Brighten a Soldier's Holiday

After last Christmas my friend Kim was beaming. She was so excited and couldn’t wait to tell me about her holiday. She’d received a gift that we all hope to receive. Kim and her family adopted a soldier through Soldiers’ Angels. Their recipient was a disabled single father of five. Like so many of our veteran’s this courageous dad was unemployed and struggling to support his family. Kim and her family spent time together during the days before Christmas shopping for gifts for the family. Then on Christmas day they received the call that was their greatest gift; squeals of delight and surprise.

Kim’s story is like the heartwarming holidays that we read about or watch in movies. But the story doesn’t stop there. All of us can support our troops overseas and back at home during the holidays and all year long.

Soldiers’ Angels has a long list of projects that need your help. Currently there are 1,974 heroes waiting for help. Guardian Angels for Soldiers' Pet support military service personnel by finding homes for their pets while they are deployed. The organization is in constant need of foster homes that can take in a pet for an extended period. Pets are then returned to their owners when they come home.

I’m spreading Kim’s story because it’s so easy for us to say that we support our troops, but these organizations give us ways that we can show that support beyond sporting a bumper sticker. No matter what your opinions about the War, let’s not forget the people who risk their lives and their families’ well-being

Of course there are many organizations that can use your help this holiday season and all year long. Don’t underestimate how even a small effort has an enormous impact on someone else.

Charity Begins at Home

Since it's November I consider the giving season to have officially begun. One thing I've been thinking about over the past year is how to start my own charity. People often begin their own charities because some tragedy touches their life and they want to ease the burden for others. In my own family we have had our lives touched by some dramatic events and health conditions that I'm sure I wouldn't have gotten through without the help of others.

Starting your own charity as you would probably guess can be complicated. According to

Start Your Own Charity - Kiplinger.com: "If you want to set up a family charitable fund, a donor-advised fund will likely meet your needs. But for some people, a family foundation may be a better way to go. One critical factor is how much and how often you give. For instance, you should expect to set aside at least $5,000 to start a donor-advised fund sponsored by a financial firm. Many community foundations can set up a fund for $1,000 or less if you give regularly. But it usually takes at least $250,000 in assets to make a private foundation worth the cost."

Though starting a charity is on my list of things I'd eventually like to do my family isn't at the point where we are ready to establish a foundation. To encourage my children to give to other we've started the Giving Jar. From now through December we'll all add found change and pocket change to the jar and then donate to one charitable organization. I'm giving the kids a list of organizations that help children and will let them decide which group gets all the money.

The hidden agenda behind the Giving Jar is to inspire my children to help others and to learn that saving even a little bit of money is worthwhile. The project should also help them to become aware of the needs of others and the organizations that try to meet these needs. Because I'm a strong believer that charity begins at home, we'll focus on local organizations that help local people.

I'm excited to see how much of the jar we can fill.

Are You Giving Too Much to Charity?

Three things that I try never to do in this blog are: 1) comment on politics and 2) discourage charitable giving and, 3) get religious. But I came across this CNN post awhile back regarding the tax returns of President Obama and Vice-President Joe Biden and it just keeps lurking in my mind.

In 2008:

The Obamas donated $172,050, to 37 different charities.

Vice President and Mrs. Biden donated $1,885 to charity.

Great! Fantastic! Applaudable, but I grew up Catholic and learned that the Bible says that you must give a 10% tithe of all your income and wealth. So how did these two families do?

The Obama's adjusted gross income for 2008 was $2.6 million. Their charitable contributions amount to approximately 6.6%.

The Biden family reported $269,256. Their charitable contributions amount to approximately .7%

I only use the Presidential team because it's easy to access their tax return information. An article on the Consumerist claims that the more a person makes the less they give--proportionally.

Phil Villarreal, posted the article back on May 25th. In it he states that sifted through the Dept. of Labor files and found:

"the poorest Americans — those who make an average of $10,531 — gave the largest percentage of their income (4.3 percent) to charity. Meanwhile, the wealthiest group — which make an average of $158,888 — give only 2.1 percent of what they make."

So especially during these tough economic times when individuals are struggling and charities are feeling it as well, should you still go with what the Bible says, even if your not religious?

Remember the Bible was written a long time ago and is subject to a wide range of interpretation. The 10% tithe? Who knows maybe it shouldn't be interpreted as narrowly as giving money--time, good intentions, an egg-laying chicken might have been part of supporting your church. And do you need to follow a rule? Give what you feel comfortable with to organizations you are compassionate about.