Some Thoughts About Helping...

 


About... Contribute-Now.org

Why This Website... Why not, is really the best answer I can think of. My brother and I have had a continuing personal interest in trying to do a little more to help improve the health and welfare of as many persons as our lives can touch. This website and other websites owned by my brother and me give us the ability to reach a few people and encourage them to consider assisting others who are less fortunate, and then to give those prospective donors a helping-hand to find a cause that we hope suits them perfectly.

We have four websites devoted to charitable giving, they are: Charitable-Giving.org, this website Contribute-Now.org, Developing-World.org,  and KeepTheHeartBeating.org. Each site is a little different in layout but fundamentally all are the same in the end. Each site encourages the donation of anything to anyone who might be in need, anywhere in the world.

I am a resident physician, with the honor and privilege of working at OU Children's Hospital, on a continuing journey toward becoming a physician with a specialization in neonatology.

OU Children's Hospital is doing remarkable work, you can read about the work here, and about the Children's Hospital Foundation here.

Since my interests principally center on the medical side of human needs—as a grad student I had the pleasure of working at Children's Hospital in Boston as a Research Assistant on a team that was studying mutations in the tropomodulin-4 gene in patients with congenital muscle myopathies and dystrophies—therefore, KeepTheHeartBeating.org focuses on medically related charitable needs, again, worldwide, many of which are very close to my heart.

Developing-World.org contains "ordinary" stories from young children through to teenagers who are growing-up in nothing less than abject poverty. Their stories convey images and stories of the plight of so many persons of the world who so desperately need the help of... anyone, you, for example. Please take a few moments to read one or two of the short essays mainly from young children about how they see the world from their impoverished perspective. Those essays are available under "Essay's of Poverty" at the top of each page at Developing-World.org. (Click here to Link).

All news within the Developing World is not dire, symptomatic of problems so deeply rooted that there is no hope of change, or clouded by pessimism, so it is our plan to include stories of change, optimism and hope in Developing-World.org as it continues to grow. A very positive source of good news on a wide scale can be found at http://www.kiva.org. Kiva is a non-profit organization based here in the United States that provides micro-loans to small businesses and individuals around the world, mainly in Third-World Nations. These are loans are as small as twenty-five, or fifty dollars, maybe up to two thousand dollars. One would wonder what a person could do with a fifty dollar “business” loan, well, I encourage you to take a few minutes to take a look at Kiva and see what micro-loans can do to change lives. Kiva members loan an amount of money to a person of their choice, over time the loan is most likely repaid, and can then be loaned to another person. It is a wonderful process that is doing amazing things… empowering people to be able to support themselves, their families, and build communities.

Contribute-Now.org, another of our website's, focuses on the needs of communities rather than individual persons. Communities may have different needs. In some instances, a place for children to play a game, a meeting house to discuss local matters or resolving transportation issues may provide great assistance to a wide ranging group of persons.

Hurricanes Katrina, Rita & Ike focused our attention on the plight of hundreds of thousands of persons within this country, but the need also exists in other areas of our great land, and other parts of the world, continuously. I respectfully request that you please remember that same need throughout the year, and occasionally, when you are able, please make a donation to the charity of your choice. The top of each of the pages on each of our websites has a button titled "Charity Lists" which will take you to a page on the site that lists a number of charities. Clicking on a charity will take you directly to their website, and any gift you may bestow upon them is deeply appreciated by us, and flows directly from you to them via their process, we do not receive anything other than satisfaction... and maybe it helps my brother and me sleep a little better at night.

I recommend examining a prospective charity as part of choosing who you wish to donate, too. After looking at many websites that assist in providing information about charitable organizations, my suggestion is Charity Navigator. Charity Navigator appears to be providing unbiased information that is particularly relevant to a prospective donor (click here to see Charity Navigator). We strongly suggest you examine any charity that you are considering, using all of the information available to you.

With patience and persistence great things are achieved.

Your visit is sincerely appreciated.

Thank you, Brooke Roebuck, M.D.

 
More About... Contribute-Now.org

My sister and I each feel a responsibility to help improve our world to the best of our abilities’ through our own deeds and as much as we can with our websites, in whatever small way possible. Both of us remain continuously busy in our given fields of study and work, for me that is history and economics and my work at a large financial company; however, that doesn't relieve me of a social responsibility to try to help the greater good. Our website's, which were described beautifully by my sister, are here to distribute information and connect prospective donors to what we hope might be their “right” charitable cause... which if done correctly, takes work.

Everyone has a desired cause, a “favorite charity” that through personal or impersonal feelings compels us to donate or become a part of an organization through petition, membership, or other activities.  It is very possible, and mostly probable, that your personal cause is the best place for your donation to go. However, I urge you to take a few minutes of your time to look through the extensive lists of foundations and organizations listed here on Contribute-Now.org.

Please do not necessarily feel that any of the charities listed here are in any way better than another or in some way a more worthy destination for your generosity. Although we list hundreds of charities, our websites neither suggest nor endorses any particular organization. Where your donation goes is up to you, and only you.

Choosing the beneficiary for your donation is not easy. Many charitable organizations have excellent ratios of "donation to recipient" conversions, others don't. Those ratios change as the management and guidance changes within the individual organizations. It is not easy to find just the right cause, and charity. To help, we suggest researching through “Charity Navigator’s" website, which appears to be an excellent tool to help you, maybe, find the right beneficiary of your choice (click here to see Charity Navigator).

Regardless, though monetary contributions are generally most needed by Charities, they are not the only things. There are millions of individuals within our great country and across the world who cannot donate money, but do have an interest in helping in some way; you can too. Time, is a great gift. Spend time with a local organization; teach someone something you know... how to replace a broken pane of glass is a great gift to someone who cannot; Help in a local soup-kitchen; drive some nails at a local playground; help with a river-bank clean-up. I think, though, that it is most important to remember that charity begins at home, (which is our modern quote of a portion of Thomas Fullers, complete quote, which actually was "Charity begins at home but should not end There").

Food. Goods. Services. Speak to your local food kitchen or other local entity that is providing humanitarian aid to your local community. Ask them what would be most beneficial... it is possible that a blanket may be in greater need than a food contribution, or, a need for food over clothing, they will be open to question and willing to help.

Scams. They are out there and charitable fund-raising is no different. Be exceptionally cautious of phone solicitations, and even more skeptical of anything you receive via email. Right now there are hundreds if not thousands of fake, bogus, fictitious and just plain illegal activities taking place that ask for your money in ever more creative ways. Some seem very real and very appealing; others are just badly done but still dupe persons out of their hard-earned money. Bogus websites and websites that are specifically designed to look like the websites of genuine charities are also out there, and all it takes is clicking on a link in an email and a little typing. So, before you do, if you do, thoroughly research that charity, or institution, or other potential beneficiary of your hard-earned money, and again, please remember that we do not endorse any particular charity over another, and my sister and I receive nothing from any charity listed on here, this is just our attempt to try to help others in a small way.

Each of our sites is a work in progress, what they may eventually become, how effective they are, how many lives they touch, and how much good they will do still remains to be seen; it is our hope and belief that every little bit helps. We do know however with absolute certainty that to not have created these sites would mean an opportunity lost to maybe make a difference in just one life, somewhere, and if it is just one life that is helped, then it is more than worth the effort.

I
f you are finding it difficult to decide between so many charities, institutions, foundations and other entities, then please think about making a micro-loan through Kiva.org to a single person, or maybe more. Here is my sisters page... http://www.kiva.org/lender and mine http://www.kiva.org/lender. Our pages link to persons within Kiva that are receiving micro-loans from many Kiva members, please take a look at their profiles to see for yourself how these small loans are making a big difference. Micro-loans... are, in essence, money you "lend" into a continuing circle of loan, possible repayment, and then if you choose too, to loan again, and so on. Micro-Finance and organizations such as Kiva are a truly innovative way to help a single person or persons find a way to sustain themselves, help build a community and have that community then have a chance to make a permanent improvement in many lives. My sister and I learned of Kiva while watching a Frontline documentary on PBS a few winters agao. Rather than try to continue to explain about Micro-loans here is a link to a search page at PBS that will link you to PBS information about Kiva: http://www.pbs.org.  Kiva is just one of a number of organizations pioneering micro-loan processes, we encourage you to find more, or if you are a philanthropist, maybe start your own?

Your visit is sincerely appreciated.

Thank you, Chad Roebuck

 

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