Support the Ronald McDonald House Charities

Recently, McDonald's has been running a charitable campaign for the Ronald McDonald House Charities. If you don't know, the RMHC provides housing for children and their families when they are seeking medical care for a serious illness in a city that's far away from home. They also furnish Family Rooms in the pediatric wards of hospitals and Care Mobile Units, which provide vaccinations and other preventative care measures.

I'm not sure if the promotion is over or not, but lately, customers have been able to make donations at local McDonald's restuarants. If it's over, you can always Donate Online or Volunteer.

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Darfur

My friend Jordana posted on her MySpace blog about the dire situation in the Darfur region of Sudan. She provides links and inspiration on ways to help the people there. Check it out by clicking here.

Cold Weather Compassion and Knitting for Charity

As winter settles in, help out the less fortunate by making sure they are warm. Donate blankets, coats and cold weather accessories to your local homeless shelter or rescue mission.

If you're a knitter, check out this list of ways you can knit for charity.

The Fray and Save a Life Campaign

A little over one year ago, on January 20, 2006, Colin Fahrenkamp, a 19 year old from St. Louis, died in a car accident. His blood alcohol level was above the legal limit.

The last music download on his computer before his death was "How to Save a Life" by the fray. In his memory, Fahrenkamp's family has created a foundation based on the name of the song. The Save a Life Campaign encourages people to have the moral courage to make the right decisions including finding designated drivers and bucklings seatbelts. (Fahrenkamp had his seat belt buckled the night of his death, but it wasn't enough).

For more information, visit SaveALifeCampaign.com

Join Charitable Living's MyBlogLog Community

We now have a community on MyBlogLog.

It's super easy to sign up. Once you do, join the Charitable Living community.

Charitable News 1-19-06

NHL Digest is reporting that some retired players are teaming together to raise money for Alzheimer's research.

Club Jade informs us of an auction by Lucasfilm benefiting the AIDS Emergency Fund.

Empathy tells us that Kevin Bacon is putting his six degrees of separation to good use.

Yarn Works encourages knitters to donate creations to charity for auctions and fundraising.

Neatorama highlights The Little Red Wagon Foundation.

Wishes... 8 of them

10,000 miles. That is a long way; about half-way around the earth. Now imagine riding a bicycle 10,000 miles! Ouch! Paul Sanchez's short film, Solo Ride documents his ride around the US perimeter and his 8 wishes, all for children with learning disabilities and dyslexia.

In 2004, I set out on a 10,000 mile bike ride around the perimeter of the United States to make a difference in the lives of children with dyslexia and learning differences. During my trip, I met 13 children around the country who are chasing their dreams despite their learning differences, and I want every child to have the same opportunity. I have suffered from dyslexia and ADD my entire life, and it held me back for too many years.

One of Paul's wishes is to be on 88 blogs or websites. Have a blog? Help Paul out! Know people on the Oprah show? Help him out even more! He has 8 wishes, and as of today, only one has been granted. Find out more information at: www.8wishes.com!

Link Love

I work in search engine optimization which means I know a few things about how to get web sites ranked well with search engines like Google.

One of the ways to rank well is to have lots of links to your site.

You can help charity sites out by giving them a link on your blog, MySpace page or other web site. But there's a trick - don't just put the name of the organization as the text that gets highlighted (something my industry calls "anchor text"). Use words that describe that organization.

If it's an educational organization - use the word education. If it's an animal shelter, well, you get the idea.

Harris Teeter's Together in Education (TIE)

Harris Teeter, like most grocery stores, has a bonus card program that allows customers to save money on select items each week. Their card is called the VIC Card, but there is a charitable option that can accompany it.

VIC customers can link their card up with an educational organization through the Togetherin Education program. Then, each time the VIC Card is used for a Harris Teeter brand product, a small contribution is made to the selected organization, most of which are schools.