Making the season bright

As the year draws to a close, seasonal thoughts turn to charitable giving and goodwill towards all people, especially those in need.

Gratitude for our own gifts and the wish to share good fortune with others, research suggests, creates its own mental and physical health benefits for us.

So, in keeping with welcome warm wishes, here are a few thoughts on where the generous might consider helping in the days ahead.

Many shortfalls persist in the U.S. health and medical systems. They can be relentless in draining the spirit and resources of the sick, poor, and hungry. These are a few of many options to consider donating:

Blood. The Red Cross warned this fall that the nation’s supply plunged to critical levels. Donors answered the call. But the agency said it would take weeks for supplies to rebound, and the need for donors is constant.

Donated blood becomes an instant, urgent need for those involved in terrible vehicle wrecks. Or for those who must undergo major surgery. It is a big, sustained demand for patients with chronic illnesses, including certain cancers.

As the American Red Cross advises, “every 2 seconds someone in the U.S. needs blood and or platelets.“ Approximately 36,000 units of red blood cells are needed every day in the U.S. But insufficient numbers of Good Samaritans give blood and do so regularly, leaving the nation’s health care system — and countless patients across the country — in constant worry about supplies.

Not everyone may give blood, and there are eligibility requirements to safeguard donors and the supply. These changed this year, as the Red Cross notes, “for those who spent time in Europe, and [with] the elimination of questions based on gender and sexual orientation in our Eligibility FAQs. More information [is available] also on our LGBTQ+ Donors page.”

Giving is painless. And hospitals, clinics, and blood-banking institutions, with a boost from charitable organizations, try to make the process as convenient as possible.

For more information on donating blood, please click here.

Assistance with medical debt. This scandal of the U.S. medical system afflicts as many as 100 million regular folks, with an estimated quarter of adults owing more than $5,000, according to news reports. Patients’ indebtedness to doctors, hospitals, and others forces far too many to forgo needed medical treatment and prescription medications, as well as causing “families to cut spending on food and other essentials. Millions are being driven from their homes or into bankruptcy.”

Despite the efforts exerted too often by doctors, hospitals, and other providers to squeeze patients — especially the poor, working poor, and uninsured or underinsured — for every penny they possess, collection efforts frequently go for naught. That leaves financial institutions to aggregate, buy, and sell medical debt with what can be cruel abandon for those who find these stressful obligations hanging over their lives.

Enter RIP Medical Debt, a New York-based 5013(c) founded by, yes, two former debt-collection executives. They have shown how gifts from the charitable can wipe out substantial medical debts, with a $100 contribution, for example, eliminating $10,000 in others’ obligations.

Churches and other groups, as well as politicians and governments, have stepped up to help erase medical debt that saps patients and their loved ones so much that 1 in 5 fear they never will pay off their medical bills.

The efforts to erase medical debt have gotten increasing public attention, including by HBO satirist John Oliver (see his piece by clicking here) and in a poignant New York Times article about a terminal cancer patient with a last wish to help others — effectively clearing an estimated $20 million owed by people she did not know.

For more information on RIP Medical Debt, please click here.

Food insecurity. Hunger and lack of food is an unrelenting problem, not only after disasters and not just in the developing world. As the experts and advocates underscored in the 2022 White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health, the first such event in a half century: “Millions of Americans are afflicted with food insecurity and diet-related diseases — including heart disease, obesity, and type 2 diabetes — which are some of the leading causes of death and disability in the U.S. The toll of hunger and these diseases is not distributed equally, disproportionately impacting underserved communities … Lack of access to healthy, safe, and affordable food, and to safe outdoor spaces, contributes to hunger, diet-related diseases, and health disparities …”

Since 2010, a novel group of people with expertise in food have tried to ensure that nutritious meals, a fundamental of human welfare, get to those in the worst circumstances. Chefs around the globe have answered the emergency calls and rallied around José Andrés and the World Central Kitchen charity he founded with his wife.

Andrés, who launched his superstar culinary career in Washington, D.C., has defined the group’s global mission: “WCK is a nonprofit organization that is first to the frontlines providing fresh meals in response to crises, while working to build resilient food systems with locally led solutions. Applying our model of quick action, leveraging local resources, and adapting in real time, WCK has served more than 200 million nourishing meals around the world.”

The organization in recent times has fed the hungry in Ukraine, Armenia, Afghanistan, Israel, Gaza, Morocco, Turkey, Hawaii, and Florida. The group welcomes volunteers, as well as donations of many different kinds.

To learn more about battling food insecurity nationally and in the region, click on these links (they represent a slice of the many charitable groups involved in the struggle): D.C. Central Kitchen, Maryland Food Bank, SOME (So Others Might Eat), Capital Area Food Bank, and D.C. Hunger Solutions.

Eyes may not be aglow, and hearts likely won’t flutter, when these possible holiday gifts get unwrapped. Still, making these items seasonal priorities could be heartily welcomed, if and when their life-changing and life-saving potential gets realized. The need for these gifts is its own sad commentary on the times we live in. Still, think about these:

Gun safes. Let’s not argue the Second Amendment during the holidays. But with firearm purchases having skyrocketed during the coronavirus pandemic, so, too, have tragic results — soaring deaths and injuries to our children and others, as well as spiking suicide rates.

The rising tide of evidence shows that keeping weapons in a home makes its residents less safe. Those who insist on arming themselves for personal protection can, research is showing, protect others by ensuring their firearms are kept securely — locked away, unloaded and with ammo stored separately, and far from curious kids and those who, in a momentary crisis, might cause themselves serious harm.

Go kits (and emergency plans). It’s impossible now to ignore just how susceptible so many of us are to disastrous conditions due to weather extremes, wildfires, earthquakes, and who knows what other calamities. With all the loved ones gathered, and in an appropriate time, take a few moments to ensure that everyone you care about knows about emergency planning and resources.

Do you have a household “go” or “ready” kit that can be grabbed in a flash and sustain the medical and health needs of you and yours for a few days or more? Do you have ready an emergency supply of prescribed medications, water, food, flashlights, cell phone chargers, and more?

It isn’t an endorsement of the products, research, and testing by the New York Times’ “Wirecutter” section and its editors and reporters. But the consumer-focused section recently published useful information on thinking about goods and services that folks may need in a hurry for various problematic situations. Looking at the material (available by clicking here) can, if nothing else, give buyers an idea of potential purchase prices.

Over-the-counter opioid overdose “antidotes” and fentanyl testing strips. The United States has been besieged by opioid overdoses and deaths,. CNN reported that the associated fatalities “reached another record level in the United States this spring …data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows [with] 2023 .. on track to be another devastating year amid the drug epidemic. More than 111,000 people died from a drug overdose in the 12-month period ending in April [2023}, according to the new estimates.”

With this persistent threat relenting little, federal authorities have sought to respond by making the drug Narcan this fall “the first opioid overdose reversal medication approved for over-the-counter purchase,” the New York Times reported.

Major pharmacy chains have said they will stock the nasal-spray medication and make it available for OTC sale at a cost of less than $50. Those who head households with young people can go through the appropriate discussion and decision-making on the significance of having Narcan in the medicine cabinet. But it may be helpful to know that many schools, libraries, and public facilities already have chosen to respond to the opioid crisis by having this medication at the ready for all-too-common overdose emergencies.

With law enforcement officials also warning that evil criminals are tainting even “lesser” street drugs like marijuana with fentanyl — the highly potent and risky synthetic opioid — it may be prudent to have inexpensive test strips on hand. These can be purchased online, though public health, educational, and anti-drug organizations also are trying to make the test strips more readily and widely available, especially for the young. In the District of Columbia, a handful of scattered vending machines dispense Narcan and condoms.

Photo credit: Items for potential kit as shown at Ready.gov

Still need ideas on charitable giving or smart family gift-giving?

The firm maintains a list of charities we support. Check it out by clicking here.

Over the years, the newsletter has offered various annual suggestions on ways to help others, including all you need to know about:

Becoming an organ donor.
Participating in medical research.
Donating leftover prescription medications, no longer needed durable goods, and eyeglasses and hearing aids

My colleagues and I enjoy a great gift all year long, of course — the opportunity to work with terrific clients and all the wonderful folks who make the firm a success.

Our thanks and best wishes to all for safe, happy, and healthy holidays and a superb new year and beyond!