Tag: charity

San Diego: Light the World with the Giving Machine!

Hey, San Diego, would you like to Light the World this holiday season? Head on down to Old Town San Diego this month and visit the Giving Machine!

The Giving Machine is located on Twiggs Street, near Old Town Trolley Tours, beside the parking lot opposite the Cygnet Theatre. The machine might be mistaken for a typical vending machine, but when you operate it, a charity of your choice benefits!

Charities that benefit when you use the Giving Machine include Save the Children, Catholic Charities, Corazon de Vida, Birthline of San Diego, Gently Hugged, and Mentors International. Struggling people, including the homeless, are helped locally and around the world.

Donations that you can make range from $5 to $120. I was told that donating $20 for a live chicken is a popular choice. There are places in this world where an egg-laying chicken would make a big difference to a seriously impoverished family.

I learned that the machine has been up for two days now, and has already had 209 transactions for a total of $16,000 in giving. The Giving Machine will be operating in Old Town through December, 2024.

I also learned that these Giving Machines can be found around the nation, including another in Irvine, California. It’s a project of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, so it’s no surprise the machine is located a short distance from the Mormon Battalion Historic Site in Old Town.

Whatever you might believe, certainly compassion is very important. The Golden Rule is universal.

This is one fun and easy way to help others! Take a photo by the nearby Christmas tree, too!

By the way–San Diego Padres ace pitcher Joe Musgrove and ex-Chargers superstar Eric Weddle will be at a big ribbon cutting ceremony at the Giving Machine this coming Tuesday at noon! It’s rumored Santa Claus will be present, too!

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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

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Thank you for sharing!

Christmas tree auction helps San Diego homeless!

Would you like to have a uniquely beautiful Christmas Tree this holiday season? Would you like to help San Diego’s homeless at the same time?

Seventeen wonderfully decorated Christmas Trees are now on display in the lobby of the Hilton San Diego Bayfront hotel. They are being auctioned to help the homeless. The event is called 1st Annual Holiday Village at the Bayfront: A Cause to Celebrate!

Each one-of-a-kind Christmas Tree has its own fun theme. All were decorated by folks who help our city’s homeless at Father Joe’s Villages. One very special Christmas Tree features ornaments created using the imprints of the hands and feet of children who attend Father Joe’s Therapeutic Childcare Center!

Complete information can be found on this web page. Funds raised go to helping thousands of San Diegans have safe shelter, hot meals, and hope during the holidays. The auction ends on November 24, 2024.

Visit the auction page and see photos of each amazing tree by clicking here!

I really like the kids-made tree: Santa’s Whimsical Workshop!

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.

Start your own holiday food drive in San Diego!

Would you like to help people in your community who are hungry this holiday season? It’s easy for you, your organization or business to start a holiday food drive! The San Diego Food Bank makes it super simple!

A box or tub placed where people congregate can be filled with items like canned foods, peanut butter, pasta, rice, cereal and oatmeal. It’s easy to print out a poster like the one you see above, downloadable from the San Diego Food Bank website here.

Once filled, the container can be picked up for free by the food bank. Or you can drop it off anytime Monday through Friday, 8 am – 12 pm or 1 pm – 4 pm at the San Diego Food Bank address, which is 9850 Distribution Ave., Dock 0, San Diego, CA 92121

If you anticipate a large amount of donated food, the food bank will happily lend you a big collection barrel. Barrel delivery and pickup by the food bank is free! Can you fill multiple barrels? That would be awesome!

Don’t have a good place for a container or barrel? You can also host a virtual food drive!

Find detailed information about hosting your own special food drive by visiting the San Diego Food Bank website here.

Why not make this holiday season extra meaningful? It’s so easy!

Look! We started a food drive today where I work!

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.

Young musicians fight childhood cancer in San Diego!

Seven young musicians performed today at the San Diego Symphony’s downtown Jacobs Music Center. The musicians represented Joey’s Wings. The mission of Joey’s Wings is to fund research that focuses on kidney cancers affecting children and young adults, raise awareness and provide support to families affected by childhood cancer.

Joey’s Wings was one of many community groups performing during the San Diego Symphony’s special free Day of Music at the newly renovated Jacobs Music Center. I spotted the young musicians around noon performing for a gathered crowd in the Box Office Lobby.

At a nearby table, Kathy Liu, President and Founder of the organization told me briefly about Joey, her son who passed away from cancer at age ten. Joey started to play violin when he was six. He loved music and painting. Learn more about Joey here.

Friends of her second son, David, who are members of the San Diego Youth Symphony and Mainly Mozart Youth Orchestra, came together to today make beautiful music. And to make the lives of people better.

As I understand it, the crocheted figures you see on the table were created by the mother of one young musician. I think I see San Diego Symphony Music Director Rafael Payare!

If you weren’t at the event today, and wish to help out, visit the Joey’s Wings website by clicking here.

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.

Food, cars and fun at Lemon Fest in Lemon Grove!

This weekend, after a five year absence, Lemon Fest returned to the city of Lemon Grove!

The community festival, held at St. John of the Cross Catholic Church, featured tons of food, a cool car show, live music and entertainment, a baking contest, kids games, vendors, a huge rummage sale, a plant sale, an auction . . . and many people wearing yellow and big smiles!

I was told that St. John of the Cross has had a Fall Festival since 1940, the year its church building was dedicated. The festival was temporarily suspended during COVID, but is now coming back. Next year the plan is that the Lemon Fest is even bigger and better, as it was before the pandemic!

I walked around enjoying the smells of food and the sound of music. Lots of families were at the tables eating great food and enjoying company. What a fun time!

The team Steel Magnolias is Making Strides Against Breast Cancer! They’re walking on October 27th. You can support this team by clicking here!

The Old Memories Sur San Diego car club had some very cool cars on display at Lemon Fest.

Kathy Villalobos of Gift of Dance was selling a piano with an amazing history. She explained how this Miraculous Brewster Piano, once the property of an opera singer, has produced many unexpected blessings. Funds from its sale will go toward repairing flood damage in the church.

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.

Photos of 2024 San Diego Heart & Stroke Walk!

The 2024 San Diego Heart & Stroke Walk was held this morning in Balboa Park. Participants raised over one million dollars this year, supporting the American Heart Association and its many important programs!

I visited the event and took these inspiring photographs. Teams walking through the park and past the finish line were being encouraged by students from San Diego State University. There was a fun dog costume contest, a photo booth, roses for participants, a community board showing who walkers walk for, a small farmers market, and more. Heart disease and stroke survivors could ring a bell to celebrate life!

The American Heart Association supports medical research and educational programs. Projects, according to their website, include:

Up-to-the-minute research into doctors’ hands so they can better prevent and treat heart disease among patients. Groundbreaking pediatric heart and stroke research that is key to saving babies’ lives. Providing life-saving information that can save a life – like how to eat better, how to recognize the warning signs of heart attack, and how to talk to a doctor about critical health choices.

If you’d like to support the American Heart Association with a donation, or if you’d like to participate in a future walk, click here!

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.

Gamers Outreach brings play to kids in hospitals!

Are you a gamer with heart? Would you like to improve the lives of hospitalized kids? Gamers Outreach is a charity that would appreciate your help.

The two cool people in the above photo are raising money for Gamers Outreach during TwitchCon in San Diego. I spotted them today grilling hot dogs at a tent on Harbor Drive. Look for them near a dancing hot dog!

Their objective: help fund programs that brighten the day of sick kids in hospitals, including San Diego’s own Rady Children’s Hospital.

Let me share two paragraphs from Gamers Outreach literature:

WHO WE ARE

Gamers Outreach is a charity that empowers hospitalized families through play. Our goal is to build a world where activity is easily prioritized as part of care. Video games are our tools of choice.

WHY WE DO IT

Being in the hospital can be scary and isolating. Games give kids access to adventure and opportunities to socialize. Sometimes healthcare staff even use games to assist with treatment!

Gamers Outreach has several programs. Click here to check out their GO Karts (Gamers Outreach Karts), which are portable video game kiosks built specifically for hospitals. Kids stuck in bed can play!

The Player 2 program encourages volunteers to distribute, manage, and play games with hospitalized kids! This role is particularly great for college gamers!

The Save Point program provides hospitals with high-tech vending machines that distribute items such as toys, game codes, and fun swag to kids receiving care . . . as they progress through treatment. Make getting better a fun goal! Curious hospitals should check this out!

Gamers Outreach helps thousands of children per year in a multitude of hospitals. Interested in learning more, and perhaps helping this effort? Visit their website by clicking here!

If you’re in San Diego for TwitchCon, head over to the fundraising tent on Harbor Drive across from the convention center, near the Gaslamp trolley station. I spun their prize wheel and got a free hot dog!

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.

Rancho Bernardo gathers for RB Alive!

A very cool street festival was held today in Rancho Bernardo. Several blocks of Bernardo Center Drive filled with vendors, artists, food, entertainment and fun for the North San Diego Business Chamber’s 36th Annual RB Alive!

I walked through the festival around noontime as it got underway. A good crowd appeared quickly, attesting to the popularity of this community gathering. (Unfortunately, RB Alive! was put on hold the past few years due to COVID.)

It was interesting to learn about many of the organizations on hand. Civic groups, politicians, churches, clubs, schools, you name it–everyone was smiling and ready to greet passersby.

This was my first time experiencing the event. I took some photographs as I walked about.

The RB Karate Center was providing martial arts demonstrations on one stage.

RB Alive! is organized by the North San Diego Business Chamber. They have numerous educational programs and events that support local business.

The Ed Brown Center for Active Adults is working to convert an old lawn bowling area in Rancho Bernardo Community Park into 16 pickleball courts.

The Rancho Bernardo Historical Society has a museum at the Bernardo Winery. The museum’s exhibits include a replica mud wagon stagecoach.

The Historical Society’s table had a detailed timeline of Rancho Bernardo’s history. Thank you for all the informative brochures. I need to visit their museum some day!

If history is your thing, why not join their efforts as a volunteer?

The Rancho Bernardo Retired Senior Volunteer Patrol acts as eyes and ears for the San Diego Police Department.

Are you 50 years or older? They’re always looking for volunteers!

More smiles!

I learned the Rancho Bernardo Public Library is just down the street. So after the festival I went there. Blog posts are coming up concerning my visit!

Creative vendors had all sorts of cool crafts and art out on display…

There would be entertainment throughout the day, including live music.

Loads of food everywhere you look!

I learned the Rancho Bernardo Sunrise Rotary is engaged in many charitable projects in Mexico and developing countries. They’re fighting childhood disease, providing clean water, building houses and hospitals…

The Rancho Bernardo Community Council is Your Voice in the Community. They are an all-volunteer organization acting as an advisory board to the City of San Diego on a range of public issues.

They also organize many fun community events! They’re glad to welcome volunteers!

Even the dogs were having a great time at RB Alive!

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.

People in San Diego help those hurting in Ukraine.

In San Diego, compassionate people are working to help the victims of the ongoing war in Ukraine. Some of the organizations leading this effort were making their appeals today at the House of Ukraine lawn program in Balboa Park.

As I wandered around the annual cultural event, I met a few of these good people. I missed most of the dancing and entertainment this year, but I figured blogging about these humanitarian efforts is important.

People gather in Balboa Park at the International Cottages for the House of Ukraine lawn program.

Playing traditional Ukrainian music on the stage.

Serving tasty Ukrainian food in the House of Ukraine cottage.

A box welcomes Donations For Ukraine.

Shield of Freedom (SOF) is an all-volunteer 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicate to providing direct aid to defenders, first responders and civilians in Ukraine that are helping support and defend the country in the face of Russia’s brutal war of aggression.

Shield of Freedom’s Beer and Bandages event will be held next Sunday, September 8, 2024 at Kilowatt Brewery, 7576 Clairemont Mesa Blvd. Enjoy Ukrainian brew and save lives by building a life-saving First Aid Kit for a Ukrainian defender.

Healing Scalpel‘s goal is to provide humanitarian aid to those individuals impacted by natural disasters and manmade disruptions or conflicts.

Rescue Support International works side by side with brave rescuers on the front lines in Ukraine, connecting them with first responders abroad looking to help.

Their Photo Exhibition Project raises awareness, focusing on Ukrainian Rescuers on the front lines of the civilian battleground, highlighting their sacrifices, bravery, and heroism, and bringing attention to their urgent need for more resources.

Artillery shell shrapnel picked up in the town of Marganets in 2023, where the blast had just killed a 59 year old school teacher, while her husband lost several fingers. The shell was fired from Russia artillery stationed at the nuclear power plant just 8 miles away, where they fire daily on the civilian towns within artillery reach…

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.

Lids of Encouragement provides hope in San Diego.

Can you imagine being homeless or very poor and hungry? How difficult your day-to-day life would be. How depressed you might feel. How hopeless and inescapable the situation might seem?

I was walking home from San Diego Comic-Con a couple days ago when I met a couple of smiling guys selling water by the sidewalk. They had this sign:

What would you say to make someone’s day?

When I stopped to learn what those words meant, I discovered these guys are working to help the homeless and hungry in San Diego with Lids of Encouragement.

On their table I saw container lids with positive messages written on them. Lids of Encouragement uses these lids to seal care and food packages for those in need downtown. I told them I’d write a blog to help their effort.

I found this article written a couple months ago. It explains how the founder himself was homeless for a while. He must certainly understand what it’s like. The organization has been around for many years now. Lids of Encouragement might be small but it’s still going strong!

I also see students in downtown San Diego are writing encouraging messages on many of the lids.

You can check out the Lids of Encouragement website by clicking here. Perhaps you can help them in their very important mission to make lives better.

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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.