My Version of Oprah's Big Give

If anyone knows how good it feels to give things and money away, it is Oprah. With years of giving under her belt, she has decided to share it with more people in her new show, Oprah's Big Give, which will soon be airing on ABC. Having the love of giving, but not yet the resources, when I heard about this new show I was rather excited. So, where in my own community would I give lots of money if I had it to give?

Being fairly new to Midland, Texas (a Michigander most of my life) this was something I had never thought about. I haven't gotten to know what all my community has to offer and how they help people here. With a little research, asking around a bit, and of course what little I already knew, this is what I came up with of where I would start to give lots of money away.

The United Way.
The United Way is a nation wide organization that often works as a funnel. They take funds and distribute them to causes, classes, and other charities that benefit the community. They also have some things that they do on their own providing a wide range of activities and programs that help the community at large. Here in Midland, Texas the local United Way works hard to help the youth of the area, the homeless, and families. They are very active in the local community and provide a great deal of services. As such, I feel that they would be a great place to start with. Donations here, are well worth it as they benefit many areas of the community.

The Permian Basin Area Foundation.
Another funnel that works hard to help fund area charities is The Permian Basin Area Foundation. They raise millions and funnel it out to charities as they need it for a wide variety of projects. They are work hard to make sure that programs, ideas, and charities that are helping the community have the opportunity to do just that. They also work hard to see that the community's needs are met.

West Texas Food Bank.
There are a huge number of jobs here and with that huge number of jobs, a large and growing community. However, not everyone has the option of taking on a great job, or the jobs don't always meet the area families' needs. With such there are those that struggle to feed their family. The West Texas Food Bank is working hard to feed the families who have needs. In addition to that they are working hard to provide good nutrition to children who might not other wise get it, and nutrition education to parents who might not know how to provide nutritious meals for their families. It is education classes such as those that the West Texas Food Bank offers that not only feeds children and families of today, but changes the tomorrows as well.

Golf Course Road Church of Christ.
While most situations like this would leave me to leave any churches and other religious affiliated ministries off of the list due to my desire to help the community, but not to offend anyone The Golf Course Road Church of Christ offers a ministry that is near and dear to my heart. The Golf Course Road Church of Christ has a deaf ministry. Here they offer church and Bible classes to the deaf, but in addition to that they also help the deaf in the area. Since coming to Midland, TX we have found that there is a fairly good sized deaf community and as such I feel that additional support could be used in the area. Many of the deaf here are not employed. From past experience, I know that this is mostly because they have not been taught to work in the community. Instead of having jobs, they go though and sell pins. This is good, however, the ones that desire to be employed should be taught how to be employed and aided in getting jobs. The Gold Course Road Church of Christ's ministry provides some help with this and could use more funds to grow their deaf ministry into something large teaching the deaf in the community to become more active members of society.

Midland Fair Havens.
With tons of jobs, Midland and it's neighboring city of Odessa have become full of people searching for employment (we know, we came from Michigan). As such apartment complexes are running at full and charging a lot of money for housing. It is difficult to find a home and the cost for purchasing a house has almost doubled in the past five years. This leaves a lot of families struggling to find housing and to get back on their feet when bad things happen. As such Midland Fair Havens has struggled to build temporary and transitional housing for families in need and for mothers and wives of abuse situations. They have fallen short of some of their goals, but still press on to make sure that families and abuse victims have a place to go while waiting for an apartment they can afford or searching for a home that they can move into. It would be wonderful to give a large enough donation that they could pass their fund raising goals and build the necessary facilities.

While I am sure there are tons of other opportunities to give to the Midland and Odessa communities that can help them grow, help keep the people safe, and help the families, children, and needy get on their feet, this is where I would start. This would help families, feed them, teach them, and train them up to go out. It would help children, and the deaf of the area. It would make for a brighter tomorrow! Oprah knows the joys of changing lives and improving communities, may we all be so lucky!