Give someone else a reason to be thankful

Happy Turkey Day to you USA-ians out there! Us Canucks had ours more than a month ago. Copycats :P

Regardless of where you live, I'm sure that most of you have many reasons to be thankful. So while you're thinking about how grateful you are, why not pay-it-forward a bit?

Child's Play has started it's annual donor drive. Most gamers are familiar with the charity started by Penny Arcade where people can donate toys, books, movies and games to local children's hospitals. Sick kids who are stuck in the hospital over the holiday will get to keep some of the gifts donated. Game systems and some other items will stay at the hospitals so that sick kids can escape from their pain and loneliness for a while.

The One Laptop Per Child Foundation has brought back their Give One Get One offer where one amount will buy you 2 laptops, one that's sent to you and one that's sent to a child in a developing country. While they haven't yet reached their $100/laptop goal, they're pretty close. Your contributions will not only help a kid connect to the world, but will help the foundation continue its work.

Not all of us have been so fortunate this year that we have room in our budgets for charitable contributions. The economy has brought hard times for a lot of people. But you can still give from the heart. Literally. I've posted here several times about how to become a Stem Cell Donor. I've posted this because it has hit home to me and making the importance of this issue known has been a huge fight for my friend and neighbour, Tamu.

Less than a year ago, her brother was diagnosed with leukemia. He died 2 weeks ago. Minorities are especially under-represented on the donor registry, the numbers are frightening. He was lucky enough to find a match. Not only that, but the graft was successful! Unfortunately, it came too late and the cancer was too strong. He lost the fight a few weeks later.

But because Tamu and Emru raised awareness, the number of registrants this past year saw a significant spike. And already a few of the people they know have been contacted by the registry because they are a match for someone else. So please make the difference in someone else's life (and for their family too) and sign up to be a marrow donor. Scared it'll hurt? Think it's dangerous? Maybe you should check to see if what you know about marrow donation is a fact or a myth.