Lending a Helping Hand

I don't have a lot of money, but I do try to make charitable contributions whenever I can. Sometimes we all might wonder if our $10 or $25 is enough, but if every person out there gave $10 or $25, that would add up to a lot of money. Two of the charities that I like to contribute to are directly related to my love of Gavin DeGraw. He's a big supporter of Nothing but Nets and the Wounded Warrior Project. Like myself, Gavin's other fans have taken an interest in those charities. We've gone so far as to set up a website http://www.theleasticando.net/ to make donations to a designated charity in Gavin's name each year. The Wounded Warrior Project is this year's designated charity. In one of my earlier blogs I have information about Nothing but Nets. Another charity I like to contribute to is called I'm Tired of.... For a contribution of $10 you can get a bracelet that says I'm Tired of...Cancer, Animal Cruelty, Alzheimer's, Diabetes, Child Abuse, Breast Cancer, World Hunger, AIDS, Global Warming, Autism, The Economy, or Heart Disease. The proceeds from the sale of each bracelet benefits the cause that you've chosen. Check them out at http://www.imtiredonline.com/. I'm sure that either you or someone you know is affected by one of the problems that I'm Tired of...represents. Hell, I know we're all tired of the economy. Please do your part to help make this world one that we can be proud of!

Walking the Walk

It looks like maybe every other blog post is going to be about Gavin, but that's not necessarily a bad thing! He's a huge supporter of the charity Nothing But Nets which provides repellant treated bed nets to African refugee camps to prevent malaria. It's not enough for Gavin to support this cause by raising money, he also plans to hand deliver the nets that his fundraising efforts have paid for as evidenced by a bulletin posted on MySpace:

"This Saturday, Gavin will be departing for Uganda to spend a week going to refuge camps to hand deliver the Malaria bed nets to those in need! Please stay tuned for pictures, videos, and very special blogs directly from each camp that he visits!"

Now that's what I call walking the walk. It's easy to talk the talk by saying that you support certain causes, only going so far as to mail a check on a regular basis. It takes real humanitarian spirit to get down in the trenches, so to speak, and actually look the people that you're helping in the eye. That's how you know that you're really making a difference. Gavin, I applaud you for being the kind of person that knows that first-hand experience of others' hardships make you a more compassionate and giving person. I also applaud your parents for instilling such values in you. You've made your fans very proud. Just when we think that we couldn't possibly love you any more than we already do, you prove us wrong by opening your own heart just a little more!