As many of you know, the charity that this blog supports more than any other is the Urban Ministries of Durham, which deals with issues of hunger and homelessness in my city of Durham – or rather, deals with people who are experiencing problems of hunger and homelessness. Urban Ministries (which, despite its name, is not a religious organization) does amazing work. And one of the most amazing things about it is that it does not simply put a band-aid on the problem, e.g., with its soup kitchen and overnight housing. They do have both, of course! But more than that, it works hard at ending homelessness for people, by getting them into permanent housing and employment to pay for it. It is a model organization that I am very proud to be associated with.

They have just started an incredibly innovative fund-raising effort that is rather amusing and potentially ground-breaking. Here is the website:  https://www.namesforchange.org/Intro  Check it out, and tell me what you think. And feel free to name the toilet paper after me. (You’ll see what I mean when you get to the site.).

[For newer members of the blog: the other organizations that your membership fees and donations support are the Food Bank of NC; CARE; and Doctors without Borders. My decision at the outset was to support two of my local charities, and two international charities, all of stellar and deserved repute, all dealing with crisis facing the truly needy.]