what are some legit charities? not just to give money to, but also ones where you can get involved and help out?
Habitat for Humanity - Their goal is to help build houses/shelters for the needy, the welcome money donations for the materials and of course physical labor for the actually building. It's a great way to help out your community and of course learn about home improvement as you will be helping to build a house/shelter from scratch. I have done it a few times in my neck of the woods, usually a good environment filled will people who just want to give back. HFH will provide tools, materials, and instructions when you show up, no matter your level of know-how in construction everyone there can help with something. Hope that helped.
Amazon Promise www.amazonpromise.com They take western medicine, Doctors, Nurses, other volunteers into remote villages along the Amzon River in Peru. Work is with Shamans and Western Medicine sharing ideas and information. This a "volunteer" situation which you pay for but they do some cool work. Plus you get to see some remote jungle areas in the heart of the rainforest. I've worked with them as a volunteer starting back in 1994 and as recent as last summer. Check the website.
Homeless shelters usually need help, especially if you live in/near a city. I'd do a women's one if I were you and you(/I) had interest in that....
Only during celebrity week on Jeopardy could I answer this... and there's a 30 minute time frame before I forget those.
Food banks and soup kitchens always need feet on the ground. I built houses with habitat for humanity for two years, and it was a blast, and now I can build a house to code with the exception of plumbing.
Locks of Love.. I donate to Locks of Love every year. Not only hair but funds as well. They help people going through long term medical hair loss. I actually started donating to locks of love when I was in middle school, and we had co-student that was going through chemo and she lost all of her hair. Almost every female in the 8th grade that year donated. It was awsome, we had donated to locks of love and a local hair salon, and they had made her a special wig for her..
If you enjoy being around animals, an animal shelter would be a great idea- they almost could always use someone and the animals could use the attention. I did it for awhile and it involves everything from cage cleanup, walking dogs, playing, feeding, socializing animals, training, organizing events, etc. I found it really brought something to my week (I love animals), and helped to ease my stress and anxiety and overall was very therapeutic.
i feed, spay/neuter, and adopt stray and abandoned cats i also design and maintain websites for local non-profits for free very few charities per se where i live, and most tied to churches i can't cope with and weird clubs i can't join [the northern plains are harsh] but there's always something you can do, and there's lots of great suggestions in this thread . . .
I've done a lot of stuff for the Cancer Society. They are always needing hands at benefits and events they have for fundraisers. A few years ago, my best friend and I did a huge bake sale and donated all the profits to the Cancer Society. It was fun because people enjoyed themselves and we made money for a good cause. You can really do anything for any charity and donate the money, too...you're putting in time to help those in need and having fun doing it! And a note on lode's comment, soup kitchens are an awesome place to help out. Local food and homeless shelters usually need some help organizing and feeding.
