Christmas and New Years!

Some of you may have noticed that there has been a distinct lack of posts over the past week, and there is a good explanation, I assure you! Over the holidays, I have been predisposed, and we still have New Year's Day coming up this Sunday. Christmas was last Sunday, thus striking out two post days for holiday here on Brighter Earth.

Do not fret, though; the Sunday following New Year's Day will see another post up, as per schedule (hopefully! haha). For now, though, I am afraid you must be content with a "Merry Christmas, and a happy New Year!" Have a great holiday, regardless of what it is you celebrate. Hanukkah, Kwanza, Lunar New Year's; it is all a part of the global culture!

Merry holidays, and try to do something good in the spirit of the season. ;D

Make-A-Wish Foundation

"Since 1980, the Make-A-Wish Foundation^® has given hope, strength and joy to children with life-threatening medical conditions. From our humble beginnings with one boy’s wish to be a police officer, we’ve evolved into an organization that grants a child’s wish in the U.S. every 40 minutes."

Today's non-profit feature is about one I have been hoping to review for quite some time now, and really reaches out to a lot of people. While their methods of charity may not be what some consider the best, it is definitely at least creative and inspiring.

Just about everyone knows how Make-A-Wish Foundation works, at it's most basic structure: a kid gets terminally ill, and the foundation uses donation money to grant the wish of the child. It is fairly simple, and sometimes even narrow-minded, but it does give the kid one last chance to do what he or she has always wanted to do.

First off, the child that has been terminally diagnosed must be referred to the foundation. Parents, other children, and the medical professionals involved with that child can refer someone they think is eligible to have their wish granted. "Between 2½ and 18 years of age at the time of the referral," and, "have never received a wish from another similar organization," are the two requirements.

Next, the child is then determined to be either medically eligible, or not. Life threatening conditions are a must for any approved submissions. Then, volunteers try to figure out what it is exactly the child wants, and finally, they do it for that child. They give kids a second chance to do what they want the most.

Check out Make-A-Wish Foundation, and maybe even help a kid out today who just wants to get in a final wish.

Teens Express

Today's post is about an organization called Teens Express, once known as Songs with Meaning, Inc. (SwM). Teens Express has provided "its program participants with a reliable, secure, and productive environment," for not only academic pursuits, but also for their life and creative skills, since 1998. They utilize practical and artistic workshops to better the youth of the area, as well as the adults charged with the care of those youth.

The Teens Express organization serves all youth in the Washington metro area, specifically in Wards 7 and 8, as well as Prince George's County, Maryland. The participants come from all sorts of ethnic and lifestyle backgrounds, including about 80% of whom are at risk of "not reaching productive adulthood, or falling prey to crime," and "other obstacles to obtaining a degree, or successfully entering the workforce."

Bhookh.com

 Bhookh.com

"Feed a Child with a Click"

Here's a little fact for you: hunger is the number one cause of death in India.

Have another: 1/3rd of the world’s hungry live in India.

One more?: 5 Indians die every minute from hunger.

This stark reality is hard to grasp for first-world citizens, because having food is the basest of necessities for us. We never worry where the next meal is going to come from, or even if it will be safe to eat. We have practically conditioned ourselves free of the worry of hunger.

Rescue Ocean Wildlife

Today's Brighter Earth free non-profit charity website gives aid to the oceans and marine wildlife. The website goes by the name of Rescue Ocean Wildlife, and it's one more simple click-to-give site made by care2, a charity social network group of sites that bring together charitable people to find a good charity.

Here is an explanation of their site's mission, taken from the Rescue Ocean Wildlife front page:

"Your free click generates donations from our sponsors. You may click once a day, every day. 100% of the donations raised go directly to Oceana to save our oceans through policy, advocacy and research. Oceana's scientists, lawyers and advocates work around the world to protect corals, make seafood safe, save sea turtles and more!"

You may remember the care2 social community from a recent post by the name of Stop Violence Against Women, which was another one of care2's projects. If you're interested in learning more about care2, see the linked page to read about the charity network more in-depth.


All it takes is a click to save the ocean -- so why haven't you done your duty yet?

JustGive

JustGive

"The Destination for Charitable Online Giving."

This site is not quite like the rest of the organizations I post about, as it's not exactly free to donate. If you wish to donate to a specific charity, you will need to offer up the money yourself (or, of course, find someone else to offer it). Now, there are a billion charities out there to donate to, so why use JustGive?

JustGive can be imagined as a sort of 'hub' for charities, where donators in search of the perfect charity to contribute to will have no problem finding one. This is largely thanks to the GuideStar service, which provides access to almost two million different non-profit organizations!

If you have felt like it's time to make donations, then you definitely need to check up on JustGive!