Last week I was very close to donating €10 to a 17-year old girl who was injured in an accident here in Malta where a lightning set collapsed and injured her spinal cord. The complete treatment should cost €150,000 and she needs to start treatment as soon as possible, in order to increase her chances of ever walking again. First treatment costs €20,000 and so far she received over €10,000 in donations.
I visited the website set up to help Vladislava Kravchenko and I thought about giving €10, just to help out a bit.
But I didn’t.
I was really close to do it, when it hit me; Even though I felt sorry for this girl, she at least had almost 18 years worth of life where she could walk and she is still able to make a living even though she cannot walk – and at the same time, children are dying because of hunger or lack of medical care, food and drinking water. Children that doesn’t even get to be 17 years old.
At the same time I hate watching those “commercials” on TV from WSPA and the like, cause I can’t stand seeing how cruel people can be to animals. I would be happy to help out any way I can, to ensure proper animal rights. But I don’t think I’ve ever donated to animal related charities more than once.
Are animals more important than children? How can one donate to animal charity etc., when children are dying and also in need of charity?
Next month I’m going to a wedding where they don’t want any gifts. They say, “if you want to give something, give to charity”. That made me think even more about which charity to donate to.
I understand that one cannot save the world alone, but what makes you decide which charity you want to donate to – and why? Sound off in the comments below.
I’ll be sure to update you with what charity I decide to donate to regarding the wedding, at a later time.
Yep, it would be impossible to give even $1 to EACH person who is in desperate need. I belong to a church which does missions both in my city and in other parts of the world, so I give a certain percent of my salary to it and hope they will use it for the greatest benefit. Also, since I am an animal nut 🙂 I sponsor a kitty at the Blind Cat Rescue and Sanctuary in North Carolina. That is only $1 a day to sponsor a cat. I figure I can give up a couple of beers each week to help a helpless creature, right? 🙂
.-= Christie´s last blog ..MiscBytes unusual niche of the month =-.
I have an idea 🙂 why don’t you come to Malta and pick up the 2 kittens and their mum cat that we have outside in the garden at our office? We don’t want them there, never did. And now they have pretty much taken over the garden, they *charge* at us when we go out there, hissing and showing teeth. In the beginning it used the be the other way round, but it seems the kittens have now grown up and are no longer scared of us…
Hello Klaus,
I choose not to donate any money to charity, as I don’t believe money is the answer. Even if it is the answer, I still don’t give as I like to be the help, rather than use money as the help. I like helping people in other ways, within my own reach and I do that already. 🙂
.-= Ana´s last blog ..23:23 =-.
Ana, what if one is not able to help in any other way than money – then what to do? 🙂
You are already doing it, working from the heart. 🙂
.-= Ana´s last blog ..23:23 =-.
I struggle with this, too. There are so many good causes, it is hard to figure where to draw the line. A friend says that what he wants to do is set a budget for charity at the start of the year, and then decide through the year who to give to. After he exceeds his budget, then he would just decline further donations until the next year.
.-= Evan Kline´s last blog ..Google Voice – A Primer =-.
Sounds like a good idea with a budget, I’d have to think about that. But it still leaves me wondering about *what* charity to use my budget on 🙂
Just read the story of the female..quite sad. On the other hand, there are children going through much worse. It is difficult to make everyone happy.
.-= The Gooroo @ iBlogPlanet.com´s last blog ..I’m A “Senior”, So They Say =-.
Exactly – it is quite sad. And even though she is highly likely to receive compensation from the people responsible for her accident, it is very unlikely that it will happen anytime soon – which means it might be too late for her to be able to walk again.
But as you say, and I point out in the post, there are people/children going through much worse.
Either way you look at it, it could be worse. Every situation can be topped. No matter what kind of a problem one person has, someone else has a worse problem. It is really hard to make a decision as to who to help.
I say help the person who is most likely to contribute back to the world. If the 17 year old is likely to walk again and get education, and job afterwards, which contributes to many of us, indirectly, then she should be helped. If someone else needs help who will just cause more problems, or may not help the world at all, then that person should not be helped. Thats how I look at it when I donate my time or money. I help those that will help the world in return.
Jason,
Those are some very, very good points you’re making. A way I never thought of it. It kinda follows the “Give a man a fish and he can eat today, give him a fishing pole and can eat for years”.
I take it, you are never going to donate to anything related to animals, then? 🙂
No, I would definitely donate, or help in some way, to animals. However, if I had an option between helping out a 17 year old girl/guy, or a sick puppy, I would much rather donate to the girl/guy than the puppy.
.-= Jason´s last blog ..No future for us… =-.
It’s hard to really give a definite answer to which charity to donate to. It’s more like an instinct, a call from the heart. Sometimes you just feel ‘this is what I shall do’, then just go for it. Life is tough, but your friends who are encouraging people to donate to charity instead of giving them gifts, that’s just one of the greatest thing to do and a role model. It’s truly inspiring.
.-= Ching Ya´s last blog ..How Seriously Do You Take Blog Comments? =-.
Yup – they just say that anything they might receive in gifts are just luxury items that they don’t really need – except of course for personal stuff like pictures or home made crafts/arts and so on.
ich denke Spenden ist eine Gefühlssache es kommt ganz darauf an wie tief eine Geschichte einen Berührt und dafür Spendet man dann auch.