many veterans return home with physical and mental injuries, which often lead to soaring medical bills and associated costs not covered by their insurance. Active Heroes helps military families and assists veterans and active duty members by providing financial assistance (such as mortgage, car payments, electricity bills, water bills or security deposits) and job placement services.

  • Fisher House Foundation

    They build houses at major Military and VA medical centers across the US and Germany, so families of wounded vets have a place to stay while they help their vets recover. The stays at the homes are at no cost to the families. They also provide free airfare for families to reach the medical centers where their family members are receiving care.

And the Winners Are: Our Giving Circles Make Their Charitable Donations

September 28, 2012 By Sharon

We’re all winners, aren’t we? But, I mean that this was the week where each giving circle came to together to choose this quarter’s charity. All of the charities nominated this cycle we’re great, so it was a difficult choice. Below you’ll find a little more about who we chose and why.

People For Pets Giving Circle Donates to PetAid Colorado

People With Compassion for Pets Giving Circle LogoPetAid Colorado has two main services. One is to provide subsidized veterinary care for Colorado residents. They have a veterinary hospital in Denver where residents can visit, they have a mobile vet clinic they use to visit pet owners who are home bound, and they reimburse veterinarians around the state for providing below cost care for the low income in their community.

We believe strongly in this part of their mission, but it wasn’t just that. They also assist Colorado communities during emergencies with caring for displaced and injured pets. Many of our members have close connections to the Northern Colorado area, so when we were impacted by a large and devastating fire, we saw how difficult it was for people displaced by the fire to care for their pets. PetAid’s advice and assistance helped many of those animals, and their help was deeply appreciated.

Additionally, they had a matching donation opportunity, so our $672.50 would be equivalent to $1,345. We are delighted to support this great charity!

Poverty Busters Giving Circle Donates to Mines Advisory AND Nuru!

Poverty Busters Giving Circle LogoFor the first time, we had a tie! It was very difficult to decide between these two charities– both of them are saving and changing lives, and since we split down the middle, each charity will receive half of our $747.50 group donation.

Mines Advisory Group is removing landmines and destroying small arms in countries around the world. But wait… you’re thinking, “What does that have to do with poverty?” A lot it turns out. When the land is not safe it cannot be farmed and important infrastructure like roads and schools can’t be built. The community remains without the resources necessary to educate their children and create economic opportunity, so they are stuck in poverty. When people don’t have access to economic opportunity but they do have access to arms, violence and crime happen creating an unpredictable environment which furthers hampers the creation of wealth. MAG also pulled deeply on our heart strings as we saw the real human suffering involved in landmines. If you want to shed a few tears, you can watch some videos at MAG’s website: http://www.maginternational.org/videos/

Nuru International is quite different than MAG but doing equally important work. What’s unique about Nuru International is their comprehensive focus on a single area in Kenya. Some organizations focus on creating economic opportunities. Some focus on clean water and sanitation facilities. Some focus on building schools. Nuru does all of that and more. Their goal is to to take this one area, the Kuria district in Kenya, and improve all aspects of the community providing a place where the residents can be healthy, wealthy, and wise. Once they’ve met their objective, their plan is to leave. We feel especially strong about the intention for NURU to leave and so make the community self-reliant, because once a baseline is established, people CAN take care of themselves and SHOULD have the dignity of taking care of themselves.

We also like that each of these organizations partner with members of the local community providing jobs, training, and leadership opportunities.

Veterans Giving Circle Donates To Give An Hour

Veterans Giving Circle Logo-- A photo of the American FlagGive An Hour provides free and anonymous mental health care to active duty, veterans, and family members of those who served in the Afghan and Iraq wars. We are especially happy to support this organization because suicide is a massive problem in the military. Did you know that more soldiers have died due to suicide than in combat related deaths?

There are a few key components that make Give An Hour services so valuable.

1) Anonymous. Many soldiers are afraid of the stigma of seeking counseling and many with special clearances worry that if they seek counseling, they could lose their security clearances. Even though the military is striving to change this perception, it’s still common, so having an option for anonymous care is very important.

2) Help for the families. Everyone is impacted when a family member is struggling, and it’s important that spouses and other relatives know how to help and cope with the unique challenges that come from military service.

3) Free. The military does not have enough mental health professionals to meet the current demand, so many soldiers face long backlogs and inconsistent care due to too few counselors and too many soldiers.

Nominees for Poverty Busters

May 31, 2012 By Sharon

Members of the Poverty Busters Giving Circle have nominated the following two charities as candidates for our $700 pooled donation. These charities will be thoroughly researched by the donation committee so that we can be confident they are worthy of our hard earned dollars. Then we’ll vote!

If you want to help us choose, become a member and make a BIG impact on people with just a small donation.

Nuru International

Nuru International’s mission is to end extreme poverty in remote, rural areas. To accomplish this, we equip people with tools and knowledge to lift themselves out of extreme poverty – forever. Our donation would pay for agriculture loans, clean water and healthcare training and access, financial planning and micro-loans, leadership development, child literacy instruction and much more.

Fire Mountain

Fire Mountain helps teenagers break their addictions and become healthy adults. Their Sober Home program is 5-6 months long where the boys live, do chores, get sober, go through rites of passage, do emotional work so that they leave connected to themselves, in possession of their own voices, aware of their needs and wants. They also work with the families to provide a healthier home environment to support the young man when he returns.

Addiction to drugs will doom a person to a life filled with emotional, physical, and financial struggle. Breaking the cycle of addiction and giving these young men the tools they need to be functioning adults gives them the opportunity to live happy, healthy lives where they provide for themselves and their families.

Where would you donate and why?

Nominees for People With Compassion for Pets

May 31, 2012 By Sharon

Members of the People With Compassion for Pets Giving Circle have nominated the following two charities as candidates for our $700 pooled donation. These charities will be thoroughly researched by the donation committee so that we can be confident they are worthy of our hard earned dollars. Then we’ll vote!

If you want to help us choose, become a member and make a BIG impact on pets with just a small donation.

Kindess Ranch

Kindness Ranch is the only sanctuary in the US that takes in all kinds of research animals. While new, it is the result of a decade of work, saving, and planning.

The mission of the Kindness Ranch is to provide a sanctuary and place of rehabilitation for animals who have been used in laboratory research while fostering compassion for all animals. Consistent with our mission, we work to rehabilitate our dogs and cats in a home-like environment. Cats and dogs at The Kindness Ranch live together with their human caretakers in spacious yurts specially designed to meet their needs. They receive round-the-clock care to help them adjust to their new lives.

The Kindness Ranch also provides an adoption program for all the animals we can rehabilitate. Those who are too debilitated, old or ill to be placed in a loving home can remain on the ranch to live out their days, surrounded by caretakers and volunteers who put the animals’ well-being first.

Freedom Service Dogs

Freedom Service Dogs, located in Englewood, Colorado, was established in 1987. They have received national attention in the past several years for their work with military veterans. Their mission is to train dogs to aid disabled military veterans. All dogs in the program are rescued from shelters.

These amazing dogs assist veterans who have become disabled during service, who have developed PTSD or other psychological trauma, or who have developed medical problems later in life after their service. Find Freedom Service Dogs online at www.freedomservicedogs.org and learn about the program from veterans whose lives have been transformed by their service dog.

Are you as excited as I am to find out which of these great organizations we’ll send our donation? What do you like best about donating money?

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About Sharon

Sharon Lipinski Photo

Throughout my life, I have donated to help animals, the environment, the homeless, the poor, the Food Bank, the Red Cross and more. You name it, and I’ve probably sent them money. Like many others in today’s economy, the few dollars I had left at the end of the month for philanthropy weren’t making a significant difference for the causes I cared most about– until I discovered the power of giving circles.

I'm dedicated to helping people make a big impact on the causes they care about most.

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“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” Margaret Mead

Another Quote

Past the seeker as he prayed came the crippled and the beggar and the beaten. And seeing them… he cried, “Great God, how is it that a loving creator can see such things and yet do nothing about them?” God said, “I did do something. I made you.” Sufi Teaching

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