Posts Tagged ‘charity’

Recycling Your Old Computers

Friday, July 8th, 2011

Many progressive towns and cities are either already recycling or are thinking of recycling old computers. Numerous municipalities already do this with television sets, but not so many do it for computers.

There are quite a few reusable parts in a computer when you think of it, but most owners simply throw their old computers away when they stop working or become ‘too slow’.

Then they go out and buy a new one which has exactly the same DVD player as they just put in the bin. That goes for the net card, the hard drive and the modem and other bits and items as well, I am sure. There might even be toxic substances in the chips that could contaminate the soil at the landfill site.

It will almost certainly be standard practice in the not too distant future to recycle computers and other items of electronic equipment. In fact there are already some places that gratefully accept ‘old’ computers, although there are not a lot that recycle the parts out of broken ones.

Some churches and most charity stores will take working computers to redistribute (or sell) to children, whose parents cannot afford to buy them or to be sent to Third World countries, where there is a dire need for computer hardware so that children are not left behind in the technological advances being made in communication and workplace apparatus.

However, there do not seem to be enough people cannibalizing old computers to make ones that work. After all, any computer is better than no computer at all and it does not take an advanced machine to get on the Net, especially if you do not insist on running Windows 7. Older versions of Windows are more that capable or running Internet software. We used them for years, didn’t we?

Monitors and printers are also reusable or even recyclable, although these things are not usually thrown out as frequently as computers. Monitors can be taken care of in the same fashion as televisions, anyway it is always handy to have a standby monitor.

Ink cartridges ought to be refilled rather than renewed. All you require is a bottle of the correct type of ink. Indian ink will do for the black cartridge which is the one most users replace the most frequently.

Take a syringe with a needle, suck up a couple of millilitres and squirt it through the hole in the side – NOT through the hole in the bottom, or you will damage the cartridge. This hole is normally concealed with sticky tape or a label, but it is easy to find if you are searching for it. you can refill cartridges a dozen or more times, before they are clogged and that can save hundreds of dollars (here a black cartridge costs $10-15).

Colour cartridges are refillable in the same fashion and you ought to be able to get hold of the three inks necessary for colour printing at a printers. Colour cartridges are even more expensive to replace. Another advantage of refilling yourself is that you will not run out of ink part way through a print job.

Owen Jones, the article of this article, writes on a number of topics, but is now involved with the Internet router. If you want to know more, please visit our website at Best Router For Gaming Online

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U.S. Marine Corps Reserve’s ‘Toys for Tots’ Program

Sunday, June 5th, 2011

The U. S. Marine Corps Reserve has a sixty odd year old scheme to collect toys for tots from needy families both in the United States and in other countries. The aim is to save new unwrapped toys during October, November and December every year and then hand those toys out as Christmas presents to deprived children in the community in which the campaign is being conducted.

Their goal is to deliver a message of hope to underprivileged children in order to encourage them to become ‘responsible, productive, patriotic citizens’ in the words of their web site.

One of the main aims of Toys for Tots is to unite the communities where U.S Marine Reserve units are stationed for the three months of October, November and December each year in the gathering and distribution of new toys to children from less well-off families in order to help them experience the joys of Christmas.

One of the aspirations is that the recollection of receiving these gifts every year will encourage the kids to appreciate the communities where they live and take an active part in those communities when they become older.

Communities where there is no unit of U.S. marine Corps Reserves can also take part in the program but they should first register for authorization. These non-Marine organizations will usually, but not always, be ex-Marines.

These organizations organize fund-raising events throughout the year in order to finance the acquisition of new toys since donations of new toys do not always meet the organizations’ needs. These fund-raising events could include sports days, golfing tournaments, bicycle races, swimming tournaments et cetera.

Toys for Tots started in 1947 when Major Bill Hendricks, USCR and a group of Marine Reservists in Los Angeles collected and handed out 5,000 toys for deprived children in the local area.

The original concept sprang from Major Hendrick’s wife, Diane, who had made a doll for a deprived child. She gave it to her husband to give to a suitable charity. When he could not find one, she suggested that he start one himself, so he did just that.

The following year Marine Corps Reserve units across the country adopted the program and it has been actively supplying toys to disadvantaged tots ever since. Walt Disney got involved from the very beginning by designing the logo that the Marine Reserve charity still uses today.

Other celebrities to become involved in the early days were Nat ‘King’ Cole, Peggy Lee and Vic Damone, who recorded the Toys for Tots theme, which was written especially for the charity by Sammy Fain and Paul Webster.

Many celebrities have been involved during the years. People like Bob Hope, John Wayne, Doris Day, Lorrie Morgan, Tim Allen, Kenny Rogers and Billy Ray Cyrus. First Lady Nancy Reagan acted as the national Spokesperson in 1983 and First Lady Barbara Bush acted as the national Spokesperson in 1992. She wrote in her autobiography tenderly of her involvement with Toys for Tots and called it one of her favourite charities.

Owen Jones, the author of this article, writes on a variety topics, but is now involved with Silver Cross Rocking Horses. If you want to know more, please visit our web site at Rocking Horses for sale.

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Charity Shops And Closet Clean Outs

Sunday, May 1st, 2011

One way of dividing up people that crosses the barriers of age, sex, religion and ethnicity is whether you are a hoarder or not. There are a great deal of hoarders, although some hoarders refer to themselves as collectors or just nostalgic.

That last sentence might be a bit unfair. Collecting can be explained away as a hobby and nostalgia can be considered a yearning for days when we were in better shape.

However, what it all comes down to for billions of households is the buildup of old junk and old clothing. My mother and her mother had decades of clothes that they were sure would come back into fashion one day.

They were probably correct and it almost certainly did, but they had to keep the stuff for twenty or thirty years and then teenagers were wearing it, not middle-aged mothers and grandmothers.

My point is that we ought to clear out our closets and wardrobes more frequently in order to create space and pass things on to people who can use them now rather than in twenty years time. I think that closets should be gone through once or twice a year.

Apart from seasonal stuff, if you have not worn something for months, there must be a good reason. Either you do not like it any more; you have put on weight or it does not suit you. So why not pass it on? Write it off and let someone else benefit from it before the moths do.

You could donate them to the Salvation Army, Shelter or any other charity shop or wait for your local church, school or scout brigade to hold a fund-raising bazaar or bring-and-buy sale.

This clears out room for you so that you can see the wood for the trees, allows a charity to profit from your surplus and allows someone more needy than you to wear decent quality clothing at less than the retail cost.

If you have let things drift a little, not to worry. There are charity shops that have racks specializing in old-fashioned gear. They call it retro and there are loads of people who enjoy wearing it.

There are also theatre and film companies scouring the secondhand clothes shops searching for period clothing. One of your old suits could feature in the next Fifties remake!

However, passing your old, decent quality clothing on to charity stores or specialist retro shops, whether you donate or sell them, is merely one side of the coin. You can also purchase from these stores.

If you have not been in a charity shop for years or think that you would not be seen dead in one, then you should go along and have a look. They are no longer the sad, amateurish places that they once were. They are run professionally and have a decent turnover of stock. They are a particularly decent source of warm winter clothing such as overcoats, so why not do everyone a favour and go and have a look sometime soon?

Owen Jones, the author of this article, writes on a number of subjects, but is now concerned with the jean jacket. If you would like to know more, please visit our website at Mens Overcoats For Sale.

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Some Of The Best Church Fund Raisers

Tuesday, April 26th, 2011

All buildings need maintenance and this includes churches. In the past, it was not so much of a difficulty as it is today, because the congregations were larger, so if everybody chipped in, the maintenance could be done.

These days, the congregations are smaller,so donations have to be larger. The cost of maintenance has also risen considerably. One of the main methods of topping up the maintenance fund is by fund raising, which involves holding fund-raising events.

It seems that every charitable organization is having the same problem, because in an average sized town, there are often a dozen fund-raising events every Saturday and Sunday. There are church fund-raisers, scout and youth club fund-raisers, school, YMCA and Women’s Institute fund raisers all battling to be the prime event of the weekend.

This amount of competition makes it difficult to make a decision about which sort of event to hold. In this piece, we will take a look at some of the most popular types of fund-raising events – perhaps the kinds of events that will raise the most money for your charity’s building or your favourite good cause.

You could distribute catalogue order books. Some catalogue order books are non profit-making, which means that the catalogue firm does not make a profit so that your church can. These catalogues are mostly accessible only to churches, but some schools run them too. If you do not want to step on anybody’s toes, you could run your church’s catalogue only during the school’s summer vacations.

You could hold cookie dough sales. If each household in the congregation donated two pounds of cookie dough, the kids could go out and sell it on Saturday and Sunday mornings. This works well a few days before a big Bank Holiday like Thanksgiving or Independence Day. it also works fairly well throughout the summer.

You could hold a dinner dance with guest speakers. The dinner could also have a theme – a different one (or none) every time, until you find the most popular: Barn Dance, Viennese, Cajun, Gypsy et cetera. The food would match the theme and so would the music. The speaker must not be the vicar or the charity’s president, but must be someone off the guest speaking circuit – someone who can bring the house down with humorous anecdotes and stories.

Do not make them cheap, aim to double your money and invite local business to purchase a table of six or eight for their star employees and customers. If you go down this path, you could also organize a boxing event with dinner jackets and a five course meal.

Ask the local amateur boxing club to help set up a series of bouts with a neighbouring town and offer them 20% or whatever. They might do it free for the free publicity or they could hold the raffle (the prize could be the winner’s boxing gloves signed by all the fighters).

You could hold a day out with a difference. You could have a travelling fair put up its rides (but pay a rent for the privilege) and you could have stalls and small ‘cafes’. You could hire a bouncy house for kids to go moonwalking (and charge for it), but what would make it a lot different would be if the local amateur dramatic society put on a suitable play for you.

I do not know what you would call suitable: it could be a classic, a comedy or even a pantomime, but obviously you would have to give them time to study their lines, so you would have to plan well in advance. They hold outdoor plays like this in rural Thailand and they are hugely popular for miles around.

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece, writes on a variety topics, but is now concerned with the bouncy castles for sale. If you would like to know more, please visit our website at Bouncy House Rentals

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Car Donation Charity

Wednesday, May 5th, 2010

If you are thinking of helping a charity, one way for you to do so is to go through a donate a car charity. This means that you will be able to help people with your old car. However, it may be very beneficial for you to know the following steps in order to carry out the process of donating the car smoothly.

First, make sure to donate a car to the right charity group. They should be fitted to receive the vehicle that you want to donate. With this, you can use the internet to find the right charitable organizations where you donate a car and use it to support their charitable cause. Check on a number of organizations to find the best institution where you can give the vehicle.

Next, check the computation of the amount that will go to charity. This way you will know whether you will be able to get a tax deduction. There are some amounts of money that will be regarded as the appropriate charitable contributions and thus will result for the tax benefits that may be used throughout the year.

Third, it is very important for you not to get help from middlemen. These middlemen are the ones at intermediary institutions that get donations from people through media. This is because they will not usually give the appropriate value of the donation to charity since they would keep up to 90% of the money from themselves instead of giving it to the charitable institutions.

Fourth, getting a tax deduction from donating a car is only possible if the institution is accredited or recognized by the IRS. With this, you may want to check the IRS website so you will know if the charitable institution is accredited or not.

If you do not want to spend a lot of money, you may want to delivery the vehicle by yourself. Aside from just saving money, it will also maximize the charity work that you will do since you will give it personally instead of using a car transport service.

Finally, you have to make sure that you transfer the car with the utmost care. You may have to properly and formally transfer the title to the charity institution. Remember that the owner of the car label should not be left blank but it should bear the name of the charitable institution.

As you complete all these steps, you can easily donate a car without experiencing any hassles. With this, you can be able to do something for a good cause and give the proper value and amount of your car to charity without all the stress and financial troubles.

Why not donate a car to a charity business rather than selling it for a few hundred dollars? There are several car donation charity programs to choose from which provide a diversity of benefits to the business as well as tax benefits for you.

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Give Your Car For A Good Cause

Tuesday, March 16th, 2010

Every person who owns a car and has a high sense of lending their hands to the needy is encouraged to offer it to charity. Aside from cars, you can also donate old trucks, boat, mobile homes or vans. The charitable institution converts the car donations into cash as they are sold in auction sales.

Once you donate a car, your car will be sold in great deals. You can start off by finding a trustworthy charitable institution that will be your beneficiary. Check if they really are a legitimate foundation and that the money will go to their programs.

Once you have checked the background of the certain car donation charity, you should talk to them to confirm if they can take your car. You should also check the terms and conditions such as the percentage of the proceeds that will go to them and how much you will keep.

Before deciding on where to donate a car, check with them if they will give more than 75% of their share to their beneficiary. Bear in mind that there are charities which portray themselves as so but they keep the most profit for themselves.

You can always contact this donate a car company through a 1-800 number or email them in through their website. Give them the necessary information that they need.

In the process of donate a car, will ask for information such as the make and model of the car and the year it was released. They will also ask for the car’s VIN or the vehicle identification number, the overall condition of the car. You should also provide your contact information so that the car donation charity can get the car.

After you have furnished the needed details to the car donation charity, wait for a few days for them to get your car. They will then require you to sign a few documents. Before signing them, read the contents carefully.

In the process, you will not be required to get involved in the sales process or know you bought your car. A sale is expected to happen in less than a month and after everything is done, the car donation charity will give you information for you to file for a tax deduction. With this donate a car program, you then have access to this privilege.

There are many car donation charity options that are very helpful to children. Why not donate a car to a charity organization rather than selling it for a few hundred dollars.

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Popularity Of Car Donations

Friday, February 19th, 2010

Car donation can cause anyone a great deal of benefits. It is a brand new way of expressing your support to your most favored charitable institution. You can even finally have a destination for your unused vehicles instead of just adding up some junk in your own home. Through car donation, you can still see them be put into good use.

The very first step to car donation is to find out the right institutions that would accept car donation directly. This means that the car donation pledges will be the one to give the car directly without any intermediating organizations. The reason for this is that their services may get you more cost that what you expect. With this, they have to find an organization that will process the car donation on their own.

Second is to research well about the charities which support such car donation programs and find out more if they hold a dependable credibility. The track record of the charity of your choice should all be registered and if possible have online records at the online site of the Better Business Bureau through the help of the Charity Navigator.

Third is that if you are really too busy, then you can check the computations of how much the service of a middleman would cause you. Just be sure to ask the charitable organization of how much of the car’s value would go to them. Hence, if the charity assigns some flat fees, then your car donation may not be approved for some tax deductions.

Aside from cars, there are other types of vehicles which you can donate to charity that can be helpful for a possible tax write-off. Motorcycles, trucks, boats and planes can also be donated. For as long as the vehicle is still whole and completely intact and can still be used.

Once you have chosen an ideal charitable institution, then you must deliver your car donation on your own. If you would have someone to deliver it for you or if you would have it picked up, then this may cost you some additional costs and charges.

Since you will transfer the car by yourself, it is essential for you to know transport the car as safely as possible. Do not give it some last-minute ticket violations as well as accidents. It is also important for you to smoothly transfer the vehicle’s ownership to the institution.

To be formally eligible for the tax deduction out of car donation, you must make sure that you hold all the proper documents you need to serve as proof like a written acknowledgement. This could be done in either paper or electronic form. Hence, it could truly help a lot if you would choose a charitable group which would use your car donation for their activities or give it to the needy ones.

There is many car donationprograms that are very helpful to charity. Why don’t you donate a car to a charity program rather than trying to sell it for a few hundred dollars.

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Donating A Car And The Benefits

Tuesday, January 26th, 2010

The very first thing that comes to mind if a person has extra unused items at home is to sell them. The reason for this is the fact that they can get at least some amount of money for the stuff that they do not use anymore. And aside from just earning money, they are also able to clean out their unused household stuff.

This is the reason why a lot of people would sell their cars in return for some money. However, it will be more beneficial for the car owners to just donate a car to charity than selling it. By donating a car to charity will help them do the charity work that they want to do.

If you want to sell your car but it is already very old, one of the disadvantages that you will notice is that it may be very hard to sell. Of course, people will have second thoughts of buying an old car because of its reliability. This means that the vehicle may not work properly since they are much older so they may not run properly anymore.

Another important thing to consider is that it is a lot better to donate a car as your efforts may not be all that worth selling it. In the process, you might have to do a lot of other things like when you transfer ownership to the new owner. However, once the price is only a few hundred dollars, you might feel that your efforts would just end up useless.

If you donate the car to charity, what you just need to do is get the documents that is needed for the car and get assistance from a donate a car program. And since it is charity, you will find that a lot of organizations already accept this type of charity donations from individuals.

Such organizations can accept any kind of vehicle that you are willing to donate. Nevertheless, you have to double check various information about these organizations, by checking on their IRS status through some online resources and references. By doing so, you would be able to find about qualifying for tax deductions.

It is possible that you will acquire some tax deduction incentive once you donate a car to charity. And hence, you would realize how much better it is to donate it than just sell it and earn money that you know is a price that is not worth.

So if you have a unused car at home, why do the extra effort in selling it while you can donate them which is an easier procedure. As long as you find a reliable charity, you will definitely help them in pushing their causes forward.

donate a car to a charity organization rather than selling it for a few hundred dollars? Car donations are very helpful to charities.

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