Giving Tuesday - How to give all year long and it not cost you anything

November 29, 2022

Giving Tuesday is a chance to think and give to others. In this post I'll talk about how you can help your favorite charity all throughout the year and it won't cost you anything, other than a little time. I also want to tell you about a couple of my favorite charities.

How to give all year long to your favorite charity

Question: Do you shop on Amazon? Did you know Amazon gives away hundreds of millions of dollars every year through their smile program (.5% of all eligible purchases)?

It is easy to set up and if your charity is on the list they can receive thousands or multiple thousands of dollars every year, depending on the number of people who choose the charity and the amount each individual spends. All the details can be found on Amazon's website, linked here.

How to turn on Amazon Smile

Turn on Amazon Smile on your app and select the ministry you would like to give to. For the example I've used Respire Haiti, which I'll talk about why in a few minutes. Amazon will donate a portion of what you spend on Amazon to Respire. I've included the instructions below.

That is it! Pretty easy and now every time you make a purchase on Amazon a little money will go toward your selected charity when you are using your app. If you are using your browser you need to go to: smile.amazon.com.

How a charity can sign up to receive donations on Amazon Smile

The charity lists can be found on this Amazon page. It also has a little more information about how you can use Amazon Smile to support the ministry. If your ministry is not there, they can sign up! I noticed that a lot of churches have signed up. The link to sign up along with the information is here. This is great way to support your favorite ministry.

Why Memory Cross supports small organizations

Memory Cross donates to a number of organizations. Some are larger like the children we support through Food for the Hungry but most are smaller organizations that are helping in specific areas. I prefer smaller organizations because I can get to know the people who are leaders, and I have a better understanding of their heart and mission.

I also prefer places that I either have visited or can visit in the future. I'm going to talk about two of my favorite. The first is Helping Hands Orphanage in Barahona, Dominican Republic.

It was started by my friend, Pastor Pedro who lives in Barahona, Dominican Republic, which is about an hour from the Haitian border. There's a lot of poverty and unfortunately kids end up on the streets because parents are not around or cannot feed them.

In the USA we have a system to help these kids (maybe not the best, but at least something). In The DR there is very little support. Pastor Pedro saw kids on the street and wanted to do something to help, so with the support of friends, family, acquaintances, and the community he started Helping Hands Orphanage.

Rebecca Gentry is the US connection and she lives 20 miles from me so I've gotten to know her pretty well. She is passionate about the orphanage and the kids! In her non-paid position she does fundraising, stays in constant contact with the kids, cooks when she is there, which is about three months a year and does whatever else she can for the kids.

The orphanage is changing the lives of kids. Children that were on the streets are now in school and have a support group that they can count on. They have finished school and many have gone onto higher education.

Respire Haiti

I love it when young people step out in faith to follow God. That is the story of Megan Boudreaux. I came across her story in my Google News Feed a year or so ago and was so fascinated I purchased her book. After reading it I bought a copy for my 12 year old granddaughter.

The book: Miracle on Voodoo Mountain - A Young Woman's Remarkable Story of Pushing Back the Darkness for the Children of Haiti tells her story from office worker to helping the children of Haiti, all while in her 20s. I won't give a recap of the book, you can read it on Amazon, but I will say when I was reading it the similarities between Abraham, being called by God and Megan and her walk are pretty amazing. I'll say it is one of my favorite books and I'd recommend it to anyone, but especially to young women.

The book got me interested in her organization, Respire Haiti and after research decided that this was an organization I wanted Memory Cross to support. Haiti is going through a very difficult time right now as you can tell from the videos below, but Respire Haiti has responded by supporting more kids and they need our help.

The final video is Megan talking about what Respire Haiti does and how it is affecting the lives of children in Haiti. I wanted to write this post so that non-profits that you care about could receive another source of revenue. If you are interested in learning more about either Helping Hands Orphanage or Respire Haiti, visit their website.

Update: 11.30.2022. Thank you for everyone who supported Respire Haiti on Giving Tuesday 2022. They reached their goal and created a little video I wanted to share.