Giving

So I'm checking things off my holiday list -- shopping is done, baking is done, cards are almost done, presents are almost all wrapped. And today I worked on another thing on my list: giving money away.

I've written before about the unbelievable number of begging letters we get from an unbelievable number of organizations, due to Rocket Boy being the executor of our dear friend Clifford's will and thus getting all his mail. I have contacted so many of those organizations telling them that Clifford is dead, and they still deluge us with mail. And stuff. We have received eight full-size 2011 calendars so far, three attractive fleece blankets, and literally thousands of address labels. Actually, one of the blankets was from an organization that I sometimes give money to and one or two of the calendars were also mine and yes, some of the address labels were ours too. But most of the stuff is due to Clifford's kindness in the past, and it really gets to me -- it just seems horrible the way some organizations waste their money trying to get yours. Case in point: The American Diabetes Association. I will never give those people another dime. All they do is send you stuff and beg you for more money.

But it's Christmas and Christmas is a time for giving -- right? Plus, it's almost the end of the year, gotta be thinking about tax deductions -- although something about the way our taxes work out means that we usually don't itemize deductions -- don't ask me, it makes no sense to me, it's just the way our CPA does it. So forget tax deductions. But I do firmly believe that people who have money should GIVE SOME OF IT AWAY, so when I get to the end of the year and haven't given much away, it's time to do something about it.

Rocket Boy actually gave away quite a bit before the election, to various political candidates and organizations. That's his thing -- I'm cool with it. But I prefer charities.

They say you should give larger amounts to fewer charities, rather than giving $25 here, $25 there, so that the charities won't run after you trying to get a little bit more and waste your whole $25 in the process. So this year I decided to give to 6 groups. This is my list -- what do you think?

1. American Lung Association. We like them for 2 reasons -- (1) I've now lost 3 relatives to lung cancer, which is a pathetically underfunded disease, research-wise, and (2) we hate smoking and they work to prevent it. They also send us address labels constantly throughout the year, which annoys me, but at least no blankets.

2. American Kidney Fund. I started giving to them after my nephew was diagnosed with kidney failure. They help kidney patients with funds for dialysis and also health insurance and that sort of thing. They almost lost me this year because they sent me a friggin' BLANKET, but I decided to overlook that. For the most part they're quite restrained about sending things.

3. Oxfam. I debated this one for a long time. I wanted to give to some sort of international aid group, and I like Oxfam's work, but they were really obnoxious to me this past year, all because I gave them some money to help with Haiti. So I considered Doctors Without Borders instead. But finally I went with Oxfam. If they're awful to me again this year, I'll do something different next year.

4. Nature Conservancy. I wanted a conservation group and I just like what they do, buying up all that land and keeping it away from developers. Now if I could only get them not to send me a tote bag.

5. Kern County Library. I wanted to do something local and I thought about the local United Way, but then I noticed on the library's web page that they had a wish list on Amazon. I chose 7 books to be delivered to the library -- 4 children's, 2 adult nonfiction, and 1 in Spanish. What fun!

6. ????? I want to do one more, and I want it to be a conservation group that would specifically support and protect the desert, but I'm not sure what to choose. One possibility would be the Desert Tortoise Preserve Committee. Another would be something like the Sierra Club (but they tend to deluge you with stuff). I'll have to do a little more thinking about this one.

Once you start doing this, you want to do more and more. It's very addictive. Now I'm looking around the house thinking about what else I could freecycle. At least with Freecycle, no one ever sends you address labels.