Posts Tagged ‘charity’

Muhammad Ali - The Boxing Legend of the 19th Century

Monday, February 6th, 2012

Muhammad Ali was 70 on January 17th, 2012. He was the most feared opponent in the boxing ring in his long and active career and with very good cause. He won the world heavy weight boxing championship three times after winning a gold medal at the Olympics and was voted sportsman of the century by the BBC and Sports Illustrated.

Muhammad Ali was born in Louisville, Kentucky on January 17th, 1942 and was christened after his father Cassius Marcellus Clay. They added the handle Junior, to distinguish him from his father who was a billboard painter. In 1967, Cassius changed his name to Muhammad Ali and became a Muslim.

A local white Louisville police officer named Joe E. Martin was the first person to see that the young Clay had something extraordinary while he watched him fighting over a stolen bicycle as a twelve tear old. Martin encouraged Clay to go to the boxing ring with him. Martin and Clay trained together at Stoner’s Gym.

Martin and Ali used to do a show together called ‘Tomorrow’s Champions’. Stone was a useful coach for Ali and he stayed his tutor for nearly all his amateur career (the last four years he was with Chuck Bodak).

As an amateur Ali won six Kentucky Golden Gloves, two National Golden Gloves, an Amateur Athletic Union title and the Gold Medal at the 1960 Rome Olympics for light-heavyweight boxing.

His history as an amateur was 100 wins and five losses. Ali was both hero-worshipped and vilified in his mother country. After Ali changed his name he refused to accept the name Clay, saying that his family had been given it by slave-owners.

He was also accused of switching his religion to dodge the draft, but his well-known reply to that allegation was: “I ain’t got no quarrel with them Viet Cong… No Viet Cong ever called me nigger”. In 1966 he was barred from fighting in the United States. Ali was stripped of his boxing titles and his boxing license was suspended. So he fought abroad, frequently in the United Kingdom.

Ali’s first title fight was against Sonny Liston on February 25 1964, but it was nearly cancelled, because it became known that Ali had joined Malcolm X’s Nation of Islam. The promoter, Bill Faversham. was concerned that that may ruin the attendance figures, because Ali was not considered likely to win anyway (7:1 against).

Ali agreed not to authenticate that he had links with Malcolm X until after the fight and it went ahead. At the weigh in, Ali’s pulse was 120 as opposed to his norm of 54 and his opponent’s team misread this for nerves. This was when Ali, the Louisville Lip, first said that he was going to “float like a butterfly, sting like a bee”.

Ali saw his first professional defeat in 1971 against Joe Frazier, although he won the title back from George Foreman in 1974. This was the famous ‘Rumble in the Jungle’ which had political overtones.

It was ranked seventh in ‘The 100 Greatest Sporting Moments’. Ali’s fight against Chuck Wepner in 1975 motivated the film ‘Rocky’, which won the Academy Award.

Ali announced his retirement on June 27th 1979, but made a comeback 18 months later in October 1980. He finally retired in 1981, but before that the councillors of Louisville renamed Walnut Street as Muhammad Ali Boulevard. A dozen of the seventy street signs were stolen within a week.

In 1984, Ali was diagnosed as having Altzeimer’s, which people who have head shocks are more liable to get. Despite his illness, Ali has worked tirelessly for peace and equality and has represented America at several international peace negotiations.

He has won more prizes than anyone can possibly remember and established a $60 million not for profit centre in Louisville which houses his awards, but is there to promote peace, social responsibility, respect and personal growth.

On average, Ali travels over 200 days a year to raise money for and consciousness of poverty and hunger. It has been determined that he has helped supply more than 22,000,000 meals.

Angelo Dundee, Ali’s cornerman and trainer from 1960-1981 passed away on February 1st 2012 at the age of 90,

Owen Jones, the author of this piece, writes on a number of topics, but is now involved with Quotes On Mixed Martial Arts. If you would like to know more, go to our website at Mixed Martial Arts Quotes

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Recycling Old Computers

Tuesday, July 5th, 2011

Numerous progressive towns and cities are either already recycling or are thinking about recycling old computers. Many municipalities already do this with TV sets, but not so many do it with computers.

There are quite a few reusable parts in a computer when you think of it, but most owners simply throw their old computers away when they stop working or become ‘too slow’.

Then they go out and purchase a new one which has precisely the same DVD player as they just put in the bin. That goes for the internet card, the hard drive and the modem and other bits and pieces too, I am certain. There might even be toxic substances in the chips that could pollute the soil at the landfill site.

It will almost certainly become normal practice in the not too distant future to recycle computers and other items of electronic apparatus. In fact there are already some places that willingly accept ‘old’ computers, although there are not many that recycle the components out of broken ones.

Some churches and most charity shops will take working computers to redistribute (or sell) to children, whose parents cannot afford to buy them or to be sent to Third World countries, where there is a dire need for computer hardware so that children are not left behind in the technological advances being made in communication and workplace apparatus.

However, there do not appear to be enough people cannibalizing old computers to make ones that work. After all, any computer is better than no computer at all and it does not take an advanced machine to go on the Net, particularly if you do not insist on running Windows 7. Older versions of Windows are more that capable or running Internet software. We used them for years, didn’t we?

Monitors and printers are also reusable or even recyclable, although these items are not normally thrown out as often as computers. Monitors can be taken care of in the same manner as televisions, anyway it is always handy to have a spare monitor.

Ink cartridges ought to be refilled rather than renewed. All you require is a bottle of the correct type of ink. Indian ink will do for the black cartridge which is the one most users replace the most frequently.

Take a syringe with a needle, suck up a couple of millilitres and squirt it through the hole in the side - NOT through the hole in the bottom, or you will damage the cartridge. This hole is normally concealed with sticky tape or a label, but it is simple to find if you are searching for it. you can refill cartridges a dozen or more times, before they are clogged and that can save hundreds of dollars (here a black cartridge costs $10-15).

Colour cartridges are refillable in the same way and you should be able to get hold of the three inks necessary for colour printing at a printers. Colour cartridges are even more costly to replace. Another advantage of refilling yourself is that you will not run out of ink halfway through a print job.

Owen Jones, the writer of this article, writes on several subjects, but is now involved with the Internet router. If you want to know more, please visit our web site at Best Router For Gaming Online

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots Program

Sunday, June 5th, 2011

The U. S. Marine Corps Reserve has a sixty odd year old program to collect toys for tots from disadvantaged families both in the United States and in other countries. The aim is to collect new unwrapped toys during October, November and December each year and then give those toys out as Christmas presents to needy children in the community in which the campaign is being conducted.

Their objective is to bring a message of hope to disadvantaged children in order to encourage them to become ‘responsible, productive, patriotic citizens’ in the words of their web site.

One of the main goals of Toys for Tots is to unite the communities where U.S Marine Reserve units are stationed for the three months of October, November and December each year in the collection and allocation of new toys to children from less well-off families in order to help them experience the joys of Christmas.

One of the aspirations is that the recollection of receiving these gifts every year will encourage the kids to appreciate the communities where they live and take an active part in those communities when they become older.

Communities where there is no unit of U.S. marine Corps Reserves can also take part in the scheme but they must first register for authorization. These non-Marine organizations will usually, but not always, be ex-Marines.

These organizations organize fund-raising events throughout the year in order to finance the purchase of new toys as donations of new toys do not always meet the organizations’ needs. These fund-raising events can include sports days, golfing tournaments, bicycle races, swimming tournaments et cetera.

Toys for Tots began in 1947 when Major Bill Hendricks, USCR and a group of Marine Reservists in Los Angeles collected and distributed 5,000 toys for needy children in the local area.

The original notion sprang from Major Hendrick’s wife, Diane, who had made a doll for a deprived child. She gave it to her husband to give to a suitable charity. When he could not find one, she recommended that he start one himself, so he did just that.

The following year Marine Corps Reserve units across the country adopted the plan and it has been actively providing toys to disadvantaged tots ever since. Walt Disney got involved from the very beginning by designing the logo that the Marine Reserve charity still makes use of today.

Other celebrities to become involved in the early days were Nat ‘King’ Cole, Peggy Lee and Vic Damone, who recorded the Toys for Tots theme, which was written especially for the charity by Sammy Fain and Paul Webster.

Many celebrities have been played a part over the years. Celebrities like Bob Hope, John Wayne, Doris Day, Lorrie Morgan, Tim Allen, Kenny Rogers and Billy Ray Cyrus. First Lady Nancy Reagan acted as the national Spokesperson in 1983 and First Lady Barbara Bush served as the national Spokesperson in 1992. She wrote in her autobiography tenderly of her involvement with Toys for Tots and called it one of her favourite charities.

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece, writes on several topics, but is now involved with Silver Cross Rocking Horses. If you want to know more, please visit our web site at Rocking Horses for sale.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Church Fund Raisers: A Few Ideas

Sunday, May 1st, 2011

All buildings need maintenance and this includes churches. In the past, it was not so much of a problem as it is today, because the congregations were larger, so if everybody chipped in, the maintenance could be done.

These days, the congregations are smaller,so donations have to be higher. The price of maintenance has also gone up substantially. One of the main methods of topping up the maintenance fund is by fund raising, which involves holding fund-raising events.

It seems that each charitable organization is having the same difficulty, because in an average sized town, there are frequently a dozen fund-raising events every Saturday and Sunday. There are church fund-raisers, scout and youth club fund-raisers, school, YMCA and Women’s Institute fund raisers all battling to be the prime event of the weekend.

This amount of competition makes it difficult to decide which sort of event to hold. In this article, we will take a look at some of the most popular kinds of fund-raising events - perhaps the kinds of events that will raise the most money for your charity’s building or your favourite good cause.

You could hand out catalogue order books. Some catalogue order books are non profit-making, which means that the catalogue company does not make a profit so that your church can. These catalogues are usually accessible just to churches, but some schools run them as well. If you do not want to step on anybody’s toes, you could run your church’s catalogue just during the school’s summer holidays.

You could hold cookie dough sales. If every household in the congregation gave two pounds of cookie dough, the kids could go out and sell it on Saturday and Sunday mornings. This works well a couple of days before a big Bank Holiday like Thanksgiving or Independence Day. it also works quite well throughout the summer.

You could hold a dinner dance with guest speakers. The dinner could also have a theme - a different one (or none) every time, until you find the most popular: Barn Dance, Viennese, Cajun, Gypsy et cetera. The food would match the theme and so would the music. The speaker must not be the vicar or the charity’s president, but must be someone off the guest speaking circuit - someone who can bring the house down with humorous anecdotes and stories.

Do not make them cheap, aim to double your money and invite local business to purchase a table of six or eight for their star employees and customers. If you go down this path, you could also organize a boxing event with dinner jackets and a five course meal.

Ask the local amateur boxing club to help set up a series of bouts with a neighbouring town and offer them 20% or whatever. They may do it free for the free publicity or they could hold the raffle (the prize could be the winner’s boxing gloves signed by all the contestants).

You could hold a day out with a difference. You could have a travelling fair put up its rides (but pay a rent for the privilege) and you could have stalls and small ‘cafes’. You could hire a bouncy house for kids to go moonwalking (and charge for it), but what would make it a lot different would be if the local amateur dramatic society put on a suitable play for you.

I do not what you would call suitable: it could be a classic, a comedy or even a pantomime, but obviously you would have to give them time to learn their lines, so you would have to plan well in advance. They hold outdoor plays like this in rural Thailand and they empty villages for miles around.

Owen Jones, the author of this piece, writes on several subjects, but is now concerned with the bouncy castles for sale. If you want to know more, please visit our web site at Bouncy House Rentals

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Charity Stores And Wardrobe Clear Outs

Sunday, April 24th, 2011

One way of dividing up people that crosses the barriers of age, sex, religion and ethnicity is whether you are a hoarder or not. There are a lot of hoarders, although some hoarders refer to themselves as collectors or just nostalgic.

That last sentence might be a tad unfair. Collecting can be explained away as a hobby and nostalgia can be thought of as a yearning for days when we were in better shape.

However, what it all boils down to for billions of households is the accumulation of old junk and old clothing. My mother and her mother had decades of clothes that they were sure would come back into fashion one day.

They were almost certainly right and it probably did, but they had to look after the stuff for twenty or thirty years and then teenagers were wearing it, not middle-aged mothers and grandmothers.

My point is that we should clear out our closets and wardrobes more frequently in order to create space and pass things on to people who can use them now rather than in twenty years time. I think that closets should be gone through once or twice a year.

Apart from seasonal stuff, if you have not worn something for months, there must be a good reason. Either you do not like it any more; you have gained weight or it does not suit you. So why not pass it on? Write it off and let someone else benefit from it before the moths do.

You could donate them to the Salvation Army, Shelter or any other charity shop or wait for your local church, school or scout brigade to hold a fund-raising bazaar or bring-and-buy sale.

This clears out room for you so that you can see the wood for the trees, allows a charity to profit from your surplus and allows someone more needy than you to get decent quality clothing at less than the retail cost.

If you have let spring cleaning drift a little, not to worry. There are charity shops that have racks specializing in old-fashioned gear. They call it retro and there are loads of people who enjoy wearing it.

There are also theatre and film companies scouring the secondhand clothes stores looking for period clothing. One of your old suits could feature in the next Fifties remake!

However, passing your old, good quality clothing on to charity stores or specialist retro shops, whether you donate or sell them, is merely one side of the coin. You can also purchase from these stores.

If you have not been in a charity shop for years or think that you would not be seen dead in one, then you should go along and have a look. They are no longer the sad, amateurish places that they once were. They are run professionally and have a decent turnover of stock. They are an especially good source of warm winter clothing such as overcoats, so why not do everyone a favour and go and have a look sometime soon?

Owen Jones, the author of this piece, writes on a number of topics, but is now concerned with the jean jacket. If you would like to know more, please visit our web site at Mens Overcoats For Sale.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Donate A Car to Charity

Thursday, May 13th, 2010

There are a number of ways for a person to give charitable contributions to institutions. One of them is to donate a car to the institution that you want to support. This would mean that the car will play a major role in helping them. But you may want to do it the following things in order to make car donation a smooth process.

First of all, you have to find the appropriate charitable institutions where you can donate a car. This is very important especially if the charitable institution that you usually support may not be that equipped to get the car that you will give to them. Searching for the appropriate charitable institutions to donate a car is very easy by searching the internet. Compare on different websites so you will find the right institution to support.

Second, you may want to know the exact monetary value that will be given to the charity itself. This is also very beneficial for people who want to take advantage of a tax deduction. This is because there is a certain amount that can be considered as the charitable contribution that is eligible for deduction that will be usable within the year.

Third step is to avoid seeking help from the middlemen. They work as the intermediary establishments that acquire donation through the means of media. This is due to the fact that they will not render the proper value of donation to charity since they would keep about 90% of the amount instead of offering it up for charity.

Fourth, getting a tax deduction from donating a car is only possible if the institution is accredited or recognized by the IRS. With this, you may want to check the IRS website so you will know if the charitable institution is accredited or not.

If you want to steer away from spending lots of extra costs, then you may decide to just deliver your car to them on your own. This won’t just help you save money but also maximize much of the charitable work you plan to do; since if you would deliver it on your own, it would appear to be a lot more personalized instead of still renting a transport service.

Lastly, it is very vital for you to transfer the vehicle’s ownership properly. This will prevent you from getting ticket violations under your name. Make sure that the charitable institution’s name will be indicated on the owner title of the vehicle instead of leaving it blank.

By doing these steps, you will be able to donate a car without getting any problems for yourselves. With this, you are able to do a good cause without even getting stressed out or being financially burdened and give the appropriate car’s value to charity.

Why not donate a car to a charity business rather than selling it for a few hundred dollars? There are many car donation charity programs to choose from which provide a diversity of benefits to the business as well as tax benefits for you.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Give A Car For A Good Cause

Friday, March 19th, 2010

Any person who has an old car and has wants to put it up for a good cause is very much welcome to have their cars sold to a car donation charity. This donate a car company also welcomes old trucks, vans, boats, and mobile homes. They would then convert the car donated to them into cash after the cars are sold through auction.

Donating the car to a charity will help you get your car sold in a fast way with great deals. The first thing that you have to do is to find a reputable charitable organization which will be the recipient of your donation. You just have to make sure when you donate a car, the proceeds will go to them to finance their programs.

After doing a background research on the car donation charity, you can proceed on talking to them to confirm if they are willing to take your vehicle. It won’t hurt if you check the terms and conditions like how much will go to the charity and the amount that you get to keep.

A good charitable institution will usually give more than 75% of their share of the sales to the charity. You should check on this aspect since there are institutions that advertise that they want to help but in reality, they keep most of the profits themselves.

When checking on the charity institutions, they will usually give you a 1-800 contact number or a website to check on. You just have to contact them and submit the information that they need.

If you opt to donate your car, the car donation charity will ask some information about your vehicle like its model, make and the year it was out in the market. The VIN or the vehicle identification number and its overall condition will also be asked from you. Your contact information will also be required so that the company will have an idea on the specific location to get the car.

Once the needed information has been furnished to the charitable institution, you just have to wait for a less than a week to have them pick up your car. It will also be necessary for you to sign a few papers. Read the documents carefully before fixing your signature.

You will not be directly involved in the sales process or where your car will be sold. It will be the car donation charity which will provide you with the details of the sale that have occurred within a month so that you can file for your rights to tax deduction that you are entitled to because of the donate a car program.

There are many car donation charity programs that are very helpful to children. How about you donate a car to a charity organization rather than scrapping it for a few meager dollars.

Tags: , , , , , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Why Are Car Donations So Popular?

Sunday, February 28th, 2010

Car donation can cause anyone a great deal of benefits. It is a brand new way of expressing your support to your most favored charitable institution. You can even finally have a destination for your unused vehicles instead of just adding up some junk in your own home. Through car donation, you can still see them be put into good use.

The very first step to car donation is to find out the right institutions that would accept car donation directly. This means that the car donation pledges will be the one to give the car directly without any intermediating organizations. The reason for this is that their services may get you more cost that what you expect. With this, they have to find an organization that will process the car donation on their own.

Second is to research well about the charities which support such car donation programs and find out more if they hold a dependable credibility. The track record of the charity of your choice should all be registered and if possible have online records at the online site of the Better Business Bureau through the help of the Charity Navigator.

Third is that if you are really too busy, then you can check the computations of how much the service of a middleman would cause you. Just be sure to ask the charitable organization of how much of the car’s value would go to them. Hence, if the charity assigns some flat fees, then your car donation may not be approved for some tax deductions.

Next, make sure that the institution will provide you important documents such as IRS forms. These documents are needed to prove that they are approved by the IRS. Check the IRS website to confirm that they have this document.

If you have already chosen the institution where you can give the donation, then you may want to deliver the car on your own. This will help you cut down the cost of getting another service to deliver the car.

Since you will transfer the car by yourself, it is essential for you to know transport the car as safely as possible. Do not give it some last-minute ticket violations as well as accidents. It is also important for you to smoothly transfer the vehicle’s ownership to the institution.

Finally, it is vital to have all the documents that you will need once you will transfer the car to charity. Get all the possible receipts as proof of the donation. Aside from these tips, Kelley Blue Book is another good resource for people who may want to do car donation. This will not only help an institution but will also give you tax deductions that you want to have.

There is many car donationprograms that are very helpful to charity. Why don’t you donate a car to a charity organization rather than trying to sell it for a few hundred dollars.

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Thinking Of Donating A Car To Charity

Friday, January 29th, 2010

There are numerous people nowadays who want to think of ways to dispose of their old cars. This is sometimes due to people purchasing a new car and simply don’t require the other one. Hence, they think of ways to dispose of their old unused cars. People don’t want the old car in their own garage because it’s such a huge waste.

With this, many people turn to car donation as the best way to make their cars useful for others especially since it is for charity. They would like to find the right charitable institutions where they can donate a car. The only problem is that majority of people are still clueless on how to donate car to organizations so they get help from donate car programs.

But it is essential for everyone to check the program that they will be donating their cars to so you know that they will maximize you’re charity donation. Although these programs or groups also aim to help clients in giving their cars to charity, there are several groups that may not give the right car value to the charitable organization that they like to assist.

With this, you have to check whether donate a car programs will give the best value to the charity. If you look closely, there are some charities that may get more value if you just donate the car directly and cut out the middlemen.

If you see on your research that the organizationthat may not give the right amount to charity, then you can just choose to donate car without any assistance. First of all, look for charitable groups that allow clients to donate their cars. After doing so, you should then prepare the right documents needed for this procedure.

Make sure that you have all the relevant paperwork filled out to transfer the car to the charity. The name will then be transferred to the institution instead of still being yours. This is a very crucial part that you must not forget! All the documents must be filled out with all the correct information.

But if you have any questions about the process like taxing technicalities, you may want to contact the IRS office or check the websites for clarifications. This way you will not have any problems with possible tax deductions and other potential issues that may concern the IRS.

If you want to donate your car, it is not impossible to do everything on your own. Nevertheless, if you want to ask assistance from some third party groups, you just need to take your time to research their background more closely and make sure that your donation won’t be wasted.

If you’re wondering how to donate a car if so check out 1800cardonations.org. They have a car donation program that may suit you’re requirement.

Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Benefit Of Donating A Car

Friday, January 29th, 2010

For anyone who has something at home that cannot be of good use and benefit anymore, the immediate thing to do would be to dispose of it. Others would want to still take the benefit from it and would decide to sell. This would bring them money while being able to take care of your junk properly along the way.

This is one reason why people would sell their car for a considerable amount of money to be returned to them. But, nowadays, it can be more rewarding to donate a car to charity compared to just selling it. If you would donate a car to a charitable institution, you would be able to help them with their endeavors too.

If you would think about it, the moment you decide to sell your old car, you’d better expect that you will have a really hard time selling it. Why? Because potential buyers would still have the hesitation of purchasing an old car due to its reliability issues! This is their consideration of whether the vehicle won’t work properly anymore since they are quite old already.

The other issue why it is better to donate a car than to sell it is that the effort may not be worth it. Remember that you will need to do a lot of things in order to transfer the car’s ownership to the buyers. But since the price will be cheaper then you may feel that all the effort are just going to waste.

If you donate the car to charity, what you just need to do is get the documents that is needed for the car and get assistance from a donate a car program. And since it is charity, you will find that a lot of organizations already accept this type of charity donations from individuals.

Such organizations can accept any kind of vehicle that you are willing to donate. Nevertheless, you have to double check various information about these organizations, by checking on their IRS status through some online resources and references. By doing so, you would be able to find about qualifying for tax deductions.

It is possible that you will acquire some tax deduction incentive once you donate a car to charity. And hence, you would realize how much better it is to donate it than just sell it and earn money that you know is a price that is not worth.

So if you have a unused car at home, why do the extra effort in selling it while you can donate them which is an easier procedure. As long as you find a reliable charity, you will definitely help them in pushing their causes forward.

donate a car to a charity organization rather than selling it for a few hundred dollars? Car donations are very helpful to charities.

Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »