Donating to Charity... My Charities and Why They are Important to Me

As a kid when I was growing up I remember my parents donating to various charities over the years and I remember wondering why they did it.  As I grew up and graduated from college and started my journey into "adulthood" I discovered the importance of donating to charity on my own.  Now I am not saying that I am an expert on donating to charity, nor do I think that everyone should always donate to charity... I am just saying that this is something that is important to me and I want to explain why I do it.

My donating to charity started after college when I decided to do the Memory Walk for the Alzheimer's Association in memory of my grandfather and in honor of my Gram who we had recently found out was exhibiting signs of early onset Alzheimer's.  Since that walk I have continued to donate money to the Alzheimer's Association and M and I even have been giving a donation to them as part of our wedding favors to our guests.  Giving to the Alzheimer's Association is so important to me because having one grandparent die from it and two more diagnosed with early onset of the disease I want researchers to have the funding to be able to find a cure for it.  They say that the disease skips a generation which means I could be next to have this debilitating disease.  Sure I may not know I have it for many years to come, and sure I may not have the genetic mutations that allow for this disease to take over my body, but then again I may.  I also know how hard it is to watch someone suffer from this disease, so if I can help fun research so that people don't have to go through what my family and I have gone through in the past, then well I am all for that!

At the Memory Walk

This past Monday I participated in the ALS ice bucket challenge and made my donation to the ALS foundation.  I know tons of people are participating in the ice bucket challenge because it looks fun and because all of their friends are doing it and I know many people who disagree with the whole premise behind all of this.  Personally I think it is amazing that something so small has been able to spread the word about ALS and I only hope that those who are participating/making donations have looked into what ALS is and what their donations are going to help.  I have known two people who have passed away from this horrific disease and both of their lives were taken way too soon.  I did the ice bucket challenge in their memory and made my donation because I do think it is important to fund ALS research so that one day we may have a cure for this horrible disease.

Lastly, I recently signed up to do the 2014 Walk-for-Wishes at the Philadelphia Zoo this October. I have been doing the Walk-for-Wishes and have been involved with the Make-A-Wish Foundation since back in 2004 when I joined Chi Omega.  The Make-A-Wish Foundation is Chi Omega's national philanthropy and as a Chi Omega I have been fortunate to have been able to help to grant the wish of various children throughout the years.  During my time in college we even sent one of our wish children to Disney on vacation with her family.  It is so amazing to see the reactions of our wish kids once their wishes have been granted... the smiles on their faces are priceless and the amount of gratitude their families have is something that you can't describe in words.  I have set a goal for myself to raise $250.00 for the Make-A-Wish foundation through this walk.  If you are interested in donating you can feel free to make a donation here or by clicking the link on my sidebar with my thermometer that is keeping track of my fundraising abilities!

Chi Omega ladies at the last Walk-For-Wishes

As you can see I donate to charity because the cause means something to me.  I don't donate to make myself feel better, I don't donate because I think it makes me a better person, I don't donate just to say that I donate to charity.  I donate to charity because I believe in what my donation is funding.  I believe in donating to help researchers find a cure for debilitating diseases who have claimed the lives of those I have loved.  I believe in donating to help children with terminal illnesses have one last wish granted.  I believe in donating to help discover the causes of premature births, miscarriages, etc. so that those I know who have experienced the pain of those things may not have to ever experience it again.  I donate because I am hoping that even a small donation will help make a big difference one of these days.

Do you have any charities that you donate to because they mean something to you?