Hard times have apparently fallen on multi-millionaire/rap-superstar/insufferable egomaniac Kanye West. According to a ridiculous Twitter-rant that West posted earlier today, he is $53 million in debt and is asking for a donation of $1 billion from Facebook founder Mark Zuckerburg. Now, I highly suspect that Mark Zuckerburg is too busy doting on his new baby daughter to really give a hoot and a half about Kanye, but the rest of the world is getting a real kick out of the fact that the famously self-absorbed rapper is asking for money.
West claims that while he is still personally rich (Whew! There’s a relief! I was almost concerned that Kim Kardashian was going to have to start living like the rest of us peasants!), he needs the $1 Billion to change the world, or make it a better place, because that what he’s meant to do or something.
Well, Kanye, sorry to burst that bubble that you apparently live in, but I can think of a few ways that that $1 billion can change the world without going through your slippery wallet. 50, in fact.
Education
Education is a hot-button issue here in the USA. There are schools in certain parts of the country that are barely scraping by. There are students who go to school and get their only meal of the day. There are vital programs being cut to save a few pennies.
- Donate calculators, desks, and other supplies.
- Donate musical instruments and arts and crafts to the kids who want to study the arts.
- Build a new playground.
- Invest in teaching programs and speak out for better salaries for educators.
- Invest in new buildings for the kids who go to school in trailers.
- Donate for more dual-language programs and train all educators in the languages as well.
- Invest in special education programs and educators.
- Invest in after-school programs, especially for schools in underprivileged districts.
- Donate to scholarship funds for kids with disabilities, kids from low-income families, etc…
- Sponsor a child or a classroom.
Local Charities
We don’t have to look farther than beyond our own front porch to find people and animals in need of help.
11. Donate to homeless shelters or organizations that provide meals for the homeless.
12. Sponsor a house for Habitat for Humanity.
13. Donate to drug and alcohol rehabilitation facilities.
14. Donate to churches and outreach programs.
15. Donate to women’s shelters and sponsor a woman who has been a victim of domestic abuse.
16. Buy new food, blankets, and toys for a local animal shelter and speak out on behalf of those who can’t speak for themselves.
17. Donate a new wing to a children’s hospital.
18. Support programs that help homeless veterans.
19. Help donate to the refugee crisis. Provide meals and decent housing.
20. Sponsor a senior citizen, or donate to nursing homes. Provide blankets, shoes, clocks, books, wheelchairs, and help improve quality of life.
Nature and the Environment
We are slowly but surely destroying our greatest gift and resource: our home planet and all of its inhabitants. $1 billion won’t solve all of our problems, but it could pave the way to a better world.
21. Donate to protect and clean up the oceans.
22. Donate to protect and replenish the rain forests.
23. Protect the lions and rhinos and other endangered species that Kim Kardashian likes to wear draped around her shoulders. Adopt animals from the World Wildlife Fund.
24. Invest in rescue and rehabilitation facilities.
25. Invest in solar panels and donate to energy conservation and innovation.
26. Donate to national parks and designated wildlife sanctuaries. We have bobcats and coyotes sneaking into backyards and preying on domestic pets because their homes are being destroyed.
27. Donate to arctic relief efforts and climate researchers to help protect the polar bears. This is a personal one for me. I really want my future children to grow up in a world with polar bears.
28. Donate to parks and animals refuges that take in old, sick, or disabled animals.
29. Invest in saving the bees and butterflies. We need them! Bees are vital!
30. Finally, invest in farmers and livestock farms. Invest in better living conditions for cows and pigs and chickens. There is no need for those animals to live in such horrible places for their entire lives.
Medical Relief and Research
31. Donate to groups and laboratories that study cancer.
32. Donate to groups that are fighting to wipe out malaria and other parasitic diseases.
33. Donate medical supplies to third world countries.
34. Donate to Alzheimer’s research.
35. Support better mental health centers, resources, and caretakers. Mental health is a HUGE deal and there are very limited resources for those out there either living with mental illness or who love someone with mental illness.
36. Donate new equipment to hospitals.
37. Donate to help hospitals that provide services such as spinal implant surgery, cleft palate repair, etc…
38. Donate to surgery centers, transplant specialists, and those paving the way toward artificial organs and specialty surgery.
39. Donate to teams studying rare birth defects and premature births.
40. Donate to worldwide AIDs relief funds.
Global Efforts
41. Send clean water and other resources to countries that are lacking.
42. Donate to world literacy funds.
43. Invest in and speak out for education for women in countries where they are treated as second-class citizens.
44. Invest in start-up businesses, in independently owned businesses, in local mom-and-pop shops that have been around forever, in non-profit organizations.
45. Donate to natural disaster relief.
45. Donate to NASA and other programs that seek to explore and test our limits.
47. Donate to human rights and civil activist groups who seek to make the world a better place.
48. Donate to preserve, protect, and restore historical monuments, buildings, works of art and literature, etc…
49. Donate to help put an end to human trafficking, prostitution, and crimes against children.
50. Donate to local communities, to revitalize their livelihoods, to protect their way of life.
The world can be a better place, even without Mark Zuckerburg’s $1 billion. We don’t need money or celebrities or social media to make it happen. The opportunities are right there in front of us.
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