Harvest is the time of gathering the crops. It determines if and how well a community will eat for the coming year. How appropriate then that the name America's Second Harvest was chosen by this organization, which goes to stores, restaurants, food production factories, and farmers to gather food to redistribute to those in need. Collected food is distributed through a network of local food banks—groups that gather, store, and distribute food through food pantries, soup kitchens, senior centers, homeless shelters, community kitchens, and youth programs. More than 200 member food banks supplied food to 94,000 food distribution sites serving 9 million children, 3 million elderly, and 13 million other hungry people in 2005. You can find a list of Second Harvest's many corporate sponsors and donors on its Web site at http://www.secondharvest.org.

Save the Children is a member of the International Save the Children Alliance comprising 27 national Save the Children organizations working in more than 110 countries to ensure the well-being of children. Save the Children USA is currently involved in work in 40 countries.

Through the work of Save the Children, donors help children in need around the world. Current projects involve children in Sudan; areas devastated by Hurricane Katrina, the Asian tsunami, the Philippine mudslides, and the Pakistan earthquake; and projects addressing the avian flu and HIV/AIDS. Individual donors to Save the Children can identify one child to support long term, contributing regularly to that child and helping his or her parents and often a whole community by providing basic health, nutrition, and education. Recently, a school in Pennsylvania supported efforts to build a school in Ethiopia through Save the Children. On the Web, Save the Children can be found at http://www.savethechildren.org.

Reading Is Fundamental, Inc. (RIF) prepares and motivates children to read by delivering free books and literacy resources to those children and families who need them most. Now 40 years old, RIF is the oldest and largest children's and family nonprofit literacy organization in the United States.

Reaching underserved children from birth to age eight through community volunteers in every state and U.S. territory, RIF provides 4.5 million children with 16 million new, free books and literacy resources each year. RIF programs combine three essential elements to foster children's literacy: reading motivation, family and community involvement, and the excitement of choosing free books to keep. RIF receives support from the U.S. Department of Education, corporations, foundations, community organizations, and thousands of individuals. For more information: http://www.rif.org.

In 1901, Andrew Carnegie sold Carnegie Steel Corporation and became the richest man in the world. He then focused his energies and wealth on efforts to "promote the welfare and happiness of the common man." Those efforts manifest themselves today in several philanthropies, including the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and Carnegie Corporation of New York.

The Carnegie Foundation was founded in 1905 and chartered by an act of the U.S. Congress in 1906. For 100 years, the foundation has addressed problems in American education. While it began as a philanthropy, today the Carnegie Foundation is essentially a research foundation. The philanthropic activities have moved to Carnegie Corporation and subsequent foundations.

Carnegie Corporation of New York was created by Andrew Carnegie in 1911 to promote "the advancement and diffusion of knowledge and understanding." Under the terms of Carnegie's will, grants distributed by the corporation must benefit the people of the United States, although up to 7.4 percent of the funds may be used for the same purpose in countries that are or have been members of the British Commonwealth, with a current emphasis on Commonwealth Africa. As a grant-making foundation, the corporation seeks to carry out Carnegie's vision of philanthropy, which he said should aim "to do real and permanent good in this world." Carnegie Corporation of New York http://www.carnegie.org expects to distribute more than $80 million in grants during fiscal year 2005-2006. Its major program areas include education, international peace and security, international development, and strengthening U.S. democracy.

For $240, Operation Smile can change a child's life by giving the gift of surgery. Throughout the world, Operation Smile volunteers repair childhood facial deformities while building public and private partnerships that advocate for sustainable health care systems for children and families.

Founded in 1982 by Dr. William P. Magee Jr., a plastic surgeon, and his wife, Kathleen S. Magee, a nurse and clinical social worker, Operation Smile is headquartered in Norfolk, Virginia. Since its first mission to the Philippines, the program has grown to include missions to 24 partner countries. Since 1982, Operation Smile volunteers have medically treated 98,000 children and young adults around the world and in the United States. For more information, visit http://www.operationsmile.org/

At Ferebee-Hope Elementary School in Washington, DC, the school budget does not provide art classes. When the members of Vale United Methodist Church, a 550-member congregation located 20 miles away in suburban Virginia, learned of this situation and of other needs at the school, they decided to act. That's how the volunteer art squad came about. Each Wednesday church members load up art supplies and drive into the city. At the school the students have art classes or tutoring sessions provided by church volunteers in rooms furnished by church donations. Another volunteer also gives free piano lessons at another school, and members buy coats and shoes for the children in a nearby neighborhood each winter. Other projects include collecting and sorting clothing for a local charity called The Closet; preparing meals and delivering them to Alternative House, a group home for teens; and collecting food and money to support a food pantry in Anacostia, one of the poorest sections of the city. For more information, see http://www.gbgm-umc.org/vale/.

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The opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the U.S. government.

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