On October 15, there was a tremendous concert to celebrate the Clinton Foundation’s “Decade of Difference”. Bono and Lady Gaga were among the performers and numerous celebrities from Hollywood were in attendance like Barbara Streisand.

I know I featured the Clinton – Bush Haiti Fund previously but I saw this video on Clinton’s Foundation website and I had to write a post on it. There’s a brief endorsement from Mr. Mandela at the end of the video clip. We don’t see a lot of public appearances from Nelson Mandela now that he’s in retirement so I thought I would help get a little more exposure for the cause he is supporting in this case.

Mr. Clinton offered to personally match donations up to $100,000 USD before the end of 2010. Wow !! He has tried with his foundation to tackle some very difficult situations all over teh world and I have to give him credit and respect. He helped a lot of people.

For me personally, I was in Vietnam in 1993 before the embargo was lifted and I saw with my own eyes the difference it made in people’s lives over there when Bill Clinton lifted the embargo in early 1994. It was like turning on a light in a room that had been dark for a very long time. It instantly gave the average Vietnamese citizen hope for the future. Sometimes that’s all we need to keep going through rough times. It helps when someone is out there cheering for your team and in this case it was a lone President of the United States who saw through all the smoke and lies and he reached out to lend a hand. Most people just don’t realize that Vietnam was a great friend with the US after World War II and fell victim to French and American greed and stupidity starting in 1947. That was when the “allies” gave Vietnam back to France as a “possession” because France threatened to not join NATO unless we gave them Vietnam and Cambodia back.

Anyway, my life was changed by Bill Clinton’s vision back in 1994 and I’ve kept an eye on his successes and failures ever since. This foundation is definitely a success and I encourage you to invest in a small donation if you can because the money is well spent and not wasted.

I hope everyone has a great year in 2011 and I can tell you from personal experience that giving your time or support in the form of a few dollars is good. I think that despite all the opposite and confused teachings of the many religions that have sprung up over the history of mankind, helping anyone who is less fortunate is one of the real central purposes of this life. Best Regards – from the editor Mal Milligan.

Pakistan was hit with some of the worst flooding in it’s history in July and August 2010. As a result there were almost 2,000 dead and 4 MILLION left homeless and 15 million refugees. Unfortunately the donations to help these victims were slow to get started. Reuters reported in mid August that there were close to 250 million USD pledged out of perhaps half a billion estimated needed for the cleanup. http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE66T3RS20100818

The DEC (Disasters Emergency Committee) Pakistan Floods Relief is a good charity to donate to if you are looking to help. Please get involved in some way. Positive world change is often a result of helping those in most need.  Regards everyone !!

During my lifetime I’ve always felt sad about the conditions in Haiti but now it’s biblical level destruction and I had to help. I gave a contribution to the Clinton Foundation hours after the earthquake because they setup quickly and that fund gets a 95% rating from the Charity Navigator. Here is an offshoot of that original program that is called the

Clinton Bush Haiti Fund

And you know there are a lot of funds but this one in particular will be well managed. It seems now 10 days after the initial disaster there are a lot of supplies on the way but not much on the ground yet. The level of human suffering is staggering and there is no poorer nation in the world that could use your help right now in some small way. I’m going to send a few bucks to this foundation as soon as I get my next paycheck.

Here is a list I got from Google for more places you can check out for Haiti Relief Organizatinos:

Care,

Clinton Bush Haiti Fund,

Direct Relief,

Doctors Without Borders,

Feed the Children,

Habitat for Humanity,

Lambi Fund,

Mayor’s Fund for NYC,

Meds & Food For Kids,

Mercy Corps,

Partners in Health,

Red Cross,

Save the Children,

The International Rescue Committee,

UNICEF,

World Food Program,

Yele Haiti,