I used to champion a cause very near and dear to my heart, but it has, in the last few years, fallen by the wayside. I'm talking about FLAG (not to be confused with PFLAG - Parents and Families (Friends?) of Gays and Lesbians). FLAG stands for the Foundation for the Literacy of Activity Guides. These poor college students couldn't read their schedules, and had to ask their boss all the time what they were doing. I started the foundation to help educate them. Ok - not a real charity, and I'm not sure that any amount of education would get them to actually read their schedules. These were the river guides and rappelling guides, who never bothered to look at what was posted, rather drove my friend Java insane by walking past the schedule to ask her. Odds are they were just being annoying.
I'm ashamed to say that I don't really donate money to anything. I don't make a lot of money, and am often broke pretty much days after being paid.
I used to live in VA, and as a result, went to the Smithsonian tons of times when I was younger. My mother really liked the African and Chinese art museums, so I ended up frequenting those by default. It's a shame though, because I don't think I ever went into the Art and Industries building. I was 12 though when I moved to FL, so I don't really remember a lot, except that I had been to several.
It's interesting that you brought this up. When I was in NYC, Laurie commented on having to pay to get into all the museums, whereas the SI was free. Obviously the Smithsonian needs a little help - maybe do like the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and not tell everyone the charge is optional.
That reminds me - did anyone else look at our stats the other day? Someone from the SI was checking out our blog.
Though I don't have money, I do donate a lot of time to my church. While that may not seem like a worthy cause to everyone, I really like my church and the people in it. Also local theaters, but since I get something out of it, I don't really consider it charity of any sort.
I suppose if I were to hypothetically donate, one would be the save the music campaigns - to protect music programs in schools. Almost everyone I'm friends with was either in band or chorus, and it's something near and dear to my heart.
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2 comments:
You mention getting something out of your "donation", making it not charity.
One of the really interesting things that I'm looking into right now are microeconomics organizations. In theory it's not a donation, since I'd get my money back. (though some organizations charge overhead)
I still feel like it would be charity of a sort. Thoughts/opinions?
I guess you always get something out of charity - even if its just a good feeling that you're helping out in some way, or like the tootsie rolls they give you when you donate to charities asking for money in front of WalMart or Publix, so I guess I shouldn't really discount it if you get something more than that back.
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