Something for everyone in charitable gift-giving spirits
by Rawly Bransom, Ashley Smicker, Violeta Rocha, Connie Yu

   When charitable organizations meet Christmas, their most profitable time of the year, opportunities to contribute can be creative.
   From pennies to livestock, from donating toys for the poor to serving turkey dinner, participants have many options for giving.

U.S. Marine Corps Reserve’s Toys for Tots

    When Los Angeles resident Diane Hendricks wanted to give away a Raggedy Ann doll she made in 1947, she found no area organization to deliver her wish.
  But with the help of her husband Bill Hendricks, a Marine Corps reserve major, and his colleagues in the Reserve, they created the Toys for Tots program, a foundation would eventually grew into one of the biggest charity foundations in the nation.
  The campaign starts each year by collecting new, unwrapped toys from October through December and ends by distributing those toys as Christmas gifts to children in the participating communities.
  With a hallmark to “bring the joy of Christmas to America’s needy children,” the Toys for Tots program has collected more than 298 million toys for more than 145 million children. About 456 communities nationwide are involved in the program each year.
  A large number of celebrities have promoted the program, giving its campaigns tremendous momentum. Walt Disney, for example, designed the Toys for Tots logo and the first promotional poster.
  Overtime, Hendricks’ simple idea has evolved into a fully functioning charity that not only supports areas where Marine reserve presence is low or non-existent, but also pays for support such as promotional materials and area coordinators. Like other charitable organizations, it offers tax deductions to individual and corporate sponsors and creates contracts to promote the program.
  “We collect locally 180,000 toys,” Major Paul Courtaway, head of the local Toys for Tots program, said in a statement. “We concentrate just on how many toys we can get for children. Toys can cost anywhere from $5 to $40.”
  Donations can be made up until Dec. 18 at hundreds of drop-off sites in the Metroplex and North Texas.

Salvation Army

   To the Salvation Army, anything given is precious.
  Its Red Kettle Campaign takes donations from pennies to dollars; its annual Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners give thousands of poor people a chance to be served at the table, and the Angel Tree Program delivers the spirit of Christmas right to the needy children’s doorsteps.
  Begun in San Francisco in 1891, the Salvation Army’s Red Kettle Drive takes donations of pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters and dollars for millions of people less fortunate than themselves.
  Eighty-seven cents out of each dollar donated go directly to someone in need.
  The Red Kettle, the Salvation Army’s largest fund-raiser, helps its other programs all year long.
  Last year, the Salvation Army launched its first virtual red kettle in Texas and Georgia, raising $44,000. This year the online program will go nationwide.
  Participants can register at www.salvationarmydallas.org to become virtual bell ringers. Then by e-mail, each person asks friends to not only donate but also become bell ringers. Donations will be organized by zip code, so all local donations stay in the area they are donated from.
  The program’s official kickoff starts on Thanksgiving Day during the halftime show of the Dallas Cowboys game.
  “With the visibility of the Dallas Cowboys and the Salvation Army,” Jerry Jones, owner of the Dallas Cowboys, said in a statement, “we are able to invite the world into our home (Texas Stadium) and offer an invitation for millions of people to make a difference in the lives of so many.”
  The Cowboys have hosted the annual kickoff since 1997, and an estimated 50 million people worldwide reportedly watch it each year.
  The Jones family will also hold a fund-raiser for the Salvation Army Dec. 17 at 11:45 a.m. in the Stadium Club at Texas Stadium. The cost of each ticket is $50.
   Each Thanksgiving, the Salvation Army offers a traditional Thanksgiving dinner to more than 4,000 people across the Metroplex. Unlike the traditional buffet lines offered at many shelters, volunteers serve each person at his seat to enhance the dignity of those who come for a meal.
  Christmas dinner will be Dec. 25, 11:30 a.m.-2 p.m., at three Salvation Army sites. To help with Christmas dinner, contact Amy Swayne at 817-344-1816.
  The Angel Tree program distributes more than 382,000 gifts to needy children in Dallas, Collin, Denton, Tarrant and Ellis counties.
  Paper angel ornaments with the child’s name, age, gender, clothing size and one wish the child has for Christmas are available at Grapevine Mills Mall, Hulen Mall, Northeast Mall and Ridgmar Mall in Tarrant County.
  All gifts go directly to the child. Last year, 15,000 underprivileged people received gifts from the Angel Tree program.

Heifer International

    Those not satisfied by traditional charity options can donate livestock of their choice through Heifer International.
  A non-profit organization working to end world hunger, Heifer International provides income-producing livestock to four million families in 47 countries, including the United States.
  “Heifer is unique in its program to directly aid people around the world,” Walter Cronkite said in a statement. “With this program, you get a much greater sense of a person-to-person relationship, which is very important.”
  As a part of the agreement with Heifer, charity recipients also donate offspring from the livestock as “Passing the Gift,” so that donated animals’ benefits can multiply every year.
  Twenty-seven kinds of livestock, from rabbits to camels, are currently available for adoptions.
  Prices vary for each animal as well as the areas they are sent. A water buffalo is most likely to be sent to India to increase rice production through draft power while a flock of geese can go to China to help supplement a family’s diet through eggs and meat.
  Dan West, a relief worker during the Spanish Civil War In 1939, thought there should a better way to help people than just handing out milk to refugees.
  “Not a cup but a cow,” West said as he tried to organize his new movement. He founded Heifer in 1944 and began shipping tens of thousands of cows overseas in its first year.
  Heifer sends out a yearly catalog from which people can choose a gift, including cows, oxen, beehives, llamas, goats, sheep, guinea pigs, pigs or rabbits.
  To help Heifer International, order a catalog at 800-422-0755 or visit www.heifer.org.   

USO Care Packages

    The United Service Organizations is reeling in support for U.S. troops.
    The USO will enable individuals to support America’s men and women in uniform deployed overseas through personal messages and care packages filled with items they have requested.
   Due to heightened security, individuals can no longer send letters and packages addressed “Deliver to any service member.”
   The USO program is approved and endorsed by the U.S Department of Defense to deliver packages to boost morale and send comfort to men and women in the Armed Forces.
   “These care packages help USO bring a touch of home to our men and women in uniform,” Edward A Powell, USO World    Headquarters president and CEO, said in a press release.
   Donations will provide an assortment of items the military has specifically requested such as AT&T 100-minute prepaid international calling cards, disposable cameras, toiletries and sunscreen.
   These items along with signed greetings on the donation cards will be sent to the troops.
   Anyone wanting to help support the troops can stop by any Bass Pro Shop retail location, pick-up a $1 or $5 donation card and take it to the nearest cashier. The cards can be signed with personal greetings to the troops.
   “All of us at the Bass Pro Shops are extremely excited to be an official partner with USO with such a meaningful program and patriotic endeavor as Operation Bass Pro Shop/USO Care Package” Jim Hagale, Bass Pro Shop president, said in a published report.
   For more information, contract Larry Whiteley, Bass Pro Shop at 417-873-5022, or Beth Bradner, USO at 703-696-3261, or at lwhiteley@basspro.com or BradnerB@fmmc.army.mil.

Battered Women’s Foundation

   Once a battered wife, Brenda Jackson knows what it is like to be abused and need support.
   Besides overcoming her own violent experience and moving on with her life, Jackson committed herself to helping other battered women to integrate into society.
   Jackson remarried, and she and her husband founded the Battered Women’s Foundation in 1995. This local organization extends a helping hand to victims of spousal abuse and their children, hoping to bring a sense of peace to a family in distress.
   After leaving a violent situation and being helped for 30 days in a shelter, some battered women find it hard to start over, Jackson, executive director, said.
   “Many times they return to that abusive life,” she said.
   The foundation provides a two-year program that focuses on giving abused women the skills and support to become self-supporting members of society.
   “Being single and having children is hard, but if I can do it, anybody can,” Jackson said.
BWF provides free clothing, food, furniture, housing referrals, job training, education, child care assistance, counseling referrals with fees paid, cars when donated and much more, Jackson said.
   “The shelter helps women for 30 days, and they do an excellent job, providing medication, food stamps and anything they need to get going. We don’t copy what they do; after 31 days they call us,” she said.
Jackson said that after leaving the shelter, many women do not have housing and believe they must go back to the abuser.
   “On average, there are six or seven times they go back to their abuser before they leave for good,” she said.
   The last time, Jackson said, is the most dangerous because the abuser perceives a loss of power control.
   “This is when we hear about a woman being killed,” she said.
   Jackson said the effects on children from abusive families can last a lifetime.
   “Boys from abusive families tend to become abusers themselves 60 percent of the time, and girls tend to marry abusive men because that is how they grow up,” she said.
   Abuses cover all economic levels. Rich people can suffer abuse, but they do not call for help because it is hard to leave a good economic life, Jackson said.
   The Foundation assists with education, provides tutoring and GED preparation and has helped a small number of women obtain financial aid to attend Tarrant County College.
   The Foundation strives to provide computers to those who have successfully completed one semester of college or have found stable full-time jobs.
   BWF had helped 2,500 women this year with 40 volunteers. Others help with special events such as Day to Shine and the annual Christmas party.
   During Day to Shine events, volunteers fix hair, do manicures and apply makeup as well as serve as guest speakers.
   “We try to make the women feel good about themselves because a lot of times battered woman have no self-esteem and feel terrible,” Jackson said.
   This activity, held every second Saturday, has served 883 mothers and their children in the last four months. The next one will be Saturday, Dec. 6, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. at New Church Gym in North Richland Hills.
   The Christmas celebration at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Dec. 20, will host 800 women and children. To volunteer, visit www.bwf1.com or call 817-485-2118.