I recently asked my fellow personal finance bloggers (and my readers) to contact me and let me know about their favorite charities.  Several bloggers and readers have responded – but I’d still love to hear from you!  So, read the original post about the Charity Spotlight 2007 and let me know about your favorite charity.

Today, the spotlight shines on Beth’s favorite charity -

The American Cancer Society Relay For Life

Website: The American Cancer Society Relay For Life

Beth’s article about her participation and why she loves this charity:  Beth’s Random Life -  Relay For Life Kickoff

A quote from the Relay For Life website -

At events in 4,800 communities nationwide, teams of families, friends and coworkers join together to CELEBRATE the lives of those who have battled cancer, REMEMBER those lost and FIGHT BACK against a disease that takes too much.

A quote from Beth’s Random Life website -

I got the scare of my life…a large mass was found in the deep tissue of my right breast…Luckily, the mass was found to be a benign fibroadenoma. Since then I’ve had several students who have survived cancer in one form or another. That’s why I continue and strive to raise money for the ACS (Relay For Life).

I urge you to visit the Relay For Life website and consider making a donation and/or participating in a local relay.  My local church has been participating for several years, and I find that the organization is well run and that the relay means so much to so many.

Beth, thanks for sharing this great charity with us!

If you have a charity that you’d like me to ’spotlight’, please read this post.  I’d love to hear from you.

If you have a blog, let me encourage you to write a post about your favorite charity. Send me the link to your post (and a link to the charity) and I’ll mention both to my readers.

To my readers, if you have a charity that you would like to make us all aware of, please contact me and let me know about it! I’ll write a “Reader’s Charity Spotlight” post – and share your charity and it’s information with everyone else.

Click here to contact me.

(Side note: Obviously, I reserve the right to screen the posts or charities that are submitted.)

I live in a small town in Georgia. All my life, I’ve been surrounded by people who love me, plenty of food, and I’ve never once, not one time, gone to bed hungry. I spend my days and nights worrying about the things that most Americans worry about. Will I have enough money to buy a new car? Can I afford to retire when I’m 65? Should I increase or decrease the amount of life insurance I have? But, tonight, as I’m thumbing through the channels, I stumbled across a 60 Minutes piece about Darfur. I must confess, I had heard of “Darfur” but I’d struggle to find it on a map. To be honest, until I looked it up, I didn’t know if Darfur was a country, a province, or a city. But, after watching the piece on 60 Minutes, I’ve decided that I’ve got to do “something”. Seriously. Do you know about conflict in Darfur? Here’s just a snippet from Wikipedia:

There are many casualty estimates, most concurring on a range within the hundreds of thousands. The United Nations (UN) estimates that the conflict has left as many as 450,000 dead from violence and disease… As many as 2.5 million are thought to have been displaced as of October 2006…

Do you see those numbers? Staggering… Basically, there are 2.5 MILLION human beings who have been driven from their homes, forced to live in tent-like housing, baking in the hot dessert son, miles and miles and miles away from their homelands. I don’t have the time (nor the desire) to go into the details about the political upheaval that lead to this genocide, but I hope that you will take the time to educate yourself about the conflict in Darfur.

So, what is the “something” that I can do? At first I had the idea of asking for donations, or doing some silly “leave a comment and I’ll donate a dollar” type thing… but that’s all too… trivial? trite? self-promotional? So, I’ll leave it up to each of you as to what your “something” is going to be. As for me, I’m going to go to bed hungry. Instead of eating at night, I’m going to spend time in prayer, meditation, and thought, thinking about the people who are suffering in Darfur, and I’m going to make some kind of donation to help them. I’m going to talk to other people about them. I’m going to speak to my church about them. THEM! Not just “Darfur”… THEM. Human beings, created in the image of God, each one individually designed with purpose and meaning. Dying, thousands per day, many of them alone, sick, broken-hearted, poor, sad and away from their homes.

If you want to learn more about Darfur and it’s people and the terrible reality of their struggles, click here to Save Darfur. Make a donation, spread the word, say a prayer, or share their story. Just. Do. Something.

–Jason (NCN)

One of my favorite podcast couples, Kris and Betsy Smith of the Croncast, are having a charity drive for their local children’s home charity, Childserv. If you are not familiar with the Croncast, it’s an awesome podcast. But, this post is not about their podcast. Kris and Betsy are raising money for Childserv. Childserv is a group home for teen boys, and they need donations for their Christmas presents. If you want super details, listen to the last 5 to 10 podcasts, but the simple summary is that they could really, really use the donations for these boys. When you go to the Croncast.com homepage, there’s a big red block button on the right hand side. Click it and you can make a donation via paypal. ANY AMOUNT WOULD BE AWESOME. All money will go directly to childserv. HURRY, HURRY, HURRY! The drive ends FRIDAY the 15th!!! GO, GO, GO!!!

What a cool idea! An English Major’s Money points out the awesome work done by the folks over at Dress For Success. The idea? Help those who are going for job interviews to “look the part”.
Check out this post, consider a donation, and look for similar opportunities where you live.