Carole's Bookmarks: Needing Less, Giving More

So many of us strive for things outside ourselves to define our happiness only to find that having achieved what we thought would make us happy, we are still left unfulfilled. There is a part of us that still feels empty. Some of us stay on that wheel for all our lives, others realize there is something more they could do.

I realized that the more I was able to give and share with others, the better I felt about myself. It was such a simple truth. The more I got out of the "me" mentality and shifted to the "we" of this world we all inhabit, the more I wanted to be doing more.

So, in that spirit, I want to share two Giving Back sites I think are wonderful, and make one more mention of Kiva.org.

Since the first "Bookmarks" column, there has not been a time when more than one of you has mentioned Kiva. It also has my vote, and President Clinton featured Kiva in his book Giving.

What a unique concept: at Kiva you don't unconditionally give, instead you loan money to a specific entrepreneur in the developing world, empowering them to lift themselves out of poverty.

So it seems to be unanimous, Kiva works. Please visit their site.

The two sites I like and have been exploring all this past week are:

1. Modestneeds.org
Modest Needs first came to my attention this past Christmas when friends of ours sent a donation in our name to this organization. At the time I was so involved with finishing up PSA's for Donorschoose.org, I did not focus on Modest Needs.

What a wonderful website with a wonderful vision.

In their own words, "Founded in 2002, Modest Needs is an award-winning charity that works to stop the cycle of poverty before it starts for low-income workers struggling to afford emergency expenses like those we've all encountered before: the unexpected auto repair, the unanticipated trip to the doctor, the unusually large winter heating bill. Modest Needs, believes that EVERY person has the power to make a difference. So, by choice, the work done at Modest Needs is funded exclusively by the 'small change' donations given by people who care. Since 2002, our donors' 'small change' has stopped the cycle of poverty for 3811 individuals and families who stood to lose everything over a short-term financial emergency. But more importantly, simply by working together in this very modest way, we can make sure that no hard-working person is ever forced to choose between taking a child to the doctor and putting food on the table."

2.Csdw.org (Children's Safe Drinking Water)

Millions of children die each year from diseases drinking unsafe water. But an innovative new method is bringing hope. The PUR water purifier helps transform contaminated water into clean drinking water.

Water is one of the fundamental elements of life.

According to the World Health organization, over one billion people lack clean drinking water. This contributes to the death of more than 2.2 million children each year.

In their own word "The Children's Safe Drinking Water Program (CSDW) has provided enough product to produce more than 500 million liters of clean drinking water for children and their families in need around the world. Since it was established in 2003, CSDW has provided clean drinking water to people in 23 developing nations with the introduction of the Purifier of Water."

I urge you to visit this site. They are making a difference and we can help.

Please let me know what charities you support that have an online presence. I would like to list them next week.

Thank you,
Carole

Comments

[Highwayman]

My "garden's growin :)

Rode in w my bro, in his car, to City Chev this afternoon to pick up my son's diesel 4x for him [ had some work done there *I* didn't want to do ]

Passed by several stranded folks on the I-8 and felt pangs for not bein able to help em [ feel downright nakid w-o my trusty SAR rig or one of my other specially equipped vehicles ]

One gal was particulary poigniat for me as she had a flat and as we passed she was gittin out a stroller as if she was going to walk away from the car down a nearby off ramp -- anyways I made a mental note to check on her comin back -- and she was still there -- soooo I dropped my son's truck at the home 20, and returned to the scene w my trusty rig -- annnd Shela of course --

Now there's a van behind her car, and a feller workin on changin the blown tire w *her* tools [ small stock jack, 1 arm wrench, ect ] he's makin a go of it but he doesn't know yet the spare is FLAT

I hand him my star wrench and proceed to air up the spare for him.

He allows as to how HE'D passed by this gal once previously as well and when he came back by she was still there and he remembered how his wife had had a blowout on the freeway about 4 months previous and someone had stopped to help *her* ===




"And


BTW",



he



said,






"THANKS!






For





helpin



MY wife when she needed it"

[mactaggart]

you know, they say its easier to give to a stranger than your own family member. sounds about right to me.

[anitab]

I love these interactive charities that you are listing.
The idea that anyone can become a philanthropist at any level of giving they can afford, is a great one. I love being able to choose where my donation is going and see it progress till it's conclusion.
Thanks for the lists.

[mamacat]

With no disrespect intended:

one very important way that the rich can help is by working against the tax cuts for the rich and the corporations that conservatives pushed through the Republican Congress under the Republican President.

Where an individual can work in one place for one cause, the government, through programs like Head Start (and many others) can enable workers at many places working to do good. Many jobs are better done by government than by one person alone, or even a few people working together.

Some may argue that there is such a thing as government waste. Where that is true, it should be stopped. But there will always be inefficiencies, whether in government, business, or in charities, and we should not, as the saying goes, throw out the baby with the bath water. Many government programs that conservatives worked to defund were doing tremendous good.

I too have volunteered to work with children. Besides (hopefully) helping them, it gave me an immense feeling of having done something positive. However, I also know of cases where government programs have helped children who would not have gotten any help otherwise. So, while volunteering to help is a wonderful thing, organised, planned, widespread help is also a very important, and wonderful, thing.

[cynubie]

Rights of Beast
Yes, I believe in the Rights of Man
And in a society that says "Yes, I can!"
But overwhelming forces conspire to create
A society doomed to desiccate
A failure to love
An inability to understand--
Conspires to doom the Rights of Man.

The Rights of Man in the face of War
Continues to mangle, hurt, and gore.
The continuation of this policy throws me into a fit-
"We had to destroy this village in order to save it."
A failure to love, an inability to understand--
The Rights are reduced to the Lore of Man.

Do you believe in the Rights of Man?
Can you unconditionally love and Understand?
Or will the extinction of hate rob you of your power?
Reign in all your policies, prevent Your "Finest Hour"
If this is the case--
Love and understanding will cease
and the "Rights of Man" becomes The Rights Of Beasts

Francis Jens Erickson

[Minka]

Thanks Carole...Loved your column and the imagery of "me...to we of this world". Checked out kiva.org. Was impressed. Hadn't heard of it before. Also, Checked out your site carolebaye­rsager.com Was blown away by your body of work and all the charities you've been involved with. Good for you!
Minka

[CammyV]

It's a beautiful thing when those who are fortunate give to those who are less so. I've always loved CBS's music, and it's nice to know there's a good soul behind it.

[mbjesq]

Carole:

How about encouraging people to give time instead of money? Take a look at www.charityfocus.org.

And here's a fun way to become more engaged in the world, by playing a game that fosters awareness and empathy, while at the same time sending ripples of goodness into the world. It's called Experiments in Anonymous Kindness, and it's found at www.helpothers.org

If your readers want to leverage their financial gifts by having their dollars spent in rupees, with NGOs that have met stringent transparency and best-manag­ement-prac­tices standards, I would recommend www.giveindia.org

One of GiveIndia's extremely interesting side projects is the development of the Philanthropy Exchange. Here is a link to a report from the opening event at the New York Stock Exchange (at which, incidentally, Charles Best of Donors Choose spoke): http://memestreamblog.wordpress.com/2006/12/15/the-philanthropy-exchange/

Finally, here's one small example for your readers of how satisfying direct giving of micro-gifts can be -- and how life-changing for the recipients: http://memestreamblog.wordpress.com/2006/12/02/1000-crisp-mahandases/

Want more? I've got a million of them.

mbjesq
www.memestream.org

[cktirumalai]

Some neuroscientists have made the discovery that giving activates satisfaction centers in the brain in the way chocolate might. Altruism is good for you. My experience is that charitable people (preferably the anonymous kind) to whom what Wordsworth called "little nameless unremembered acts of kindness and love" are habitual age much more slowly.