Cha-Ching a ring ding at Christmas

This is the time of year that every household that has donated in the past, ends up on the mailing list of charitable organizations. They know, as retailers do, that we're feeling a bit more generous, and that some even plan ahead for deductions on the income taxes in 2007.

Here's 3 that we support--Lutheran Bible Translators who put scripture in the "heart language" of millions; Pregnancy Decision Health Centers which helps save babies' lives and gives women in distress support when their parents or boyfriends pressure them to abort; and Pinecrest Community, a retirement complex, nursing home, and Alzheimer' care facility in the town where I grew up, affiliated with the Church of the Brethren. My parents, the parents of my friends, my grandmother and her siblings, and my aunts and uncles have all resided or been treated here at some time in their lives.

The middle class and poor give much more from the heart and wallet than the rich, and the working poor more than the middle class. I checked our zip code. We have almost double the median income of the rest of Ohio, but are just slightly below Ohio's average in charitable giving. And it's not just Ohio. In a very similar spread, families in San Francisco give about the same amount to charity as families in South Dakota: $1,300. Yet the SF families have average incomes of about $80,000, compared to only about $45,000 in South Dakota. Evangelical and fundamentalist Christians give much more liberally than mainline, liberal Christians.