The Final Countdown

(Ok, so it's not really the "final" countdown, but I have that song stuck in my head so I'm going with it.)

Several of you have asked for updates on the charities we're highlighting each day, and since we're at the halfway point, I figured now was a good time. (Oh, and if you haven't check in in a while - well first, shame on you: you call yourself an evil wrecky henchperson? Really? - but second, go here to find out what all this charity stuff is about.)

All totals are as of late Friday evening, and each link goes to the corresponding donation page.

Charity:Water - $11,405 raised online so far. That's a little over halfway to our initial goal of $20K! Every $5K builds a well that serves 250 people in need of clean drinking water, so as of now more than 500 people will be helped thanks to your dollars.

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital - Sorry, we didn't set up a page to track these donations. But you know you gave, right? So that's all that matters.

Heifer International - $5,166 raised online so far. Again, that's over halfway to our $10K goal!

Child's Play - since they also accept Paypal (and prefer it if the donation is more than $1), we don't have totals for Child's Play. On our First Giving page we've had $1,889 given - but again, the majority of us gave via Paypal.

Share Our Strength - Initially featured on Day #2 of the Countdown, so a lot of you donated before we had a way of keeping a tally. (Had to switch to St. Jude because the site wouldn't accept $1 donations.) On our First Giving page now, though, we have $2,332.

Puffy Paws Kitty Haven - Another with two options to give, but we've talked to Rick & Chrissy and they reported over $4,500 given through Paypal. So combined with the $3,632 on the FG page, that's over $8,000 - or enough to feed and house the cats for over two months, plus pay for the deworming meds they needed. Great job, guys - let's see if we can still meet that $10K goal.

Doctors Without Borders - $3,059 raised online so far.

If you haven't had the chance to give your dollar a day to these charities yet, then please consider this as your friendly nudge to do so. Where else can that single smackeroo be put to such great work? Strength in numbers, my friends! Let's do this thing!

And to all of you who have given: thank you, so very much. Here's to a new year made a little better, thanks to your generosity.