september 2023 double donation

this month, I did my annual giving to algalita for their long beach gives campaign. i've been wanting to help out more but, honestly, i've been too lazy to volunteer. plus, i don't have that many saturday mornings open either. but last month they put a call out for two types of volunteers: 1. for dsi kits and 2. to help proof their wayfinder society website. i wanted to do both, but the dsi kits were mostly being assembled during normal work hours so that was out for me. but i did put in a good number of hours testing their website, so i feel pretty good about that.

my time at algalita wasn't all great all the time, especially the last year + but i do still really value my time there and still feel very lucky to have worked there with so many passionate people. it was a life changer for me in many ways. 

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gave another $26.62 ($25 plus the credit card transaction fee) this month to the moore institute for plastic pollution research, which is algalita's sister org. moore institute focuses on research, and algalita on education. 

algalita blew thru their $5k goal (with $8,746 raised as of 9/22 at 9:30am), but moore institute is really struggling with only $396 raised of their $2000 goal. :( that $396 includes my donation, btw. tho i wish i had paid better attention when donating and i would've chipped in an extra $5 to get them over the $400 mark.

august 2023 donation

this month I donated $25 and a few other things to norfside long beach which is a group of "North LB locals providing resources to our unhoused neighbors." gave them the tent above plus a tarp, a cap, some toothbrushes, and menstrual products. i'm hoping that my mom will be able to part with at least some of her stash of hotel toiletries and guest toothbrushes, etc. 

i like that they seem to have a reasonable amount of transparency on their instagram about how much money has been donated lately and how much they've spent, etc. they post photos of receipts which is pretty cool. i hope they're able to use the things, altho, unfortunately, the tent and tarp are both no longer waterproof. :( still, it's probably better than nothing.

july 2023 donation

this month i donated to PBS. why? because it's pbs!!! i recently thought about them because the throughline pbs sesame street episode rerun. sesame street was a pretty big part of my childhood, i think like for many kids

june 2023 donation

this month I donated to LA ist, which I only recently found out has a local radio station! I know I'd visited their website before, though not too often. but anyway, they also play NPR which I'm a big fan of altho, honestly, I don't really listen to too much, lol, since I have my many podcasts to get through. though some of my favorite podcasts are from NPR. it's kind of strange, I think, how little I used to listen to public radio since it totally seems like my kind of thing, but anyway, j listens to it all the time so that's where I developed more of an appreciation for it. 

may 2023 donation

this month i donated $25 to border kindness. i heard about them thru npr's article about them. i had actually donated to water stations in march 2021, which does similar work. 

"Border Kindness began in the fall of 2018 as a direct response to the “migrant caravans” leaving Central American countries on a quest for a better life. From our earliest days, we have provided asylum-seekers, migrants, refugees, and the displaced with comprehensive services that include food, shelter, clothing, medical care, and legal services."

also, i've said it a million times, but i do so love when non-profits accept donations thru paypal. it's so convenient! 

april 2023 donation

this month I donated to vice news because their reporting is actually pretty good. i follow them on instagram and occasionally watch some of their stuff on youtube. j and i like abandoned, tho it wasn't actually very good. but still, we do love abandoned places so... in any case, supporting media seems more important to me right now, so here we are.