Causes and Donations - Books, Animals, and People / PART 1

 

Hey Everyone,

I want to share with you some very good causes that you can support.

LITTLE FREE LIBRARIES:

Do you have books lying around at home or on bookshelves that you've had for years but really aren't going to read? Why not add them to local Little Free Libraries? While you're at it, you can donate your own published books to Little Free Libraries, too, as my mom and I had done recently.

Check out this map to find Little Free Libraries near you:

https://littlefreelibrary.org/ourmap/

HUMANE SOCIETIES/ANIMAL SHELTERS:

Last month, I was taking care of a kitten estimated to be about 5 weeks old after two of my neighbors out walking dogs one night discovered her in the middle of the road in front of my house. I was able to find her a good home because, sadly, I could not keep her, although my heart broke when I gave her to her new parents. I had named her Eclipse because she'd been found on the night of the full moon, the night after the lunar eclipse, and because of her coat: all white with a black tail.

If I hadn't been able to find a good home that could care for her, since she was so young, I was going to contact Humane Society of South Brevard, a no-kill shelter where cats roam free and they set up adoptions. Although I won't be contacting them about Eclipse, I do plan to donate to them.

You can look for local, no-kill humane societies/shelters that do adoptions and do not receive federal, state, or county funding. These shelters rely on donations of pet food, towels, cat litter, flea medication, etc. Their website will list items they need.

This is Eclipse:

WALK FOR A DOG:

WoofTrax: "The more people actively walking with the free WoofTrax app, the greater the donation to your selected animal organization! Use the app each time you grab for the leash. It’s healthy for you, your dog, and your favorite shelter or rescue."

INDIA'S COVID CRISIS:

India's economy was starting to recover when it was hit with a second wave that is 10 times more severe than what they experienced in 2020. They've had over 330,000 deaths. Although, because the scale of devastation in Rural India may not be fully know, the number of deaths reported could easily be far more than that. On May 6th, they'd reached 414,433 new daily cases, a record. In the cities, there's a lack of oxygen tanks and hospital beds. But in the rural areas, it's dire because they lack access to basic health care and local authorities are neglecting them. 

You can help from afar.

DONATE TO:

COVID-19 Oxygen for India: "The current need is for RELIABLE (tested) pulse oximeters in low resource settings."

Give India: They offer a few COVID missions you can donate to, including: Help patients breathe as they battle COVID, Give cash support to families of COVID deceased, Help set up COVID care centres for patients fighting Coronavirus, Donate food to families struggling with hunger in COVID's second wave, and Lakhs of women have had no sanitary napkins during Covid-19.

CARE India: "CARE India with its 70 years of experience in providing relief during disasters and delivering large scale health programmes on the ground, is well-positioned to support the affected citizens where the need is the greatest."

Hemkunt Foundation: COVID-19 oxygen cylinders.

Khaana Chahiye Foundation: This fundraiser will be ending soon. "We at Khaana Chahiye are ensuring that the most vulnerable populations have access to food."

GAVI COVAX AMC:

While the United States is doing better in this pandemic (in large part due to the vaccines that have been administered, as well as safety precautions), other countries around the world are not, and it's important that these countries receive help. Variants are popping up globally that vaccines may not be able to fight against. It'll take one of these variants here to create another wave in the US. If there's global, equitable access to vaccines, we can prevent this from happening.

DONATE TO:

Gavi COVAX Advance Market Commitment (AMC): "It’s the financing instrument that will enable people in 92 lower-income economies to access safe and effective donor-funded COVID-19 vaccines through the COVAX Facility at the same time as 98 higher-income, self-financing countries receive their doses. The more funds Gavi receives, the more people will be protected against the virus."

CONTENT WARNING: Indigenous genocide

KAMLOOPS INDIAN RESIDENTIAL SCHOOL

May 2021, a mass grave containing the remains of 215 Indigenous children was found at Kamloops Indian Residential School in British Columbia that closed in 1978. Some of them were as young as three years old.

Residential schools were created to "kill the Indian in the child," and the children who were forced to go to these schools were mistreated and abused (mentally, physically, and sexually).

Seven generations of Indigenous peoples in Canada were lost to these schools. Many children never returned home. The last residential school in Canada closed in 1996, so this is not distant history, but recent.

UPDATES:

On June 10, 2021, 104 Indigenous children were discovered at a former residential school in Brandon, Manitoba.

On June 23, 2021, an unmarked gravesite of Indigenous children was discovered in Saskatchewan, containing 751 graves...751 children.

DONATE TO:

Indian Residential School Survivors Society: "IRSSS provides essential services to Residential School Survivors, their families, and those dealing with Intergenerational traumas."

US HISTORY:

The United States also had schools like this, called "boarding schools," which began in 1860. The goal was to assimilate these children into the white "American way of life." [1]

Col. Richard Henry Pratt, who established the Carlisle Indian School in Carlisle Pennsylvania, where he was the Headmaster for 25 years, believed, "Kill the Indian, save the man.” [2] "About 10,000 students attended the Carlisle School from its founding until it closed its doors in 1918." [3] 

"There were more than 350 government-funded, and often church-run, Indian Boarding schools across the US in the 19th and 20th centuries." [4]

"As of 2020, there are seven federally funded boarding schools in the United States. The Bureau of Indian Education operates four of them, and three are tribally controlled." [5]

DONATE TO:

Native Wellness Institute: "NWI exists to promote the well-being of Native people through programs and trainings that embrace the teachings and traditions of our ancestors."

Native Americans Right Funds

First Nations’ COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund

**END TO CONTENT WARNING**

SAMIR MANSOUR BOOK STORE:

Gaza's largest and most-beloved bookstore and library, Samir Mansour Book Store, was destroyed in an airstrike last month. You can learn more by reading this LitHub article and you can donate to help rebuild it.

DONATE TO:

Rebuild Gaza's Samir Mansour Book Store: "All funds will be given directly to Samir Mansour to rent new space and rebuild a new library and book shop."

SAVE THE BEES:

You can adopt a unique bee when you purchase a special piece of jewelry: a necklace, bracelet, earrings, or pin. 

Project Honey Bees: "Proceeds of each purchase will be donated to honey.ucdavis.edu and will contribute to university bee research, creation of new hives, repopulation of bees, education of communities, long term solutions to the declining population of bees and more!"

I had adopted a queen bee in February named Darkness.

LIPSTICK FOR A CAUSE:

Nasty Woman Cosmetics: I bought Resistance Red, because I love a good red lip.

I also bought Power to the Purple for which a "portion of the proceeds from each sale benefit organizations such as Emily's List, ACLU Michigan and other organizations that share our values of empowerment and equality."

QUESTION: What causes/shelters/libraries/organizations, etc. do you like to donate to? What products have you purchased that give a portion of their proceeds to something you care about?