A Charity I Recently Donated To

Do you donate to any charities on a regular basis, or have you made a substantial donation to one in the past? My wife and I just recently made a substantial (keep in mind that this term is relative) donation to a charity which treats children in less-fortunate countries for cleft lip.

Now before I convey myself as a completely selfless person who thinks of everyone before himself, let me just say that this was completely my wife’s idea and I had nothing to do with the decision, other than telling her that it was ok with me if we donated. That being said I should also note that I am a huge proponent of charitable donations and I personally think it would be irresponsible and selfish of me not to share my good fortune with those who are less-fortunate than myself. Of course this is my opinion and maybe there are some out there who do not believe in donating to charities. That is your opinion and you are entitled to it, of course.

The charity that my wife and I donated to is Operation Smile. They are a children’s medical charity that was founded in 1982 by Dr. William P. Magee Jr., a plastic surgeon, and his wife Kathleen S. Magee. Operation Smile provides children in poorer countries with surgery to fix cleft lip.

This is a picture of a little girl before and then after the cleft lip surgery, so you can see how emotionally traumatizing this “disease” could be to someone, and then the results of this miracle surgery.

I am not, of course, trying to tell you where to donate your money. I am letting you know one of the charities I have chosen to donate to and hoping to get an active discussion going on the topic at hand.

The question is then as follows:

What charities do you donate to, and if you choose not to donate to any charities what is your reasoning behind not wanting to donate? I’d love to get some responses and opinions from those on both sides of the fence. In fact to make things interesting if I get at least 15 valid comments on the topic within a week from now I’ll make another donation, this time to a charity of your choice, or if you can not think of one I will donate again to Operation Smile.