Charity rocks, but it's not cheap.

Every year since I can remember, I have done some manner of donation to charity. When I was little, my mother would pick out an angel from the tree and we would shop together. When I was older, mom would pick one for her and one for me, and she would give me the money for it. Once I got old enough to earn my own money, I started doing them myself. For two years I was unable to do anything like this because of our financial situation. The first year I donated some hand-made jewelry to toys for tots. Last year, I donated some hand-made items to the YWCA and I gave 20% of Christmas jewelry sales to Child's Play. I raised $100 by just donating 20% of all non-show sales from thanksgiving until Dec 20th.
This year, I actually have money, so I'm spreading it around. I got more extravagant gifts than I would normally get for family, I bought myself some seriously kickass winter clothes and snow boots (which have been well worth it so far), I donated $50 to an adolescent boys home per the request of my uncle, and I just spent about $275 on clothes, toys, etc. for a homeless family--and that was pretty much just for winter essentials and only a handful of toys. The point of this is not for you all to go "wow, vo0 rocks", but so you understand how much this stuff is needed. I spent approximately $325 for charity and I barely put a dent in what the world needs-- I barely bought clothes for a family of four and one or two small toys for each kid, and sent enough money to a teen boys home to feed them for a night. People need help and one person alone can only do so much.
This year, I am donating 20% of my Christmas jewelry sales to Child's Play again, and so far all we have is approximately $30. I would really like to be able to top last years figure of $100. This is part of the reason for the pushy, soapboxy, holier-than-thou statements about how your help is needed. If I am going to get the figure up around $100, then I need some help. My website is http://hippybeads.com . You don't have to do anything special to have the charity money deducted, I automatically take it out of every order. Child's Play is a great charity designed to help kids while proving that gamers aren't a bunch of heartless murdering assholes. I know some people are thinking "that's great, vo0, but doesn't the other 80% go into your pocket?" Yes, it does. I won't deny it for a second. I personally like the idea of being able to get shiny things that I, or someone else, will enjoy AND donating to charity at the same time. However, if you don't want the shiny things, or don't want me to have the money, then donate directly. Even if you don't like that charity, donate to something, it's really needed, especially this time of year.
Even if you don't buy things from me, you can donate directly to them.