In thinking about what to post today, I found that there are a few organizations that I and my husband, Jim Butz, have contributed to and at least one for over 30 years. Two we became involved with since we re-located to San Diego.
Operation Homefront
Operation Homefront provides emergency assistance and morale to our troops, to the families they leave behind, and to wounded warriors when they return home. They have a program to pair military families with those willing to help with the holidays. The high cost of living makes it very difficult for the lower ranking military personnel to keep up with monthly expenses, let alone, the extra money needed around the holiday. Jim is a Vietnam Era veteran and my dad served in the US Navy for 27 years. So we have an affinity for those currently serving. Living close to Camp Pendleton, in Southern California, there are lots of military families in our area and, when we found out about Operation Homefront, we immediately signed up to sponsor a family.
The holidays are especially difficult for young military families with small children—even if mom or dad has just been deployed, you still want to have gifts for the kids to open on Christmas Day and a great meal to share.
The Operation Homefront volunteers provide our contact information to the family, the family calls us and we find out which grocery and department store they shop at. We meet them briefly and provide gift cards to those stores. Although you can provide food and presents, we feel that part of the overall holiday experience is in shopping for the family and something that parents want to do. We love the simple administrative process used by Operation Homefront Southern California. There are no middle people between our donation and the family. The family receives 100% of the funds. Jim and I have sponsored a family for the last five years.
We also donated Jim’s trusty Toyota Camry a few years ago. San Diego County is not a place for a family to live without a working car.
Save the Children
Jim has contributed to Save the Children for the past 32 years. He initially liked the idea of contributing a little each month and also how low the administrative fees were and continue to be. In the beginning, the support was to an individual child and sponsorship was to get them though to their teenage years where they could begin to support themselves. Part of the sponsorship went to community projects that allowed the village to move forward.
Over time, the sponsorship evolved to supporting a community and providing the necessary funds to provide many of the basic needs like clean water, medical supplies, food, and education. Over the years, there have been a number of charitable groups that were exposed for taking a large percentage of donations for corporate salaries, travel and other administrative. Save the Children has always been the model for how things should work, which is why we continue our support.
Salvation Army
It’s hard to say where many people in our country or the world would be without the vast contributions of the Salvation Army. I’ve contributed to the Salvation Army because I have so much confidence in the low-key culture and steadfast excellent administration of the organization.
Sullivan Children’s Foundation
A local San Diego charity we’ve supported is the Sullivan’s Children’s Foundation, founded by entrepreneur and CEO of Sullivan International, Steve Sullivan and Kevin L. Hayford.
The mission of the Sullivan Children’s Foundation is to enhance the quality of life for children throughout San Diego County, neighboring communities, and Baja California (Mexico) by distributing funds to organizations that are dedicated to children’s health, education, and quality of life.
Sullivan Children’s Foundation has donated more than $35,000 to the Foundation for the Children of the Californias which operates the Hospital Infantil in Tijuana, BC. Of this, $20,000 was matched by another organization making our total contributions to exceed $55,000. This hospital offers life saving medical care to the needy children in Southern and Baja California.
There are so many deserving organizations. Our deepest gratitude goes out to all of the dedicated people across the US and around the world that are fighting each and everyday to combat poverty.
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