HOW YOU CAN HELP within your community and without © 2005 SeaMyst
		How many times have you seen a news story that hit you where you live and wondered, What Can I Do? How do I help? There must be something… Well, there is. We just have to be willing to look and willing to use our creativity. In my own life, I find that I have a tremendous need to help others less fortunate, but I’m unwilling to simply throw money at an issue. I have a healthy dose of skepticism when it comes to money getting where it needs to go. There are just too many corrupt people who stop and siphon a bit off along the way. Plus, I don’t think money is always the right answer. I want to make an immediate difference, not toss money about and hope that some day it will get where it’s going and do some good. Here are a couple of things I’ve done that worked for me. Sending all my cast off clothing or unwanted and unneeded items to the Salvation Army or the Goodwill in my area didn’t work for me. I think both organizations do good work and I know my items will be put to good use. But it just felt wrong in my own little scheme of things. That’s not to say I don’t utilize them, for I often do donate items there that have failed to find homes elsewhere. I started looking for other ways, other areas to put my items to better use. First, I found a tiny organization that helped battered pregnant women and their children. It wasn’t the larger battered women’s shelter of the city that everyone knew about. It was a shoe-string operation run out of a little group of offices. I found them by making phone calls. I called the Salvation Army and Goodwill and the Battered Women’s Shelter. I had specific items like a crib and other baby things at the time. I asked for suggestions of who might be in need. Finally, one person took the time to tell me about this tiny group. I called them and took my car load of items to them that very day. Was it the right move? The woman that met me at the door came out to my car to help me unload. When she saw what I had brought, she started to cry. She told me how they were always in need of things and always in need of money. She went on to tell me that they had just the weekend prior decided to hold a rummage sale in hopes of making the money they needed to buy more baby items. With what I had brought, I met some of the immediate needs for baby items, and everything else would be sold in their rummage sale. I left in tears, having finally felt I’d made a difference in some small way and knowing that my gift was truly where it needed to be. My second venture was farther reaching. My children had moved beyond the toddler stages and were outgrowing their clothing overnight, it seemed. Again, I looked at the choices and felt that none were quite right. At the time, I was part of an active forum community. One lovely lady there lived in Indonesia (though she was Australian) and spoke often of the plight of the people there, especially in the village close to her property. With a lot of thought, I came to realize that this was where my children’s clothing needed to go. I contacted her and she agreed to accept my packages and distribute what I sent to the local villagers. This was a project near and dear to her heart as she often went home on vacations and brought back tons of such items for the villagers herself. Not only did she join my venture, she was kind enough to send me pictures of the wonderful people who wound up with my children’s clothing. Often, my teenagers’ clothing fit adults there, so we helped nearly everyone in the village at one time or another. Sadly, this venture didn’t last as long as I would have liked. This leads me to my latest project. To be honest, I can’t remember how I came across the following website or if I was even looking for something like it at the time. But found it I did. The organization is called Heifer International. Heifer International has been hard at work the better part of sixty years. From their website: “Today, millions of people who were once hungry will be nourished by milk, eggs and fresh vegetables. Families who for generations knew only poverty will be building new homes and starting businesses. Children who once headed out to the fields to do backbreaking work will be heading into schoolrooms to learn to read. And people who never thought they’d be in a position to help someone else will be experiencing the joy of charitable giving.” Heifer International makes these things possible through their Cornerstones, Passing on the Gift, Animal Well-Being, Community Involvement, and Caring for the Earth and Agro-ecology programs. In short, they assess the needs of the family, provide them with the training, tools, and appropriate animal(s) to drastically improve their situation and instill in them a commitment to their community by teaching them how to use their newfound skills to help others, all while improving the lands they live on. Here’s an example of how this organization works. A 76 year old man in Zimbabwe was suffering terribly when the drought came. A representative of Heifer noticed his plight and gave him a single female rabbit. He shares the buck with his neighbor and now has more than thirty rabbits. He has passed some on to others in need, and every month sells some. He also has a valuable source of protein. He has learned how to care for his rabbits, how to use their manure in his garden to improve his crops, how to conserve natural resources, and how to earn a steady income. Another family lived in unhealthy conditions in India and was so impoverished they couldn’t afford even the simplest of materials to keep the rain out of the their mud and grass home. Heifer stepped in with the gift of a heifer. The cow gave the family nourishment from her milk and income from the sale of excess milk. Selling her calf gave the family enough income to improve their living conditions. Their changes didn’t come overnight. They took education, patience, and perseverance, but this family is now on the road to improving their lives and the lives of others thanks to Heifer’s involvement. But Heifer’s work isn’t just abroad. Here in the United States, in Harlan County, Kentucky, this program is hard at work. Harlan and other counties like it were coal mining communities. When coal mining dried up, so did jobs. People lost hope. Children lacked direction and had no illusions about their futures. Heifer International stepped in. “Through Heifer’s alternative agriculture and small farms projects, small-scale farming isn’t just being revived as an industry – it’s also being used as a tool to mold a new generation of responsible citizens. Goats, bees, poultry, vegetables and even red-claw crawdads are produced and marketed by students, who then train adults in their communities as part of their overall hands-on learning experience and promise to fulfill Heifer’s Passing on the Gift cornerstone.” The younger generation has been given the skills and hope it needs to not only succeed in their own lives, but to help their community’s spiritual and financial revivals. Individuals can help by donating money, "buying" from the gift catalog, or becoming involved in volunteer efforts. I could, for example, send in a cash donation without specifics; I could buy a part share in a water buffalo for $20 or a couple of geese for about the same to help a family in need of these animals receive them; I could volunteer at the regional center in my area in Sacramento, donating my time and efforts; I could even get my local elementary school involved by exciting interest in a "Read to Feed" program the organization offers which, while teaching children about the needs in the world, encourages them to read and collect donations for their reading to help their world community. (This is something I’ve already put into progress at my children’s school.) If this sounds like a commercial for Heifer International, you’d be correct. Just one more way to become involved - put the information out there on your website. I think this program is an excellent one and that as many people as we can tell about it should become involved in some way. However, as I stated back at the beginning, this is not the only way to help. Imagination, creativity, seeking, reading, learning about the plights of specific areas or communities, and a willingness to make the effort is all it takes. There are ways for each of us to help better a single person’s life. We just have to make the time and commitment to do it. How about you? Are you ready yet?

Please visit Heifer International today..

For more information on other non-profit organizations, try these links:

GuideStar: The National Database of Non-Profit Organizations

BBB Wise Giving Alliance:  Investigate before you donate

Taking It Global: a directory of 5898 organizations