HOW CHARITIES WORK
By Everett F. Stevens
Staff Writer
Thursday, May 22, 2008 — With the recent success of Laslo Balint's Feed Children in Malawi, the Millsberry Gazette has decided to take a closer look at how charities work.
It all starts with an idea. Much like Laslo Balint traveled to Malawi and saw the children there were in need and decided to create his charity Feed Children in Malawi, many other charities begin the same way.
All it takes is one person, and one idea. It can all begin there. With that one person and one idea, momentum is gained as they begin to spread the word in order to get more support from their community, or other people they know across the country, or even the world.
With this idea, and the belief that everyone working together can make a change, the support behind the charity will grow until it has enough backing to start making changes in whatever area it wishes to help.
Once the charity has established itself, the next step is to find more people to help support the cause.
A good example of this would be a walk-a-thon.
After the cause for the walk-a-thon has been established, the next step would be to get people to sign up for the walk-a-thon to help raise money for whatever the cause is.
The more people who sign up for the walk-a-thon, the more money the charity will receive after the walk-a-thon is finished, so at this stage, recruiting people to help support the cause is one of the most important things that can be done.
There are many different ways that you can personally get involved in a charity.
You can volunteer your time in helping to organize charity efforts.
Another way to get involved would to be actually to volunteer yourself to participate in charity.
This could be something like participating in a walk-a-thon by walking a few miles, or by donating some old clothes to a clothing drive, or volunteering your time by helping out at the local soup kitchen.
All of these are great ways to donate your time. But don't stop there. The possibilities for getting involved in a charity are almost endless.
You should try to find a charity that you personally identify with and believe strongly in. After that, it's all down hill from there.
You can donate your time knowing that whoever is benefiting from it will greatly appreciate all of your hard work.
COLLECT YOUR HEART OUT
Thursday, May 22, 2008 — Collecting can be a great hobby to pick up. If you happen to pick up this hobby, chances are you'll be picking up a lot more. There are many things you can collect. Some people collect stamps. These can sometimes be very valuable, especially if the stamps you collect are rare. Others may prefer to collect comic books. Not only are these great collectable items, but they are also entertaining. Coins are another popular collectable item. These can be valuable too. Whatever collection route you end up taking, you're sure to hold onto a lot of memories.