Welcome to my blog, Going Places. All material (photos, writing) on this blog is my own property. You may use my material without asking express permission, but you must cite me as the creator (with a link to the blog if you're publishing it online). I would appreciate a "heads up" about it, though.
I sometimes trade links with other interesting blogs. Send me an e-mail if you are curious about that: storysinger81 [at] gmail.com
Disclosure:
I'm in the beginning stages of "monetizing" my blog, which for those of you not versed in blog-ese, means advertising or partnering with sites to earn money for people clicking on some links in my blog. I've been resistant to doing this for some time, but I've finally figured out what I want to do: I want to donate all the money I earn from this blog to my favorite charities.
I love volunteering, but I know that many organizations benefit more from financial donations than they do that of time. However, I'm not rich. Nor will I ever be rich (teachers don't end up with foundations and scholarships named after them all that often, especially not those who are addicted to travel and are the main earner in the family). I donate money to charity every year, but it's not much. So here's the deal: Please click on my links if you plan to buy books (or other goodies) from Amazon. I'm going to be compiling my Korea story into a downloadable narrative e-book that I'll charge a small fee for. I may even play with Google's fancy monetizing features. Whatever money I make from so doing, I will donate to charity.
Money Earned So Far: $0
My Current Pet Charities:
- National Transplant Assistant Fund (NTAF): An organization dedicated to assisting patients with uninsured medical expenses (U.S.) for transplants and catastrophic injuries. My good friend and former director, Jim, was in a very serious car accident in April 2010 that has left him quadriplegic. You can read more about it at his wife Sweetie's blog. Donated 2010--$65
- Gumi International Women's Center (no website yet): A small but effective Buddhist community center run by a Cambodian monk for abused and neglected "marriage migrants" from (primarily) Southeast Asian countries in Gumi (a small city to the northwest of Daegu). They do really great work for these women and sometimes their children. Recently, they opened a cafe where the women prepare foods from their home countries and enjoy the chance to earn a living. Donated 2009--30,000 won (approx $25)
- Community Crisis Services, Inc.: A Prince George's County based non-profit that provides various services for people in crisis, including phone counseling and referral, answering the child abuse reporting line, and emergency, cold-weather homeless services in the winter. I used to work as a volunteer and then later, as a paid operator on their crisis, suicide, and homeless hotline. Money Donated: 2009--$250
- The IMANI Foundation: A Kenya-based NGO founded by a good friend of mine to support various projects that alleviate poverty including building schools and boardinghouses for abused women. Min Gi and I hope to volunteer in person there in the summer of 2011. Money Donated: 2009--$250
- CamKids: The Cambodian Children's Charity: A UK based NGO that supports abandoned, neglected, abused, and orphaned children in Cambodia. You can donate or sponsor a child through their website. Donated: 2010--50 kg bag of rice to NACA orphanage
- Cambodia Landmine Museum: Founded by a former Khmer Rouge child soldier who now works to de-mine rural Cambodia and promote awareness worldwide about the dangers of antipersonnel devices. Donated 2010--$10
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