Buy "aftersocks" to help rebuild Canterbury, NZ

In the wake of the earthquakes that struck Canterbury in 2010 and 2011, the organization Rural Women New Zealand banded together to do what is only natural following a natural disaster: creating socks and sock monkeys with Richter scale designs. Proceeds from the purchases go straight to the mayoral fund of the city most affected by the quakes. The picture to the right shows MPs modeling the socks. You too can join this illustrious crew by wearing the socks you buy from http://www.aftersocks.co.nz/.


Effort involved: buying and then wearing or gifting. Modeling the socks in front of Parliament not necessary.


Image from: http://www.aftersocks.co.nz/gallery.html#images/gallery/logo_gallery.jpg

Take old linens/towels to an animal shelter

Apparently animal shelters and vets' offices find raggedy towels and linens really useful; see http://www.athriftymrs.com/2011/11/responsible-decluttering.html for this and other recycling tips. It's probable that you have some holey sheets, mats, etc. lying around defying you to throw them out, so this is a good opportunity to find them a new home.


Effort involved: calling up some shelters and taking your things down. Duh?

Image from: http://bulk2.destructoid.com/ul/user/1/1709-211569-tIxzyjpg-noscale.jpg

Play WeTopia

WeTopia sounds a bit cultish, to be honest. There's the name, of course, with its eccentric spelling and paradisiacal connotations. Also not helping are the animated images of bug-eyed, stoned-looking children and the premise of giving something called "Joy" to various organizations. However, said "Joy"-giving results in actual contributions to children's projects in Haiti and the US, so if you like online games it may be worth peeking behind the curtain at http://www.wetopia.com/.


Effort involved: spreading "Joy", apparently. 



Image from: http://freemusicarchive.org/curator/ISSUE_Project_Room/blog/Prince_Rama_UTOPIANO_PLACE_1301

Send a mosquito net

The Nothing But Nets campaign guarantees that 100% of a $10 donation will go toward purchasing and making available an insecticide-treated net in order to combat malaria. You can part with your money here. You can marvel there ----------------------->
That man probably isn't suffering from fatigue, jaundice, anemia, fever, retinal damage and convulsions. Your $10 can help extend that to another person as well!


Effort involved: surely you're used to this one-off donation business by now. 

Image from: http://www.googlyfoogly.com/pictures/Crazy-Slam-Dunk.html

Donate in celebration to RNIB

Whether you've got a wedding, anniversary, birthday, birth, graduation or apocalypse party coming up, you may wish to forgo the usual toasters, jewelry, slippers, strollers, books and blow-up dolls and instead accept donations to the Royal National Institute of Blind People. At http://www.rnib.org.uk/donate/giftlists/Pages/give_celebration.aspx you can find customizable fundraising pages and envelopes to ease this sacrifice.


Effort involved: the RNIB's tools make the donation process a bit easier. As for the actual celebration, you and your friends are probably on your own for that.