Will you join me in giving $5 on the 5th?

I’ve been kicking this idea around for a few months now and decided last week it was time to do it, so please hear me out and see if you won’t join me.

If you’re like me, money’s tighter now than ever, and it’s harder and harder to give to people/charities like you used to.  I do not have much money that I can call "disposable income". But like most other people, I can find money once in a while for things like fast food, pop, and birthday gifts.  I don’t know about you, but most months I could give up a meal at Taco Bell or spend a little less on a birthday present, to scratch together $5 for something worthwhile.  

It’s easy to get in the mindset that says that what I have to give isn’t enough to bother with.   But the fact is, for a starving person, $5 may be another week of life (or more, if it goes to an organization that’s good at stretching dollars).

So, in the effort of joining together with others, to make our combined efforts count — even if it’s hard to feel that our little individual contributions are worth anything — I’m going to ask you to join me, once a month, in giving $5 (or $1, or more, whatever you can afford) to a charity of your choice, or to the charity that I’ve profiled, on the 5th of each month.  You don’t have to tell anyone *what* you can give, but I’d love to see a note from you saying that you’re going to try to give.  If you can’t do it every month, that’s okay, but I’d ask you to drop me a note here, and let me know if you’re going to try to join in.   That will let me (and others) know that our drops are going into a much larger bucket, one that might, hopefully, add up to a bucketful in the end.

If you tweet, please use the hashtag #5on5 to promote this to your followers.  You can also follow the new Facebook page: www.facebook.com/pages/5-on-5/182008281815475

For the first month’s charity I’m going to recommend Feeding America.  I picked this charity because I think it’s extremely important to remember that people are hungry all around us, not just in third world countries, and winter is especially harsh on families that can barely keep their bills paid, so food money is especially scarce.  I know I should probably stick to international charities, but I haven’t had time to fully vet any yet, and I have vetted Feeding America already.  If you’re outside of the US I would encourage you to give to a local organization that supports hungry people in your area.  

If you will join me in giving what you can this month, to this charity or any other, please drop me a line and let me know.  If you have any suggestions for next month’s charity, please let me know that as well.  I will post a new challenge on the 5th of each month.