The Gratefuls

I have a case of the gratefuls. So the last few weeks have been a little rough. Something to do with a fender bender, failed refinance attempt, lack of money, a split lip on Aidan, and most important - a pretty sick cat. Then I see images of Haiti every day and I feel like a schmuck. I could have seen images of Haiti before the earthquake and felt like a schmuck.

I have so much to be grateful for while sitting in my strong, sweet brick home. I get to spend the day sewing gifts for a new nephew waiting to be born in April. His mothers (my sister and sister-in-law) are having a baby shower tomorrow. Of course, I am all about the last-minute but I am geared up while my healthy little boy is at school. I am lucky to have a job at home that allows me this time and can pay for my supplies.

Toulouse, the aforementioned sick cat, is getting better and I couldn't be happier. Some day when I figure out how to post video, I will include one of Toulouse clearing the fogged up window on our front door for better view. 

I'll make a nice dinner to have waiting for my healthy husband who will be teaching 7 classes this semester! I could make a huge list of the gratefuls but you get the idea.

So my question is - what do you do in a crisis like this? We are always short on money but I use some of my business money to sponsor business loans using Kiva. We always try to give to Children's Hospital of Wisconsin. For disaster relief, I like the Red Cross and Doctors without Borders. What are your favorite organizations and why?

Comments

[S Yanoff]

I think you usually can't go wrong with the Red Cross, and that's what we did this week for our donation to help Haiti.

We have a short list of charities we support on our website at:
http://www.yanoff.org/veg/charities.shtml

I used to subscribe to a newsletter that would rate the charities based on how much they were able to give out of each dollar, and how much went to overhead (mailings, charities, etc.). I tend to lean local and keep the list reasonable rather so that what I can give is focused in a hopefully larger amount than if I spread it around at a lot of charities.

I give yearly to the Children's Hospital and I often think of Aidan when I do it. However, specific medical charities can be tricky. For example, even though my mom died of cancer, I don't give to the American Cancer Society. They spend all their money on a cure as opposed to actual prevention. I don't give to things that I consider preventable diseases. I also tend to punish charities that mail me excessively (I always email them asking to be reduced to annual mailings) or phone me. I tell them politely that I don't like to fund charities that call.

Keep that chin up, Sarah.

Cheers,
-Scott