les pensées insouciantes

charitini:

Thanks to everyone who reblogged yesterday’s inaugural post marking Gratuitous Public Interest Thursday - or, as the cool kids say, GPICT. In gratititude for helping to kick it off on its very first day, I have donated to each recommended charity. My philosophy is that those who step up philanthropically should be recognized, and I’m happy to shout-out those who did so yesterday. (My eventual model for Charitini - when I get it together to build an actual site - will include a scrolling list of benefactors like this one, with full names but not amounts, because the act of giving is important in and of itself, and every little bit counts.) So! Without further ado, my honor roll of GPICT charities, and their beneficent Tumblr promoters:

• Operation Gratitude - Care Packages for Soldiers - courtesy of mbrosen
• The Kucetekela Foundation -Education for Zambia’s Youth - courtesy of katiebakes
• Music Maker Relief Foundation - courtesy of The Romp
• Circle of Women - Building a Girls’ School in Afghanistan - courtesy of Ferrrn
• Heifer International - Donating Sustainable Resources - courtesy of jgh
• St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital - courtesy of Soup Soup

If anyone out there wants to match me, I’ll forward my receipts and you can have at it. I probably won’t be able to keep it up as this (hopefully) takes off, but it’s a decent start (and NB if you have ever seen me promote a charity on this site or on my Twitter, it means I have donated to it, too. Walk the walk). That also counts for volunteerism - so yes, Krucoff, I have already put The Great American Clean-Up on the calendar for April 22nd.

I hope I am not being annoyingly, cloyingly do-goody here. But as Hillel once said, if not now, when? He also said, “Oy, this matzah ball tastes like gefilte fish,” but we’ve all made that mistake at one time or another.

charitini:

GPICT! Yes, kids, it’s Gratuitous Public Interest Campaign Thursday, begun last week and to be continued on every Thursday hence. Can you imagine if everyone who gratuitously posted a photo of themselves on Wedesday matched it with by gratuitously posting a link or note about some great public interest initiative? That would be so badass! I’m gonna start by directing you to Soup’s post about his upcoming birthday (March 30th yo!) and his Charitini-inspired drive for St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital. But it can be anything really - letting people know about a day of clean-up, volunteering, a Twitter fundraising campaign,and, um, dangerous-sounding-but-cutely-named hitchhiking campaigns. Or more! Who knows what it can become - when it comes to social media the possibilities are endless!

Okay so that’s my pitch. Anyone who’s into it, please reblog with a link to your favorite charity. Let’s see how many we can collect in one place - I will add everything we get to the Charitini blogroll. Let’s DO this! High five! Woo! Booyah! Etc.

This is a GREAT idea.

A few years ago, I made a New Year’s resolution to “give more to charity.”  I picked out several charities that were near and dear to me, and added a reminder to my calendar to donate to a new one each month (thought it would be good to space it out, so as to not have to come up with a huge nut all at once in December around the holidays when most people give). I further made a deal with myself that I would double whatever I gave the prior year.  I started this tradition when I was still in school, so the amounts at first were admittedly not too staggering.  About 5 years on, though, I have managed to keep my promise. In addition, while I have a few staples, throughout the year I often give to many other organizations as incidents arise, i.e. an earthquake in China, hurricane relief, etc. or simply when I learn about a new organization that I’d like to support. All told, last year, I gave to 22 different causes.

Here’s one:

Operation Gratitude - Care Packages for Soldiers

Send a single package for as little as $11.

http://www.opgratitude.com

fmylife:

Today, I was texting two people at once. Trying to respond to my friend’s text, I accidentally clicked on this guy’s name instead, who I’ve never met. He just told me about his grandma’s funeral he went to that was an open casket. I responded with, “Haha wow you slut, I’m sure you were aroused.” FML

fmylife:

Today, I babysat for two little girls, who wanted to play ‘mermaids’. I smiled, and said that I would love to play with them. The older girl laughed, saying “You can’t be a mermaid. Mermaids are pretty.” FML