December is certainly the month of giving, so this one makes special sense! Today on the “30 Chic Days” journey, Mme. Ferris suggests that each of us “support your signature charity.” This is a magnificent suggestion! Yes, there are many, many good charities out there and of course you can’t support them all – so choose a “signature” charity to serve as the focus of your efforts! She suggests making a regular donation – monthly, maybe even weekly – and reminds us that it doesn’t need to be a large amount. Can you manage $5 a week? That’s the cost of two (maybe three, if you take them plain) coffees. Don’t be afraid to start small – you can increase the amount at any time. And if you cannot donate money, think about making a regular donation of your goods (what a great reason to clear out that overstuffed closet!) or your time. The idea here is to make it a regular part of your life – Mme. Ferris points out that part of being chic is being compassionate and that appreciating what you have makes you want to help others.
Heifer International and Kiva are among my favorite charities, but whether your personal cause is helping returning service members, assisting the homeless, contributing to animal welfare, ending human trafficking, or some other worthy cause – there’s a charity out there who would love to hear from you! Check out your given charity on a site like Charity Watch to make sure you’re supporting a charity that uses most of its donations to directly perform their chosen mission so you can feel confident that your good deeds are accomplishing what you intend.
I was surprised at how easy it was to set up a monthly, automatic gift. No, it’s not a large amount of money, but small drops of water taken together form rivers and oceans. How much better it is to do something than to do nothing!
So do a little research today and come back here tomorrow for Day 10 of our journey!
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