Father’s Day Do-Over

Okay. Face it. The Father’s Day gift you gave your dear ‘ol dad sucked. It was a lame card (sorry, Dad) … or another unnecessary tie … or an inappropriate t-shirt emblazoned with Homer Simpson and a snarky comment … or coupons for yardwork you expect never to be redeemed.

But today I’m giving you a do-over.

Go to GlobalGiving.org and do some real shopping in his honor!

How ‘bout a HeroRAT?

They perform two jobs. They find landmines in Mozambique and they screen folks for tuberculosis in Tanzania. $36 buys a years worth of bananas for a HeroRAT. It’s worth it just for that adorable leash!

Or help The Jane Goodall Institute feed orphaned chimpanzees.

Fifty bucks buys 150 pounds of cabbage. And really, you won’t be eating it, right? A hundred bucks buys 625 pounds of oranges. Even a chimp knows a day without orange juice is like a day without sunshine.

Dad doesn’t like animals? Well, then, what about kids? Surely Dad likes kids. I mean, he had you, right? How about sponsoring lunch for school girls in Burkina Faso?  These girls come from poor families but understand that education and luck will be the only things that will brighten their futures. It’s cheap to feed them, but think how much it will help. Have you ever tried to concentrate with a growling tummy?

$15 – Provides a noon meal for 50 students for one day.

$50 – Provides a noon meal for one student for the school year.

$75 – Provides a noon meal for 50 students for one week.

$150 – Provides a noon meal for 100 students for one month.

Dad into sports? Does he enjoy the World Cup?

Maybe he’d like to help beat homelessness internationally through football-but-really-soccer.

$10 – buys a football for one homeless person to begin training and take the first step

$20 – buys a football uniform for one homeless person to train

$50 – buys football equipment for a homeless team to train

$100 – buys a coaching programme for one homeless person to become a football coach

And you don’t have to listen to the obnoxious drone of the vuvuzelas. That’s worth money right there!

How about music? Does Dad enjoy music?

Maybe he’d like to have $50 spent in his name to buy a guitar for public school music programs whose budgets have been slashed.

There’s a zillion gifts — internationally and in your state — at Global Giving searchable by topic and region.

You can even give him a Global Giving gift card so he can choose his own gift.

Dad deserves that whole honoring thing. At least once in awhile! And didn’t he always prod you to do the right thing. Pretty sure he’d be proud of you.

What would your Dad like? Or if you ARE a Dad, which would you choose for yourself?