Thursday, May 21, 2009

Gotta Love Dolly!


More great news from one of my favorite philanthropists, Dolly Parton, who has an amazing childhood literacy program called Imagination Library. She will work with United Way to provide 1 million children with free books every month by 2014. Learn more about the Divine Miss Dolly's efforts HERE.

Monday, May 18, 2009

The Poorer You Are, the More Things Cost

BRILLIANT article today in the Washington Post. "The High Cost of Poverty" explains how "the poorer you are, the more things cost." A brief excerpt:

"The poor pay more for a gallon of milk; they pay more on a capital basis for inferior housing," says Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.). "The poor and 100 million who are struggling for the middle class actually end up paying more for transportation, for housing, for health care, for mortgages. They get steered to subprime lending. . . . The poor pay more for things middle-class America takes for granted."

Poverty 101: We'll start with the basics.

Like food: You don't have a car to get to a supermarket, much less to Costco or Trader Joe's, where the middle class goes to save money. You don't have three hours to take the bus. So you buy groceries at the corner store, where a gallon of milk costs an extra dollar.

A loaf of bread there costs you $2.99 for white. For wheat, it's $3.79. The clerk behind the counter tells you the gallon of leaking milk in the bottom of the back cooler is $4.99. She holds up four fingers to clarify. The milk is beneath the shelf that holds beef bologna for $3.79. A pound of butter sells for $4.49. In the back of the store are fruits and vegetables. The green peppers are shriveled, the bananas are more brown than yellow, the oranges are picked over.

(At a Safeway on Bradley Boulevard in Bethesda, the wheat bread costs $1.19, and white bread is on sale for $1. A gallon of milk costs $3.49 -- $2.99 if you buy two gallons. A pound of butter is $2.49. Beef bologna is on sale, two packages for $5.)

The article goes on to talk about things like banking - the poor often do not have checking accounts, so they have to pay high fees to go to check cashing establishments, which means that they get less of their hard-earned money.

Link to the article HERE.

Friday, May 08, 2009

Obama budget and nonprofits

How will Obama's budget proposal impact nonprofits? It's getting mixed reviews. Find out more from this Chronicle of Philanthropy article.

Tuesday, May 05, 2009

Fun DC charity events!

There are a couple of really fun DC charity events coming up this week. I wish I could go to them! Alas, I have conflicts - teaching a class on Wednesday night, and going to the Opera on Saturday night. But I am totally behind both of these artsy causes and encourage you to go in my stead... and let me know how they are!

The Smithsonian Young Benefactors' Roaring Twenties Gala and Silent Auction

The Washington Ballet Young Benefactors "beerandballet"