I say that we have dug ourselves into a hole with the insanity of shopping. It could very well be that you personally love shopping, you have been blessed with much disposable income, and you have no idea what I am talking about. This article is not for you. For all others, I have a suggestion: when you find yourself in a hole, stop digging!

Are your relatives and friends entitled to a gift from you? If your answer is ‘yes’ please stop for a reality check. Ask yourself why. For your convenience (I know you are busy and need to get back to the mall), I will make this question multiple choice:

A.  He/she got me a gift last year.

B.    Everyone knows you have to give something to your paperboy, mail carrier, hair dresser, candle stick maker, ect.

C.   My relatives expect gifts from me.

D.  I love this person, and I want to bless him/her with a gift that demonstrates how I feel.

E.    My children still believe in Santa Claus, and if I don’t buy everything on the list in the letter they sent to the North Pole, they will think he isn’t real.

If your answer is A, B, or C, please put your credit card back in your wallet for a moment to rethink your motives. Does everyone from whom you received a gift last year expect a gift of the same or greater value that they spent on your gift last year? Will you be socially ostracized if you don’t give a gift to this person? Will the paperboy start throwing your paper through a window if you fail to give him (or her, they come in both genders now) a packet of McDonald’s gift cards? Will you be cut out of the will if you don’t get Grandma a gift?

If your answer was E, and you think that buying everything on that list is worth it to keep your child believing, then go for it. Freedom of religion is very important to me, and you are free to celebrate the holidays however you see fit.

I am by no means saying that we should all stop buying Christmas gifts for our friends and loved ones. My point is that we rethink our motives for the list of people we buy presents for, and that we really need to stop going into debt for the sake of the holidays. If your credit card bills in January are so high that it takes until July to pay the balance, I think you have a problem.

If you are serious about tossing the shovel and getting out of the hole, you could start with a family conference to discuss solutions for cutting back the amount of money you will spend this year. My mother-in-law has a ‘kids only’ policy for Christmas presents, and I think that is a great idea. My husband and I don’t usually exchange gifts – a gift from someone with whom you share a joint bank account just doesn’t seem like a gift to me.

A great alternative for trying to find the perfect gift for someone who doesn’t need anything is to give a charitable gift in that person’s name. A lot of charities will send you a card that describes the gift and thanks the recipient – all you have to do is sign the card and give that instead of a gift. Some charities, like World Vision have gift catalogues so that you can buy a goat or some chickens for a family in the developing world. You can furnish a school classroom, buy a water purifier for a village, or a set of solar panels to provide electricity for a hospital. There are more expensive gifts that you could give as a group, or you could organize a fund raiser in order to purchase. Through World Vision, you could build a school or drill a well for a whole community for $15,000.

Some families have made the choice to forgo the whole gift exchange altogether, and they will spend Christmas morning serving at a homeless shelter or a soup kitchen or a children’s hospital, or anywhere that needs volunteers.

We have been filling shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child for many years now, and we send a gift to the Kenyan girl that we sponsor through Compassion, but I realized a few years ago that we were spending way more on gifts for our own kids, who have so much compared to the children who have so little. It really is unfair.

So if my girls are reading this, maybe we should send a Wii to Jenipher in Kenya, and you could have the vegetables that the kids in Africa refused to eat this year.

The Salvation Army with it’s traditional red kettle is an integral part of the Christmas scene, with millions of dollars donated each year to aid needy families, seniors, and the homeless, in keeping with the spirit of the season.

Donations provide Christmas dinners, clothing, and toys for families in need. Financial assistance also helps with basic necessities, along with seasonal aid. Families of prisoners often are included.

Volunteers distribute gifts to shut-ins in hospitals and nursing homes, and shelters are open for sit-down dinners. The Salvation Army endeavors to bring spiritual light and love to those it serves at Christmas so that the real meaning of the season is not forgotten.

Many families receive aid over a period of months after the Christmas season as well, people struggling with difficult family, emotional, or employment problems.

The beanelf.com project

Obtain a letter to Santa written by a childwho needs a brighter Christmas!At participating postal branches you can read real letters to Santa from needy kids, and take home one or more that move you. Then send your gifts in the US Mail, marked “from Santa” if you like.
When you volunteer in this way, there’s no middle man or charity – it’s micro-philanthropy, direct from you to a child.You’ll catch the true spirit of the holidays, and put smiles on the faces of needy kids on Christmas morning. Please volunteer – come alone, or bring your kids!At this site, you will learn about the Operation Santa program, including How to Be An Elf. You’ll find Tips for Gifts for needy children, and plenty more.
The USPS® Operation Santa program, started by the USPS in 1912, is today offered at only one post office in a handful of large cities. These include Boston, New York City, Chicago, Miami, Los Angeles, San Francisco and a number of other cities and towns. To learn where Operation Santa is offered, see the the link to the USPS National Directory on our How to Be An Elf page). If there is no branch near you, we’ll provide your with some excellent other ways to be an Elf.

Operation Believe

Operation Believe provides less fortunate children and their families with toys, gifts, and food for the holidays. The program also provides gifts and food to elderly and disabled individuals.

http://www.christmascharitiesyearround.org/

Christmas Charities Year Round (CCYR) is a non-profit, charitable organization serving Huntsville/ Madison County, AL, that helps those in need by providing free clothing & household items year round, plus toys and food at Christmas. CCYR also assists local residents in times of crisis or natural disaster, such as the many who were assisted after the April, 2011 tornados.

These are just a few of the charities that give needy children and families a hand up during this wonderful time of year .Here’s hoping that you and yours have a great Christmas,or whatever holiday you celebrate.

Come and see what we are about: http://www.gofundme.com/9u02w

Their mission to end hunger by showing people how to raise farm animals, plant trees/crops, and in turn when their chicken, goat, or cow has a baby. The person agrees to give the baby to another family in need . It forms a community throughout the world that helps one another.  They exist in more than 50 countries. 

The livestock they provide offer benefits like cows giving milk to families. The amount of milk from a goat or cow can also be sold as well as consumed by the family. If they can sell the milk, they can bring in an income to help feed themselves and become self-sufficient. So this is how Heifer International provides training to teach local people how to raise animals as well as farming techniques. The video below tells it all. 

I did not know this but 1 cow can produce up to 4 gallons of milk a day and 1 goat can produce 1 gallon of milk a day, as well as possessing  the ability to give birth to 2 or more baby goats.  Did you know this? Have you heard about this organization that has been around for over 65 years? I am curious to know how many of us on Triond, Facebook, and Twitter really do. 

How much knowledge do you have on children in developing countries? Many reports issued by charities tell us that they are chronic helpless. I receive a letter from UNICEF today. This charity focuses on improving the lives of many children. I read the printed matters and would like to share some alarming global figures with you.

Children all over the world, especially those in developing countries are chronic helpless in many aspects. They definitely need our helps.

1. Disease

Some of the donated money is spent on buying vaccine for different diseases namely measles, infantile paralysis, diphtheria. The report states that 2,500,000 children below age 15 are suffering from AIDS.

The poor living environment, appalling sanitation and failed precaution of parents all contribute to the alarming infected rate. Children are in great health risk or suffering tremendously.

2. Hunger

Hunger is another threat to many children in developing countries. According to the report, two hundred million children below age 5 are suffering from undernourishment. Even children can survive, undernourishment still affects their growth.

3. Poverty

When agriculture, fishing, production, service industries and so on are lacking or underdeveloped, poverty spreads out. Children may not have enough food to eat, clean water to drink, clothes to wear and a house to keep them from strong sunlight and heavy rain.

4. Lack of education

Many children in developing countries are uneducated. The report states that 72,000,000 elementary level children are obliged to discontinue schooling.

Charities offer education, supply books and stationery to help children learn. The education may not change the whole fate, but hopefully can improve the life.

5. Lack of opportunities

Children in the developing countries are nearly having no choice in their life. Due to poverty and no schooling, many of them become child labor to be exploited. The report states that there are 1.5 billion child labor aged from 5 to 14 in the world.

6. Violence

Not everyone can live under poverty and hardship, irritating parents may apply violence on their children. Some children do not become child labor, but are recruited by terrorist organizations to use violence. All these shouldn’t happen on children.

One man’s effort is impossible to change the current situation. If everyone can contribute a little bit, the sum may be enough to make some changes. The road to save helpless children in the developing countries is a long one. However, it is still worthy of doing so.

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Other social related articles that you may be interested in reading:

The Most Hated Job: Beggar

The Power of Cleavage
 

There is poaching all around the world. How is hunting even legal? Seriously, how can you kill animals for fun? Its disgusting really. In Asia, for example, there is a thriving business of selling exotic animals and their body parts. How the hell is it possible that no one is serioulsy acting against this? They probably need more funds and volunteers. Why isnt there enough? Why are people not doing enough for this? Animal cruelty is happening all over the world. Their habitats are being destroyed, even though there are other ways to gain these resources, like tree farms for wood. Or breeding animals, intead of hunting wild ones. 

Some things that piss me of particularly are the Chinese people’s eating habits and the whaling in Japan. Chinese people eat absolutely anything, even if they know that the animals they eat are endangered. For example, they eat tiger testicles and shark fins. Tiger testicles are believed to make men better in bed. What a bunch of retards. What are they thinking? And shark fins dont even have a taste, they just eat them because its cool. The Japanese harpoon whales, a lot of whales. This is illegal. But they continue to do it. At least they could do it in a less brutal way but that of course wouldnt be enough. They sell the meat and blubber. Its horrible. These are horrible people. Now Im not saying that Chinese people and Japanese people are bad, Im saying the people who do these things are bad. 

I know education is the biggest issue thats behind animal cruelty. Think of the places where these things happen least (its a shorter list); Europe, USA, Canada, etc… These are educated people. And when it happens in these countries, its usually the poor, uneducated people who do it. They need to know the value of animals. The role they play in making this planet work properly. Without animals, there are no humas, so appreciate them. They need to learn that they dont own nature. They owe it to nature to help it to be as it should be. 

You’re probably thinking, “Well what the hell are you doing for animals?” Well for one thing, I dont have a job yet, Im a teenager. And the other thing is that I have pets, and I would also never hurt animals or stand-by while one is being hurt in front of me. 

Many species have gone extinct because of humans. We should be ashamed of ourselves for putting nature through this. We need the eco-system to work so animals wont go extinct. We need plants to produce oxygen. We need the ocean for numerous things, like food and the climate. We need nature, so what do we think we are doing when we are destroying it?

In any event, this child was beaten up a lot. Before this, another orphanage let a physical training teacher pick and drop a girl regularly to school. This teacher was already married and had two children as well. But still he raped this orphan everyday and eventually when the girl became pregnant, he took her for abortion. That is when the whole story came out. Should orphanages be as bad as that? Shouldn’t there be a way to monitor all that? After all, there is no way the child can escape this hell.

Here is what such children face – to give you an idea what sort of racket this is. The child’s parents do not get along well for whatever reason, be it because father is a drunkard, or mother who has an affair. At times, the mother brings to the world more than 5 children, but she doesnt believe in going out to work to fend for her children. Instead the eldest child, or the boy of the family, however young, are sent out to work. If the father is a drunkard, then chances are that the children would want to escape that hell, and leave home one fine day. The indifferent mother is bothered in the least. She doesnt report to police, or put in enough efforts to trace her child, hoping at least the child would become wealthy somewhere. That is the way movies depict anyway. At times she might even wish that the child brings some monies back for her. That is the level of selfishness that has become a part of such women. She could even instigate her older daughter or daughters to compromise on moral values, for the sake of her other progenies, all the while remaining respectful in the society. I wonder why or how the society can respect such a woman. At times her children become gamblers, at other times her children become gangsters. She has not feeling of shame when this happens. Her duty as she understands is only to her husband and not to her children.

The children who become gamblers, and gangsters are the lucky few. Rest of the children face worse fate. At least most of them. They run away to another town. Here, they realize that even the pavements are divided into territories. So if they want to rest in the night somewhere, they might have to sleep where no human being would like to. The owners of these territories are senior beggars. So how does the child pay rent for that small place to sleep on pavement? The simplest solution is let the territory owner sell him or her, or he or she has to beg. Obviously, income from begging is not reliable, so they end up in flesh trade. Any requirement for medication only makes matters worse for them. Some territory owners may be nice, but majority are rotten. They take away the entire day’s earnings, and pass food remanents that they’d collected with the help of other beggars to these children. Hunger forces the person to eat that, and from that day everyday the child thinks of returning home, and earning enough monies to buy that elusive train or bus ticket. Poor child doesnt think logically. He or she is unwanted at home. His parents just had a good round of sex, and are actually glad to be rid of the burden. The territory owner may teach him or her a few survival skills, such as picking pockets. That would land him or her in police station, where the officers may use him or her to pour out their job frustration. After all, there is nobody to whom the child can turn to. So they are safe if they use the child as their punch bag.

Life goes on and a time comes when people no longer feel sorry for this child. After all – the child grows up. So he or she has to break an arm or two with the help of a qualified professional, yeah professional surgeons. That makes people sorry, especially the rich ladies who travel in big cars, with dark glasses, and the ones who exploit children back in their homes.  They do look so good when they donate monies regularly to such orphanages. Kind hearted souls.

There are promotions amongst beggars as well. Over a period, the territory owner gets old, and dies, hierless. Quite often from sexually transmitted diseases, or tuberculosis. Whichever way, these people die fast. Hardly anybody lives beyond 60 or 65. Good for them. Some are able to hide enough monies, or get a share of heist which allows them to buy a small shop close by. From here, they monitor the activities of their proteges, in return for shelter, bathing, and pavement rights.

But coming back to some children who land at orphanages, they can be exploited in many different ways. I agree that all orphanages ae not bad. In fact, very few are. But still we do need a mechanism to control such incidents.

Somewhere in between all this, life gets over, and we realize we cant do anything, I really mean anything.  We feel like saviors of other children who have not met this fate. Thankfully, there are not many in this category. Subconciously, we keep wondering when these unfortunate ones will come and kill us for failing them.

The difference between private charity programs and government programs that help fight poverty is how the programs are funded and how the funds are dispersed. Private charities are funded on a volunteer basis by donors who choose to help finance them. Government programs obtain the financing from taxes paid by the American people on an involuntary basis. With government programs there are procedures, protocols and regulations that have to be followed. There are formulas that have to be used to determine eligibility. Unfortunately, this takes time and it is impossible for everyone to fall into one specific category, but the formula can only use data able to be entered into a computer to decide who is eligible. It cannot take into consideration other factors that a private charity can. Therefore, some people that should be eligible are not given help and others that are not eligible are given help. The government’s system lacks the ability to consider specific situations and circumstances that private charities can.

As we all know government programs are funded with taxpayers tax dollars. Private charities are funded by several sources, sometimes they even receive government funding. The amount of money that charities have to help the poor is minute compared to the government dollars spent on the fight against poverty. As posted by the Office of Management and Budget in the Department of Health and Human Services section of the White House website, in 2009, the government spent over 761 Billion dollars on the Department of Health and Human Services alone (p. 79). In 2008, U.S charitable giving was estimated to be around 307 billion dollars (Giving USA, 2009), less than half of the amount spent by the Department of Health and Human Services. With 37 million people in poverty in the United States, according to the U.S. Census Bureau of 2007 (as cited in Kirst-Ashman, 2010, p. 206), it is apparent that neither the government or private charities can fight the war against poverty alone. We need both and we need more from each.

The time it takes to get approved for government programs can be long but private aid organizations can take immediate action if a situation calls for it. An example of the lack of fluidity possible in governmental organizations is a vehicle voucher program available to some unemployed needy families in Genesee County. The program’s intention is to provide safe and reliable transportation for the family to commute to and from work. Due to the requirements of the program some of the recipients have trouble actually redeeming the voucher and getting a car. It is required that the recipient find a car at a licensed dealer, take it to a licensed auto mechanic to be inspected, both the dealer and the auto mechanic have to sign the voucher. Then the voucher is returned to a caseworker who starts the process to actually get the money to pay for the car. This process takes between 4-6 weeks and the majority of car dealers are not willing to wait that long to sell the vehicle or do not have vehicles in stock that qualify for the program, therefore they decline participation in the program (A. Cockrum, personal communication, October 9, 2010). Love In the Name of Christ (Love INC) is a non profit cooperative that links churches, volunteers, and service agencies and helps them to organize their efforts by reaching out to the poor and disadvantaged. When Sharon Griffith had a vehicle to donate Love INC was able to find a needy family and was able to send that family to the Griffith home to pick up the donated vehicle. There was no wait for the recipient at all (personal communication, October 16, 2010).

The government is more effective at serving the needs of people living in poverty than private charities although private charities are more efficient. In a perfect world, charities would have the funding available to them that are available to government programs. Charities do not have enough funding to fulfill the needs of the needy in the United States of America. Policies and procedures that must be followed make the government programs less efficient than private charities, but the amount of money available to spend make the government more effective at helping people in poverty.

　References

Giving USA Foundation. (2009), a publication of Giving USA Foundation. Retrieved October 14, 2010, from http://

www.philanthropy.iupui.edu/News/2009/docs/

GivingReached300billion_06102009.pdf

Kirst-Ashman, K. (2010). Social Work & Social Welfare. Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole, Cengage Learning.

Love INC. (2007-2009). Retrieved October 10, 2010, from

http://loveincofnoc.org/

The White House. Office of Management and Budget. Department of Health and Human Services. (2010). Retrieved October 10, 2010 from http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/budget/fy2011/assets/health.pdf

According to statistics there are over 200,000 homeless veterans on our streets each night. Pondering this and in meeting some wonderful people along the way a group of us decided wow, we can help and try to make a difference and make a change. With the help of the Bobby Dee 501c3 charity for homeless veterans, Sports life and Lenny Randle(NY METS)teamed up with myself and others to try to enlist the help of the American public to erect homes for veterans. Homes built from hard working crews, asking for donations of Lumber, land, food, and funding to create an awareness although is known goes really virtually unnoticed. There seem to be so many others who try to do the same thing. We have charities coming out of one end to the other but which charity should you believe in? Which can we trust? Well I have to say that after investigating there are many who have hearts that want to help but don’t seem to know how to get it going. Sports life decided that they would try to make that difference and started working on a campaign back in February of 2010. We had a plan. We would create an event and try to raise some awareness to their plight. This event would be filled with dinners, feeding the homeless, celebrities, entertainers and the like as well as donations to help with building these homes and covering the costs to bring all these folks together to create a change. A movement of change and a movement that would not end there. What instead we received were those wanting to attend for free, get free rooms, free tickets, free everything and NOTHING to show that hey, we really care about what you guys are trying to do. Entertainers showed there true colors and support. Members of Crossfade, Dylan Nash, save our souls, My hero, Hollywood All Starz,Rickey Lee Watson, Jay Link, Indovizualz rappers from LA, Marsha Warfield, Stonebreed, rappers, and a fashion show by the famed Tatyana peter featuring the beautiful Cindy Guyer from the millionaire matchmaker and model/actress, Kount C and Johnny Loveless from NY, Michelle Murray country music artist and so many more all donated there talents and time to make this event a monumental one. But people still turned thier eyes.

 The blindness of mankind still exists. Sports life never gave up and changed the date of this venue a couple of times and finally it became larger then they could ever dream of but still broken promises from those who just decieved and deluded our hopes. Broken pieces of we’ll get it done for you and we want to help you by sponsoring then poof more lies, more challenges and more strength to keep going and if doing it alone without the help of America then so be it. Let me ask you folks something. If you lived in a war torn country with bombs and killings and you had no where to hide but you had your soldiers to run to and protect you would you feel safe?

Now what if you fought for your country then find you really don’t have a country whose arms are open to you. These men and woman who have lost thier families, some lost limbs and many lost lives and what have we done? We turned the channel, we shut off the news, we ignore them in the street and call them bums. Many with emotional issues, medical issues, and trying to fend for themselves on dirty streets trying to find shelter but shelter’s are full, food is scarce, no where to bathe and no one to love them. Is this what you are proud of AMERICA? are you really able to sleep at night with all the indignities that go on in our own country. Political and corporate corruption that fills there bellies with prime rib and cavier. This christmas as you nestle in your beds, as you read to your children, as you share in the decorating of the christmas tree it will only be another night on the cold streets for these lost and forgotten solders. They will look up at the sky and watch as the shiniest star glows down upon them. Praying to make it through just one more night.

Make a difference. Take a stand. Be proud of your homeland and help those that protected your world. Your country. You wouldn’t have your christmas tree with it’s shining lights if they hadn’t given up there very lives so you could have peace in your little corner of America.

Morter shells and bloodied trails are in thier memories. I am sure they would wish they could smell the scent of a gingerbread cookie and a warm fire but it’s been so long that those memories have been replaced with lonliness, hunger and fighting for a place to sleep.

Is donating or sponsorig a small amount too much to ask. We have to wonder as the kardashians are off swapping bling with Jersey shore and the hunt is on for Paris hilton’s missing pooch.

Respect and helping your fellow man should not be an option, it should be a heartfelt choice.

WHAT DO YOU THINK FREEDOM IS WORTH.

I can tell you this…you spend more on a latte a day.

If you would like to make a difference and help Sports life with this great project please eather click on a link to give a sponsorship gift or join us in Las Vegas on Nov 11, 12, and 13 to pay homage and show support for this brave men and woman. Let’s give them a home this christmas and every christmas after that.

Donations to help our disabled and homeless vets

https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_flow&SESSION=RFSGg10Mut8r_HvrUS-KCzw1WXTSe47-PPOXiawB4aDgJU_vsFMoQsz-5tK&dispatch=50a222a57771920b6a3d7b606239e4d529b525e0b7e69bf0224adecfb0124e9b61f737ba21b08198aa166382b1a4fa18397ddfa4b9e9201b

Tickets to the event in vegas where people can come together and live OUR AMERICA! LET’S SHOW THE WORLD WE TAKE PRIDE IN HUMANITY AND OUR FUTURE!
iT TAKES EVERY HEARTBEAT TO HELP OUR FELLOW MAN.
NO NEGATIVITY, NO HATE, NO WAR….JUST LOVE
order your tickets……55 dollars to the biggest rocking band fest to help our proud and selfless. Let’s show them we care!!!!

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