Thanksgiving

[Thrillhouse]

Now that Thanksgiving is near anyone doing any philanthropies related to this holiday?

[dzrose93]

My alumnae chapter met last night for our annual Rainbow Village get-together.

Rainbow Village is a charitable organization here in Georgia that provides homes and job-skills training for battered women and their children. It's a small organization that hosts about 16 families at a time, but it has been extremely beneficial for many homeless families over the past 10 years. Each family is allowed to stay for a total of 11 months.

During that time, the women are given counseling to help them come to terms with the domestic abuse they suffered. They are also provided with a furnished home as well as job-training classes so that they can be eligible for better-paying jobs which allows them to support their families as a single parent. The children are given after-school care so that the women can work without worrying about their kids getting into any trouble (children of domestic abuse are statistically high-risk kids for drugs, teen pregnancy, and other problems).

Last night, the director of Rainbow Village came to give us our annual update on how things are going, how the families are doing, and what they need from us this year.

We all brought Kroger and Publix gift certificates so that each family will be able to purchase food for the holidays, and as a group we contributed a DZ check to the village to be used in whatever way they see fit.

The director also brought with her some "House Pins" which are homemade pins designed by a woman who used to be homeless. The lady crafts these pins herself and then gives them to charities to sell. Half of the money goes to the lady, and half goes to the charity. I bought one for myself and one for my mother! :)

I'd love to hear what other groups are doing philanthropy-wise this year! :D

[carnation]

Several groups here buy turkeys for the Hispanic immigrants. Most of them are too proud to go down to DHR and register for free food so when you buy these people a turkey, they're extremely grateful, plus you don't get that sinking feeling you have when you take someone a turkey and 17 other groups have just unloaded their bounty on the table too.