Charity begins on home computer

By SHELLEY HOWELLS

Peace on Earth may be a bit of a tall order this Christmas season, but we can all have a crack at a bit of goodwill to all.

Buy extra groceries to pop into supermarket charity boxes, drop off unwanted goods at an op shop, buy toys to put under any number of charity Christmas trees, or give the gift of time by volunteering.

The Auckland Volunteer Centre (phone 520-7009) can point you to a suitable organisation, as can your local citizens advice bureau, whose staff can usually use some help themselves.

If that sounds like a bit too much effort, the easy option is to stay put and give - charity does begin at home.

It can begin at the home computer, thanks to the net. Many local charities accept online donations, including the Foundation for the Blind, Amnesty International, the World Wildlife Fund and the Arthritis Foundation.

For a wider choice, hit the charity portal Charity.org.nz for lots of links to, and information about, many different organisations.

If buying gifts online, try giving gifts that give profits to good causes - such as a seasonally appropriate Students Against Drunk Driving T-shirt, a Breast Cancer Foundation T-shirt or an adorable Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust teddy. One teddy comes complete with rescue harness.

You could try shopping on the Goodwill Express site - it says "a minimum of 15 per cent (excl. GST) of your order total will go to your chosen charity" - or the Charity Mall, which donates a commission to charity.

For the hard-to-buy-for, adopt an orca. Choose from several profiled online and help support orca research in New Zealand.

Or give a green Christmas - a Greenpeace membership. Get in before December 16 to ensure the recipient will get it in time for Christmas.

While you are visiting that site, you can do a bit of workstation activism by using one of Greenpeace's cyber action forms.

Send a snail-mail Christmas card to a prisoner of conscience - the Amnesty International site has a list of contacts.

Even if you are totally broke, you can still give online. With just a (free) click of a mouse you can fund a free mammogram for a needy woman in the US, donate food to the hungry or help save a piece of rainforest.

Many similar free donation sites (generally, big business gives the money) can be found at Quick Donations.

Fed up with your computer after all that online good deeding?

Donate the computer to Bank Charity which will pass it on to computer-needy students and organisations, or the Computer Access New Zealand Trust. This takes business computer cast-offs, does them up and gives them to schools, community groups and the Computers in Homes project which aims to get computers into low-income homes.

Citizens Advice Bureau

Foundation for the Blind

Amnesty International

World Wildlife Fund

The Arthritis Foundation

Charity.org.nz

Students Against Drunk Driving

Breast Cancer Foundation

Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust

Goodwill Express

Charity Mall

Adopt an Orca

Greenpeace

Amnesty

Donate a mammogram

The Hunger site

The Rainforest site

Quick Donations

Computer Bank Charity

Computer Access New Zealand Trust

Computers In Homes