"Being Charitable is Easy" by Tracy Au

Being Charitable is Easy

By Tracy Au

We live in a society of too much stuff. Our values are about buying and keeping up with the Joneses. Let’s get back to the basic values of sharing wealth and helping others who are not as fortunate as we are. The majority of us donate only during the holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas. What about the rest of the year?

I have a lot of experience with charity. Ever since I was a kid, my family always donated to the clothing drive that occurs in our neighborhood. I’ve been on student council, and we fundraised for charities. I worked at the café Treats last summer, and at the end of the day, we donated leftover food. If you work in the food industry, you should donate leftover food too instead of throwing it out.

“Why donate?” you ask. It feels good to give. If that doesn’t motivate you, you can get a tax receipt if you donate to a registered charity. I want all of you to donate $5 a month to a charity like UNICEF that helps children in developing countries. Women for Women International helps women in developing countries. Amnesty International helps people in developing countries. If you want to help homeless people, donate to Hope Mission, a charity in Edmonton. If you think homeless people will use the money for drugs and alcohol, you will know that the money donated to Hope Mission will be used to feed them. Kidz Kottage provides a home, food, clothes, and toys for abused children. I have donated to the above charities I listed.

You may say, “Even if I do donate $5 a month to a charity, I’m not going to get much of a tax break” or “I’m in college. I can’t afford to donate something as little as $5 a month.” Have you thought of making a little sacrifice like giving up one latte a week and giving the money you saved to charity once a month? Well here are some other ways to donate, without money being involved. You can donate your time. Spend one day a month volunteering at a soup kitchen. You can spend time with your friends that way. Be a mentor like a big brother or sister. You can have fun and help others. It will also look good on your resume if you have volunteer experience. You can go to Amnesty International and write letters to the government and campaign for change and help for people whose human rights have been violated. You can also write letters to the government advocating more affordable housing and other issues you are concerned about.

You say, “I don’t have time. I have work and school.” I’m sure you have lots of clothes and junk in your house though. Clean it out and donate it to the Salvation Army. Donate stuff you don’t even use. Reusing is also good for the environment. Instead of throwing stuff away, give it to someone who can’t afford it. Women’s shelters need shampoo so donate some to them.

You can shop for a cause: Support Project Red. If you’re going to buy a shirt at the GAP, you might as well buy a shirt that helps people with AIDS in Africa.

Now you may say, “I don’t have time or money.” I donate for free by going to www.thehungersite.com and other sites listed there: the Breast Cancer site, the Child Health site, the Literacy site, the Rainforest site, and the Animal Rescue site. You can click on the button that says “Click Here to Give- it’s FREE” and they will donate food. The sponsors support the site and fulfill the donations. You can shop online for the stuff that the sponsors sell. More money will go to charity. You can sign petitions at amnestyinternational.com. You can also sign those postcards at the Student's Association office. They set up this booth with all these Amnesty International postcards’, sign a postcard, and the SA will send it to the Prime Minister. It really is that easy.

Donating to charity is a social norm. I don’t know why donating to charity isn’t more popular. Sure, there are Oprah’s Big Give, Celebrity Apprentice, and Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, on TV, but there aren’t a lot of other shows that encourage donating to charity. There are teen magazines like Seventeen that encourage donating to charity and provide a cause to get into. Facebook and many websites on the Internet have a lot of charities that could use your support.

On March 10. 2008, there were three articles about charity in the Edmonton Journal. One was about University of Alberta and MacEwan students living as homeless people for five days to raise money for the Youth Emergency Shelter. The article informed that a lot of homeless people attend school and work, but couldn’t afford a place to live. Last semester, I was at the MacEwan City Centre campus, and the Student’s Association was raising money for the shelter too by doing dares. Students paid the SA volunteers to do dares like drink a bad elixir of ketchup, mustard, chocolate, and many other ingredients mixed together for $15. Lots of brave students completed the dare.

There are also many students at MacEwan involved in Project HOPE. Another article was about how a chef feeds the homeless. One article says that charity is good if others know that you are donating. If you’re a person who likes a pat on the back for doing something good, then donate. TV shows like Celebrity Apprentice, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, and Oprah’s Big Give involve people competing to prove that they are generous and altruistic. These reality shows are a step up compared to The Bachelor where women compete to go out with a guy. Many seasons have passed, and I have only seen one couple on the show get married.

Recently, a student in the Professional Writing Program experienced a close family member passing away. We feel sorry for her, but then for those of us who donated money for her care package, we felt good that we were helping her. The con against donating to charity is less money in your pocket, but the pro is more for people who need it. Simply, it feels good to help others who are less fortunate than you are and you develop empathy, too. It is also plain right. Another article in the Edmonton Journal mentioned that donating to charity and spending time with others makes you happy.

Remember to give what you can afford and that one person can make a difference. Donating to charity is an informal social network: When you fall on hard times, someone will donate. It’s like that 411 song called “What if it was you?” It was written by Diane Warren: “What if it was you standing on the street? / What if it was you without enough to eat? / What if it was you with nothing left to lose? / What if it was you standing in those shoes? / What if it was you all alone out there?”