It’s Chooseday Tuesday. I know that last week I declared it Tango Tuesday, but as soon as I’d posted my blog, my friend Ralph came up with the infinitely better name, Chooseday Tuesday. And it rhymes!
The premise remains the same. Since I started “Causes & Effect” two weeks ago, I have been overwhelmed with suggestions for worthy organizations for my daily $10 donation.
I’m keeping a list with the name of the person who makes the suggestion beside it. Picking a charity can be overwhelming and I’m committed to picking one for 365 days in a row, so it’s a very appealing thought to know that on Tuesdays, I can go down the list of great ideas readers have already suggested and pick one.
Plus, part of the reason for starting “Causes & Effect” was to feel connected. I thought learning about and giving to a charity or good cause every day would make me feel more connected to the world (I started to type “outside world,” as if I’m in jail. Fear not, I’m not writing this from some cell block. There’s been no unfortunate incarceration.) I work from home and it can feel isolating and suffocating at the same time. What I didn’t expect was to feel such a sense of connection to my Facebook friends and some new friends, many of whom are teaching me about a wide range of organizations that I’d never known about that are doing incredible things.
I started the journey by myself, but it’s clear that the solo part ended the minute I published the first entry, so it only feels right to turn at least one day a week over to someone else’s great suggestion.
So today’s $10 goes to Desert AIDS Project for my friend Darrell. Darrell is leaving Liberty Hill Foundation, a wonderful organization for which I am extremely proud to be a board member. And he’s leaving Los Angeles, which makes me very sad. He’s moving to Palm Springs to work with Desert AIDS Project, a comprehensive HIV/AIDS service provider that offers on-site medical care, HIV education, and a full-range of social services.
During his tenure as chief donation officer at Liberty Hill, Darrell did his job extremely well, but he also held this first-time board member’s hand and helped me navigate the waters. He was always willing to answer any question, no matter how idiotic it must have seemed, and had infinite patience for explaining some of the deeper mysteries of how Liberty Hill worked. Plus, he loves country music, so we went to some really fun shows together, including Brad Paisley and Miranda Lambert.
The good news is I now have a free place to stay in Palm Springs.
Jan. 15: Desert AID Project http://www.desertaidsproject.org/
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