“In charity there is no excess”
–Francis Bacon
Giving Tuesday. A season of thanks. Counting our blessings. We all say these things and we all mean them. Starting well before the so-called giving season, national and even international charities, all which make giving as convenient as a text message or click, begin their push to raise funds. And they know their business. Studies indicate that most individual households do the lion share of their giving (upwards toward 50%) during the last quarter of the year. Including on Giving Tuesday.
Living in the shadows of giant fundraising operations are local charities that labor tirelessly for our community. They are often doing work that desperately needs to be done but falls in-between the cracks of large foundations and government services. The work of these organizations and charities seldom makes for good optics. Their efforts are on the front lines of poverty, illness, disability and hopelessness.
These organizations are the true definition of local, working with our displaced and distressed neighbors to assist in supporting the most basic of human needs. Needs like clothing, food, shelter, independence, development, growth and self-security. According to the National Philanthropic Trust, charitable giving to these “human services” organizations constitutes only 12% of the $389 billion Americans give each year.
We are a charitable community. Certainly, we want to cure cancer and be of assistance during natural disasters. But there are those in our community who are suffering setbacks and crises that are doing so unnoticed and in silence. They are our neighbors who, with a little help, can launch out of a canyon of lacking and frustration and into a savanah of confidence and security.
A few of their advocates are listed below. This is by no means an exhaustive list of local charities nor do we endorse these charities above any others. Our goal is to raise awareness for local organizations like these and ask, during a season where so many of us count our blessings, to return some of those gifts on Giving Tuesday to our local community.
Local Giving Tuesday Charities
Standing Courageous
Standing Courageous is a nonprofit organization that initially focused on providing domestic violence education and awareness training to Police, Fire, and EMS, especially in the area of lethality factors such as strangulation. This training quickly grew to include audiences in
Healthcare, Courts, Businesses, Schools, Places of Worship, and within the community as a whole. The organizations promotes the fundemental belief that it is important for everyone to have an understanding about what their role is in responding to domestic violence and the impact such violence has on our lives.
Their mission is simple: support victims and survivors of interpersonal violence, victim services, and promote safer communities through this educational outreach, because every person living in our communities deserve to live their lives free of violence.
Blessings in Disguise
The mission of Blessings in Disguise is to provide short term financial assistance in the areas of health, education, and general welfare to individuals when government
assistance is not available or the individual does not qualify for such assistance based upon the need.
Old Newsboys Goodfellows Association
With the motto of “Assistance Without Delay and a creed of “100% for Charity”, the Old Newsboys are driven by a straight-forward, yet important mission: “No child Shall Miss School for Lack of Shoes or Coat.”. Our goal has been the same since our 
founding in 1929: “Immediate Emergency Service when a School Administrator, Police Officer, Fire Official, or Neighbor reports a child in need.”
Family House
Family House is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing homeless families in crisis 
with professional, comprehensive housing and social services in a safe, caring environment. The goal at Family House is to help families in their time of crisis find permanent housing, help them regain control over their lives, and reclaim their independence through education, community resources and compassion. We keep families together when it matters most. Family House offers a hand up, not a hand out.
Cancer Connection
At Cancer Connection of Northwest Ohio, Inc., we believe no individual with cancer should have to take the journey alone. We provide connections to vital resources, give hands-on support, and organize unique and meaningful programming for patients and their families in our community. We strive to meet the needs of the whole person—physical, emotional, and spiritual—and focus on caring for the hearts and minds of 
those individuals impacted by cancer. Our services are available for free for any person of any age with any cancer, from newborn to adult.
Food For Thought
Every month, Food For Thought mobile pantries provide food assistance at multiple partner sites throughout greater Toledo. We help people who face the realities of food insecurity, offering a choice of nutritious meal options, including shelf-stable items and fresh produce. Maintaining our patrons’ dignity — and serving them thoughtfully — is our utmost priority. We invite you to join us in fulfilling our mission today!
Sylvania Area Family Services
SAFS is Sylvania’s largest nonprofit which operates without a consistent, sustainable source
of funding, which is why ongoing sponsorships and events become so important to our organization. In turn, the SAFS strategy is to innovate, create, and collaborate to leverage additional community resources to both maximize and be good stewards of donor dollars. Investing locally is a sure way you can make a difference in Sylvania.
Toledo Seagate Food Bank
The mission of SeaGate Food Bank is to enhance the quality of life in Northwest Ohio by relentlessly working to eliminate hunger and improve nutrition. Each month, we collect and distribute fresh produce and packaged food to over 400 food pantries, soup kitchens, and programs that feed the hungry in our region. Unlike other 
programs, SeaGate Food Bank never charges for its services. And since food is not the only need, we continually develop and implement programs to educate, train, support and encourage the underserved in our community.
Maumee Valley Habitat for Humanity
In 1988, a group of community and congregational volunteers formed Maumee Valley Habitat for Humanity. Homes were rehabbed and eventually new homes were built. ReStore was added in 2004 and Home Repair Ministry in 2009. 190 homes and 223
repairs later, our focus remains on ensuring that everyone has the opportunity to own and live in safe and affordable housing.
Bethany House
Bethany House is a long-term shelter for victims and their children who are escaping domestic violence in Northwest Ohio. Most shelters offer short-term stays in dorm housing,
but Bethany House is the only Toledo-area domestic violence shelter that offers long-term, apartment-style transitional living. Many survivors are with us for more than a year. We also provide emotional and financial support, and give survivors the time and resources they need to rebuild their lives. And it’s all FREE of charge. Since 1984, Bethany House has served more than 1,200 individuals and provided more than 200,000 nights of safe shelter for victims and their children escaping domestic abuse in our area. Annually, we serve an average of 30 families.
The Ability Center
The Ability Center seeks partnerships with community organizations and supports individuals with disabilities and their families to achieve their vision of independent living. We provide a variety of vital services to help people with disabilities understand their rights and how to address them. We also help people with disabilities gain new skills to live, work and play in their community. At the Ability 
Center, we strive to help the members of our community understand Disability, while at the same time making sure those with disabilities feel like they belong.
Mobile Meals
Mobile Meals of Toledo, Inc. is a nonprofit, volunteer-based social service agency that
delivers nourishing food—at home and at school—to those whose nutritional needs might otherwise go unmet. Because of your generosity, Mobile Meals is able to provide more than $250,000 in financial assistance annually to people who lack the resources to buy food.
Social Services For the Arab Community
SSFAC helps Arab immigrants & refugees start their life over in Toledo, Ohio. SSFAC serves low income, limited English speaking Arab immigrant and refugee families in the Greater Toledo Area to achieve self-sufficiency and become contributing members of our community.
Children’s Rights Collaborative
Children’s Rights Collaborative of NW Ohio(CRC) program provides children and their 
parents with a safe, nurturing environment for supervised visitation and exchanges, allowing a child to have his or her relationship with the non-custodial parent without being placed in the middle of the parents’ conflicts.
Cherry Street Mission Ministries
Cherry Street is more than food, clothing and housing. Our redemptive programming is
built around one on one mentorship. We care more about who a person is, rather than what a person has become. Cherry Street Mission Ministries is the largest organization serving individuals who are poor and homeless in Northwest Ohio and Southeast Michigan.
Read for Literacy
For over 30 years Read for Literacy has been a local partner, providing a wide range of 
literacy services. We are able to provide reader friends to children and tutors to adults to increase their reading, writing and conversation skills. Our current Signature Lines of Service are Adult Basic and Family Education, Creating Young Readers, Claire’s Day Literacy Outreach and Volunteer Recruitment.
Joyful Smiles Through Faith
JSTF is dedicated to creating moments of joy and hope for children when they go through
traumatic events. They deliver pouches filled with activities, toys, and handmade Thinking of You cards called Kare Packages. They serve kids going through serious illness, abuse, neglect, bullying, suicidal thoughts, loss of parents or guardians via addiction, and other life disrupting events. Their smiles, packages, and dedication is making a difference in the lives of our neighbors and community.
Women of Toledo
Women of Toledo is a non-profit organization serving the Greater Toledo community. We
are committed to advocating for Diversity & Inclusion with a focus on Women Economic Empowerment. Since its inception, our program and services have provided education, engagement and empowerment to women and youth in our community with 100% diversity driven, positive impact in quality of life, transformational economic change and social progress of our female community.
Equality Toledo
Equality Toledo works to eliminate discrimination in our region on the basis of sexual
orientation, gender identity and gender expression, through education, activism and other anti-defamation efforts.
Harvey House
Since 2015, Harvey House has led the effort to advocate for LGBTQ+ and allied youth in
northwest Ohio. They are a drop-in community center for LGBTQ+ and allied teenagers in Toledo, Ohio. Their goal is to provide a safe space for resources, education, and social opportunities. Harvey House provides access to various programming, food, hygiene products, LGBTQ+ inclusive education, gender-affirmative clothing, and other necessary items.
SuperSchade’s Foundation
The SuperSchade’s Foundation, founded August 20th, 2013, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. They work with local organizations and businesses to help supplement the cost of summer camp for families of children and young adults with special needs and we provide a summer camp devoted to empowering transition aged individuals with and without special needs, to become as independent as possible. They hope to assist in providing a better quality of life for all individuals regardless of ability.
Build relationships today for their tomorrows…
Miracle League of NW Ohio
We provide opportunities for children and adults with disabilities to play Miracle League
baseball, regardless of their abilities. We promote community support and sponsorship of Miracle Leagues. We promote the construction of special facilities that meet the unique needs of Miracle League Players, their families and friends. We cannot change or cure the medical issues life has dealt people with disabilities. What we can do is provide them with an opportunity to experience the joy and benefits that come from playing our national pastime-baseball.
Nature’s Nursery
Nature’s Nursery Center for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation Education is a 501(c)3
non-profit organization located in Whitehouse, Ohio. We provide medical care to injured, orphaned or ailing wild animals, and conduct conservation educational outreach programs for children and adults.
Our mission is to improve the well-being of Northwest Ohio wildlife populations and habitats through public education and rehabilitation, with an emphasis on coexistence. We serve the entire surrounding region of 18 counties in Northwest Ohio. Staff and volunteers answer over 200 emergency calls per week and provide care to over 2,500 native animals per year; rehabilitating and releasing over 50% of them back into the wild. As important as our rehabilitation services is our community education programming. We reach over 15,000 children and adults through our education animal ambassadors, teaching them the importance of our local wild populations, how to protect their habitats and how best to live in harmony with the wildlife in their own backyards.
UpLyft Toledo
UpLyft Toledo, is a non-profit organization established in order to ensure all children of Northwest Ohio have the opportunity to participate in athletic/fitness activities and receive
the many benefits which include not only increased health outcomes but also fundamental life skills such as teamwork, leadership, and discipline. UpLyft Toledo leads a collaborative community based approach to collecting, and distributing sports & fitness equipment to the schools, programs, and organizations who can best put the equipment to use to serve our city’s youth.
Half of public school children today are from families poor enough to qualify them to be eligible for free or reduced-price school lunches, and they do not have a lot of money to spend on the necessary items of life, let alone the equipment to play sports or participate in fitness activities. The current problem is that kids are not able to play sports due to not having the necessary equipment to play.
BeInstrumental
The BeInstrumental Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that provides educational opportunities, mentoring and financial resources for underserved children to pursue their musical ambitions. It is our mission to provide every child with access to musical education – it is vision to change the world, one note at a time. The organization is headquartered in Toledo, Ohio.
Marketplace for All People
A free store offering clothing, household items, food, and hygiene items to those in neet in the greater Toledo area.
