Day 88: Before you buy or sell a home, check here

HomeCash for Charity offers automatic cash rebates on your real estate commissions before you buy or sell a home. Simply register before you hire an agent, hire any agent you like and, after closing, get a check that you can donate to the charity of your choice.

Upon hearing of this program, I immediately went to its FAQ link to get more information. Here's what I found out:

Q. What is HomeCash for Charity?

A. HomeCash for Charity allows Care2 home buyers and sellers to get cash back using any real estate agent — while supporting a favorite cause or charity at the same time. Care2 members can also save on mortgage costs.

Q. How does HomeCash for Charity work?

A. By registering with the program before you agree to hire an agent, you are eligible to receive cash back from real estate commissions after closing. During on-line registration, you decide how much of the rebate you keep or share with your favorite charity. After closing, you get a rebate check and your donation is sent to your non-profit.

Q. Does this mean Care2 is getting in the real estate business?

A. No. Care2 has partnered with Chase and a national real estate company, HomeGift Realty, which helps non-profit organizations around the country to raise funds any time a supporter buys or sells a home.

Q. When did real estate companies start offering cash back on commissions?

A. For years, big-brand, established real estate companies like Coldwell Banker and Prudential have been offering cash rebates to members of trade associations, corporate executives and other affinity groups. Now, Homegift offers these same cash back incentives to members of non-profit organizations as a way of encouraging charitable giving. More about HomeGift Realty, Inc.

Note: There are only 10 states that do not allow rebates: Alaska, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Oregon and Tennessee.

Day 83: Donate books

There are many organizations that will take the books off your shelves.

The Community Center is looking for donations of used books to put in its reading area and give out to local residents. Books should be suitable for children and families to enjoy and should be in average condition (no mildew, missing covers or missing pages). Hardcover and paperback are both fine. Books can be dropped off at the Community Center of St Bernard, 1107 LeBeau St, Arabi from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Monday through Friday.

Local libraries often accept used books. Contact yours for details. Some libraries only want very new books. Others will take almost anything and will even clean up dirty books. Some libraries sell donated books in order to raise funds for library services.

You also might check with local hospitals, women's or homeless shelters, children's reading or after-school programs and senior centers.

Day 67: Clip coupons

The Sunday newspaper is a great resource for sale ads. Clip coupons from the circulars and hold on to them. In the weeks before they expire, compare your coupons with free-after-rebate specials from your local drugstore. Walgreens, for example, has a booklet you can pick up every month with several items free after rebate. This is a great way to get things that you need for free or for the price of the tax you paid only, but it's also a great way to collect items (toothbrushes and toiletries are good examples) that you can bring to a local homeless or women's shelter.

Day 64: More on the parade front

As I wrote in Day 16: Throw Them Something, Mister, Jimmy's Kids of St. Bernard Parish collects donated beads and Mardi Gras throws. There's another organization that accepts them as well.

ARC of Greater New Orleans, formerly the Association for Retarded Children, provides various services through the metropolitan area, including early intervention, family service, employment and supported living.

Bring your throws to one of the following locations:

925 S. Labarre Road in Metairie
5700 Loyola Avenue in New Orleans
333 Sala Avenue in Westwego

Day 62: Donate breast milk

The National Milk Bank is a nationwide organization that collects donated human milk, ensures milk safety and quality and makes it available for infants in need. Its goal is to make quality human milk to all premature and critically ill babies. Donated breast milk is also helpful to adopted babies or babies whose mother cannot produce enough milk.

For information, call 1-888-522-MILK.

You can apply online here.

Day 60: Take a survey

At Make a Difference surveys, $3 will be donated to one of several organizations you can choose from (I picked the Special Olympics). It's one of those surveys where they are looking for your interests and illnesses and whatnot so they can send you the types of junk mail we're trying to avoid, so just use common sense when providing personal information. Overall, a simple task for $3.

Day 50: Donate season tickets

If you're lucky enough to have season tickets to a sports team, concert series or the performing arts, and you know you can't make a particular date, donate the tickets to a local youth group. Imagine the smile on a young kid's face who gets the opportunity to see live entertainment like that for the first time!

Day 48: Create a gift bag for a homeless person

Every day I pass a homeless woman at the corner of Elysian Fields and Claiborne avenues. I've been thinking of what I could put together for her the next time I pass. Here are a few of the things I've come up with:

Any free T-shirts I've picked up either from Hornets games or casinos.
Bottles of water
Bars of soap
New toothbrush and toothpaste
Blanket
Shampoo and conditioner
Lotion
Fruit bars or other portable snacks

I'm going to put it all in a gift bag and drop it off today.

Day 43: Donate hotel toiletries

If you plan to travel this year, collect any unused hotel toiletries (shampoo, conditioner, soap, body wash, shower caps) in your room and donate them to your favorite shelter.

Day 39: Locks of Love

Locks of Love provides hairpieces to financially disadvantaged children in the United States and Canada under age 18 suffering from long-term medical hair loss from any diagnosis.

In order to donate, hair must be 10 inches long and put in a ponytail before it's cut. Hair must be dried before it's turned in. Place the hair in a plastic bag inside a padded envelope and mail to:

Locks of Love
234 Southern Blvd.
West Palm Beach, FL 33405

Man stylists will even offer you a free haircut if you tell them you're donating. Just ask.

Day 37: Sell on eBay

If you sell on eBay, you can donate 10 percent to 100 percent of the final sale price to one of more than 1,000 nonprofits. Furthermore, eBay rewards your generosity by offering a fee credit. When you create a listing with eBay Giving Works and that item sells, eBay will credit the insertion and final value fees back to you, equal to the percentage of the final sale price that you elected to donate. You also will receive a tax-deductible receipt for your donation.

Day 35: Donate cleaning supplies

The New Orleans Women's Shelter, a privately funded grassroots, non-profit offering shelter and case management to homeless women and children in new Orleans, is in need of donations. Planned Parenthood is helping to gether donations. Perhaps you could ask your loved one to send some supplies their way in lieu of Valentine's flowers or candy this year.

Donations can be brought to 4018 Magazine Street in New Orleans.

They are most in need of cleaning supplies (tall trash bags, laundry detergent, bleach, liquid hand soap, dishwasher detergent, Pine Sol).

Day 30: Wedding favors

Wedding expenses seem to keep on escalating. Rather than spending hours and hours compiling favors that ultimately will end up left on the table, put in the trash or cluttering a shelf, consider making a donation to your favorite charity in the name of your guests. It's something everyone can feel good about, and you won't have to worry about what to do with all those leftover matches.

Day 24: Donate blood

January is National Volunteer Blood Donor Month, a time to highlight the importance of giving life through the donation of blood and to honor past and present donors and encourage new ones. Only 3 out of every 100 Americans are blood donors.

There are several organizations you can reach to donate.

Your local chapter of the American Red Cross is one. Another is United Blood Services, which offers a reward program for donors. By donating blood once a year, you will receive a personalized blood donor card, cholesterol results, access to online scheduling and a personalized thank you from a donation recipient. You also gain access to the donor rewards store, where the more you donate, the more gifts you will receive in the form of gift cards or movie tickets.

My contribution: I scheduled an appointment through UBS but was unable to give because I was anemic. I plan to take iron supplements and try again next month.

Day 18: Donate frequent-flyer miles

I dream of one day being a frequent flyer. But if you have leftover miles that otherwise would go unused, donate them to the Fisher House Foundation. This organization provides free airline tickets to military men and women who are undergoing treatment at a military or VA medical center incident to their service in Iraq or Afghanistan, and their families.

There are two categories of eligible recipients:

Service men and women with an approved leave of five or more days may be given a free round trip airline ticket for a trip from the medical center to their home and return if they are not eligible for government funded airfare.

Qualifying service men and women may be given free round trip airline tickets to enable their family or close friends to visit them while they are being treated at the medical center.

The following airlines have partnered with the group: AirTran, Alaska, American, Continental, Frontier, Midwest, Northwest, United and US.

Day 17: Donate a wedding gown

If you were married between 2000 and now, you can donate your wedding gown to Making Memories as part of Brides Against Breast Cancer Nationwide Tour of Gowns sale. This sale enables the organization to grant final wishes for women and men suffering from terminal breast cancer.

Mail your gown to:

Making Memories Breast Cancer Foundation
2553 NW Division Street
Gresham, OR 97030

Bridal shops or manufacturers wishing to make a donation can send an e-mail to mminfo@makingmemories.org.

Day 16: Throw them something, Mister!

Jimmy's Kids, a group for mentally challenged kids and adults, will ride in the Knights of Nemesis parade Feb. 15 and the St. Bernard Irish/Italian/Islenos parade March 8, and they are looking for donations of beads, cups, doubloons and other throws.

If you didn't save beads from last year, just keep them in mind as you lug your goodies back this year.

Donations can be dropped off here:
Jimmy's Kids Of St. Bernard Parish
1201 Camille Place
Chalmette, LA 70043

Day 15: Go corporate

If you work for a corporation that would be interested in coupling its hurricane relief efforts with global recognition for its contribution, this is an outstanding opportunity. MTV is coming to St. Bernard, and there's still time for local and national companies to get involved.

Here's the deal: In honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Inauguration Day, the St. Bernard Project will hold a 24-hour build that will show the world the enduring need for help rebuilding homes even three years after Hurricane Katrina. MTV, as part of its inauguration coverage, will feature the final hour and a half of the build live on the air. It will be broadcast in 162 countries and 33 languages.

The sponsorship levels for the "Rebuild the Dream" event are as follows:

Title sponsor: $12,000 (Supports the complete rebuilding cost of one house)
-Your corporate logo and a link to your website on the front page of the St. Bernard Project website.
-Your name in the credits of the MTV inaugural show, shown internationally.
-A banner with your corporate logo and "welcome home" message to the family hung prominently in the home that will be featured on MTV.
-Recognition on the St. Bernard Project website as the sole house sponsor for the family whose home will be featured on MTV.

MLK Volunteer End-of-Day Dinner: $8,000 (Supports half of the rebuilding costs for a family whose home was devastated by Katrina and supports food for volunteer rebuilders)
-Your corporate logo and a link to your website on the front page of the St. Bernard Project Website.
-A banner with your logo displayed prominently at the dinner, which will be attended by volunteers from across America, and by local government, faith-based and civic leaders.
-Your name in the credits of the MTV inaugural show, shown internationally.

Shift Sponsor: $3,000 (4 six-hour shifts and 1 MLK day 8 hour shift available)
-Your corporate logo and a link to your website on the "Rebuild the Dream" page of the St. Bernard Project website.
-Your name in the credits of the MTV inaugural show, shown internationally.

Dream Builder (corporate): $1,000
-Your corporate logo and a link to your website on the "Rebuild the Dream" page of the St. Bernard Project website.

Dream Builder (individual): $100, $250, $500 or $1,000
-Your name, or the name of someone you wish to honor, listed on the "Rebuild the Dream" page of the St. Bernard Project website.

Below you will see the work schedule for "Rebuild the Dream." If you have any questions about the event, please don't hesitate to contact our development coordinator, Gretchen, at 504-723-6837.

Work Schedule

Monday, January 19, 2009 (Martin Luther King, Jr. Day)

8:30-4:30 Normal work hours celebrating the service of Martin Luther King, Jr.
5:30-7:30 Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Volunteer Dinner
10:00 p.m. - 4:00 a.m. First shift of "Rebuild the Dream"

Tuesday, January 20, 2009 (Inauguration Day)

4:00 a.m - 10:00 a.m. Second shift of "Rebuild the Dream"
10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. Third shift of "Rebuild the Dream"
4:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m. Final shift of "Rebuild the Dream"
9:00 p.m. - 10:30 p.m. Live Coverage on MTV

With your help, SBP can achieve two vital goals: We can honor past and future service to America and we can rebuild homes for hard-working, tax-paying American citizens.

Day 14: The gift of music

If you have or know someone who has a musical instrument that's no longer in use, donate it to the New Orleans Musicians Relief Fund. Electronic accessories (microphones, amplifiers, etc.) also are in high demand.

NOMRF
1321 Lowerline Ave.
New Orleans, LA 70118

P.S. Dr. John has informed the group about a third-grade class with no instruments that he would love to get set up with percussion.

Day 12: Donate out-of-prescription eyeglasses

Prescription eyeglasses can cost hundreds of dollars, but Lions Club can recycle them for as little as 8 cents per pair. Bring your out-of-date prescription eyeglasses or non-prescription sunglasses to Goodwill Industries stores, LensCrafters or your local Lions Club and help the less fortunate see the world.

You can mail them to:
New Eyes for the Needy
549 Millburn Avenue
P.O. Box 332
Short Hills, NJ 07078

You also can check with the lost and found department of your employers, doctor's offices, stores etc. and ask for unclaimed pairs to donate as well.