Charities I support

A reader suggested I put ads on my blog and donate the revenue to charity. Interesting thought, but I prefer to keep the blog clean for you, to make reading easy. So I thought I’d create a list of  good charities I support to recommend to you, and link to it from time to time. Some of these are not large, well-known groups. All could use your support. (Yes, there are a lot of Marine Charities on the list. I’m a Marine.)

Injured Marine Semper Fi Fund

http://www.semperfifund.org/

A nonprofit set up to provide immediate financial support for injured members of U.S. Armed Forces and their families. They direct urgently needed resources to Marines and Sailors, as well as members of the Army, Air Force or Coast Guard who serve in support of Marine forces. Checks may be sent to the Injured Marine Semper Fi Fund,

825 College Blvd, Suite 102

, PMB 609, Oceanside, CA 92057, or donate on-line. Royalties from my books, The Coming Collapse of the American Republic and Old Jarhead Poems, go directly to the fund. I like that they don’t bury you in requests for more money.

The Vietnam Healing Foundation

http://www.thevhf.org/

A very small charity worth supporting. It helps former ARVN troops, who we abandoned to their fate in 1975, in violation of our treaty obligations. Many of them are badly crippled, and heavily discriminated against by the Communist government (those that weren’t murdered outright). Here is the profile of one of the men they help: A lifelong Saigon resident, he joined the RVN Marines in 1960, at the age of 17, and fought in many battles over the next four years. Places like Go Khuc and Tran Giuoc and he was promoted to Corporal and awarded several medals. But finally was very badly wounded in Chu Lai at a battle in Quang Ngai. He was the only survivor of a ten-man assault on an enemy position. He lost the use of both legs and his left arm. His skull was shattered and his brain exposed, but a skillful surgeon saved his life. His condition makes it impossible to work at all, and since 1975, when the RVN pension stopped, he has had to depend on his relatives for support. He and his wife live with one of their children. He has diabetes, high blood pressure, and problems with his liver, stomach and bone damage. They need some help to pay for all his medical care. He worries about his daughter moving away someday and then he and his wife will be totally on their own. (More profiles on the site. ~Bob.)

Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation

http://www.marine-scholars.org/

The Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation is the nation’s oldest and largest need-based scholarship organization supporting U.S. military families. Since 1962, the Foundation has provided over 26,000 scholarships valued at more than $65 million, including nearly $5,000,000 to more than 1,600 students for the 2011-2012 academic year. 

Marine Corps Heritage Foundation

http://www.marineheritage.org/

The Marine Corps Heritage Foundation directly supports the historical programs of the Marine Corps in ways that might not otherwise be available through appropriated funds. The Foundation’s mission is to preserve and propagate the history, traditions and culture of the Marine Corps as well as to educate all Americans in its virtues. To fulfill this purpose, the Foundation vigorously seeks financial support to complete the National Museum of the Marine Corps and Heritage Center and to promote and endow the Marine Corp’s long term historical research and educational activities.

Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation

http://www.pulmonaryfibrosis.org/donate

Pulmonary Fibrosis kills as many people every year as breast cancer. (Probably more, if reporting was better, as people with PF often die of things like heart failure, caused by the PF). Basically it turns your lungs to leather, and you die of pulmonary failure, or as we lay folks say, you smother. Unless you are lucky and the lack of oxygen damages your heart and you die of heart failure. Unfortunately PF is little known, and breast cancer gets at least 20 times the research funds. (In fact, breast cancer gets about eight times as many research dollars per death as lung cancer.) The average time from diagnosis to death is 3-5 years. (I’m past my five-year sell-by date, and though on oxygen for mobility, still working full time.) My doctor thinks I have the less aggressive NSIP version, probably why I’m still alive. It is not caused by smoking—I never smoked cigarettes. There is a hereditary factor—my mother died from PF at age 69. So you can see why this is one of my favorite charities.

I also contribute directly from time to time to badly-wounded Marines and other vets who have special funds, and I send care packages to troops in the combat zones. My latest project has been sending boxes of books to a hospital in Afghanistan treating wounded in-country to return them to the fight.

I once gave $55 to the Southwest Indian Foundation to buy a Christmas basket for a poor Navaho family, and was besieged by hundreds of requests and weekly begging letters from them and many other Indian groups they gave or sold my information to. It went on for months, some for years. I knew how Custer felt and never gave them another penny.

In addition, we provide a lot of financial support for the granddaughter, since her mother has never been self-supporting.

I also contribute to political organizations like The Patriot Post (http://patriotpost.us/), which does great work, and to candidates as I can. I used to send good candidates $25 until I discovered that made them spend hundreds of dollars sending me letters asking for more. Now I send $5 to liberals I don’t like—let them spend the hundreds of bucks.