Charity December: St. Jude Children's Research Hospital

Each day during December, I'll be featuring a charitable organization that I support. These are my personal choices and reflect nothing other than that.

In college, I was a little sister to Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity, whose national charity was St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. (The fraternity recently renewed its partnership with St. Jude.) Founded by actor Danny Thomas (a TKE brother), St. Jude treats children of all ages who have cancer and other serious illnesses, without regard to the family's ability to pay. The hospital also supports and conducts research to discover cures and better treatment options. About 5,700 patients are treated at the hospital every year.

Charity December: Heifer International

Each day during December, I'll be featuring a charitable organization that I support. These are my personal choices and reflect nothing other than that.

A few years ago, I gave my sister a water buffalo for Christmas. (Veggie Tales fans will get the in-joke.) Wouldn't have been able to do it without Heifer International. Sure, you can actually give a heifer; the animals go to families in developing nations, both to supplement their food and to help them make money to improve their living conditions. But beyond heifers and water buffalo, you can give animals as varied as llamas, honeybees, goats, and geese, plus trees and all sorts of different combinations. (And if you can't swing a full animal, you can even give part of one.)

You Get What You Give

Each year, I attempt to give 10% of my total income to charitable organizations. I rarely manage that amount (it’s harder than it seems), but I keep trying anyway. Anyway, I’m posting links to the organizations to which I’ve donated or will donate this year, with a link to each web site and a brief statement explaining why I support it.

Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS

My sister and I are big Broadway fans, especially when it comes to musicals, and twice we’ve attended performances at which the companies provided special offers in exchange for donations to the fund. As a result, we were able to get our pictures made with Jai Rodriguez back in 2005 (The Producers) and this year onstage at the Shubert Theater with Clay Aiken (Spamalot!).

Equality Now

My sister and I learned about this organization’s work through Joss Whedon, creator of some of our favorite universes, including Firefly and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. And, of course, Joss Is Boss. We first donated through the Atlanta Browncoats’ participation in Can’t Stop the Serenity 2008.

Heifer International

It’s a long story, but suffice to say it involves water buffaloes and VeggieTales. At any rate, great organization, great program, deserves your support.

Kids Need to Read

Firefly star Nathan Fillion co-founded this group to promote reading among kids and support libraries in providing them with good reading material. As good Browncoats, my sister and I have a strong tendency to do whatever Captain Tightpants says. (Even when that means strapping dead bodies to the front of the ship.)

Susan G. Komen for the Cure

Finally, my mom is a breast cancer survivor, so this one is closest to my heart. I also like Save Second Base and encourage everyone to buy one of their fun t-shirts.