Just In Time For The Holidays, It's Pajiba's Favorite Charities

By Jodi Smith | Guides | December 19, 2019 |

By Jodi Smith | Guides | December 19, 2019 |

It’s that time of year when people need a kindness from strangers more than usual. Whether it is donating coats for those enduring the harsh weather, providing money to feed people at Christmas, or giving backpacks of lovies to homeless children, charities are a way to help. Here are some of our favorites.

Project Night Night

Project Night Night donates over 25,000 Night Night Packages each year to homeless children 12 and under who need our childhood essentials to have a concrete and predictable source of security and an increased exposure to high-quality literacy materials during their time of upheaval. Each Night Night Package contains a new security blanket, an age-appropriate children’s book, and a stuffed animal — all nestled inside of a new canvas tote bag. By providing objects of reliable comfort, Project Night Night reduces trauma and advances the emotional and cognitive well-being of the children we serve.

Every child who receives one of our Night Night Packages leaves the shelter owning a book that encourages reading and family bonding, a security blanket that can be cuddled, and a stuffed animal that can become a cherished friend. We have one objective - to deliver our Night Night Packages to every homeless child in the country who needs one.

Feeding America

The Feeding America network is the nation’s largest domestic hunger-relief organization, working to connect people with food and end hunger. Donors, staff, and volunteers all play an important role in our efforts to end hunger in the United States.

Luxe Paws

Luxe Paws is a part-time, volunteer street rescue effort laser-focused on TNR (Trap/Neuter/Return) spay/neuter & rescue for the youngest, most at-risk kitties in the LA neighborhoods of Los Feliz/Silver Lake/Echo Park. Our ultimate goal is to inspire a neighborhood-based spay/neuter support model which, if replicated across LA, would PREVENT unwanted animals suffering on the street and being killed at our city shelters.

Mermaids UK

Mermaids is passionate about supporting children, young people, and their families to achieve a happier life in the face of great adversity. We work to raise awareness about gender nonconformity in children and young people amongst professionals and the general public. We campaign for the recognition of gender dysphoria in young people and call for improvements in professional services.

Mermaids has won a number of awards over the last few years, as we have grown our services to address the rising numbers of families and young people contacting us for support.We could not have done this without the dedication of our volunteers, trustees and staff.

Arts Emergency

Arts Emergency is an award-winning mentoring charity and network. Our mission is to help marginalised young people overcome barriers to participation and success in higher education and the creative and cultural industries.

“We believe passionately that those with the most potential are often the least able to pay for education, the least able to pull favours or access helpful networks, to work for free, or find shortcuts into paid creative and cultural work.” Josie Long, co-founder

Magic Breakfast

As many as 1.8 million school age children in the UK are at risk of hunger in the morning.* A hungry child cannot concentrate. For 30p Magic Breakfast can give a child a healthy breakfast and wrap-around support at school, opening up hours of crucial lesson time in the morning.

In our 2019 survey of Magic Breakfast partner schools, 70% of respondents said they believed that child hunger (generally) had increased in their school community in the past year. This is consistent with perceived changes in poverty, with 80% of Magic Breakfast partner schools reporting an increase in poverty in their school community in the past year.

PAWS

PAWS helps cats, dogs and wild animals go home and thrive - whether home is the family room or the forest. We do this by rehabilitating orphaned and injured wildlife, sheltering and adopting homeless cats and dogs, and educating the community to inspire compassionate action for animals.

Since 1967, PAWS has united more than 130,000 cats and dogs with loving families, cared for more than 140,000 sick, injured and orphaned wild animals, and made the world a better place for countless others through outreach, education and advocacy.

The Anti-Cruelty Society

The Anti-Cruelty Society’s mission is to build a community of caring by helping pets and educating people. We are an open admission shelter which means we care for all animals and will not turn away any animal in need. There are no time limits placed on any animal in its care and the Society operates under the belief that no healthy or rehabilitatable pet should be euthanized. Based on the premise that the key to pet overpopulation is sterilization, the Society offers access to low or no cost spaying or neutering and it relies on its education programs to promote responsible pet ownership.

The Anti-Cruelty Society believes that companion animals provide people with joy, offers recognized health benefits and unconditional love, and it is our goal to find a home for every companion animal in need. The Society offers a variety of programs and services to build a community of caring by helping pets and educating people including the following: Cat and dog adoptions, spay/neuter clinic, humane education, cruelty investigation and rescue, dog training classes, free behavior hotline, three rehabilitation and treatment centers, pet loss and grief group sessions, pet visitation program, active foster and volunteer programs, pet first aid and CPR classes, and other pet-related workshops. Working together with other organizations and the public raises awareness about the needs of animals and how we can work together to promote responsible pet ownership and help prevent cruelty, abuse, and neglect.

Chicago Symphony Orchestra

The Chicago Symphony Orchestra relies on generous friends and donors as it continues to pursue artistic excellence, develop new audiences for symphonic music, provide innovative education and community programs and continue to bring the music you love to audiences in Chicagoland and around the world.

Please consider making a gift today to ensure that the work of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra can continue this year and beyond. Below are some of the ways that you can support the CSO.

Your gift makes a big impact at the CSO!

The Real Bark

We, humbly - and for years - have been taking discarded, abused, and forgotten Lives into our own - Healing them - and gently placing them back on a path toward a NEW Protected + Celebrated Life.

Planned Parenthood

In October 2016, Planned Parenthood turned 100 years strong. Planned Parenthood was founded on the revolutionary idea that women should have the information and care they need to live strong, healthy lives and fulfill their dreams — no ceilings, no limits.

Today, Planned Parenthood is a trusted health care provider, an informed educator, a passionate advocate, and a global partner helping similar organizations around the world. Planned Parenthood delivers vital reproductive health care, sex education, and information to millions of women, men, and young people worldwide.

Heifer International

Accelerating the path to living incomes Nutritious food. Shelter. Clean water. A decent education. Access to health care. And a safe and secure environment.

All fundamental for a life free from hunger and poverty. Yet millions of people can’t afford them.

DonorsChoose

Support a classroom. Build a future.

Teachers and students all over the U.S. need your help to bring their classroom dreams to life. Get crayons, books, telescopes, field trips, and more for a classroom today.

World Central Kitchen

Almost ten years ago, my wife Patricia and I had a big dream to start World Central Kitchen. We envisioned an organization that would create smart solutions to hunger and poverty, and for many years we saw an amazing impact through our clean cookstoves initiative, culinary training programs, and social enterprise ventures that empower communities and strengthen economies. But we had no idea we would one day be answering the call in Puerto Rico and around the world - “Food First Responders” serving millions of meals each year. In the process, we learned that a small NGO can change the world through the power of food.

Last year, WCK activated in response to 13 disasters — some of them natural, and some man-made. From serving children in the shelters on our border with Mexico to making deliveries by lamplight to those keeping watch over beaches in Indonesia, our fight to feed the hungry has taken us to more places than we ever expected.

The Center For Grieving Children

The Center for Grieving Children is a nonprofit organization that encourages and supports the safe expression of grief and loss. With locations in Portland and Sanford, we provide completely free-of-charge services for children, teens, young adults, and their family members throughout southern Maine.

Guide Dogs for the Blind

Your donation enables us to raise puppies, equip clients, and serve alumni.