Greetings,
First of all - Easyhiker, you have a heart of gold. God bless ya! Why is it more people don’t give to some type of charity? Many will claim they don’t have the money but they occasionally have some beers or pizza or do this or buy that. Hmmm, what if people sacrificed just a little bit in their own lives to help others? What a glorious thing, ay? Sure would be.
I’m going to do a long hike, either next year or the next after that, for charity. Thing is I don’t have a favorite or one that means more to me than any other. I guess that’s a good thing meaning no one I know, no one close to me’s been affected by any serious illness or anything. So i sat down and tried to figure out what to donate to. Problem is i came up with at least 20 organizations that mean a lot to me (and many more that i’d happy giving to.) Hmmm, 20? I’d hate to give to one and leave the rest out. There’d be nothing wrong with that but it wouldn’t be for me. So my ideas kept rollin’ and snowballed into the thought of forming a nonprofit organization to encourage hikers to hike for charity. All a person would have to do is sign up, pick what they’d wanna support, and we’d take care of the rest. Their donation page would be easily incorporated into Trail Journals or any website they use to either have their trail journal or any info about them and their hike. This group would not have a paid staff, would use secure forms to accept online check withdrawals or credit card transactions and have an address in case someone wants to mail in a check or money order. Each hiker would receive email to keep them up to date on how much has been raised and at the end of the hike funds would be dispersed to the selected nonprofit(s) they chose. Everything would be taken care of, like I said.
IN THE MEANTIME… What’s 20 bucks mean to you? A night out maybe? A new shirt you don’t need? What’s 20 bucks mean to people who are starving who live exposed to the elements who don’t have medications who have to walk through a mine field to get their water from a dirty river? Maybe 20 bucks can go to an organization that brings inner city kids skiing or backpacking or gives them books?
If you don’t give, why not? Maybe you have no idea what you might want to give to. Try thinking about what’s important to you. Do a little poking around on the internet. Take a look at the following link I found… it can give you more ideas than you’ll ever have money for.
Why’m I typing all this? I’m tired of seeing people spend so much on themselves and on their hikes and on their cars and on their clothes and cd’s and food and this and that. Many help others by giving money and/or by giving their time, volunteering or working a job that truly benefits others less fortunate. Sadly, some people don’t when they can if they just put a little effort into it.
Sincerely,
CW
…that web address is:
http://www.guidestar.org/networkforgood/search
EyezOfTheWorld