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In this season of holiday parties and gift-giving, CNN Heroes offers ways to give from your heart -- without having to reach into your wallet -- and help a Hero help others. Happy giving.
1. Throw a party for water projects with Wine to Water
Having a holiday soiree? Let it benefit Wine to Water and spread holiday cheer worldwide.
Having a holiday soiree? Let it benefit Wine to Water and spread holiday cheer worldwide.
Doc Hendley, a 2009 CNN Hero, started holding wine-tasting events to raise awareness and funding for clean-water projects. Now his organization, impacting more than 50,000 people in nine countries, provides hosting tools to turn your party into a benefit for clean-water projects in remote regions around the globe. The group also offers its own wines to party hosts at discounted prices.
Get your party started at http://winetowater.org/get-involved.
2. Share your garden bounty with AmpleHarvest.org
Overwhelmed with the bounty of your backyard garden? Feed hungry neighbors by logging onto Ampleharvest.org.
Overwhelmed with the bounty of your backyard garden? Feed hungry neighbors by logging onto Ampleharvest.org.
Gary Oppenheimer, a 2010 CNN Hero, created Ampleharvest.org to allow American gardeners to share their fresh bounty with neighbors in need. Log on, enter your ZIP code and start giving. Or register your pantry so that those prepared to give can find you.
Locate your neighborhood pantry at www.ampleharvest.org.
3. Send a taste of home with Tunes 4 The Troops
Your CDs, DVDs, iPods and MP3 players can bring joy and comfort to homesick troops over the holidays.
Your CDs, DVDs, iPods and MP3 players can bring joy and comfort to homesick troops over the holidays.
Kaylee Radzyminski, a 2008 CNN Hero, has sent more than 750,000 CDs and DVDs to troops based far from home.
Purge your collection today athttp://www.tunes4thetroops.org/participate.htm.
4. Help the band play on with The Roots of Music
Have a musical instrument collecting dust in your closet or attic? Shake off the cobwebs and help the Saints go marchin' in New Orleans.
Have a musical instrument collecting dust in your closet or attic? Shake off the cobwebs and help the Saints go marchin' in New Orleans.
Derrick Tabb, a 2009 CNN Hero, has provided free tutoring, instruments and music instruction to nearly 300 young students living in the Big Easy.
Donate your unused instruments athttp://www.therootsofmusic.com/donate/donate-instruments.html.
5. Give home goods for the holidays with Stand Down House
Your unused hotel toiletries, lightly used sheets and towels, and functioning appliances can help others stay clean and cozy this season.
Your unused hotel toiletries, lightly used sheets and towels, and functioning appliances can help others stay clean and cozy this season.
Roy Foster, a 2009 CNN Hero, has provided housing and addiction support to more than 1,200 U.S. veterans struggling in Florida.
Receiving in Palm Beach, Florida -- find out more athttp://www.standown.org/helpus.html#nonmon.
6. Baby a baby with A New Way of Life Reentry Project
Are your babies all grown up? Your lightly used car seats, strollers, baby clothes and toys can help a mom keep babies bouncing this holiday.
Are your babies all grown up? Your lightly used car seats, strollers, baby clothes and toys can help a mom keep babies bouncing this holiday.
Susan Burton, a 2010 CNN Hero, has provided sober-living housing and support to more than 400 formerly incarcerated women and their children.
Receiving in Los Angeles, California -- find out more athttp://www.anewwayoflife.org/donate
7. Step into a sisterhood with Birthing Project USAHelp a new life enter the world by becoming a "sister friend" to a mother-to-be.
Kathryn Hall-Trujillo, a 2010 CNN Hero, started Birthing Project USA to battle high infant-mortality rates. The initiative pairs soon-to-be moms with volunteer "sister friends." These mentors, who provide one-on-one sisterly guidance and support through the pregnancy and first year of the baby's life, have welcomed more than 12,000 babies into 94 communities so far.
Find a chapter near you athttp://www.birthingprojectusa.org/volunteer.html.
8. Breathe new life into literature with Sheltering Books
Make space for new gifts by donating the books you've already enjoyed to children and women living in shelters across the United States.
Make space for new gifts by donating the books you've already enjoyed to children and women living in shelters across the United States.
Mackenzie Bearup, a 2010 CNN Hero, turned to books to escape the pain of a chronic illness. Since 2007, she has shared the power of the imagination by collecting and donating 51,000 books to date.
Receiving in Alpharetta, Georgia -- find out more athttp://www.shelteringbooks.org/Contact_Us.html
9. Take technology further with Help Kenya Project
If your holiday plans include a technology upgrade, don't dump your old model: Pass it on.
If your holiday plans include a technology upgrade, don't dump your old model: Pass it on.
Jude Ndambuki, a 2009 CNN Hero, wipes and restores donated computer systems and ships them for free to qualifying schools in Kenya. More than 2,700 machines have been delivered to students, who, in exchange, have planted more than 150,000 trees in Kenya.
Receiving in Dobbs Ferry, New York -- find out more athttp://www.hkenyaproject.org/items.php.
10. Provide a ride to health care with Houston Ground Angels
Have wheels or wings to share? Many patients battling life-threatening illnesses struggle to get to the care they require.
Have wheels or wings to share? Many patients battling life-threatening illnesses struggle to get to the care they require.
Houston Ground Angels, started by 2010 CNN Hero Kathy Broussard, has assembled a group of volunteer pilots and drivers who have provided nearly 6,000 free flights and car rides to critically ill patients coming into the Houston, Texas, area.
Sign up at http://www.houstongroundangels.org
11. Turn over the keys to your clunker with Wheels of Success
Have a vehicle you're ready to dump? It could keep a working family working.
Have a vehicle you're ready to dump? It could keep a working family working.
Susan Jacobs, a 2009 CNN Hero, has distributed nearly 400 donated and refurbished cars to low-income, working individuals, and she can help donors write off the gift.
Receiving in Tampa, Florida -- find out more athttp://www.wheelsofsuccess.org/want-to-help/car_donation_app.html.
12. Get someone moving with PIPO Missions
Have you outgrown the use of a brace or prosthetic? Give the gift of mobility to another in need.
Have you outgrown the use of a brace or prosthetic? Give the gift of mobility to another in need.
David Puckett, a 2008 CNN Hero, has refurbished, custom-fit and hand-delivered hundreds of free prosthetics and braces in rural Mexico. Send your retired limbs and braces to dramatically improve a life. Old crutches are also appreciated!
Receiving in Savannah, Georgia -- find out more athttp://pipomissions.org/Donate.htm.
When Barbara Cooke turned 60 last April, she wanted a different kind of celebration.
"I'd reached an introspective age," she said. "I did a lot of thinking about what made me happy. I realized it was being able to help other people."
She calculated how far she could stretch her finances -- she's a testing coordinator at Gresham High School -- before inviting friends to her Northwest Portland home for what she billed as a surprise party -- for them.
After dinner, dessert and a rousing version of "Happy Birthday," Cooke walked among her friends and handed out 24 envelopes.
Each contained three $20 bills.
Cooke told her friends to take her $1,440 investment -- an investment in them, actually -- and make it grow. Like most people, she explained, she had a limited amount of money to give. On this night, she wanted to leverage it by tapping into other people's lives and hearts.
"I wanted them to take that money, use it to do more and then give it away," Cooke said. "Local, national or international. There were no strings or rules."
She wanted to give them plenty of time, too. So she told them they'd meet later in the year to see just how much they could each make $60 grow.
The results would surprise everyone.
These organizations all benefited from Barbara Cooke's birthday challenge:
Schools: Bennett Elementary School, Laughlin, Nev.; Community Transitional School, Portland; Sabin School's Edible Garden, Portland; Sherwood School District's after-school enrichment program scholarship fund; Springville K-8 School, Beaverton; Tigard-Tualatin School District's Caring Closet program; Tucker-Maxon Oral School, Portland
Aid organizations:Bead for Life, Boulder, Colo.; JOIN, Portland; Kiva, San Francisco; Mercy Corps, Portland; My Father's House, Gresham; Oregon Food Bank; Women for Women International, Washington, D.C.
Health-related organizations:Alzheimer's Association, Oregon chapter; Doernbecher Children's Hospital, Portland; Lutheran Malaria Initiative, Baltimore; National Pancreatic Cancer Foundation, Englewood, Colo.;
Others:Evangelical Lutheran Church, Oregon Synod; Evangelical Lutheran Church of America Global Missions, Chicago; YMCA Global Teens, New York City; Patton Home, Portland; Oregon Humane Society
"That was a bit of change," he said. "I know she's not a rich woman. She was putting her money where her heart is." These organizations all benefited from Barbara Cooke's birthday challenge:
In the weeks that followed, the party guests tried to figure out what to do.
"It was a challenge," Rank said. "We could have given the money to a church and been done with it. But Barbara made all of us reflective. What could we do with three $20 bills to make a difference?"
Rank and Williams settled on a plan and joined forces with another couple, Gary and Sandy Cann.
Williams' 41-year-old son was born deaf and attended Southeast Portland'sTucker-Maxon Oral School as a child. The school uses technology -- digital hearing aids and cochlear implants, for example -- to help children hear and speak. The two couples pooled their money and asked school officials what they needed. They were told the school could use a few more high-tech hearing devices.
"But each one costs $750," Rank said. "That's a long way from $120."
They had to get creative.
Williams and Rank had a spectacular garden, and both couples enjoy cooking. They bought flowerpots and filled them with plants from the garden. They invited friends to a backyard party, selling the plants to raise money and telling guests about Cooke's birthday challenge.
"We ended up selling enough plants to collect $2,200," Rank said. "The school was blown away. We got a letter from them that a donor had agreed to match our gift.
"That $120 turned into $4,400," he said. "The school bought two hearing devices and put the rest of the money into a scholarship fund to help students."
The experience, Rank said, changed him.
"We all can do more than we think we can," he said. "Goodness that lies just below the surface."
Joanne and Darrell Mecklem weren't sure what to do with their money. The idea of trying to make the money grow made Joanne uncomfortable.
"I'm not an asker," she said.
But she thought about her oldest son, who suffered a brain injury when he was 30. Now 47, he lives at the Patton Home, a North Portland residential care facility.
"I called the manager of the home and explained what Barbara had done," Mecklem said. "He told me that when a resident comes to the home, they get a new blanket, a set of linens and towels. It's a way to let people know they're getting a fresh start."
Mecklem wrote people she knew and explained the challenge.
"It was hard to ask people for money," Mecklem said. "But Barbara inspired each of us to reach out."
She raised $715, enough to buy 14 sets of linens.
Brian Cass, the Patton Home manager, was so moved that after he thanked Mecklem, he wrote Cooke to praise her for her idea.
"We're are on a very tight budget here," he said. "A lot of the clientele have nothing when they get here. With Joanne's gift, I was able to use the money I would have spent on linens to pay for Thanksgiving dinner for the people who live here."
As much as she appreciated the letter of thanks, Cooke didn't want to be the focus of the attention.
"It was not about me," she said.
Cooke said she was surprised by what people did with the money and why.
"One woman hand-made 200 cards," Cooke said. "A year ago, her cousin, who was a teacher in Nevada, was killed by her husband. She sold the cards and raised $600. She sent it to the teacher who replaced her cousin in the school. She asked the teacher to use the money to buy books for the class and put a plate in them in honor of her cousin."
Some people who attended the party reached out to other friends for advice.
"I was a public school teacher for 25 years," said Amy Plumb. "I went to my water aerobics class and asked if anyone had an idea to help a school. A woman said her daughter volunteers at theCommunity Transitional School, a place for homeless kids in the Portland area."
Plumb visited the school and talked with administrators and teachers.
"I used my $60 as seed money for a party at my house during the summer," she said. "I told everyone it was a fundraiser. Then I e-mailed everyone I knew. I'm not afraid to ask for money. I raised $1,400. What I learned is that everyone can do something, no matter how small or large."
For Cooke, her gift of $1,440 ended up being a spectacular investment in humanity.
Last month, the group tallied the total raised: $23,265.
"I felt true joy," Cooke said. "When you give, you receive."