If you have kids, go and hug them just a little tighter because today there are parents out there who can’t hug theirs anymore.

I ran across this beautiful girl’s smiling face twice today. The first was when I was bloghopping through the Wordless Wednesday participants. I saw her photo but didn’t bother to click on the link, wanting to go on and drop my WW comments and be done with it.

The second time, it was a shout for a digg. I clicked on the link and read through the article. It touched me to see another baby sick so I clicked on her mom’s blog. I was devastated to learn that little Maddie (Madeline) passed away yesterday. There were no longer any encouraging words for me to leave, so I left a small donation instead.

I hope you will also give what you can, no matter how small. Your generous support will help fund lifesaving research, services, education and advocacy that help babies get a healthy start.

My deepest condolence to the Spohr Family.

Give these kids a present they won’t soon likely to forget. Read about my post on the Christmas for Payatas charity.

Every year at work we try to sponsor a needy family and share what blessings we have. And every year, we surpass and surprise ourselves. This year was no different.

This year, we sponsored a single mom with five children under 12 years old. She had her mother as support but the mother was killed in a drunk driving accident just a little over a month ago and she has not only been grieving but has been at a loss for what to do for the children for the holidays. She told one of our delivery elves that she knows money isn’t everything, but she had been worried about the children; they were so young and wouldn’t really understand not getting any presents for Christmas. She was overwhelmed when this van full of presents was delivered to her door. We didn’t just get presents for her and the children, included in the shipment was also more than enough food for Christmas and New Year’s meals, household items and things that could tide her through for a little while.

In addition to the family, the company as a whole also sponsored cat cages and dog runs at the local animal shelter.

There are many ways to share our blessings this holiday season, and they don’t all have to be grand gestures. A kind smile to someone you meet may be enough to lift their spirits up.

The holidays are upon us again, ans while it is the season for receiving presents from Santa, it is also the season for giving. Between raiding the malls and enjoying holiday treats, perhaps you can forgo a couple of cappuccinos and instead help someone else get a leg up.

I am sure many of you have heard of Kiva.org. If you haven’t it’s a place where, for a small amount of money, you can help change someone’s life. Isn’t that great?

When I went back to the Philippines last Christmas, I was reminded of how little it takes to help someone in a third world country. Even with the decreasing value of the dollar, it can still go a long way to help someone out in a third world country. Most of the common workers I talked to in the Philippines only earn an average of $50 a month. And those are the ones considered to be pretty good jobs for blue collar work. They all try to have a second job or a small business to supplement their income, and it doesn’t cost much to get them started, it’s just that if what you earn from your regular job is just enough to feed you and your family for a month, it’s hard to save up the start-up money for a business.

That is where Kiva comes in. For as little or as much as you can spare, you can ‘lend’ your money to help someone in another country start a business. They have a number of budding entrepreneurs listed on the website and you can choose who you’d like to help. You can either fund their whole request, or just part of it. They have a set time to pay back the loan (6-12 months), then you get your money back! You can choose to withdraw it or you can lend it to someone else.

This is my new project since I have been making a little income from blogging through sponsored posts and links. They can transact through PayPal, so that makes it really convenient to transfer funds. I read somewhere that Kiva has had a 97% re-payment record on their loans. That’s darn good! So if you are looking for a worthy cause to support this coming year, maybe you should check out Kiva.