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Susie Cambria, via her excellent Budget & Policy Corner blog, reminds us that there are 900 D.C. foster children who are hoping to get Christmas presents this holiday season, and the Child and Family Services Agency needs D.C. residents to help. If you're able to purchase a few gifts for some needy local foster kids this year, you can find more details on this flier. Just tell CFSA how many children you can buy gifts for, and they'll give you the age, gender and sizes for each child. Delivery dates for gifts for specific kids are Dec. 7 & 8, while general toy donations can be dropped off on Dec. 14 or 15. Also on the flier are details on how to put together a Thanksgiving dinner basket for a CFSA family.
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Does anyone know about the armed robbery on 13th NW last night in Columbia Heights? The helicopters
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It's unfortunate that he's in such dire financial straits. Otherwise, I'm certain that humanitarian Nick Cho would be willing to expand his "Cockpunches for Tots" campaign to include MD drivers, Fred Phelps, and confused zoo lions.
Bah humbug!
Yeah it's nice to receive something new and shiny -- but these kids aren't going to die if they don't get a christmas gift (loved the religious neutrality of the article, btw). Around the world there are tons of kids that need things like food, potable water, shelter, medicine. Those kids aren't thinking about getting a shiny new toy that they'll probably forget about in a week. They're thinking about survival.
So just to clarify, you're suggesting DC airlift the 900 foster children to Tanzania? Well that's hardly as cost-effective as grinding their bones to make your bread, now is it, Rich Uncle Skeleton?
I love it. You have taken that classic bumper sticker: "think globally, act locally" and used a sharpie to edit it to read: "thought globally, determined life sucks, so I don't act at all."
Very nicely done.
To be fair, I'm not doing local donation events this year because I'll be traveling to India, and I feel my charity is more needed there. There are kids in India who literally have nothing, and the American dollar goes a lot further there thanks to the conversion rate.
So, do you ask all of your friends and relatives to donate to international development causes every year in lieu of giving you gifts?
You probably don't need anything new and shiny, either.
Do you look at all of your friends and family square in the face during the holidays, birthday, and other events and say, "Sorry, someone else needed it more"?
Unfortunately, I don't think the tone of your comment is going to encourage many people to research opportunities to give to the other causes you pointed out.
A novel idea: If someone is in a position to help others out, why not just do both?
And if someone isn't in a position to buy a goat or a sheep or sponsor a child in a struggling land this year, they can at least do something by making a contribution to this cause. It's cheaper, and I guarantee the foster system and its surrounding circumstances are no cakewalk.
Sorry, the "you" was directed at ambyguity and others of the same opinion, not at engineergirl.
I've participated in this program (and others) over the years, and you'd be amazed how many kids do ask for the basics - shoes, mittens, a warm coat, etc.
You'd also be amazed at how good it can make you feel to do even a little something to let a local child know that someone out there is thinking good thought for them and gives a rat's ass about them, if only at the holidays. I'm a jaded bitch sometimes, but I swear that being nice to someone in need is better than Botox.
Having spent time working with CFSA foster kids and traveling in India, I can say that there are actually very few differences. A kid that's been sold for drugs is pretty much the same kid in DC as the kid sold for drugs in Mumbai. Both situations pretty much suck and sometimes something shiny makes the suckiness not so sucky.
Apindc -- actually I do. I give gift certificates to Kiva.org and this year instead of birthday gifts, I asked people to donate to the organization I volunteer with (okay, not international development, but equally as deserving in my mind).
Bethesdaist -- no doubt that there are kids that need the basics in DC, and I know from first hand experience that is the case. But then why wait until December to get these kids some warm clothing? If the stipends the foster parents get don't cover things like warm clothing for the winter, well then shouldn't that issue be raised and solved?
And if you feel that strongly about helping a local child, become a tutor or a mentor. Do something that will actually change their life, not just make it "not-so-sucky."
amby, your posts just aren't believable. yawn.
Y'all better watch out or Michael Jackson will come over to your house and sing I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus.
Just so long as his zombie corpse doesn't go around peeing in cups. Remembering which eggnog cup is mine is difficult enough as it is.
Just noticed that forms must be faxed in by Nov. 1. Is this actually true or can people still participate in giving gifts?
CFSA is still accepting gifts for foster kids. And sorry about that! Just relinked the form I had previously blogged about.
Don't they know it's Christmas?