Picking charities for small donations to help make a difference

Hello and welcome to Sunday.

Today, August 13th, is my birthday.

I’m a strong believer in helping others. Check out the about section of my LinkedIn profile for details: https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/ronostroff/

To celebrate my birthday, I want to help. So I will make small donations to five charities. That’s why I need your help. Here are some charities I like. But I want to know what you think.

Do you like these charities? Is there a local or national charity near and dear to your heart that you believe should be on the list?

I want your guidance.

Each donation will be $18. Why?

In Jewish life, each Hebrew letter is given a numerical designation. Life in Hebrew is Chai. And the letters add up to 18. So that’s how I give my donations.

Here are my picks in no particular order.

1 – Mazon – A Jewish Response to Hunger. https://mazon.org/

Mazon fights hunger no matter who is hungry or where they live. Food is essential and Mazon does everything it can to provide food without regard to religion, nationality or beliefs.

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2 – The Community Food Bank of New Jersey. This is New Jersey’s largest anti-hunger and anti-poverty organization. https://cfbnj.org/

Every night, there are people going hungry. Putting dollars here will help them.

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3 – Southern Poverty Law Center . https://cfbnj.org/

This incredible organization fights hate, discrimination and injustice. They monitor hate groups, take legal action and educate. If you believe people can be good, you need to support this group.

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4- WNYC. https://www.wnyc.org/

This is public radio for the New York City metropolitan area. Public radio is listener supporter. That means there are no traditional commercials. That means advertisers cannot threaten to pull advertisements after they hear a program they don’t like. The public owns the station. They do great things here. It’s worth a listen no matter where you are.

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5- HIAS – Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society. https://hias.org/

Their slogan is to “welcome the stranger. Protect the refugee.” This organization started as a group to help Jewish immigrants settle in the United States. But long ago, it expanded its purpose.

The website explains: “Originally set up by Jews to help fellow Jews for reasons of religious imperative and communal solidarity, HIAS in the 2020s is a multi-continent, multi-pronged humanitarian aid and advocacy organization with thousands of employees dedicated to helping forcibly displaced persons around the world in keeping with the organization’s Jewish ethical roots.”

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Do you think these are my best choices? Or can you think of another I should put on the list?

The important thing is that we should think of others before we think of ourselves. No matter how poorly we might be doing, there is always someone in worse shape. These is always somebody who needs help.

No matter how bad off you are, you are still not excused from helping others. That’s a human obligation.

We have hands so we can reach out to others and help.

So tell me: Who should I send contributions to?

I look forward to hearing from you.

Enjoy your Sunday.