Helping Hearts, Blog of Anne Sanders

Do you ever feel like there are too many issues out there for you to make a difference? Believe it or not, I’ve felt this way before, especially with my knowledge of all the things going on in the charity world. For instance, last week, there were three different things I wanted to talk about—National Literacy Day on the 8 th , September 11 as a day of service, and National Suicide Prevention Week. If you “tuned in” last week, you know I settled on the latter. Why? Simply because I’ve written about the other two and hadn’t written about the third one yet. I felt like it was time. On the tenth anniversary of September 11, I definitely focused on that and as a former English teacher, I’ve written about literacy throughout the year. The two other issues are important to me. I buy my books from Better World Books because I know they give books to people that need them and provide literacy programs throughout the world. I also made brownies and cookies for my local firefighters on...

I was going to write about ways to fulfill resolutions to be healthier in the new year while also helping charities earn money, but with the weather so cold, I’d rather curl up with a good book than go for a jog. I’ll share some ways to help others by working out soon. For now, here are some ways to relax and read while helping others. I’ll start with the free one first— We Give Books . It’s simple, you read a book online and they give a book to someone in need. They’ve donated 1.6 million books already and are looking to donate a million more. We Give Books is a fantastic resource for parents, teachers, and anyone who loves to read children’s books. They have a free online library of over 150 outstanding children’s books, including Llama Llama, Skippyjon Jones books and DK science books. All of the books available for online reading are children's books for kids through age ten. There is a mix of fiction and nonfiction, a range of authors, and an equal balance between read...