Charities

Most Americans favor President Bush's plan for directing public money to faith-based charities, but many don't support funding Muslims, Buddhists or the Nation of Islam, according to a poll released Tuesday. Seventy-five percent said they supported federal funding for religious groups, according to the poll by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press and the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. Meanwhile, the poll found deep divisions of opinion over which groups should be eligible for federal money, and concern over the mingling of church and state.

The familiar words from the Gospel of Matthew hardly have the ring of advertising slogans: "When I was hungry, you gave me food; when thirsty, you gave me drink; when I was a stranger, you took me into your home; when naked, you clothed me; when I was ill, you came to my help; when in prison, you visited me. " But those words have become the basis of the publicity campaign that Oxford University Press is mounting on behalf of the Revised English...

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - Special Olympics of Pennsylvania says it has received about $80,000 in donations in memory of former Pennsylvania State University football coach Joe Paterno. Paterno died Jan. 22, less than three months after being diagnosed with lung cancer. In lieu of flowers or gifts, his family had requested that donations be made to Special Olympics or the Penn State IFC/Panhellenic Dance Marathon, which benefits pediatric cancer research and care. That event begins Friday.

These are troubling times, the stark charity posters declare. These are times when a fund-raiser is about as popular as a loanshark, and the profession of begging for donations is diplomatically described as "challenging. " Times when struggling corporations that once gave generously to charities are "downsizing" - cutting expenses, laying off employees, giving less. Times when the disadvantaged people who depend on charities need more. To cope with the philanthropic doldrums, charities large and small are scrambling this year to raise money from many small-scale donors.

The state Attorney General's Office has begun an investigation into Concerned Parents Inc., the group founded and run by Minnie Bolds Moore, to see whether she has violated the state law that regulates charities. Molly A. McCurdy, the deputy attorney general in charge of the charitable trusts and organizations section, confirmed yesterday that her office had sent a letter to Moore instructing her to produce detailed records of her charity's finances. "All I can say is we are aware of the situation and the matter is under investigation," said McCurdy.

Bucks County residents seem to be holding their wallets closer than usual this holiday season, local charity officials said last week. Officials at several nonprofit organizations said a tightening in the economy and concern about a recession had produced a decrease in the charitable donations they were seeing this year. "We have seen that (trend) in the general, overall donations coming in," said Linda Palermo, development director of Community Foundation for Human Development, which serves mentally retarded individuals.

The audience will get the laughs, but three South Jersey charities will reap the benefits tomorrow night, when a charity comedy bowl takes place at the Ritz Theater in Oaklyn, N.J. Teams representing each of the charities - the South Jersey AIDS Alliance, the AIDS Coalition of Southern New Jersey and a fund for the Cooper Hospital/ University Medical Center's Children's Ward - will fight it out in improvisational competition. The audience reaction will determine the winners. Proceeds will be divided among the charities according to their winning totals.

PAUL "Earthquake" Moore has this thing about using sweat to fuel acts of love. He's not into metaphors. What we're talking about here are those salty secretions we emit when we exert ourselves. Moore has an uncanny knack for getting folks who'd rather stay dry to run up roads, bounce basketballs or otherwise induce perspiration for his good causes. People who normally wouldn't run to the curb to start their car find themselves jogging up Broad street every year for Earthquake's annual "turkey trot.

The letter appealed to Vincent Goffredo's charitable bent. "This letter is notification that you have won a cash prize in the CFA $5,000 Sweepstakes. " CFA stands for the Cancer Fund of America, a registered charity in Pennsylvania now under investigation by the attorney general's office, along with four other apparently associated charities, over allegations of misleading and possibly deceptive mail solicitation. Goffredo, 67, a retiree living in Mayfair, was suspicious of the letter, but also curious about how much he had won. The letter, signed by someone claiming to be a Washington attorney named Robert R. Stone, went on to congratulate Goffredo for winning, then made the pitch: "You are not obligated to make a contribution to CFA in order to claim your cash prize, but since this is a 'charity' sweepstakes, we do hope that as a cash prize winner you will wish to contribute at least $5. " The letter implied that all solicited money goes to fight cancer.

Eleanor Bernstein Thomas McLoughlin, 85, an active supporter of educational charities, died Wednesday at her home in Lower Gwynedd. Mrs. McLoughlin was an active member of the Jeptha Abbott Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Until her death, she served as treasurer of the Smith College Class of 1931. She also served from 1976 to 1981 as the special gift chairman, and was president of the Smith College Club of Philadelphia in the 1950s. Mrs. McLoughlin was also active with the Friends Select Alumni and the Germantown Friends Parents Association.

John Wister elementary in Germantown is the little engine that could. "We're a quaint, small school," says teacher Marcia Sparagna, "but there's a big sense of community there. " In her classroom, two students clasp hands and dance while an unexpected voice - Dean Martin's - croons: "When the moon hits your eye, like a big pizza pie, that's amore . " The jubilation in Room 211 is due to Sparagna's third and fourth graders winning a pasta party for raising more money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society than any other Wister class, $450 in three weeks, predominantly in coins, the majority pennies, a whole lot of pennies.

With warm weather bringing out swimsuits, it's time to think about fitness, and a return to the gym. So there I was at the gym, and there it was, up against the wall, a gleaming new machine I hit hard for half-an-hour. It had everything I wanted: Snickers, M&Ms, Three Musketeers, Babe Ruth, Butterfingers, Skittles, iced tea (uh-oh) ... Summer brings not only swimsuit (and Hawaiian shirt) weather, but also the Stu Bykofsky Candidates Comedy Night, steaming into its 22nd year in August.

Given the growth of China's robust economy, the Chinese clearly know how to make money. They aren't quite as good at giving it away. In 2010, America's 308.7 million people contributed $290.98 billion to charity. In China, where the population topped 1.3 billion, donations reached a mere $16.4 billion, according to an official Chinese website, China.org.cn. "China still needs to cultivate the nation's awareness of philanthropy and set up a more complete system to develop the cause," Minister of Civil Affairs Li Liguo said in announcing new charity regulations in March.

By Seymour I. "Spence" Toll However unimpressive the amounts, I make contributions to a number of charities, and I am being flooded with mailed solicitations as a result. A major component of the flood consists of the countless return-address labels that so many charities now routinely include in their requests for contributions. Not incidentally, many of the labels I'm receiving come from charities I've never dealt with or even known to exist. Against the improbability that some readers may not be familiar with these labels, here's a sketch: Stuck next to each other on sheets of, say, 10 or 20, they are imprinted with the addressee's name and address, often with decorative touches around the edges.

The charity through which former Pennsylvania State University assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky allegedly met his accusers joined Tuesday in a growing chorus objecting to subpoenas issued by his defense attorney. The Second Mile, the nonprofit for underprivileged youth Sandusky founded in the '70s, asked a judge to toss out requests for disciplinary files on clients and records of any internal investigations into alleged sexual abuse. Also Tuesday, the Mifflin School District filed a motion to quash another subpoena from Sandusky's attorney, Joseph Amendola.

Edward James Andrews, 87, an Army veteran and paper company worker, died in his sleep Wednesday, April 18, at his home in Voorhees. Mr. Andrews was born in Manayunk and graduated from Roxborough High School in 1942. After graduation, he served in the Army from 1943 to 1946. A year later, he married Annie Louise Benton. He worked at Weyerhaeuser Paper for 40 years. Mr. Andrews was a generous man who donated to various charities, his son James said. He had a great sense of humor and loved word puzzles, board games, and his computer.

Elbows up and back straight, Nicole Carville took her husband's lead as they waltzed across the second floor of Narberth Borough Hall. In preparation for Narberth's first Mayor's Ball April 13, the two watched dance instructor Rubi Wiswall closely as she counted out the steps to old-fashioned dances such as the Cha-Cha, Fox Trot, and Charleston. Carville wore a pair of jeans as her husband, Bob Wegbreit, in green khakis, attempted to give her a spin. The last time the two danced like this, Wegbreit said, was at their wedding 20 years ago. "I was nervous about the ball before tonight," Carville said after finishing an hour-long dance lesson, "but now I'm just excited.

HELENA, Mont. - Three Cups of Tea author Greg Mortenson mismanaged the nonprofit organization he cofounded to build schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan and spent millions of dollars of charity money on charter flights, family vacations and personal items, according to an investigative report released Thursday. Mortenson's control of the Central Asia Institute went largely unchallenged by its board of directors, which consisted of himself and two people loyal to him, the report prepared by the Montana Attorney General's office said.

The Ronald McDonald House Charities Phone Bank, a five-hour on-air fund-raiser, took in nearly $1 million Tuesday to benefit programs supporting children's health and well-being. The five-hour event, telecast on CBS3 and CW57, raised $969,384 from viewers and corporate sponsors, officials said, eclipsing last year's total of $610,350. It was hosted by news anchors Susan Barnett and Chris May, with appearances by on-air personalities from the two TV channels and the region's CBS Radio stations.

KAMPALA, Uganda - Ugandan criticism of a viral video about a brutal central African warlord continued to grow since a public screening in a remote Ugandan town once terrorized by the Lord's Resistance Army. The head of a Ugandan charity that showed "Kony 2012" said Thursday that he would suspend further screenings after getting overwhelmingly negative reaction from viewers on Tuesday who did not understand why there were so many white faces in the video, or why Kony needed to be made famous.