If you’re reading this, you, like myself, are trying to do what you can but also facing your own economic uncertainties. No matter what our financial circumstances were before this, few of us will come out unscathed. And while it’s easy to identify the problems; crafting solutions that work is a lot harder.
At times like this I ask myself “WWHD?” What would Hillary do? and the answer to that is always “do the most good.” And there’s plenty to do. So many groups need our help during this crisis & I asked myself what I could do about it. We’re all stretched thin, to ask people to give anything, especially with nothing in return, seemed wrong. But what did I have to give in return?
As luck would have it, I have a copy of my un-published manuscript, a murder mystery called Under the Tuscan Gun. So I decided to highlight and micro-fund five different organizations facing challenges amid the Coronavirus pandemic. In exchange for as little as a $10 donation, you will get a rare copy, never before seen by the public.
Here’s how this works: in exchange for a $10 donation, I will send you a pdf of my not yet published murder mystery, Under the Tuscan Gun. Screen grab your donation receipt and email it to TuscanGunMicroFund@gmail.com. And if you go for all 5 charities I’ll send you a signed copy of my first book Recipes for Disaster when this is over and I feel comfortable going in public to mail something again.
Let’s do some good together! Like the story of Stone Soup, we all have something to contribute for the greater good.
Here are the 5 charities:
A Los Angeles organization that provides free tutoring and mentoring to children living in shelters, cars, motels, foster homes, etc. For these kids, school & this program are their only constants, offering food, education, physical and mental health services, and a safe place to be during the day. With the schools & School on Wheels closed they no longer have this resource, so the organization is raising money to help bridge that gap for students and purchase tablets, school supplies and books.
Farmworkers’ COVID-19 Pandemic Relief Fund
Justice for Migrant Women and other farmworker serving organizations are raising funds to keep farmworker families safe from COVID-19 as they continue to work to feed us. This work was already challenging and under-valued before this crisis. They are now keeping our supply-chain moving. Let us do something to protect them as this virus moves into rural communities.
Community Food Bank of New Jersey
Next to New York, New Jersey is the hardest hit state by this virus, & the CFBNJ services 9 of the 10 municipalities with the highest infection rates. Low income communities are hardest hit by this crisis, many people are out of work and there is a shortage of affordable, healthy foods in the stores. At one of CFBNJ’s locations alone, the demand is up by 60%.
An organization in Texas that helps connect women, especially teens, with reproductive resources- birth control, abortions, adoptions, shelters for those in abusive homes, and help with school for teen parents- as well as legal resources if they need them. Texas was one of the many states using the COVID pandemic as an excuse to restrict access to abortion services. To be clear, forced birth is a tool to control a woman’s economic and physical agency. It is the stuff that used to be of the fictional TV that we all love to to talk about each week. But it is here. And we must do something more than talk about it.
The National Domestic Workers Alliance Coronavirus Care Fund
This organization is providing Immediate financial support for domestic workers such as nannies, house keepers and home health care workers- many of whom are now out of work and who have no benefits to fall back on as they are freelance or contract workers. They take care of our families. Let’s help them take care of theirs!
