A Little Less Than a Flock of Chicks

Just a warning, this will be a tad be wordier than any following blogs regarding my monthly charity resolution.

More than anything, I'm blaming this endeavor on The Bloggess. My first encounter with her was linked to charities. It was this entry that I first read, accompanied by Amanda Palmer & Tristen Allen's four-handed piano composition "János vs. Wonderland" in my headphones. I subsequently laughed and bawled and fell in love with the world all over again.

It's taken a few years to get my self back on my own two feet. Well, maybe one and a half feet. I think my left foot still has a wobbly ankle. Nonetheless, that's better than before. I am no longer living with my parents, I have a steady albeit far from glorious job, that pays better than any previous job I've had, and I've already managed to build a desktop computer for myself while also officially paying the last chunk of a student loan in one lump sum. Granted, I still have two student loans to go, but a success is a success.

But I digress.
The Bloggess is constantly doing things to help better the world. Be it thru her humour and snark, or immense compassion. I don't have near the impact she does with others, but I can impact myself.
And while I can't force others to donate or even be aware of charities and causes, I can keep on posting, and I can jump that chasm on my own, from the side of "I'll do this when I have more money" to the side of "This video game can wait, I'm gonna donate almost a flock of chicks."

Which brings me to the donation I made for the month of January.
There were a few charities that I debated over, but I ultimately chose the Worldbuilders 2012 team from the charity thru Heifer International. I chose the Worldbuilders team because they are the ones that brought Team Heifer to my attenion, one, possibly two, years ago. It was thru my internet stalking twitter observations of Patrick Rothfuss and Neil Gaiman where I encountered the charity. As for choosing Heifer for this month's donation, the fundraiser actually ends on the 21st. Others that I considered are ongoing.
Now, Mister Rothfuss (and other contributing authors, etc) gives a little incentive for helping the fundraiser. And while I won't deny that there are a LOT of things there that I'd appreciate owning, what captivated me the most was this. Full Circle. I doubt that it'd come to me, but if it did I know I'd have to keep it going, as my donation certainly isn't worthy of that.
I didn't even donate a flock of chicks. Almost, though. Just a few dollars short. However, I have a thing with numbers. I greatly dislike multiples of five. I do not flee the scene when they appear. But if I can control the situation, then I do, and they go away.

Anyways, I highly recommend you check out Heifer and Worldbuilders (while the fundraiser is going.) And it's just the Worldbuilders fundraiser that ends on the 21st (but will also be back next year, and the next year, and so on and so forth.) You can investigate Heifer any time of the year. Give 'em a thought, a donation, a share - they're worth it.

Alright folks, actually not quite as wordy as I thought I'd be (yikes!), but enough, I'm sure.
I'm always accepting recommendations for charities to look into! Local, or global!
And by no means am I limiting myself to only one charity a month, if dollars allow it, I'll try and do more, or larger amounts. Or both?




Also, I wish technology was advanced enough that the blog could automatically link to the things I'm thinking about on the words I wanted without my having to google, copy, click, and paste. I think that took about as much time as the actually writing did. But I will have my links, gosh darnit!