Cap'n Bob & the Damsel

Charity

Yellow Ribbon America Rosie Christmas

rosie.jpgThis year we selected Yellow Ribbon America’s Rosie Christmas campaign for our annual toys donation. We’re donating some new toys that we bought at our local merchandise liquidation discount store. The destination for these toys is to the children of our deployed California National Guard service men and women. There is also the opportunity to gather up your already-watched DVDs and donate them to the deployed troops. You may also donate gift cards to the cause.

This is a great way to get your Christmas giving endorphins! If you live in California, or are going to be here in December, click on Rosie’s picture to find your nearest drop-off location.

Continue reading…

26 Nov 2007 by California Charity Culture Military

Toys for Tots

We repeated our tactics from last year and purchased about a dozen new toys from our local merchandise liquidation store. We dropped them off at a local business where they had a USMCR Toys for Tots barrel. It gave us the usual endorphins knowing that we were sorta like Santa and Mrs. Claus.

Toys R Us advertised that they would be participating in the drive. However, when we tried dropping the toys off last week, they told us they took cash donations only. Not to fault the toy chain, but that wasn’t clear in their advertisements. We found out that you had to purchase the toys there and they would match them with another one, only if you bought them prior to November 16th.

10 Dec 2006 by Charity Military

Bike Ride Across America to Honor 9/11 Flight Crews

A group of airline personnel and friends plan to ride their bicycles from Dockweiler Beach, adjacent to LAX, to Washington, D.C., in tribute to the 33 airline crew members who died that tragic day.

From the Daily Breeze:

Bike ride will honor flight personnel victims of 9-11

[Organizer] Thomas Heidenberger lost his wife, Michele, that day. She was a flight attendant on a plane destined for Los Angeles that crashed instead into the Pentagon.

There were 33 of them killed that morning, 33 flight attendants and pilots who were among the first to confront the terrorist hijackers of Sept. 11.

“It’s not about one person, one individual crew member,” he said from his home in suburban Washington, D.C. “It’s about all 33.

“We don’t know what happened up there. It’s all speculation,” he added. “But they were the first to confront the terrorists. They need to be recognized.”

The five bicyclists will leave April 2 on a route that takes them across 15 states and more than 3,500 miles. They chose to begin near Los Angeles International Airport because that was the destination of three of the four hijacked flights.
A small group of airline workers will set out from Dockweiler Beach early next month on a cross-country bike ride in their honor. The riders have given themselves 33 days to make the trip, one day for each of the crew members killed.

It’s a tribute first, but also a fund-raiser for the official 9-11 memorials and a salute to those who still work in the air. For its organizer, the ride is a chance to remind the nation of the full toll of the attacks.

[ read the rest of the story ]

15 Mar 2006 by Aviation Charity People

Charities: Who Ya Gonna Call?

When disaster strikes, our support goes to the Salvation Army. Actually, we support them even when there’s not an emergency. Local citadels do a lot of good in our communities for adult rehabilitation and other community services.

After September 11, 2001, and in the wake of the terrible 2005 Hurricanes, the American Red Cross seems to have missed their charter, and entertain “perks” and other nonsense. We’re turned off from them for the time being.

This is a part of an article that Captain Ed posted today:

Red Cross Donations Go To Celebrity Parties

When people donate to the Red Cross, as I have in the past, they expect their money to go to disaster relief or to supporting blood drives, not to get their executives high-paying speaking gigs or to allow them to rub elbows with Hollywood celebrities. This amounts to an abuse and deception on the part of the Red Cross, gaining donations — especially in the wake of 9/11 and recently with Hurricane Katrina — by using the pain and suffering of victims in order to support a glamorous work environment. As Harvard lecturer Peter Dobkin Hall notes, the Red Cross doesn’t need to spend money to raise awareness of the organization, as people “throw money” at them whenever disaster strikes.

27 Feb 2006 by Charity

The Story Behind the Red Kettles…

This from the Salvation Army Newsletter:

The Story Behind the Red Kettles…

The Salvation Army Captain in San Francisco had resolved in December of 1891 to provide a free Christmas dinner to the area’s poor. But how would he pay for the food?

Suddenly, his thoughts went back to his days as a sailor in Liverpool, England. On the Stage Landing he saw a large pot, called “Simpson’s pot” into which charitable donations were thrown by passers-by.

On the next morning, he secured permission from the authorities to place a similar pot at the Oakland ferry landing, at the foot of Market Street. In addition, a brass urn was placed on a stand in the waiting room for the same purpose. Thus, Captain Joseph McFee launched a tradition that has spread not only throughout the United States, but throughout the world.

By Christmas, 1895, the kettle was used in 30 Salvation Army Corps in various sections of the West Coast area. Shortly afterward, two young Salvation Army officers who had been instrumental in the original use of the kettle, William A. McIntyre and NJ Lewis, were transferred to the East. They took with them the idea of the Christmas kettle.

In 1898, the New York World hailed The Salvation Army kettles as “the newest and most novel device for collecting money.”

Everywhere, public contributions to the kettle enable The Salvation Army to bring the spirit of Christmas to those who would otherwise be forgotten – to the aged and lonely, the ill, the inmates of jails and other institutions, the poor and unfortunate. In the United States, The Salvation Army annually aids more than 5 million persons at Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Behind it all, though, is the same Salvation Army message, “Sharing is Caring.”

11 Dec 2005 by Charity Religion

Toys for Tots

Hey! Wanna get a nice pre-Christmas endorphin high (that’s ‘feel good’ to you non-nerds)? Then follow this simple regimen . . . Damsel and I did and it’s a great feeling!

  • Go to Big Lots (or another discount retailer in your area)
  • Buy several toys in the $5 to $15 dollar range (knock-offs overstocks, etc – kids don’t care)
  • Give them to the US Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots Drive
  • Write ’em off on your taxes (not mandatory, but a few good endorphins result)
  • Feel like Santa for one hot minute (lotsa good endorphins)

I guarantee you will be glad you did!

16 Nov 2005 by Charity Military

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