Helping families in need should be our number one priority. It’s so important to understand that military charities and organizations like the Red Cross or the Purple Heart Foundation or the Salvation Army are doing everything in their power to be there for people and help them through rough times. Let’s take a look at a few of the types of people that are helped through these organizations and charities.
Veterans and Military Families
Often times, the men and women who fought for our country can fall through the cracks. There are so many people in need of housing and jobs that it’s difficult for the government to get to all of them. However, military charities focus their attention on providing support for military families, particularly veterans and those who received a purple heart or the families of those you received one.
What is a purple heart in the military? You might wonder. This is the decoration that a soldier or the soldier’s family receives who has been wounded or killed in action, while serving in the U.S. military. The families of those who were killed tend to have difficulty getting back on their feet after relying on the income and the benefits of the military. This is who military charities help; husbands or wives who have lost their spouse to war and their children.
Victims of Natural Disasters
Picture a flood or a tornado or even a tsunami. Consider the way that they rip through an entire city, flattening every building, carrying away cars, setting things on fire, destroying homes, land and property. Those who survive are left with literally nothing. Most of the time, not only have they lost all of their material possessions but they have also lost loved ones; mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, siblings. It’s a devastating time. Non-profit organizations are the ones that offer these people a sliver of hope. Sometimes just giving them a blanket to warm themselves or a pair of shoes so they can walk around and look for someone is just the gesture they needed to revive their hope for getting their lives back.
Don’t underestimate how your donations will help people like this. You could be changing lives and giving people something to live for without even knowing it. While you are oblivious to your good deeds, someone out there chose to live because you cared enough to donate the things that they need.
The Homeless
We can be quick to jump to conclusions when we see a homeless person. We can assume they are addicted to drugs or an alcoholic or simply to lazy to work. While there are some bad apples, of course, most of these people hit rock bottom before they could do anything. Teenagers and single mothers running away from abusive parents or boyfriends, men who lost their jobs at the downfall of the economy, who’s wives left them in disgust, taking everything in the divorce. There are so many situations out there that may not be apparent when you look at someone. They generally don’t write ‘running from abusive husband’ on their signs.
Even if you choose not to give money to the homeless people that you see on the side of the street, consider donating gently used items. If you reason for not giving out money is that you don’t want to contribute to a substance abuse problem if there is one, that is understandable. However, these people still need food, shelter, clothes and the basic necessities plus they might even help towards rehab. Even military charities as well as other will assist them with your generous donations.
The Needy
Sometimes, needy people are not homeless. They may have been set up in lodgings with government assistance as are using food stamps to feed their families. They could be eligible for cash assistance but they never get very much from that. Having a place to go where they can pick up coats and shoes for their children is such a blessing for them. These kinds of people are usually only in a temporary situation and will not need the help once they are back on their feet but for the time being, it’s what they live for.