Helping Others, for Free

Sparkled Ginger Cookies

from Vegan with a Vengeance

Prior to adopting a vegan diet over 2 years ago, my absolute favorite cookies in the world were ginger snaps. However, since vegan ginger snaps are pretty difficult to find in stores, I didn't revisit this favorite cookie until a few weeks ago when I made a huge batch for a local vegan potluck. Fortunately for me I ate 5 before they left my kitchen, because they were quickly snatched up at the potluck. If you love ginger cookies, I highly recommend checking this recipe out.

Now that I have your attention, I'll move on to the main topic of this post...helping others.
Maybe it's the social worker in me, but I'm always interested when I hear of ways that I can help others that, well, are basically free and don't require a lot of time. I'm sure there are those of you out there who are feeling altruistic at times but don't have a lot of spare change to give out or very many hours left in your week for volunteer work. Because of this, I thought I would mention 3 ways to donate food or money to some really good causes, for free. Yes, that's right, for free, and with very little committment of time on your part! You're obviously already surfing the web, so surf a little further and check out the following sites. Helping others is just a CLICK away.

Free Rice Improve your vocabulary and help end world hunger. For every word you get right on Free Rice's on-line vocabulary game, Free Rice donates 20 grains of rice through the UN World Food Program. The word game on this site is not only fun, but addictive, so check it out, now!

iGive Next time you decide to make a purchase on-line, sign up through iGive first, purchase through their "mall" and have a percentage of the cost dontated to your favorite charity, animal charities included. Or, search the web through iGive's search engine, and they will donate 1 cent per search to your favorite cause. If you don't see your charity of choice listed, ask them to add it!

The Breast Cancer Site Click on the button and the site sponsors will donate money for education and free mammograms for those in need. They are partnered with the non-profit organization, National Breast Cancer Foundation.

The Hunger Site Click on the button and the site sponsors donate a cup of food to the hungry through Mercy Corps and America's Second Harvest.

The Animal Rescue Site Click on the button to pay for food and care for animals. This site partners with The Fund for Animals, North Shore Animal League, and Petfinder.com.

Finally, I would like to end this post by bringing attention to the cute little pink and white "What's for Dinner?" search engine box in the right hand column. This search engine was compiled by Susan V. at Fat Free Vegan who has done a tremendous service to the vegan community by developing healthy, delicious vegan recipes and then making them available via her website and blog, for free. If you'd like to add this search engine to your blog, check out her post here which tells you how to do just that.