Write your injuries in dust, your benefits in marble.
–Benjamin Franklin
My wife and I have been giving to charities since we first met in our early 20s. We’ve learned that sometimes people who don’t have much still give a lot. As youth emerging into adulthood, we gave our time, our money, and our passion to try and help make a positive difference in our world. The pleasure we took in supporting our causes established a philosophy of giving in our household—one that we now hope to instill in our children as they grow and learn about the world. At first our giving was to large national nonprofits, like Sierra Club, but now we’ve grown to want to give directly to the nonprofits in our local community—ones that support the local economy, give opportunities to youth and artists in our region, and serve those in our community who need support. Organizations that we can visit, that we can witness the impacts of, and join in on successes with. We like to get to know our local nonprofits and do what we can to support them; they do so much to keep our community a great place for us to live and work.
Even a small amount makes a big difference to a local nonprofit. Whether you care about the environment (Clearwater, Scenic Hudson, Wild Earth); the arts (Women’s Studio Workshop, Arts Mid-Hudson, Rosendale Theatre); youth development (Children’s Media Project, Center for Creative Education, Kingston Boys and Girls Club); local community members in need (Queen’s Galley, Family Services, Ulster Corps); the local economy (Hudson Valley Current, Re>Think Local, Rondout Valley Growers Association); or animals (Catskill Animal Sanctuary, local shelters)—whatever you care about—there are plenty of fabulous local nonprofits to choose from, and they all celebrate any show of support.