Have you ever noticed if you donate to an organization you have become a target barraged by numerous solicitations from that very same recipient. Both mailings and phone calls increase. I tell the callers the truth. Once a year I sit down to write my donations and decide how much I will give.
The collection grows each year but when the end of December comes I alphabetize them, throwing out the duplicates I may have missed, pull out the checkbook and credit card and start writing. By habit I also add the recipient and amount to a master list. It used to be helpful for yearly deductions when I itemized. Now, not so much but it doesn't mean not to give. In fact, charities are really worried about their funding with the new tax laws.
Apparently the wealthy are very generous with high profile donations ie towards higher learning institutions, the arts and hospitals while the middle and low class tend to donate a higher percentage of their income to social services. What's that about? Folks will ooh and ah about how philanthropic so and so 'money bag's is and yet forget to consider what percentage that is of their income. So are the wealthy less generous? Studies show the donations of the wealthy at 1.3% while the lower income donated 3.2% of their total income.
In fact, last year not one of the top 50 donors gave to a social service organization. The wealthy supposedly hold back from donations to disaster/ tragedy related causes due to lack of trust in organizational efforts. Yet it is the $5 and $10 donations that support these causes.
Why in such a wealthy nation can we not make healthcare affordable so families don't have to do their own fundraising through crowdfunding to pay hospital bills? Can you keep track of how many Go Fund Me donations come before you throughout the year?
No matter what we need to share and support all the worthwhile organizations to make others lives easier. Our wallets might be lighter but our hearts will be fuller.
Happy Holidays!
* Coincidentally I just noticed Natureman's youngest, Simon, just posted about the homeless.Guess winter makes it much the needs more obvous. Here's the link:
Homeless
The collection grows each year but when the end of December comes I alphabetize them, throwing out the duplicates I may have missed, pull out the checkbook and credit card and start writing. By habit I also add the recipient and amount to a master list. It used to be helpful for yearly deductions when I itemized. Now, not so much but it doesn't mean not to give. In fact, charities are really worried about their funding with the new tax laws.
After our lovely seafood home cooked lunch Alain drove us to a small secluded beach. We walked a small path towards the beach. En route we stopped at one of the old towers which sprinkle the coast line. Unfortunately it was closed due to stairway disrepair but we still had stunning vistas.
After a refreshing dip in the sea, we stopped to meet Alain's charming family. His brother had been a headmaster for many years and his sister-in-law had taught English. We recapped our French travels with them. The days had flown by in retrospect. 
The other gift was another totally unexpected present. A friend who has heard me comment about the lack of decorations for Chanuka made me a special Chanuka decoration of a beautiful illuminated glass block wrapped with a metallic silver bow. Thankful for the light of recognition. 
This morning many children are rushing to their trees to see what Santa has brought them. There will be a lot of very happy boys and girls who are indeed lucky enough to be recipients of something on their list/ even be surprised. Yet, some children are going to be disappointed to not receive that desired thing for whatever reason... And, if the truth be known, adults are not too different as holidays tend to revert us back to our younger selves. 
We arrived in Ajaccio, Corsica on a Sunday am. It was so quiet it dawned on us that the same fate awaited us again regarding our luggage. Our plan initially was to leave the baggage at one of the two bars where they provide this drop off service and they would not be open. No need to drag our luggage all over kingdom come as the next bus departing to our final destination was sitting with its engine running.
Jim ran into the depot and secured our tickets and made sure we were on the right bus and off we went. 
landscape as we zoomed by.
So while I work out my technical difficulties I need to share something else. Our very own Jennifer Barney, local baker extraordinaire, won the finale of Holiday Baking Championship and you can read about it in our local paper with this link:WINNER
If you finished the title in your mind "Ferry Cross the Mercy," you mistakenly assumed I was referring to the Beatles hit but it was the Mediterranean we needed to cross in order to go southeast from Marseille to Corse (Corsica), an island which is one of France's 18 regions. One could take a plane but the ferry was the better option per Sally's brother Jim. A grand idea indeed. It would be our floating hotel for the evening.
Back to the view...
Republican Roy Moore (L) vs Democrat Doug Jones(R) election in Alabama.
Tonight, the 25th day of Kislev in the lunar calendar marks the first night of Chanuka which commemorates the Jews first fight for religious freedom in 165 B.C.E. 
