Icon Deficit Disorder

(Thanks to Becky Ikehara for the idea!)

The rich…won’t YOU help?

I can’t really recommend Reach Out To The Rich as heartily as I would the World Ice Tea Organization, for example. The rich have their charities, too, like the opera and their beloved conservative think tanks.  We must let them use their donations to shelter their income from taxes.  After all, they wrote the tax laws in the first place (and rewrite them every day).  Besides, if they don’t get everything they want they’ll become frustrated and complain that they are the victims of something called “Class Warfare”–a strange form of war that can only be waged by working people and the poor against the rich, never the other way around.

People for the Sensitive Treatment of Vegetables

At this time of the year people are always asking me,

“Do you know of a deserving place I can make a donation? You know, a place where the money goes directly to those who need it and not to a bloated administrative bureaucracy?”

I don’t even have to think twice before spelling my name for them and making sure they have my correct mailing address complete with 9-digit zip code. 

What?  Did you think that artists have to keep their windows closed to keep the hundred-dollar bills from blowing in and cluttering up the place?  Go buy something from my shop and then maybe we can talk!

Sorry.

In any case, PSTV (not to be confused with PTSD, another worthy cause) was formed several years ago by activists who broke away from PETA because they felt the organization was ignoring the rights of plants. They have a great online gift catalogue. All of the products are “fair-traded” and none of them was tested on vegetables.

I hope you’ll think of PSTV the next time you want to donate to a good cause. I know I will.

( I’m still serious about the shop thing.)

WITO: The World Iced Tea Organization

World Iced Tea Organization

UNICEF may get all the publicity, Halloween fundraising, and greeting card sales, but in its own quiet way WITO brings just as much hope into the world (and is not at all  jealous of its much larger cousin).  In 2009, for example, they delivered over 61,500 metric tons of ice cubes (along with 875 tons of lemons) to developing nations all over the globe. In recent years they have focused their efforts on Africa, where millions go to bed each night without having had any iced tea, or worse, having only had iced tea made from a mix.

The Unmatched Sock Rescue League

There are so many charities out there that it’s hard to know who to give your money to.  Let me bring one worthy cause to your attention.  The Unmatched Sock Rescue League has been working tirelessly for over 140 years to help the thousands of unmatched socks that are neglected or even abandoned every day in the United States.  I’m sure you’ve seen their Sock Rescue vans in your own neighborhood.

Their famed research centers have done so much, but a cure is still elusive. Only by continuing to throw large amounts of money at this problem can we hope to see a day when the work of this fine organization will be unnecessary.

(The Latin motto Post Tenebras Lux means “After Darkness, Light”)