Charity in the Off Season

Christmas is still nine shopping months away, although local retailers will probably deck the halls right after stashing all the back to school sale signs. The Salvation Army bell-ringers will start showing up right after Halloween and United Way will start their annual fundraising drive around the same time. Let’s just say the winter holiday season is still a solid six months away and call it good.

A lot of people give during the holiday season. They generously open their wallets and sign up for payroll deduction and pat themselves on the back for donating to the needy while loading up their carts at Walmart or wherever with more plastic goodness for the kiddies and tchotchkes for the in-laws and so forth.

Sometimes, it's a long time between Christmases for charity organizations. I was going to write this post a week or so ago when a tiny blurb appeared in the middle of the Gazette-Times asking people to donate towels and washcloths to Community Outreach. With an average of 50 or so low-income and homeless clients stopping in to take showers at COI on a daily basis, this seemed like a worthy call. There are often inexpensive towels at the Dollar Store and sometimes the Canned Food Outlet, plus almost everyone can spare at least a single towel from their own linen closets.

I put off the article when I was notified about my impending fame and glory (hah!) and then saw a second article in Saturday's paper about Community Outreach facing a $60,000 budget shortfall this year. A couple of towels won't be enough.

Some of us have the option to donate throughout the year through payroll deduction, but I know most of us probably also donate piecemeal to other charities who ask for money, and most often around the holidays. Why don't we continue the trend throughout the year? Community Outreach is an amazing resource for a town this size. They need our help. Even those of who you have criticisms about them drawing in homeless from surrounding towns (the argument I hear most often) can cough up $20 every now and then. If you have to justify this to yourself by saying it keeps the homeless guys from sleeping in your rose bushes, that works for me.

If you can't donate money (or don't feel like it... hey, your prerogative!), there are several charities in town that maintain wish lists for non-financial goods they need. This might be nothing more than a blogtastic guilt trip, but really, how hard is it to glance at the lists to see if that thing in your garage that you never actually use might actually be needed in the community?

• Community Outreach's Wish List
• Mario Pastega House (call 768-4650 for wish list items)
• Home Life's Wish List
• ARC of Benton County's Resale Stores (if you want to consign something)
• Linn-Benton Food Share (primarily need money, but also freezers)
• Heartland Humane Society Wish List
• Boys & Girls Club Wish List
• Vina Moses (general donation page)

A major caveat: Please do not treat charities as garbage repositories. I've known so many people who actually thought it was an acceptable practice to take their broken appliances and furniture or clothing with holes and missing buttons to charity drop-off points. That just raises the garbage bill of the charity; they aren't going to give unusable crap to the needy.

I like the fact that we have a giant Goodwill in town, mainly because I have a teenager with an appreciation for "vintage" finds that actually fit into her meager allowance budget, but I'd rather take my items where they will be given directly to the needy or used in some fashion on their behalf. Vina Moses doesn't charge for clothing, for example.

The Corvallis school system is also another worthy recipient for any spare change you have lying around. You can even help them simply by signing up your Safeway Club Card so that a percentage based on your grocery bill is forwarded to your school of choice. First Alternative Co-Op also donates 1% of their Wednesday receipts to a local charity that varies by month. This month, money will go to Stone Soup.

When all else fails, or when you simply don't have anything else to give, remember that you can always give blood. There are regular Red Cross blood drives here in town on campus, at the hospital and Corvallis Clinic, at CH2M Hill and at the Co-op.

Edit: Local cat-lover and cat-fixer Strayer has also recently added a donation button to her blog. The service she provides is valuable, so please help if you can.