Week 9 - Renfrew Dialysis Unit

Not much to say about this week's donation. My dad's lodge group sponsors a bowl-a-thon every year in Renfrew, with proeeds going to the Renfrew's hospital dialysis unit. When my mom emailed me asking if I wanted to donate, it was a no brainer. Small town health care is extremely important to rural Ontarians...a fact the Ontario Liberal (and prior to them Conservative) party simply can't grasp. Always glad to give to a good cause.

Week 8 - Right to Play

Sports have been very good to me over the years. From keeping me active as a kid, to fighting off boredom in high school, adding physical activity to my schedule in university, and meeting many friends through ultimate, my athletic pursuits have added a lot to my life.

Therefore, this week's donation was made to Right To Play. This organization benefits more than 700,000 children every week through their programs. I was impressed by their noble mission "To improve the lives of children in some of the most disadvantaged areas of the world by using the power of sport and play for development, health and peace."

Week 7 - Purple Pledge Day

On November 13, 2010, 14 year old Daron Richardson took her own life. Daron was the daughter of Senators' assistant coach Luke Richardson, and her tragic death was huge news here in Ottawa. The one positive that seemed to come out of this event was the promotion of dialogue relating to mental health.

Since Daron's favourite color was purple, February 8th was the first annual 'Purple Pledge Day'. Thank you to the friend that brought this to my attention. Giving to a great cause and providing me with yet another opportunity to wear purple made my day.

Week 6 - Operation Go Home

As the weather gets colder, I find myself hunkering down, limiting my time outside to the minimum amount possible. On the way to work in downtown Ottawa, I inevitably see some street people shivering in the freezing weather. I feel sorry for them, and hope they slept somewhere warm the night before. Even more depressing is seeing kids on street corners, begging for change. With that in mind, I decided to donate to Operation Go Home last week.

Operation Go Home aims to prevent homeless youth from becoming homeless adults. They go about accomplishing this mission by providing programs and services to approximately 350 youths in the Ottawa region each year. Attempting to reconnect kids with parents and guardians is an excellent initiative, and I sincerely hope they acheive their mission.

Week 5 - International Giving!

As indicated, seeing as how it was the last week of January, I wanted to do something different. We have a 'Classified' section on my work Intranet site where a co-worker indicated she was heading to a small fishing village in the Dominican Republic on vacation. She was looking for games, toys, and other stuff for the local children. She specifically mentioned baseball gloves and balls, and since I had a glove and couple of baseballs in my closet, that I haven't used in forever, I decided that'd be a good start. I took a little trip to Value Village last weekend and bought 2 used kids' baseball gloves to up the ante. Then I found a frisbee in my cabinet at work (where I actually had 5 discs) to add to the haul.

It was awesome to see the woman's reaction when I gave her the gloves and frisbee. I can only imagine how great it will be to see the Dominican Republlic kids' faces when she gives the gifts to them. This is my favourite week of giving of 2011 so far :)

Week 4 - Make-A-Wish Canada

I'll level with you, I was going to donate to the Heart and Stroke Foundation this week, as a co-worker's relative passed away, and a donation was suggested in lieu of flowers, but, they wouldn't recognize my postal code. So, I remembered seeing a bus ad for the the make-a-wish foundation, and thought it was a great back-up plan. Make-A-Wish Canada grants wishes to children with life-threatening medical conditions to enrich the human experience with hope, strength, and joy. Enriching the lives of kids facing serious illnesses is a noble mission, and the organization deserves support.

The plan for the last week of the month, is to give something other than money to a cause. I have one in mind, but will have to follow through this week. Wish me luck?

Week 3 - Haiti Earthquake (through the Canadian Red Cross)

On January 12, 2010, a massive earthquake hit Haiti, killing approximately 200,000 people, and leaving 1.3 million people homeless. In the following weeks and months, the Canadian Red Cross raised $199M to assist in disaster relief and reconstruction.

On the one year anniversary of the disastrous earthquake, I caught a couple news reports that emphasized the amount of reconstruction that still needs to be done. Given the Canadian Red Cross has sent me various updates on how my donation from last year was spent, and because they make the giving very easy (through Paypal), I decided to commemorate the anniversary of the earthquake with another donation.