While we are in the giving season, the Messenger suggests adding year-end giving year-round to nonprofits and charities of your choice by making sustainable donations. For instance, select ten of your favorite organizations and dedicate $100 a month and designate $10 a month to each of them. Here are some suggestions:
Topanga Association for a Scenic Community (TASC)—You have probably chosen to live in Topanga because of its beautiful environment filled with wildlife and amazing parklands. In contrast, much of L.A. County has lost these qualities and succumbed to suburban sprawl. It is not an accident that Topanga has not. The Topanga Association for a Scenic Community (TASC) has been on the frontlines in the fight for Topanga’s rural integrity for 54 years. Become a member: Dues for one year are: Individual, $15; Family, $20. Donations are always welcome. For more information and to donate: TASC, P.O. Box 352, Topanga Ca. 90290; tasc4topanga.org.
Topanga Community Center (TCC) (topangacommunityclub.com)—TCC and its seniors group, Canyon Sages, are seeking end-of-the-year donations to fulfill the last $100,000 of its goal to complete the classroom annex to the Community House that will expand space for senior services. The annex will continue to fulfill TCC’s mission to serve all generations of Topangans. Topanga Community Center is located at 1419 N. Topanga Canyon Blvd., Topanga, CA 90290. To donate:. For more information: info@topangacommunityclub.com.
Move the World (MTW)—is a Topanga non-profit dance performance group for ages 9-21, led by 25-year Topanga resident and choreographer, Cecilie Stuart. MTW performs and activates for Youth Homelessness, Ocean Preservation, LGBTQ Rights, Plastic Pollution solutions and more. Blending art with social change, MTW conceives, produces and performs original dance works that illuminate and ignite action for today’s critical global issues. To volunteer and donate: movetheworldnow.com. For information: info@movetheworldnow.com.
Urban Compass (http://www.urbancompass.org/)—The non-profit group provides after-school enrichment programs for at-risk youth in Los Angeles. Each year, it helps families of the children they serve at holiday time. This year, gifts are needed for “Family 25.” Salvador, a fourth-grader and soccer fanatic, loves looking out for baby sister Herlinda (2) and his younger brothers, Jesus, a spunky second-grader who loves basketball and paper planes, and Daniel, who loves being outdoors. The boys’ family also needs linens, towels and blankets. To donate gifts, ideally wrapped and ready to go, contact Tricia Nur, (310) 435-0639, tricianur@yahoo.com, for more information. Urban Compass also gratefully accepts tax-deductible donations to help fund their programs.
Protecting & Preserving the Santa Monica Mountains (samofund.org)—The Santa Monica Mountains Fund provides an opportunity for the public to get involved by contributing to programs that protect California’s mountains. One of their programs addresses the use of rat poisons that, when used to kill rats around your home, moves up the food chain and endangers hawks, owls, bobcats, coyotes and mountain lions who feed on them. The Fund is asking that people take a pledge to Break the Chain of Poison. Target your support to General Wildlife Support, the Mountain Lion Project or the Wildlife Corridor Project.
Fixnation (http://fixnation.org)—Founded by Topanga resident Karn Myers and her late husband, Mark Dodge, FixNation remains steadfastly focused on achieving its mission of reducing the population of homeless cats in Los Angeles, reducing the suffering of cats on the streets and subsequent euthanasia in municipal shelters. Through its programs, this non-profit organization has sterilized more than 150,000 cats. More than 80 percent of every dollar goes directly to programs and services to help homeless cats.
National Disaster Search Dog Foundation (searchdogfoundation.org)—Founded in 1996, the National Disaster Search Dog Foundation (SDF) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit, non-governmental organization that recently completed its National Training Center in Santa Paula, CA. Its mission is to strengthen disaster response in America by rescuing, recruiting and training dogs to partner them with firefighters and first responders to find people buried alive in the wreckage of disasters. This is where “the rescued become the rescuers.”
Best Friends Animal Rescue LA (Michellesathe@bestfriends.org)—Best Friends Animal Society in Los Angeles is working collaboratively with animal rescue groups, city shelters and passionate individuals who are all dedicated to the mission of making Los Angeles a no-kill city. As part of this mission, Best Friends hosts adoption and fundraising events, runs the Best Friends Pet Adoption & Spay Neuter Center in Mission Hills, and leads the No Kill Los Angeles (NKLA) initiative. Visit the website to learn more about adopting, fostering or donating.
Wings of Rescue (WOR) transports large numbers of adoptable animals from areas with high euthanasia rates to areas in need of adoptable dogs and cats, saving lives and giving a chance for a forever home. During hurricane rescue efforts like Harvey, Irma and Maria, donations are doubly urgent to help keep up with desperately needed rescue flights! With your support, they can continue to reach those most in need of help. GreaterGood.org now manages WOR’s fundraising efforts. 100% of your gift will go to Wings of Rescue. https://give.greatergood.org/give/144365/#!/donation/checkout
Karma Rescue is a non-profit organization dedicated to saving animals in need by finding them permanent homes and providing the resources for successful companionship. Through education, we instill the critical need for spay/neuter and offer guidance to strengthen the animal-human bond. Our vision is to help create a compassionate society which provides safety, refuge and protection for all animals. Karma Rescue still needs donations to support veterinary services such as surgical costs for removing a mass on the head from one of the thirty Hurricane Harvey dogs they rescued from Houston. Please click on this link and select General Fund: https://secure.donorpro.com/support-karma-rescue.
Paws for Life is a therapeutic program that advances Karma Rescue’s mission to create a more compassionate society by providing safety, refuge and protection for all animals. What began as a prison-based dog training program in 2014 at California State Prison – LA County has flourished into a multi-site rehabilitative program with widespread benefits. Thanks in large part to a unique partnership with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR), the Paws for Life program has gained momentum and continues to expand – in both program scope and locations throughout California. http://karmarescue.org/donate/.