Thursday, November 26, 2009

感謝祭:kanshasai, meaning "Thanksgiving Celebration"

Those are relatively tough kanji, actually. The last one, 「祭」is まつり、matsuri, meaning "festival", which you may have heard before in Japanese media. :3

I was going to make the traditional list of "things I am thankful for", derp derp, but that would be a very long post, including such things as clean water, pugs, and Canada.

Instead, here is a list of groups whose hard work I am thankful for.



11/19/09: Wilma, rescued by the ASPCA
The first and oldest humane organization in the Western Hemisphere, the ASPCA works to rescue animals from abuse, pass humane laws, and share resources with shelters nationwide.






The United Nations Children's Fund was created by the United Nations General Assembly on December 11, 1946, to provide emergency food and health care to children in countries that had been devastated by World War II. It has since evolved into the world's largest advocate for children in impoverished and war-torn nations, providing long-term humanitarian assistance to children and their mothers.
 





Founded as Point Reyes Bird Observatory in 1965, PRBO Conservation Science is dedicated to conserving birds, other wildlife and ecosystems worldwide through innovative scientific research and outreach.
 


If there's another cause you favor, you can always find a charity of your own to support. :D

Or if you've got a few minutes, you can donate your clicks to a good cause.
 
Help end world hunger
The Animal Rescue Site
The Child Health Site
The Rainforest Site
The Literacy Site
The Breast Cancer Site
The Hunger Site



Happy Thanksgiving, 感謝祭おめでとうございます。:3

5 comments:

Jess said...

Kanshasai omedetou! c:
I looked up the name for thanksgiving yesterday, and I remembered the beginning because one of the songs from an anime is about giving thanks, from the band "KANSHA." Now I have a way to remember the whole word! /fail

Rachel@oneprettything.com said...

This is such a fabulous list! I love all of these organizations.

Ku said...

/antifail! Any way to remember J-go is a good way! I totally remember words and kanji in the silliest ways; "dai" is a little stick figure, and "inu" is the little stick figure picking up dog poo. XD

Rachel, thanks. ^^; Thanks also for linking to my stuff so much; I appreciate it.

Maple said...

I tried to donate to these organizations, but my parents said that it's probably a scam. I don't believe them. Now I ask you, Does it actually work. If so than how?

Ku said...

Hey, Maple! I can guarantee you that none of the organizations in this post are scams. If you ever want to check out the validity of a charity, CharityNavigator.org is a great site that investigates and rates organizations on their use of funds, areas of influence, and cost of operation, among other things.

Unicef is run by the United Nations, and has been in business since 1946, when it was established to provide food and care for children in areas devastated by the second World War. The ASPCA is one of the largest anti-cruelty animal societies in the USA -- they've been around even longer, since 1866. There are MANY animal-aid charities, though, in the US and elsewhere. Your local humane society probably takes donations, even of food or supplies, besides money. (We donate all of our old towels and sheets to the local humane groups, who use them for pet bedding.)

The PRBO is kinda different as it's not a true charity; it takes donations to fund its research of birds, animals, and the ecosystem. (It doesn't run any animal hospitals or send aid to people.)

The click sites at the end of the post (Free Rice, Animal Rescue Site, etc) are a development of the Internet; they register your clicks or time spent on the site as attention paid to the screen. By running advertisements on the pages, they can collect payments from the advertisers. So, for example, they run an ad for cereal on the side of the page. When you click to donate, that provides mechanical proof that you, a person who might buy cereal, were paying attention to the page and likely saw the ad. The maker of the cereal pays the website a little bit (a few cents, maybe) for every person who clicks. This adds up, and the charity behind the site gets money to use for their cause, or to spread around to smaller charities and areas that need help. :D