Does Anyone Knit, Crochet, or Sew?

If you are one of those gifted crafters who produces more than s/he can use, there are charities that can really benefit from your skills.

Here is a link that will take you to a page listing 10 worthwhile charities that could use your donations.

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A Breast Cancer Survivor Asks Prudence an Important Question:

Q: Breast Cancer Remission: I have been in remission for breast cancer for about four years now. I was fortunate to have good health insurance and a supportive network or friends and family during my treatment and recovery. Every October I grapple with the same problem: I feel no loyalty or desire to help out with breast cancer awareness funds.

To be quite blunt, I find most national campaigns to be impersonal, they do not score very highly on the charity calculator, and they were not there for me when I was suffering. I am also not particularly interesting in doing any of the 5Ks or other events in October. I find the best way to help breast cancer sufferers is to donate and volunteer at the local level.

Every year I get a lot of inquiries if I am participating in different campaigns or activities and when I say no, there is always a bit of an awkward pause. I don't really want to get into why I choose to support the local level more than national, and I don't want people to think I am insensitive to the needs of those with breast cancer. What is a good response to their inquiries?

A: Thank you for standing against this pink ribbon oppression. Both my grandmother and mother had breast cancer, and I, too, have no interest in buying pink ribbon yogurt, or participating in walks for the purpose of handing a big chunk of cash to overpaid executives.

You might like the books Pink Ribbon Blues and Bright-Sided, which explore both the dark side of big breast cancer charities and the incessant cheerleading imposed on breast cancer survivors. Mostly, you need a way to shrug off the inquiries. "I give to cancer organizations that help people in this community," should be enough to shut up most people.

But if you're up for it, you could do a little breast cancer education of your own and say that unfortunately, some of the big breast cancer charities do not use their money effectively.

- Dear Prudence, Slate.

Yes, it's October again.

Mammograms are important. There are locations around the nation and the world where women can receive a mammogram at low cost or no cost.  If you are in the US, here are a few places to start your search gleaned from various sources (cited):

* The American Breast Cancer Foundation’s Key to Life Breast Cancer Screening Assistance Program provides financial assistance to uninsured and underinsured women and men of all ages for breast cancer testing. Call their toll-free enrollment hotline, 877-Key-2-Life (877-539-2543).

* The American Cancer Society. Go to cancer.org, find the blue box on the upper right (“Find ACS in Your Community”), enter your zip code, and it’ll direct you to your local ACS office. They can tell you what resources are available in your area. Or call the ACS toll-free: 1-800-ACS-2345.

* The American College of Radiology - Search for these facilities in your area. The facilities that are participating will be listed with a pink ribbon designation.

* CDC's National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Programs: Offer low-cost mammograms and clinical breast exams to women between the ages of 40-64. States are legally able to narrow the age range, so call your state to find out if you are eligible for this program. They may also have information about other facilities in their area for younger women. Call toll-free 1-888-842-6355 (select option 7) or log onto the above Web site for information specific to your area.

* To find a certified radiology center in your area, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Web site offers a list of facilities, which is updated weekly. Just click here.

* Planned Parenthood Clinics: Women can make an appointment for all types of low-cost or free health services, including breast health, with the clinic nearest them by calling 1-800-230-PLAN (800-230-7526).

* The United States Center for Disease Control’s National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program (NBCCEDP) provides access to critical breast and cervical cancer screening services for underserved women in the United States. Their Web site lets you click to your state to find a local health care facility that offers low-cost mammograms for women meeting the income guidelines. Click here.

* The United States Government’s National Cancer Institute can direct you to a local resource for low-cost mammograms. Call them toll-free at 1-800-4-CANCER (1-800-422-6237). Be ready with your zip code. Click here.

* YWCA Encore Plus Programs: Services are provided on a sliding scale. Screening mammography is available to women 35 years and older who are medically underserved. Call 1-800-95-EPLUS (1-800-953-7587).

* Finally, try calling your local hospital. Ask to speak to a social worker. He or she will be the one who’ll know about the availability of low-cost cancer screenings and/or special campaigns in your community.

- CBS News, Liv Aware. Jezebel. This blog.

Donations are also important. 

But please donate wisely. If you would like to donate (time or money) try these:

* Breast Cancer Action - "We demand accountability." 

* See also: 'Think before you pink' campaign, demanding transparency in pink-washed product marketing.

"A cure is not enough. We have to prevent it. The cures we have aren't working."

 - Executive Director Karuna Jaggar.

 

* American Cancer Society - Donations intended for breast cancer research and screening can be earmarked to support NBCCEDP (the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program). They have focused heavily on social disparities as they relate to cancer diagnosis and treatment, and have awarded more than $113 million in grants to researchers looking into social disparity as it relates to cancer. 

 

* The National Breast Cancer Coalition - They aim to promote research into causes of breast cancer and the best possible treatment for the disease, access to treatment for all women, and encourage breast cancer advocates to speak up and stand up against the disease.

 

* The Breast Cancer Research Foundation - Ninety cents of every dollar donated to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation goes to supporting breast cancer research. (Komen only gives about 20 cents per dollar to research) 

 

* Unite For Her - Unite For Her aims to help breast cancer patients integrate other therapies that would complement the care they're being given by their doctors. Think acupuncture, massage, yoga, counseling, and other treatments that address a woman's spiritual and emotional needs during what could be a long and difficult fight against cancer.

The organization's aim is to "educate, empower, and restore."

Further Resources: {here}

My prior posts about BC: here & here & here & here & here & here.

Reaching Out to Folks in Need

There are many ways of reaching out to people who are in need.

You can tailor your giving to your abilities and resources and still make a positive difference in the lives of those less fortunate. A quick look on the internet will bring up tons of organizations ready to accept your donations.

~ of money, resources, or time ~

YOU CAN: 

Give Money, Give Clothing,

Give A Bag Of Groceries, 

Give Toys,

Volunteer At A Shelter, 

Volunteer At A Soup Kitchen, 

Volunteer Your Professional Talents, 

Volunteer Your Hobbies, 

Volunteer For Follow-Up Programs, 

Volunteer At Battered Women's Shelters, 

Tutor Homeless Children, 

Take Homeless Children On Trips, 

Employ the Homeless, 

Help The Homeless Apply For Aid, 

Join Habitat For Humanity, 

Write To Corporations, 

Contact Your Government Representatives (Find your state representatives), 

Push For State Homelessness Prevention Programs, . . . 

- from the Just Give Guide.
They have much more information there, check it out.

Photo Source.

Please, Spare A Thought for Our Neighbors in the Midwest

At the time of this post, the death toll in Joplin, Mo. after the 5/22 tornado, is 117 and it's expected to rise, with no estimate yet on the number of injured. 

The death toll from 2011 tornadoes stands now at 455, the deadliest year for tornados since 1953. -- Lane Turner

Chue Vang reacts after coming home to discover that her home was damaged after a tornado struck northern Minneapolis May 22. At least one person was killed and at least 29 were injured in the storm. (Jerry Holt/The Star Tribune/AP

Residents begin digging through the rubble of their home after it was destroyed by a tornado that hit Joplin, Mo. May 22. The tornado tore a path a mile wide and four miles long destroying homes and businesses. (Mike Gullett/AP)

Residents of Joplin, Mo, walk west on 26th Street near Maiden Lane after a tornado hit the southwest Missouri city May 22. (Mike Gullett/AP)

Photos via. THE BIG PICTURE. 

(click to embiggen)

  If you wish to donate:

A general donation to a charity you trust is the best way. This leaves the charity free to address the most pressing needs

in the best way possible. 

A couple of choices:

The RED CROSS.

The SALVATION ARMY.

Several links live permanently in my sidebar

for whenever they're needed.

[Update] HOW TO DONATE WISELY

GiveWell is a website that performs charity research,
and their advice:

We believe that

• Those affected have requested very little, limited aid. Aid being offered far exceeds aid being requested. (Details below.)
• Charities are aggressively soliciting donations, often in ways we feel are misleading (more on this in future posts).
• Any donation you make will probably be used (a) by the charity you give it to, for activities in a different country; (b) for non-disaster-relief-and-recovery efforts in Japan.
• If you’re looking to pursue (a) and help people in need all over the world, we recommend giving to the best charity you can, rather than basing your giving on who is appealing to you most aggressively with images and language regarding Japan.
• If you prefer (b), a gift to the Japanese Red Cross seems reasonable.

PHOTO: Each image is offered as a limited edition of 10 prints.The project aids Doctors Without Borders.











 

Overall, though, a gift to Doctors Without Borders seems to us like the best way to effectively “respond to this disaster”.

We feel they are a leader in transparency, honesty and integrity in relief organizations, and the fact that they’re not soliciting funds for Japan is a testament to this. Rewarding Doctors Without Borders is a move toward improving incentives and improving disaster relief in general.

GiveWell goes on to give evidence supporting their recommendations at the same link.

'TIS THE SEASON . . .

Man Who Intervened in Domestic Assault 

Still Recovering From Injuries

On June 29th of this year, Chicago musician Matthew Leone witnessed a man beating his bleeding wife on the sidewalk and attempted to intervene in response to her pleas. He's still recovering from his injuries and his assailant is out on bond.

But when he turned toward the woman, who was sobbing and begging him not to leave, Leone says the man struck him from behind. 

What came next was a barrage of blows, one after another, that knocked Leone unconscious and sent him to a hospital with a broken nose, a dislocated jaw and head trauma so severe that surgeons had to remove a third of his skull to relieve the pressure on his brain.

Six months later, the 35-year-old Leone says he feels grateful to be alive. After two brain surgeries and months of rehabilitation, he still struggles with intense pain and a host of other health problems, including vertigo and memory loss. But he can walk and talk — abilities that doctors initially worried he might never have again.

- Chicago Tribune

  

To make matters worse Leone doesn't have health insurance and has had to rely on the generosity of others to help him meet his in-excess-of $300,000 medical bills and on the devotion of his brother to help him take care of himself. 

 

(If you'd like to donate, you can do so here. You'd be joining the likes of Billy Corgan and Gene Simmons in supporting Matthew.)

 
A Facebook group called Hope I Never Find You, Justin Pivec has sprung up, and the Chicago music community has rallied around Leone. Even so, the gross injustice in this case- a heroic gesture is repaid with a life-threatening injury- is made even more upsetting when you realize that the man at the center of all of this is back on the street.

And the initial assault on his wife? It was because she dared come home late.

- Jezebel

LOOKING FOR SOME LAST MINUTE GIFT IDEAS?

"One of the paradoxes of living in a wealthy country is that we accumulate tremendous purchasing power, yet it’s harder and harder for us to give friends and family presents that are meaningful."

- The Gifts of Hope,
NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF, N.Y.TIMES

*Arzu (ArzuStudioHope.org) employs women in Afghanistan to make carpets for export. The women get decent wages, but their families must commit to sending children to school and to allowing women to attend literacy and health classes and receive medical help in childbirth. Rugs start at $250 and bracelets at $10, or a $20 donation pays for a water filter for a worker’s family.

*First Book (firstbook.org) addresses a basic problem facing poor kids in America: They don’t have books. One study found that in low-income neighborhoods, there is only one age-appropriate book for every 300 children. So First Book supports antipoverty organizations with children’s books — and above all, gets kids reading. A $100 gift will supply 50 books for a mentor to tutor a child in reading for a year. And $20 will get 10 books in the hands of kids to help discover the joys of reading.

*Fonkoze (fonkoze.org) is a terrific poverty-fighting organization if Haiti is on your mind, nearly a year after the earthquake. A $20 gift will send a rural Haitian child to elementary school for a year, while $50 will buy a family a pregnant goat. Or $100 supports a family for 13 weeks while it starts a business.

*Another terrific Haiti-focused organization is Partners in Health, (pih.org), founded by Dr. Paul Farmer, the Harvard Medical School professor. A $100 donation pays for enough therapeutic food (a bit like peanut butter) to treat a severely malnourished child for one month. Or $50 provides seeds, agricultural implements and training for a family to grow more food for itself.

*Panzi Hospital (panzifoundation.org) treats victims of sexual violence in eastern Congo, rape capital of the world. It’s run by Dr. Denis Mukwege, who should be a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize. A $10 donation pays for transport to the hospital for a rape survivor; $100 pays for counseling and literacy and skill training for a survivor for a month.

*Camfed (camfed.org), short for the Campaign for Female Education, sends girls to school in Africa and provides a broad support system for them. A $300 donation pays for a girl to attend middle school for a year in rural Zambia, and $25 sends a girl to elementary school.

*The Nurse-Family Partnership program (nursefamilypartnership.org) is a stellar organization in the United States that works with first-time mothers to try to break the cycle of poverty. It sends nurses to at-risk women who are pregnant for the first time, continuing the visits until the child turns 2. The result seems to be less alcohol and drug abuse during pregnancy, and better child-rearing afterward, so that the children are less likely to tangle with the law even years later. A $150 gift provides periodic coaching and support for a young nurse by a senior nurse for a month.

*Edna Hospital (ednahospital.org) is a dazzling maternity hospital in Somaliland, an area with one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world. Edna Adan Ismail, a Somali nurse- midwife who rose in the ranks of the World Health Organization and also served as Somaliland’s foreign minister, founded the hospital with her life’s savings and supports it with her United Nations pension. A $50 gift pays for a woman to get four prenatal visits, a hospital delivery, and one postnatal visit. Or $150 pays for a lifesaving C-section for a woman in obstructed labor.

PLEASE . . .

I know that the past few years have been rough for everyone, the economy is still uncertain, and Congress hasn't seemed to notice we don't all have the same perks as they.  On top of that, one disaster after another has stretched our already limited charity. But, please try to spare something for the quake victims in Chile.

How can we give when we are in need ourselves. No one asks that you take food from your children's mouths or forgo medicine you need, but even a few dollars can make a difference. Whatever you can spare.

You can click on RED CROSS or the link is also permanently in the side bar.

Text "HAITI" to "90999"

The State Department offers the simplest way to donate ($10) to the relief efforts.