Water is one of the basic necessities in life.  However, 1.1 Billion people in the world don’t have access to clean, safe drinking water.  That’s one in six people in this world.

Charity:Water is trying to change that by bringing clean, safe, drinkable water to some of the world’s poorest regions.

A 100% Charity

One of the things I like about this charity is that 100% of the public donations go directly to project costs.  This means that all other business operations, hardware, and manpower comes from corporate donations and volunteers.  Many other charities and organizations will use mostly public donations to pay for operational costs.   That can mean that only 20-50% of public donations will go to the actual project costs. (more…)

Modest Needs is a unique and award winning charity that helps low-income working families afford short term emergencies like unexpected car repairs, high heating bills, or unexpected doctor visits.

Many working families just above the poverty line are just a simple problem away from going under and being caught in a vicious cycle of dept and increased poverty. 

This type of scenario happens every day, especially in an economy such as we’re in right now; A family, living paycheck to paycheck, finds themselves in a problem.  It could be as simple as an abnormally high heating bill. 

Since the paycheck is just enough to pay for the rent and food on the table, they find themselves having to either borrow… or simply not pay the additional cost for heating.  This then turns a simple problem into a vicious cycle of dept, followed by more dept to pay off the original.

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With the current economic issues and rising food costs, the need for food banks has never been more great.  With this in mind, I’m profiling FeedingAmerica.org (formerly Second Harvest) as part three of my Martin Luther King Day of Service Series.

The web site is a centralized location that allows you to donate money, find volunteer opportunities and also find a food bank in your area.

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