BBAW: Kiva.org Giveaway

[fashion_piranha]

Book Blogger Appreciation Week Guest Post on KIVA by yours truly 

To tie-in with the focus on charity at BBAW today, I'm having a special three day raffle for a $25 gift certificate to Kiva.  To enter, just leave a note in this journal entry and talk about your favorite charity.  What it is, what it supports, why you like it, etc.

Drawing will take

Comments

[ext_116099]

My favorite charity is Compassion International, a Christian child sponsorship organization. I believe Amy is going to be talking about the same organization later today. Last year I decided to sponsor a 7-year-old girl in El Salvador named Eunice. I love how dedicated Compassion is to helping children in poverty. It's been very rewarding to get to know Eunice over the past year. We write to each other regularly, and she always includes the most beautiful drawings with her letters. I'm hoping at some point I'll be able to go on one of the Compassion tours, where you visit your child's home country and meet the child you've sponsored. Compassion sponsorship has been a great experience for me. It's made me more aware of how much I've been blessed, and created a strong desire to give of myself to help people who are less fortunate.

[anonymous]

I used to drive through McDonald's and sometimes I would throw change into the plastic donation box for Ronald McDonald House, sometimes it would be full of trash and I just didn't pay a lot of attention. That was until 4 years ago when my best friend and her family were in a terrible car accident on Mother's Day. She shattered her hip, her son lost his spleen and her daughter suffered a severe head injury. Only her husband (who had the drivers side airbag) walked away with a broken arm. They were life-flighted to a large city hospital far from home. As they recovered they were able to stay together, eat and sleep, at no cost at Ronald McDonald House. They were there for weeks. The medical costs they are still trying to recover from but can you imagine if they would have had to pay to stay by their children- or worse, not be able to afford to stay? So please, if you get a little bit of change at Mickey D's drive-through, toss it in the Ronald McDonald House donation box

favorite charity

[ext_123092]

One of the charities that I support is Pasado's Safe Haven. This group is located in the Pacific Northwest and rescues all kinds of animals -- dogs and cats, farm animals of all kinds, lab animals, you name it. Most of their animals are older and were generally considered "expendable" by their owners. Not only does Pasado's provide shelter and care, they also assist in cruelty and neglect investigations and they work for passage of state and federal laws to protect the animals. You can check out this group at www.pasadosafehaven.org.

KIVA

[anonymous]

Hi Piranha,
popped by from Amy's blog to say - kudos to the two of you for highlighting this organization. I'd never heard of it before but think it's fabulous, as I've had opportunties previously to learn about the immense impact microloans can have for developing nations entrepreneurs, especially women. Bravo!

[buhdderkupp]

My favorite charity is the HIKE Fund (http://www.thehikefund.org/). I was a member of Job's Daughters and HIKE is our philanthropic charity. It stands for Hearing Impaired Kids' Endowment Fund. We raise money to give hearing aids and other devices to families of children who have hearing problems. I've personally been there when we make presentations, and the impact that it has on the life of these children, to make it easier to hear and communicate with those they love---it's awe-inspiring. So amazing. I was even able to present to a little Amish boy, which was completely amazing.