The Official Modest Needs Blog

The Invisible Disability

At Modest Needs, one of our grants is designed specifically to assist those with disabilities. Some of these disabilities are invisible--unseeable to the naked eye--unless you are living with it. When you are living with these invisible illnesses, they can shatter your whole world.

This post from the Good Men Project is a heartbreaking, but honest look at life with someone with mental illness:

[T]he most troubling part is you no longer want help, because help means doing the dance all over again.

Hell, I can’t blame you. To have to feel like this every few years is torture. You spend months finding the exact balance of medication that allows you to function on a daily basis. Not to make you feel great, mind you. Just enough to get by. I can’t imagine hoping that the best case scenario is that my mood will stabilize at slightly below happy.

If we get lucky, the meds work for awhile and that’s nice. It was a couple years this last time. But then it stops working and the demons return. Suddenly you have to start from scratch. And the upcoming months to find the right mix of meds might as well be an eternity.

And yes, I know life off the meds is enticing because you actually feel better. At least at first. But even though you feel like Superwoman off the medication, we both know it’s fleeting. You can’t live life in fast forward because you’ll crash, leading to life in slow motion. And I think we both remember how awful that is.

So we enter the fray once again. Not because we want to, but because we have to. It isn’t fun and I hate it. It’s 100 times worse for you and it kills me to see you struggle. But it’s important because I love you and I need you here with me. And Will needs you too. You’re his mom. You make this family tick and without you everything grinds to a halt.

You can read the entire piece, and I suggest that you do, here.

[Photo by Helga Weber]

Discrimination Against the Disabled

One of the grants that Modest Needs offer is the Independent Living Grant, a grant specially designed to assist those living with disabilities. To give you an idea of the difficulties these individuals face, here are a few statistics pulled from a blog post that paint a grim portrait:

• About 10% of the non-institutionalized working-age population in the United States lives with a disability (not including psychiatric disabilities).
• 25-30% of (non-institutionalized) people with disabilities (aged 21-64) were living below the poverty line in 2008, compared to 9.6% of people without disabilities who were below the poverty line.
• One third of employers surveyed said that persons with disabilities cannot effectively perform the required job tasks. The second most common reason given for not hiring persons with disabilities was the fear of costly special facilities.
• The unemployment rate for people with disabilities was 14.8% in 2010, compared to 9.4% for people without disabilities.

In addition to their disabilities, these people have to also deal with discrimination, higher unemployment rates and the struggle to stay above the poverty line, which is tragic and, honestly, unacceptable.

If you'd like to browse some of our requests for Independent Living Grants, and help to ease some of these unfair burdens, you can do so in our database.

[Photo by Warren Rohner]

Giving Back: Formerly Hungry Helps Those Without

Today I'd like to share with you a very moving little story told by a woman who volunteers at the Mid-South Food Bank in Memphis, Tennessee. Glendora Greenway, aged 59, went to bed many times in her young life hungry and cold. She gives back now to those without in hopes that another little girl won't go without dinner.

One interesting part of her story is that just like at Modest Needs, the donors/volunteers, are also the recipients. The same people who help to sort and hand out the food are also those in line to get the food.

Take four minutes out of your day to hear how past hunger drives one woman to do as much as she can to prevent that suffering for others.

[Photo by Walmart Stores]

Don't Make Kids Give: Teaching Charitableness to Children

What is the best way to create a charitable giver for life? Start 'em young. And how young is too young? That's one of the focuses of a great post written by the blogger at The Confident Mom entitled, "Ways to Teach Children about Charitable Giving."

Some parents believe that it’s important to wait for their children to grow a bit older (think six or seven) before teaching them these life lessons. In a way, these folks are right. The older the child is, the better his/her comprehension skills. However, according to Carol Weisman, the author of Raising Charitable Children, your kids are capable of understanding caring and giving at the tender age of three or four. At three, your child is quickly learning to communicate his/her needs. The child is also capable of comforting those around him/her. (Think of the time your own youngster offered you a hug when you were feeling down.) Remember, kids are like sponges.

This post includes six lessons for parents who want to instill the love of helping in their children, and one that really sticks out as important is to never make a child give something that they don't want to give:

Never force your child to give away anything that he/she doesn’t want to give – whether it’s toys, food, clothes, money, or even time. Kids, as adorable as they are, can be very stubborn sometimes and forcing them to do things they don’t understand will only breed further misunderstanding, and even resentment. Your goal here is to help your child become a better person by teaching him/her to become charitable—not to get into shouting fests with your youngster.

While requiring kids to give may seems like a good idea on its surface, this mom makes a good point about how charitableness should derive from a place of want, not a place of must. That way the child will want to give of themselves as adults, and not eschew it altogether once they reach maturity.

There are some really great suggestions about how to instill the value of philanthropy in young ones. Click over to read the entire post from this blogging mom whose ideas about teaching the importance of charity. Then add your own! Tell us here ways that you teach your own young ones about giving. We want to hear from you.

[Photo by epSos.de]

It's Now Easier Than Ever to Prevent Poverty Before It Starts

Exciting news on the Modest Needs front! It is now easier than ever to help keep people independent and prevent poverty before it begins--the mission that we tackle each and every day.

If you "like" Modest Needs on Facebook, and you should!, you can now donate directly to Modest Needs right from our Facebook page. Not only that, but you can now easily "share" our Facebook donation page on your own Facebook wall. More, better, simpler ways to help people just like you and me who are facing a financial hardship--it's win-win!

And maybe the coolest part of all, you can create a "birthday wish" on Facebook asking that, in leiu of gifts (or in addition to well wishes), people give to Modest Needs on your behalf.

Neat, right?

So, check out our fresh new Donate page on Facebook, like us if you haven't yet already, and see the wonderful world of social media for social change at work.

Your Generosity Is Contagious, So Pass It On

I'd never heard of childrens author Chris Rumble until today, but upon seeing this video about the chain reaction of generosity, I'm a fan. And I've never read one of his books! But he's got a great attitude and an uplifting presence in this short clip here he described how one child's selfless gift inspired so many others to do the same. Watch and see and smile:

Where Does Your Money Go?: Track Your Tax Dollars

It's tax day. I'd put an exclamation there if any of us were happy about it, but we aren't. None of us are.* Even if you are getting a refund, you've been loaning your hard-earned cash to the government interest free for a whole year! Boo on that.

But, what we get in return is often quite useful: military protection, working roads and education for all. Lots of our tax money goes to very good use.

Wouldn't it be great, though, if you could tell exactly where your tax dollars are going, broken down into graph form? Well, it's your lucky day:

Where Did My Tax Dollars Go?, created by Anil Kandangath, does all that in spades. The interactive graphic shows, quite simply, how much of your income goes to taxes, and of those tax dollars, it tracks how every last buck was spent. So let's say you make $50,000. On average, you pay $11,088 in taxes.

Check it out for yourself. Pretty nifty.

And in related tax day news, don't forget that every single donation to Modest Needs, no matter how big or how small, is tax deductible.

*Except maybe GE and the like.

Look Ma, We're On TV!

Radio? Magazines? Newspapers? TV?

Yeah: We've done that.

Check out our archived media page to take a look back at video and print stories about what we do here at Modest Needs every day.

The Today Show, CNN, Fox News, O Magazine--they are all there. Take a quick look at how far we've come.

No Cash Needed to Change a Life

In a positively endearing article about a child's birthday party wherein guests were asked to give donations to a local charity in lieu of gifts, we learn the importance of teaching generosity at a young age. Also, we learn that one doesn't need to have cash in hand to make a huge difference in the lives of those less fortunate.

This 8-year-old didn't have money in the bank. She just decided to turn ungiven gifts into generous aid for strangers in need.

In the article, the author lists other ways one can give back to his or her community without spending a single cent. And they are all smashing ideas:

* Neighborhood dog wash
* Charity car wash
* Used book sale
* Making and selling homemade jewelry
* Birthday party donation in lieu of gifts
* Backyard movie night on large screen under the stars

So, the next time you find yourself wishing to help someone at Modest Needs, but can't quite afford to do so, keep in mind that a used book sale or a neighborhood dog wash might yield enough funds to change someone's life for the better.

[Photo by mae noelle]

Set to Expire: 4 Ways to Prevent the Cycle of Poverty TODAY

It's the start of a new month, and with it comes four ways in which you can help change the life of someone on the verge of poverty. Below are four Modest Needs applications that are set to expire before Friday. If you want to make a meaningful difference today, these applications are the way to do so.

1. Medical Bill Assistance
2. Disabled, Need Help to Modify Home
3. Disabled Lady Needs Help with Car
4. Car Repairs For Single Mom Of Two

[Photo by Loius Docker]