DONATE

Daily, we’re asked to donate to a myriad of worthy causes. Our mail contains solicitations from both area and national charities. We watch TV commercials showing Shriners Hospitals for Children and the youngsters being treated for orthopedic conditions, spinal cord injuries and cleft lips and palates. Wounded Warriors assists veterans. At holiday time, Salvation Army bell ringers with red kettles stand in front of stores collecting for the needy. We are also solicited for money to rescue dogs being abused and to save the elephants in Africa. Some associations offer a gift such as a tee shirt, a blanket or return-address labels to show our support. Others sponsor gatherings of people enjoying a walk, a motorcycle ride or a meal.

Heart disease, cancer and Alzheimer’s hit all families. Others, known as ‘orphan diseases’, strike a small percentage of people. They don’t attract much public attention, research or funding. I’d never heard of scleroderma until my cousin told me she was dying from this autoimmune disease that affects skin, tissues, blood vessels and major organs. Its cause if unknown and there is no cure.

One organization touched me directly. When I was 19, my nagging cough was diagnosed as a serious case of tuberculosis. There was no charge for my five months stay at the Rockford Municipal Sanitarium, which treated patients from several, northern Illinois counties. Until 1957, my only contact with TB had been the Christmas seals Mom purchased every winter. The disease had been the scourge of the world before the development of the antibiotic streptomycin in 1946 made effective treatment and cure a reality.

Some solicitations are local. I worked with a parents’ group raising funds to establish an area sheltered workshop that employs people with disabilities after they age out of school.

How do you decide which charities to support?