I Care
Ever since I was very young, around 8 or 9 years old, I have been socially aware. I would watch the news, and end up crying because such sad things happened all the time. I wanted to do something about it, make people feel better, and that's how I first got involved in charities. I became a Youth Member of Amnesty International and Greenpeace when I was 11, and I talked my mom into joining the WWF not too long after that.
Being a member gave me the idea that I helped, even if it was just a tiny bit. Charities depend on their members for their funding and support, and even though I was just one person, I was helping. When I was a bit older, I became active in Amnesty with letter-writing. Mostly to people on death row, and usually in the USA, but also to more obscure countries in Asia, Africa and South America. Writing letters asking for the release of political prisoners, banning of torture, or child labour, extreme cruelty by police officers, changing a death sentence to life, and so on, really did help. A lot of times after thousands of letters were received by whoever it was we were writing to, would make them realize that they couldn't just make this person disappear anymore, that there was too much media attention to hide it all, to pretend it was okay when it so wasn't. And people really were released, people really were helped. Not all the time, but a lot of times, and that was enough for me. I was helping. I am helping.
I am no longer a Youth Member of these orginazations, mostly because I'm now an adult, but I still support them in every way I can. The way I see it, if we want to make this world a better place, if we want to fix where others before us screwed up, we have to do it ourselves. No one is going to do it for us.
So if you have some extra cash or some extra time, please consider donating a piece of it to the charities below. One person really can make a difference.
Donate Online
Every single day, when I get up and turn on my computer to check my email, I visit these 5 sites. All you have to do to donate, is click the banner on their front page. It's free, no registration or anything is required, and it's actively helping others. Add these sites to your bookmarks, and just click their banners once a day. Won't take you more than say, 5 minutes, and it can make a world of difference to someone else. :)
Amnesty International
Amnesty is without a doubt my favorite charity. I joined it because I wanted to help protect human rights everywhere. I started writing letters for them however, when I was 13 or 14 years old. I had to write a report for school on a social issue, and I choose the death penalty. After a few weeks of research for my paper, I was SO apalled by the situations I'd read about and by the injustice done by the people supporting the death penalty, that I did not hesitate one moment to sign up for Amnesty's letter writing campaign. They'd send me information about current situations, along with addresses and an example letter, and I'd send letters. To the USA (I've sent them to the governor of Texas on at least 8 different ocassions), to Asia, South America, Africa, but also closer to home, such as Russia and Israel. And as I explained above, it really helped. Sometimes it was hard to read about the horror done to others, but helping never failed to make me feel better, to make me feel like I mattered.
To help Amnesty by writing letters, you don't have to sign up. You don't have to be a member. You don't even need a stamp, as most of the time, you can send letters by email as well. Current cases that need letters written are always published on the front page of their website, and sending one of the pre-written emails won't take more than a few minutes of your time. Please consider helping protect human rights all over the world by donating some money or, some time by sending a few letters.
## Greenpeace
As Greenpeace say on their website, "Greenpeace exists because this fragile earth deserves a voice. It needs solutions. It needs change. It needs action." When I was young, I saw this ad on TV once. It started with a ballerina, dancing a scene from Swanlake, I think it was. I was immediately drawn, since I love ballet, and admired how beautifully she was dancing. Then the music started to change, and she slowly got covered in oil, to die at the end of the ad. It was obviously a Greenpeace ad, asking for help with cleaning up animals and stopping oil tankers. I was so upset by it, that it made me want to become a member right then and there. Please help us take better care of the earth. There are many ways in which you can take action. Greenpeace has a
Cyberactivist Community set up, where you can take action and participate in campaigns online by siging partitions, letters and more.
## More
These charities are not any less important than the ones listed above here. Please help support them!
