Be Charitable

Many people donate to charity in December. The holiday season and the end of the tax year cause people to open up their pocketbooks. What about starting a movement for more donations to fall charities.  I’d like to see more of that spirit in October. The benefits of donating your time or money are really year round.

As you are having fun this October, I hope you will consider making a donation to charity. You can make a difference without putting a huge hole in your wallet. Many haunted houses and corn mazes donate part of the proceeds from their event to charity. Others hold a canned food drive. So seek them out.

 Donating To Charitable Groups Related To These Causes:

Juvenile Diabetes – Many children can’t enjoy trick-or-treating because they really shouldn’t eat the candy. Consider donating to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, which is the largest charitable supporter of research on Type 1 Diabetes.

If you have diabetes, or are the parent of a child with diabetes, here are some resources that Diabetes organizations and websites have put together:

Halloween: A Survival Guide for Parents – JDRF
Making Halloween Safe and Fun for Kids with Diabetes – Diabetes Life
Enjoying Halloween When You Have Diabetes – Diabetes Forecast
Halloween Candy Carbohydrate List – American Diabetes Association

Black Cats – The black cat is the animal that is associated with Halloween more than any other. But they get a pretty raw deal. Shelters don’t allow them to be adopted around Halloween for fear of animal cruelty. While I don’t have any statistics to confirm or deny that it takes place, I am familiar with another important stat. Black cats are adopted throughout the year at less than half the rate of cats of another color. And that’s a shame. Two charities that I have found which help black cats are the Black Cat Rescue (Boston) and the Tuxedo Junction Rescue (Austin, Tx). Please consider making a donation to one of these groups or your local no-kill cat shelter.

Drunk Driving – Many people like to drink during Oktoberfest and Halloween. There’s nothing wrong with that. But you can’t then get behind the wheel of a car. One statistic that I saw cited indicates that three times as many people are killed by drunk drivers on Halloween than on New Years Eve. You can help education efforts by donating to Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

Breast Cancer – October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. If you aren’t in the economic position to donate money yourself, consider raising money and walking in one of the many charity walking events held by the American Cancer Society, Susan G. Komen 3-Day or the Avon Walk.

Bird Migration – October is a big month for bird migration.  The Fatal Light Awareness Program based in Toronto helps prevent migratory bird collisions with windows.

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