la vie en rose

The Girl Effect link below the video will take you to a website where you can learn more about their organization and find out how to participate in their loan program for girls around the world. For the last couple years J and I have not given Christmas presents to our friends and family and instead used that money to donate to a charity. The 1st year that we did it we gave money to a microloan program called Mothers Without Borders. We helped a woman in Africa start a business. The next year we donated to the Red Cross to help the people in the Centralia area after those devastating floods. We haven't quite decided where we will donate our money this year. There are so many worthy causes (we only pick one charity at a time - more bang for the buck)!

I would encourage everyone to consider this option for Christmas this year, at least for part of your gifts. Really, we all probably have everything that we need or want. And it works perfectly for those people who are impossible to shop for, like my brother. So in honor of someone like him, we could choose to donate to a homeless shelter, because my brother recently bought a house. Or to an animal shelter, because he and his dog are inseparable. In honor of my sisters, who all either work in a school or are involved in education somehow, how about paying the tuition so a little African girl can go to school? Or maybe to an orphanage that houses disabled children. In honor of my kindhearted parents, we could choose to give money to help feed low-income seniors or to send books overseas to our soldiers.

See how easy it is to think of all that you can do? The hardest part is just picking one!