If you participated in my Christmas Scavenger Hunt I hope you had fun. This is going to be a lot easier and less time consuming to participate.
As always, upvoting the post is optional but I do ask you to resteem it so everyone has a shot at it. That is my only requirement of winning.
This is a community giveaway, I want you to bleed your heart out about a community or organization you care deeply about. Tell me what is so great about it, and what they do. The organization can be on or off the blockchain if you care most about Make-A-Wish tell us why. Every legitimate charity is fair game.
My favorite response will receive a 50/50 split, 50 STEEM for yourself and 50 STEEM (or USD equivalent) will be donated to the community of your choice.
Once this post is 24-hours old, no further entries will be accepted. A decision will be made within 24-hours after. Don't forget, to be considered, you need to resteem the post so everyone has a fair chance.
If you make me cry, bonus points.
HAPPY NEW YEARS!
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i have voted you for witness...i truly hope that you will no longer deceive and mislead and will put all steemians whether minnow or whale in consideration when using your buildawhale account fairly and not just fill your followers accounts and shaft all other naive minnows with less than what they pay in sbd.....all your actions are on the blockchain sir...i do not want to remove my vote for you as witness as when or if that day comes it will be the last for your account...good day sir
I have never deceived or mislead, I have provided proof to everything I have said, just none of you care. I continue to get nuked by @haejin and @ranchorelaxo and the rest of them because I'm an easy target and can do a lot of damage with little effort.
Just posted the entire situation here:
https://steemit.com/steemit/@themarkymark/the-future-of-steemit
so you have never used buildawhale for your own profit?
No I do not, you can scan the entire blockchain and see I do not do that. In the first few weeks I did a few times but only took small amounts like 1-2% of the bid window until it took off.
Anyone who knows me I am very strict about not manipulating the bid windows. You will find this is very common practice though.
and you have never upvoted your own posts with buildawhale?...you have never received funds from bernie? your never used buildawhale for flagging?
I haven't upvoted my own posts from @buildawhale outside of the early days when I first started the bot 4-5 months ago. But I think I already covered this.
I have received funds from Bernie when I built the randoawake Chrome Extension.
@buildawhale has never flagged, not once.
Got any more accusations?
Oh look, someone who just got here yesterday with daddy's money and mommy's delegation is making threats from behind the mask of a merely weeks old account with a name and rep nobody ever heard of. Be very afraid MarkyMark, this guy nobody ever heard of must surely mean business. LOL. Where do these fools come from?
if your talking about me then your next tough guy...you have been warned
"you're"
Poor child.
Golly thanks Beaver! I hope mom doesn't find out.
pffft. have a nice day, "tough guy" hahahahaha
What a petulant child.
Buhbye babycakes
Within our community of writers on Discord resides a lady called @Rhondak. She runs an animal sanctuary. What she does, she does for love, not for profit. In fact, quite the reverse.
She receives so little aid from public agencies or her local community that she is currently using the rewards from her posts on Steemit to feed and care for the animals that she has rescued. The recent rise in value of our cryptocurrency was cause for celebration in her little household.
Come Christmas, there were tears when one of the transfers went amiss and she thought some of the animals might go hungry as a result. It wasn’t a large amount of money but it was significant. Every penny counts. Personally, I think Rhonda would have ensured every one of them were fed before she was.
A member of our community stepped up in true Christmas spirit and set things right.
Rhonda is no crazy cat lady. Her sanctuary is a registered charity set on seven acres of land reserved for this purpose. Since 2013, she has rescued around 650 dogs, more than 50 cats, three birds, two goats and a pig called Hamlet.
Over 300 of those dogs were puppies and half the cats were kittens. All of them were spayed or neutered at her expense before they went to their forever homes.
It is hard to imagine any other charity that would be changed so much by 100 Steem. In the depths of winter, money is tight in the sanctuary and this would ease a significant burden. This capital would directly and almost instantaneously affect the lives of many neglected or abandoned animals.
Two of our members, @bex-dk and @tinypaleokitchen, have been known to write pieces for the sole purpose of raising money for the charity. One of those stories, Eve’s tale, can be found right here along with a video exploring her journey as an abandoned puppy: https://steemit.com/fiction/@tinypaleokitchen/the-tale-of-eve-a-rainbow-story
We have a radio show that airs every week. Our members participate while the mods make light of current affairs. There have been occasions when the show has been heckled, while Rhonda is talking, by cockatiels, goats and pigs giving their opinions in the background.
You just can’t make that shit up.
None of them would be making any noises at all without Rhonda. The world would be a poorer and infinitely darker place for these animals if she did not cushion their fall.
Her work is absolutely without recompense in any way other than the joy she receives from saving those unwanted pups. Those kittens, birds and pigs that have no control of their own destiny.
They have no-one else to fight for them, to care, to stand in the way of their destruction.
She is the final recourse for them all.
If that’s not a worthy cause, then I don’t know what is.
Did I mention she is a raccoon whisperer? No? That’s another story. Next time, I’ll introduce you to Glory. Even trash pandas are not immune to kindness :)
On the off chance that you choose this charity, I request that you don't do 50/50. This cause needs it a lot more than I do. Please give it all to @Rhondak.
What John says is very true. And I know for a fact that @rhondak feed the @tarc animals before she feeds herself. One of my donations in the summer meant that she could afford mustard sandwiches to go with her serving of lawn greens instead of spending every penny of her grocery money on dog food.
I've been following the Tazewell Animal Rescue Coalition (@tarc) since before it had a name. I've seen her beg her community for support. Beg them to treat their animals with just a modicum of decency. Beg them to at least obey the mediocre animal welfare laws of the area. But the area is so poverty-stricken that thinking of animals as anything more than disposable is beyond most of them. And those who try to support her often find themselves facing opposition in the community, where the leaders would prefer things stay as they are.
Rhonda takes in abandoned, abused, and neglected animals. She does what she can to get them the necessary vet care and to do whatever training is needed to get them into loving homes. Unfortunately not all can be rehomed responsibly and those have permanent home with her in sanctuary care. Most of the animals she can rehome are transported North--often at her expense--for adoption through rescues and organizations in more affluent areas.
Her greatest dream is to some day be able to fund a low cost spay and neuter program to help put a stop to the tidal wave of unwanted animals. There are no programs of that sort available to her community. She works with a wonderful vet, but the vet has expenses as well.
This is an organization where 50 steem will make a huge difference. This is an organization where every penny or partial penny MAKES A DIFFERENCE.
I remember Eve. Her story is quite the tear-jerker. If not for Rhonda, she'd have died from the cold or the infection.... unless a fox or other predator got to her first. That is the fate of many unwanted animals in that part of Appalachia. Eve is lucky Rhonda came along at the right moment to give her a happy ending.
It's not 50 Steem, Bex. It's 100. Rhonda's project would get it all. I'll edit the post and make that clear.
AWESOME! Then all we can do is cross everything and hope
This is a real charity and I've seen the results. My vote goes here. Thanks John for raising awareness and thanks to Rhonda for everything you do.
Been helping @Rhondak down in the trenches for five years now, adopted two dogs and sponsored several others personally. I'd love to see her get a rescue van someday. And spruce up the area where the dogs live.
Yes ma'am, you certainly have been with us from the beginning. Volunteering at events, co-driving transports all over the East Coast. Couldn't have done it without you.
Now if we could just get ourselves up to Maine, down to FL and then to the West... XD
So. Ummm I am a small supporter of @tarc and @youarehope. @tarc from before it had a steemit account and @youarehope from its inception.
I'm was torn between who should get my vote: so a coin toss decided that it should be @tarc.
I'll make it up to @youarehope in otherways!
TARC needs the boost worse, good call. Save the dawgies!
Oh, SirCork, that is so sweet of you!
@sircork, you are doing such wonderful things with YouAreHope. You have my full support always, as well as that of the Writers' Block.
You know the details, so you know how very much that warms my heart and means a ton to me of you to say. Thank you Rhonda very much! <3
Both are very good causes.
Thank you for your support. You're very right that was a hard choice for me too.
John, you never cease to amaze me. I woke to a notification about this comment and now I am just completely humbled. Thank you.
This! Animals can't speak for themselves. We must support their voice.
I'm currently working for ARC, and the blockchain helps with compensation. So ARC is not only helping the animals, but also helping people, like my son and me. With Steem on its way up, and SBDs strong through the holidays, I was able to provide Christmas for my family. So not only do I see firsthand how much effort rhondak puts into the animals, I also see how community-minded she is, not only for the local area here in Appalachia, but for our Steem community as well.
I think this is a easy question - the community closest to my heart is Steemit. I guess it has to be. It has changed my life so much, in the few months I've been here. I realized last night, as the New Year rolled in, that I am truly happy and a lot of that is thanks to this wonderful group of people. I find myself eagerly writing on this awesome platform. It's not work, although it pays; it's not an obligation, it's my favorite part of the day.
I have reached heights I couldn't even imagine, because of Steemit. I have done what I love most in the world - writing. About what I like, how I like. To quote Stephen King, it's the best gig in the world.
I love the people here, for so many reasons - because I have met such wonderful, kind, smart human beings on Steemit. People willing to fight for what they believe in, people who refuse to be silent. And when I say that, I think of many people and groups here, on this platform, but one of the greatest, I believe is @familyprotection.
They are doing such an amazing thing. When I first came here, I was very naive, I realize now. I didn't imagine half of the horrible things that go on in this world - babies being torn from their parents, abuse of innocents, monstrous things.
And the first few posts I read by @familyprotection made me shiver, puke and close my eyes. But then, I came to the realization that if we do that, the monsters win. So, we must be aware. We must know about the many horrible abuses in this world, in order to fight back. I imagine what they do isn't easy at all, I don't think I could write about all the awful things they write. And I believe that, to put yourself through this strain, in order to spread the word, to educate others and help families in need is one of the most incredible things one can do.
I am grateful to have found such people, willing to fight for others, for what's right.
And I am grateful to have met all the amazing people I've met here, on Steemit, in these four months. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
My life wouldn't be the same without this place.
Upvoted&resteemed.
The @familyprotection project by @markwhittam and @canadian-coconut (Linda) is one of the most important support communities that have taken shape here on Steemit over the last year. Following the personal struggle's of Marks family really brought the worldwide epidemic to light for me, and to think it started over something we assume would be a basic human right... "I want to home school my child".
I second your nomination for this great project!
Wow!
I am very touched by this @honeydue & @steempowerpics I can't express with words how I feel right now
And kudos to @themarkymark for this great initiative.
I keep falling in love with this community over and over again.
Bless the lot of ya!
yeah this is a great nomination, @familyprotection has brought a voice to the huge corruption within child services worldwide. It has connected so many people which in turn has made their voice stronger and louder. Our children are our future and we need to all unite in supporting this great project. Nice one @honeydue for putting them forward.
I really love @sircork and this idea of his.
Thanks @nicnas, in a world of selfishness, a selfless act shines brightly.
Well said 👍
Agreed!
The best way of describe this is ❤️ HEART!
Doing things to help others. Selflessness!
Such a great way forward!
Always with you on such noble initiatives.
I support this
Totally agreed. I believe at @youarehope and what @youarehope can do more.
One of the best thing happens in 2017 is to be with @youarehope. @sircork, a visionary and a good friend who helps things work out to our less fortunate brothers/sisters anywhere in the globe. #thealliance keeps the strong command of our dear creator "LOVE ONE ANOTHER AS YOU LOVE ME" there is no great commandment to do so.
Happy New Year to all and God bless!
Wow, that is a most honorable comment. Thank you, we are humbled :)
I'm literally welling up with tears right now.
There's no crying in baseball! 😋
Awww.... No need 🤗
I am a veteran so to me some of the charities I will support is vet charities. With that being said I do not believe that most vet charities are worth supporting as most of the money they are donated goes to the people running the charity and not to the veterans. I do not know this as a charity but they help vets here on Steemit. Sometimes if it was not for Steemit I would have been a true mess, it has been a way for me to have something to take my mind of some of the problems that I have from service. It gives me and outlet to go to when depressed or stressed and thinking things that I should not be thinking. I would like you to consider The Veterans Project ran by @chairborne. They could use the donation to power up the group and help other vets on Steemit. I would love to have the split but if you choose this group to donate to please donate the full 100 steem to them instead of splitting it. It is better to help all vets through this group instead of one or a few. Thank you for all you do and Happy New Year! Here is a link for you! https://steemit.com/steemit/@chairborne/introducing-the-veterans-project. Upvote for visibility!
Hi and thank you for the opportunity to share a charity I really like, and the chance to win a donation for them!
Here is their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/heroesandangelscomiccon
Here is their web site: www.heroesandangelscorp.org
The charity is called Heroes and Angels. They are located in the Little Rock, Arkansas area and help families affected by childhood Cancers. Unlike many charities that help with medical expenses, Heroes and Angels helps the families with things like everyday expenses, utilities, gas cards, hotel rooms when needed to be near the treatment centers, and can sometimes help in giving families a nice holiday surprise or short break from what they go through on a daily basis.
I first learned about the charity last May when we traveled from here in Tulsa, OK to do the Little Rock Comic Con. We do many shows in Arkansas, I often joke we spend more time there than here in Oklahoma. At this show I met a young lady who I talked with for some time. Her mom and family are big horror fans and one of the big reasons we do shows is because I am an author of horror movie trivia books. So she say my books and said how her mom would probably love to have me come to her show. Apparently her mom Brandy had just held the first Heroes and Angels Comic Con the week prior to this event. We went on to talk about what the show and the charity was all about. Then over the course of the next two or three shows we did in the area I met and talked with Brandy herself. Brandy's reasons for starting with the charity is because her own daughter has suffered through multiple rounds of childhood Cancer, and luckily at the moment is in remission. I am now going to be an author guest at their next Comic Con coming up in April, 2018. I am looking forward to supporting the charity by being at their show at our own cost and even providing them with 2.25 inch buttons to sell and raise money for the charity.
Fast forward to this past November when we did another show in Little Rock. This was supposed to be a big anime and cosplay event where the charity was invited to run the "kid's room" and were offered about $2,000 from the proceeds of the show by the show promoter. This money was supposed to cover the charities Christmas Stocking program. The program provides stockings to all of their Heroes (the children with Cancer) and their siblings. The stockings are loaded with everything from socks to color pencils and everything in between.
The show turned into a total ripoff! The promoter was a con-man and took off with everybody's money. None of the special guests got paid, hotel rooms that were supposed to be paid for were not, vendors were screwed over in a number of ways, but most importantly, the Heroes and Angels charity were out their $2,000 with just 5 weeks to go until Christmas.
Luckily the cosplay and comic con community stepped up to donate items for the stockings, and to donate money for them to purchase other stuff for them. I personally ran a GoFundMe page that raised $400 to finish things off. It turned out to all be a blessing really as so many good people came together that there was enough money to even offer all the families a small care package for Christmas on top of getting all the stockings stuffed for the 50 or so kids.
It was amazing seeing the photos of the kids getting their stockings. Some were stuck in the hospital while others were lucky enough to be at home for the holiday. Regardless of where they were though the pure joy on their faces was priceless.
Now that the holidays are over though there is always an ongoing need for more money to help provide for these wonderful families that are being tormented by childhood Cancers.
Heroes and Angels is a charity that I have grown very fond of and will have a long-running relationship with. I appreciate your consideration of them as the charity to donate to.
Happy New Year everyone! 😁 As the Mother of a 22 year old son with Cerebral Palsy, I have to advocate and offer that the charity Ucp.org United Cerebral Palsy Foundation. I have never gotten anything from them for my son but I know they do help other children and adults with cerebral palsy. There are many ranges of cp, my son has severe Cp as I call it. He cannot talk, he cannot walk, he cannot sit up, etc. However.....he can light up a room with his smile! He has the most brightest and contagious smile ever! On some days if I’m not feeling the greatest and I go into his room and see him smile at me and I feel like if he can smile through all of this then who am I to not smile too! These kids have no way of telling you what they need or want. If you are hungry, you tell someone or feed yourself. If you are in pain, you tell someone to help you like a Dr.
If you have a itch you scratch it! They cannot do any of these. They are often put through so many surgeries, on breathing machines, trachs, ventilators, breathing machines, medicines, dealing with constant severe constipation from not moving. Things of this nature we often take for granted in life.
I guilty myself of this.....so yes! I’d love to see any of these children and adults with cp to be helped by others. Let’s give a little bit of ourselves back to them. ❤️❤️
😃🌈🌈 Happy New Year everyone! I wish you all a wonderful New Year! The Year of Steemit 2018! Here is my son right now on New Years Day and yes he is repping Steemit! We are a Steemit family with 5 members on! 👍👍
Upvoted, resteemt..
This is the Organisation i help every XMAS.. but they active all year long to feed and warm up Homeless in my Hometown...
https://steemit.com/christmas/@hoschitrooper/everyone-can-be-an-angel
in this post you can see a small video what they doin all day long...
This organisation had it start up when the owner was eating a fast food meal and watched a dude eats out of a trash can... so he decided to do a start to help feeding this homeless out there...
Every XMAS we collect shoeboxes filled with scarfs gloves and all about needed Daily stuff like soap deo and so on...
So this poor guys out there have a bit better world... life on street is harsh enough....
But take a look isnt a active Post but the IDEA still is....
not sure it quite qualifies, but I'd be amiss not to mention the WhaleShares community on discord, which has given so many charities and good causes more exposure, along with a louder "voice"...
Link: WhaleShares Community: WE CARRY ON...!
It's interesting that this topic came up because I've been thinking about it a lot as the New Year rolled in. I know you said "legitimate charity", so this may not qualify. This a very-soon-to-be charity.
My sister is actually creating an organization called "I Love You More", which was inspired by my mother, who passed away in September after a 21-year fight with large-scale ovarian cancer. She was in hospice care for about 3 weeks, the last week of which required round-the-clock care as she slipped into a coma brought on by kidney failure. Those last several days were the hardest for us, particularly for my sister who provided most of the care. When hospice began, we were under the false assumption that we'd have a nightly nurse to stay and assist in caring for her, but we discovered that an overnight nurse would cost an additional $300 per night. We were only able to afford 2 of those nights between myself, my sister, and my brother who lives 2 states away, but in our case more wasn't needed as mom passed after only 6 days from the moment she made the decision to have the implanted tube to her kidney removed.
The purpose of the organization is to help families in need of funding a night or number of nights so family members can rest during end-of-life care for a loved one.
This will be especially helpful to families whose members may not be medically qualified to give the kind of care a loved one might need, yet be able to avoid having to add the enormous emotional, physical, and financial stress of transporting them to a hospital to spend their last moments.
@airhawk-project
That is the community I truly care about presently.
After joining steemit September 2017, I was soon introduce into team airhawk and my time there has been a blast, with friends becoming families.
One of their noticeable features there is the exchange facility, in which case they act as an escrow and help to facilitate trade between steemians and am telling you, be it buyer or seller your money is secured and transaction is 100% trust.
Some months back I introduce a little contest there called my-niche, where we get to pick a new tag every week and everyone is expected to participate, the rules guiding it are very simple and with this contest, everyone is a winner, that's everyone get their post upvoted by the community account @airhawk-project.
The main idea surrounding this contest was that we hoped each user found a niche they can easily write about and earn something doing what they love and also help to foster relationship between steemian.
Everyone was accepted and every Friday we would come together and discussed the post we wrote about that week, truly it was quite interesting.
Soon after our SP lease was taken back, it kind of stopped and presently pending until when we get a new delegation.
So my wish is that we are able to convince a whale to delegate at least 50k steempower to us and let us continue our good deeds on steemit helping all users by upvoting quality content, promoting steemit and helping out newbies to find their way here on the steem blockchain.
You can check our page @airhawk-project and our Telegram link is https://t.me/steemitdotcom
Number 1 steemit community on telegram...go for @airhawk-project and check it out. Community with one common goal ...
Baba engineer I dey see your handwork oh! May we all be a good ambassador to humanity.
I joined steemit December 1st 2017. I can say today is my birtday on here lol. @airhawk-project is the community i was introduced to, and i can authoritatively say its the best community anyone on here would love to be part of. Y'all should go check it out. Its the best thing about steemit. I was given a warm welcome and they, through the admins provided an escrow service to convert steem and sbd to fiat at no extra charges. We have a geberal chat room for discussion and we hold tutorials every evening on how to be a better steemian and in turn, a better person. Am proud to be part of @airhawk-project community.
A community that throws a party like no other
@airhawk-project
A community that oeganizes contest for its members
@airhawk-project
A community that supports its members everyway possible
@airhawk-project
A community that throws a party like no other
@airhawk-project
A community that oeganizes contest for its members
@airhawk-project
A community that supports its members everyway possible
@airhawk-project
airhawk-project is the Don. The best Telegram Steemit community
Interesting, i've never heard of airhawk
check us at https://t.me/steemitdotcom via telegram app
I joined @euronation last year November, with the help of @ewuoso. This is the best whatsapp community I have been carrying every member along.
They follow the equity rule of giving more attention to the newbies and also helping those who have been OK n the platform learn new things and sharing ideas.
Tutorial of various kinds never ceases on the group as members are expected to grow daily as we work together as one.
The leadership is so amazing as everyone is treated equal both admin and members. Checking @euronation blog you will see how greatly they have contributed to this community with the tutorial and amazing contents they have posted.
My wish for this community is for them to receive a huge amount of Steem power so they can continue helping the steemit community at large by upvoting quality contents created by various members. To join this great community meet the leader who lead by example @eurogee and his fellow leaders @adoore-eu @drigweeu etc
Happy new year and have a wonderful celebration today.
I am not a fan on the word "charity". I prefer the term "empowering involvement" which I just made up. :P
But seriously - I am not directly involved with any charities, but will resteem for visibility in my local community. I know for a fact we have at least one guy there who does volunteer work.
Happy new year! <3
You now have some great charities in this post to check and involve if you like.
I know. It's why I am following the comments.
Great
The community I am really passionate about is the Free Software Foundation(FSF).
We go about our days without realizing that most software we use is proprietary. Proprietary software is pre-installed and pre-configured on your devices. This means that there is no way to inspect the code and determine whether there it is authentic or not and they in no hurry to change that. You can bet that most proprietary software contains spyware. We have seen this through numerous scandals in news articles and revelations from Wikileaks. The deception is vast. It starts with apps like Facebook that openly spies on it's users and goes all the way down to the underlying hardware like Intel processors that include backdoors into your system.
This unjust amount of control coporate developers have over their users is something companies are reluctant to give up - it is a very profitable venture.
The Free Software Foundation is dedicated to creating truly free and open-source alternative software, like the now infamous GNU and Linux systems. Software that anyone can download install and run on their computer. Software that anyone can contribute to and modify as he wishes. Software that is truly transparent, one where anyone can examine the source code.
This amazing community of developers that voluntarily fight for liberating the digital world is one I am most passionate about. In this digital world which is becoming more and more interconnected, user privacy and internet freedom is becoming more and more important. Their work deserves much more public visibility and appreciation.
http://www.communityimpactlab.org/
My favorite organization is Community Impact Lab. Lately they have been doing a lot to help refugee women with young children and new babies.
"Community Impact Lab strives to be a force for action and to expand opportunities everyone, especially women and children, have to be impactful. We believe that by engaging families, empowering parents, and working together to tackle challenges in real ways, we can create the sea change necessary for every person to live, give, and grow to their fullest potentials. Our Social Good, Learning, and Family Labs remove barriers to progress by giving opportunities for parents and their children to do social good, build supportive circles, and share knowledge and skills. We leverage grassroots passion and energy with innovative projects and bridge the gap between needs and available resources."
Upvote & reestem
The community to which I intend to refer is outside the blockchain is the school Moseñor Arocha in Valencia Venezuela community of which I am part and is a school group that is part of the Salesian Association and is responsible for providing education to young people with limited resources, I work there as a physical education teacher and currently we lack sports material for the complementary activities that take place in the institution. Likewise, the association provides support to low-income families by making donations in food for families living in its surroundings.
thanks for the opportunity to participate
This is a difficult one for me as I've had dealings with so many amazing groups, communities and organisations over the last few years.
I consider myself to be a modern-day abolitionist. Basically, if there is a major issue facing society, I suspect that there's some kind of economic or political privilege at the root of the problem which should be abolished. The issue of human trafficking and severe labour exploitation is particularly urgent.
I'm going to talk about a Japanese NGO called Lighthouse: Center for Human Trafficking Victims. I first got to know them back when they were called Polaris Project Japan. They're the only NGO in Japan that's dedicated solely to the problem of trafficking in persons (TIP).
Back in 2011, I asked a Japanese woman why she thought foreigners came to her country to work as prostitutes. She said that they came from poor countries and Japan was like heaven to them. I'd only recently began researching the issue, but I'd already come across several stories of women who thought they were being brought to the country to work in a shop or get a job as a model, only to find out on arrival that they were expected to become prostitutes. They had their passports taken away and were told that the police would arrest them if they found out that they were prostitutes.
Lighthouse help to train police officers on how to recognise when someone is a victim of TIP rather than a criminal. They also run the national helpline where victims call call for help or advice if they're too afraid to approach the police or don't know who else to turn to.
Severe labour exploitation is an issue in Japan. When someone asks Lighthouse where this is happening, they've been known to get in a car and start driving in a random direction and keep going until they find a factory with foreign workers. They've never failed to find victims using that approach.
One of the more overt forms of human trafficking in Japan is the commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC). I'm not talking about the sexualised images of children that are on billboards, but the sale of sexual acts with children under 18 years of age and the production of images of children who are naked or performing sexual acts.
In downtown Tokyo, parents who are living in poverty will pimp their young children. A man once tried to convince me to pay for sex with a 15 year old as I was walking down a busy street.
A female friend once told me the price of sex with a 12 year old girl. I knew that what she was saying was legitimate as she worked with some shady characters. She told me that she did some work on a computer game where the main character went around murdering people and, in one scene, punched the teeth out of a 9 year old girl so that he could fit his phallus into her little mouth.
I said that CSEC is fairly overt in Japan, which is true, but that doesn't mean that it's talked about or that everyone is aware of how widespread or close to their homes it is. The Founder of Lighthouse, Shihoko Fukiwara, is one of the very few people in the country who will speak openly in public about this form of crime. She shines a light on something that a conservative society would rather have remain in the dark.
When the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disasters happened in northern Japan, Lighthouse started a side project to produce materials which would advise women in evacuation centres on how to stay safe (if electricity was cut off, a trip to the toilet in the middle of the night could result in rape). I tried helping them to raise funds to have the materials printed, but one donor who pledged money called me the next say to say that they'd changed their mind because they didn't want to be involved with such a taboo subject. This mindset is typical of the landscape in which Lighthouse works.
Japan no specific anti-TIP laws and Lighthouse is lobbying for this to change. Even small wins can be difficult when government officials are in denial (a few years ago, the Justice Minister refused to have leaflets with information of who victims can contact handed out in the arrivals hall of airports because it would embarrass the country).
Lighthouse is the best hope for victims of human trafficking in Japan. For reasons to which I alluded above, they're smaller than they ought to be and they really, really need our support.
Donate here.
First of all thanks for that give away, that generosity is a tick.
Am new here, actually i joined sometime back but just started serious steeming.
I have too much love for my ugandan community. Most of us are newbies here, i have seen them struggle just like i always do and to make it up to this point has been tied our stubbornness. i wrote an introduction post and most of them were listed, and though it didn't do so well, i got some followers.
I don't know much about steemit now, i have been reading so much about it, so entering such a contest puts me at a very high disadvantage, though am hopeful lol..
So what i care about is my ugandan community, ooh by the way am a ugandan africa. Few people know about steemit it makes me feel blessed being here and influencing my fellow ugandans to do the same. Like i said what is on my mind now is to lift up my ugandan community. Such opportunities contribute to the cause. And happy New year.
I hope this organization fits the description, it is off blockchain and it is humanitarian. DOHAL , this is short for Dorcas Oke Hope Alive, a charity organization owned by a Nigerian religious organization established in memory of late Dorcas Oke, the founder's daughter, a young and promising girl who died from complications caused by adulterated drugs used to treat typhoid. The organization since establishment has helped and continue to promote the emancipation of young people, making them become successful in spite of a society that doesn't empower them to achieve much, it also aim to reduce mortality rate among youths through health programs and help kids in dire and hopeless situations. If they fit, their official site is up in the link.
My favorite organization is "a gift of life" - it is an Israel based organization encouraging and supporting the donation of a kidney to people who are in a critical state of their disease - without any profite to the donate, it is purely for the sake of doing good and out of altruism. They publish information about the process, explain it's importance and help with bureaucracy. This initiative is based on the fact, based on medical clinical trials, that living with one kidney is almost without risk, with minimal complications. Their story began when the head of the organization, Rabbi Heber, who was a dialysis patient himself, met a young man who's parents lost their older son in a war that urgently needed a kidney transplant - but no suitable donor was found and there wasn't any organization that could help. The young man died - and the Rabbi decided to establish the organization.
The organization already arranged dozens of transplants and saved the lives of many people.
The reason I feel so connected to this organization is that a close relative of mine donated a kidney though this organization - he did not tell any of us because he didn't want anyone to object and try to make him to change his mind. We only knew about it when he was approved for a donation and was allocated a patient that will get his kidney, needless to say I was brought to tears by his pure act of charity, when every human instinct tells you to keep yourself in the safe side and do not take the risk, no matter how small.
A link to the organization's site: https://kilya.org.il/en/
My wife @insideoutlet and I are unable to to have our own children we have tried ivf and failed and are now on an incredibly long waiting list to adopt from Thailand.
This is how we found the charity that needs your love.
Having been married in Thailand and traveling there regularly for holidays combined with adopting led us to spend time at a very special orphanage The Home of the Open Heart.
To be clear this place isn't part of the feel good tourism market and it took some convincing of P Penny and P Paul for them to allows us to spend time with their amazing family.
Whats special about this place is that it goes far beyond an orphanage their focus is on AIDS affected familys providing housing for parents and children to keep the family unit together as long as possible, hospice care for the parent when they can no longer care for their family, and finally adopting the children into their family at the end.
P Penny and P Paul dedicate themself to these children and their education but the international school is not cheap any funds they recieve would go a long way.
I encourage anyone reading this to jump on their page.
http://homeoftheopenheart.org
I'm volunteering at Leket Israel. an organization that provides food for the needy.
We rescue food that was meant to be wasted. we have a lot of farmers that donate Ugly fruits and vegetables to us. Which are food that's funny looking and supermarkets won't buy. but are equally healthy.
As the one who manages the Facebook page, I saw a lot of messages from mothers that can't feed their son because they don't have any money. and they barely have bread to eat.
It's so sad to see such things, and we are providing A LOT OF MEALS to the needy.
Our 2017 summary :
2,260,000 rescued cooked meals
14,300,000 kgs of rescued fruits and vegetables
I know for a fact that every donation helps.
if you want to hear more about it, You can read it on here - https://www.leket.org/en/
What a great giveaway! thank you!
There's a difference between a community helping and an organization helping. While organizations can help many, my heart is with the small, local community. It's friends, neighbours and family actually caring for those whom they know. They know because they care about them. I give my time, skills, and money to these people.
Here's a recent example. I was helping my brother (Christian brother) build a porch on his house. One day when I arrived I saw that his large family and grown considerably by the addition of 3-4 more kids. I didn't ask but later in the day he explained that another family we knew was going through a hard time. In short the husband was in jail and the wife and mother of 8 kids was on her own with the kids. Adding to the crisis was the fact that their landlord wanted her out of their rental house in two weeks and the husband was in no position to provide financial support. My brother had opened his home to care for the older kids for however long it was needed.
While none of us condoned the husband's behaviour, the wife and children were still in a very difficult state. Many gave anonymously of food, money, etc. Others helped find her a new home to rent. Still others painted the walls and cleaned the house. We're not special. Nobody knows our names or what we did. There was simply a family in need so we did what needed to be done because that's how humans should be. We're not unique; we just try to care. Similar events play out everyday around the world and the world never hears about them.
I don't know if this is what you had in mind but I do know that if more of us would get involved personally and look closer to home for our largess and care then the large organizations could focus on disaster relief where the need has overwhelmed even the local community.
Throughout the world, there are a lot of really great charities that could use any and all donations. One of the charities that I really like, and want to bring awareness to, is the Wounded Warrior Project. They are an organization that provides free programs and services to help those who have served in the military. They try to help bridge the gap where veterans would get the services they need which are not covered by the government.
Some of the programs they offer help with mental and physical health, counseling, and empowering veterans to take the next steps in their lives. With more veterans and service members developing PTSD or getting physically injured in some way, Wounded Warrior Project even has services where they connect them with someone who has gone through a similar situation to help them cope. We need more programs like this because these individuals gave up time in their lives and time with their families to serve and protect. They are the reason that, in this country, we have all our freedoms. I do not see why they should have to pay out-of-pocket for things which were caused while in combat, and this is why I like this organization so much. They are trying to raise the standard of living for these heroes, to that of what it was before they went into the military, by getting them back to as normal of a life as they can.
I will be forever in debt to these American heroes and I would like to give back in any way I can. Like I said, there are a lot of great charities listed here and I know you will have a hard time just picking one. Thank you for your time and consideration!
If you’re interested to learn more, here is their website:
https://www.woundedwarriorproject.org/
The charity I donate to for many years is called Cliniclowns (https://cliniclowns.at) here in Austria. I don´t know, if there is an international association going with it. They do such an fabulous job in making sick kids lifes better through going to hospitals and lighten up their day. There is nothing more heart warming, than a (sick) kids smile in times, when there is not much to laugh about. If I would "win" your price, I would also donate the 50 STEEM in Euro value to them. Well, actually I´ll do that anyway, even if I don´t win. ;) Thank you for your offering, that really means a lot to me! <3
I joined in the industrial engineering association since january 2015, I joined this organization after I was accepted in the university engineering industry malikussaleh.
Industrial Engineering Student Association of Malikussaleh University (HIMTI). HIMTI is an executive organization at the level of study program that gathers all students of Industrial Engineering University of Malikussaleh. HIMTI serves as a container to implement and develop student activities especially in the field of Industrial Engineering scholarship so as to improve the performance and knowledge of students of Industrial Engineering University of Malikussaleh both in academic and non academic field.
my story to be in this organization is very difficult even though I am an industrial engineering student of Malikussaleh University, because I have to be very hard learn by my senior senior in order to be the best for industrial engineering family of University of Malikussaleh.
I am very proud to be a part of HIMTI here I got a lot of experience that is very useful for me in the future, and I also taught how to be a leader here that I have not been able to before.
and I feel a very close family principle in this set, because I am far from my family to study. here I am like a family that I become a brother and my senior like my own brother.
this is the story of my organization on the Malikussaleh University campus.
A fresh post for the Venezuelan community
https://steemit.com/charity/@karinxxl/steem-is-above-usd5-let-give-it-to-the-people-give-it-to-venezuela-you-can-make-this-happen
The post says it all,Venezuela is bleeding and this Steemian @bigdude deserves attention. He is doing fantastic work in getting food to the people!
This part of the Charity work I did on December 31st https://steemit.com/dtube/@jonsnow1983/5uwep6qg
I'm going to be doing this consistently, also I'm working in a Steemit Academy Project https://steemit.com/dtube/@jonsnow1983/x7g33tsj
Cheers!
I am just here to thumbs up your giveaway! (not participating but I will resteem anyway! :D)
No Idea.. Amatir
I support the Matheny School Christmas Party every year. It is a party for special needs people. Most suffer from cerebral palsy, they have been confined to a wheelchair their entire lives. Due to costs to keep the children and adults in School, hospitals and rooms to live in the parents have very little if any money to buy gifts. A dedicated group of people raise funds and hold an annual party for these people. The Christmas party a Santa and his helpers past out gifts to those in need. Imagine if you spent your life in a wheelchair and not knowing what is going on. Some require oxygen bottles all the time. This is why I'm involved with this particular charity. Picture below is from this years event held in Mid December.
Wow, there are so many amazing charities out there that I'm not sure I even deserve a look in but I would never miss an opportunity to raise awareness for the ostomy community, so here goes...
At the age of 26 I was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis, it came on quickly and I spent the next year in and out of hospital on too many med's to count. After a month on IV steroids and 13 days of no sleep my bowel perforated and I died while on the operating table, lucky for me they revived me and I woke with a temporary stoma I called Squish. Three years, four stomas and twelve surgeries later I find myself with a permanent ileostomy.
In the beginning I felt so alone and thought I was the only ostomate under 30 alive, after reaching out and connecting with our local ostomy association I started some support groups for others like me first locally and then online. Over time my involvement with the association has grown and I am now the president and responsible for over 3,500 ostomates in Western Australia getting their monthly medical supplies. As well as the continued growth of our wellness initiatives. I am also the youth ambassador for the Australian Council of Stoma Associations.
Most recently I have started an ostomy awareness and support blog called InsideOut Ostomy Life. Though this I aim to break the stigma associated with having an ostomy and help others find a way to love themselves again. Through shared experiences I know I can show them that we can do anything we could have done pre ostomy and in many cases more than we could. Chronic illness sucks but my ostomy gave me life without it I would have died at 26, for that I am eternally grateful.
Help me help others find a love for life again and raise awareness for the ostomy community.
upvoted and resteemed , good luck to everyone that partcipates!
Thank you for the information comrade happy new year, hopefully fun ..
I hope everyone, who upvote that comment gonna win
Good post
thank you for sharing I really like your post. Happy New Year
Happy new year @themarkymark.
resteem your post.
This is a great advocacy @themarkymark ! May you receive more blessings this 2018. Happy New Year to you and your family. :) Resteemed.
Happy new year!
I'm just seeing this post, and going through the comments I see @otemzi already wrote it all @airhawk-project is more than a community, it's a family, we argue on subjects to settle, we make jokes and show love, the admins are simply superb, and the exchange is swift and secure, so if there's one community that deserves this, it certainly is @airhawk-project
First of all, Happy New Year to you and your family. @airhawk-project is a platform that is here to help more people grow and be helpful to their selves and their communities. They do all sort of teachings just make people achieve their aim especially in Nigeria where I come from, where corruption is the order of the day even within the leaders.
If there is anyone charity I would give my whole heart to is Ronald McDonald House. They were my savior! When my son was 8 months old he became very sick very fast. He was declining fast. It is something I will never forget. When I brought him to my home town hospital he was limp and near death. He needed to be intibated and rushed to a hospital 2 hours away. At the time I had a two year old at home and no car or lisence. I managed to get a ride to be with my son but no where to stay and no money once there for accomodations. The hospital hooked me up with Ronald Mcdonald House and they pro ided me a room across the street at a hotel for as long as I needed. Thanks to them i was able to be with my son! Thanks to them we made it through this ordeal with some dignity when expenses are tough! I will never forget the feeling of not having to worry about where we were going to go. This is a company keeping families together during times when family need each other!(my son is now a healthy 8 year old)
Couple a years ago, while I was with my colleagues on a pediatrics department , we saw a lot of children on Christmas without any gifts. We couldn't bare the fact that they are in Hospital on Christmas and don't have that feeling when you wake up in the Christmas morning and see all the gifts under the tree. We went to the mall and buy gifts our self and a lot of people followed us. Now it became an organization called 'MEDICINARI VELIKOG SRCA' and none of the children in Croatian Hospital is without a gift :)
https://steemit.com/community/@doctorcro/this-christmas-lets-bring-smiles-to-children-faces-in-hospitals-3
I love the #ophumanangels tag here on Steemit... it's just a bunch of us regular people who go out into the world and try to impact other peoples life ..day ...week.. whatever in a positive manner...
It was started by @lyndsaybowes but more and more people are joining daily.. I personally love this project because I feel there is to much negativity in this world... people are always quick to criticize or try to year someone down.. why??? It feels so good to encourage others... to help people.. to spread a positive message to people who need it...